10 Health Effects Caused by Smoking
10 Gruesome Smoking-Related Health Disorders that Affect Most Smokers
Willing quitters, who intend to replace cigarettes with hookah, pipe or cigar must know that it won’t reduce the health risks. According to the ALA (American Lung Association), all tobacco products contain about 600 ingredients that produce over 7,000 lethal chemicals: 69 out of these are linked to cancer and other deadly diseases.
In 1964, the U.S. Surgeon General officially confirmed that cigarette smoking is injurious to health. Fifty years later, doctors found out that smoking not only causes lung cancer but is also responsible for plenty of other diseases too. No matter how you use it, tobacco, along with its byproducts like tar, nicotine, acetone, and CO (Carbon Monoxide) contributes to the fatal tobacco epidemic gripping the world today.
Excessive use of tobacco results in 80% of COPD (Chronic Obstruction Pulmonary Diseases). Also, 90% of all lung disorders result from tobacco consumption. Women are more vulnerable to developing lung cancer than men. Not only this, but they also develop breast cancer in the later years.
In short, none of the safe ways to smoke actually work. The saddest thing is smokers do not experience the immediate effects of tobacco consumption thus, health complications can last for up to several years.
Here are the 10 most gruesome health effects of smoking tobacco.
General Health Effects:
Nicotine present in tobacco constricts the blood vessels, ultimately interrupting the blood flow. It increases blood pressure, weakens vessel walls, and produces blood clots that may trigger peripheral artery diseases (like stroke, heart attack, etc.). Unfortunately, the ill effects influence passive smokers too.
Tobacco consumption influences insulin production in the body. Smokers are more likely to develop insulin resistance, which puts them at an increased risk of type II diabetes.
Tobacco, when present in the digestive tract for a long time, may trigger several digestion-related issues, such as ulcers, indigestion, acidity, and cancer of the mouth, esophagus, larynx, throat, pancreas, colon, and intestines.
Smoking tobacco on a regular basis promotes non-reversible lung disorders like bronchial infections, emphysema (alveolar damage), COPD, chronic bronchitis (inflammation of the respiratory lining and breathing tubes), asthma, temporary congestion, wheezing, coughing, and declined mucus production. It makes users more vulnerable to pneumonia and lung cancer.
Tobacco consumption alters our integumentary system (skin, hair, and nails). Hair loss, greying of hair, balding, yellowing of fingernails and toenails, fungal nail infection, dry and patchy skin, blackened lips, yellow teeth, yellow eyelids, and skin cancer (squamous cell carcinoma) are the common symptoms of regular smoking.
Brain stroke is the fourth most common cause of death and a leading cause of disability in the United States. Smoke blocks oxygen supply to the brain cells thus, triggering a stroke that ends in paralysis, altered brain function, slurred speech, and death.
Gender-Related Health Issues:
Tobacco smoke constricts the penile blood vessels and blocks oxygen supply to the male organs thus, instigating erectile dysfunction (ED). Chain smokers find it hard to develop and maintain an erection during intercourse. They have a poor libido and may experience anxiety issues and performance-related stress.
Tobacco affects a woman’s ability to conceive (infertility). It induces miscarriages (the fetus is not able to attach itself to the pancreatic wall) and ectopic pregnancy (where a fertilized egg implants itself outside the uterus). All these conditions are life-threatening for the moms-to-be.
Secondly, women who smoke during pregnancy often give birth to babies with developmental disorders and defects, such as deformed bones, cleft lips, etc.
RA—a chronic inflammatory disease of joints in the knees, feet, and hands results from long-term smoking. It eventually ends in joint deformities, brittleness of bones, and difficulty in movement during old age. Also, smokers lose bone density faster than non-smokers.
Macular degeneration, which is responsible for cataracts, blurred vision, and blindness are common occurrences in adults that are over 65 years of age.
The statistics revealed by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) state that in the USA, “smoking is a preventable cause of death”; preventable but also the most common.
Nevertheless, it is too late to quit smoking. Once you decide to quit, eliminating tobacco from your system can reverse many side effects. Nicotine patches and medicines like Varenicline, Bupropion, Nortriptyline, and Clonidine help you manage tobacco cravings and withdrawal symptoms. Another drug called cytisine is under research in the United States. (Source: Cancer.org)
Folks, who wish to quit tobacco can order these prescription drugs from reputed online pharmacies like Offshore Cheap Meds. Besides this, you also need to make a few diet and lifestyle changes to stay fit and healthy.