Quit smoking - see how long you can live !!! ~ Happy Life Connections

Cigarette smoke contains about 4,000 different chemicals which can damage the cells and systems of the human body. These include at least 80 chemicals that can cause cancer (including tar, arsenic, benzene, cadmium and formaldehyde) nicotine (a highly addictive chemical which hooks a smoker into their habit) and hundreds of other poisons such as cyanide, carbon monoxide and ammonia.

Every time a smoker inhales, these chemicals are drawn into the body where they interfere with cell function and cause problems ranging from cell death to genetic changes which lead to cancer. This is why tobacco smoking is a known or probable cause of approximately 25 diseases. According to WHO figures, smoking is responsible for approximately five million deaths worldwide every year. However it also contributes to, or aggravates many other diseases and may play a part in many more deaths.

Smoking amongst youngsters and teens

People take up smoking for a variety of reasons. Young people are especially vulnerable because of pressure from their peers and the image that smoking is clever, cool or 'grown-up'. Just trying a few cigarettes can be enough to become addicted. Many people say that smoking helps them to feel more relaxed or cope with stress but nicotine is a stimulant not a relaxant, so it doesn't help stress.

Evidence shows people who start smoking in their youth - aged 11 to 15 - are three times more likely to die a premature death than someone who takes up smoking at the age of 20. They are also more likely to be hooked for life. Nicotine, an ingredient of tobacco, is highly addictive – it takes on average on about six cigarettes before nicotine receptors in the brain are switched on, generating a craving for nicotine which may continue for the rest of the person’s life. In less than one packet of cigarettes, a person’s brain can be changed forever from that of a non-smoker to a nicotine addicted smoker.

Passive smoking

The 'side-stream' smoke that comes off a cigarette between puffs carries a higher risk than directly inhaled smoke.

Children who grow up in a home where one or both of their parents smoke have twice the risk of getting asthma and asthmatic bronchitis. They also have a higher risk of developing allergies.

Infants under two years old are more prone to severe respiratory infections and cot death.

For adults, passive smoking seems to increase the risk of lung cancer, and also shows an increased risk of heart disease.

Health risks of Smoking

Research has shown that smoking reduces life expectancy by seven to eight years. On average, each cigarette shortens a smoker's life by around 11 minutes. There are hundreds of examples and volumes of research showing how cigarette smoking damages the body. The smokers in their 30s and 40s are five times more likely to have a heart attack than non-smokers.

If you smoke for a lifetime, there is a 50 per cent chance that your eventual death will be smoking-related. The following are the health risks because of Smoking:-

Lungs

Everyone's lungs stop functioning properly as the older they get, but for smokers this process happens sooner, faster and more severely. Smoking also causes permanent damage to lung tissue. Smoking does enormous damage to the lungs, especially because these tissues are in the direct firing line for the poisons in smoke. As a result there is a huge increase in the risk of lung cancer. Women who smoke increase this risk by nearly 12 times. Lung cancer is a difficult cancer to treat - long term survival rates are poor. It also lead to lung problems such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis, or asthma that is harder to control.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a collective term for a group of conditions that block airflow and make breathing more difficult, such as:

Emphysema – breathlessness caused by damage to the air sacs (alveoli)
Chronic bronchitis – coughing with a lot of mucus that continues for at least three months.

Smoking is the most common cause of COPD and is responsible for 80 per cent of cases. COPD typically starts between the ages of 35 and 45 when lung function starts to decline anyway

In smokers, the rate of decline in lung function can be three times the usual rate. As lung function declines, breathlessness begins. As the condition progresses, severe breathing problems can require hospital care. The final stage is death from slow and progressive breathlessness.

Blood

After smoking the levels of carbon monoxide in the body increases due to which the hemoglobin level reduce dramatically. Hemoglobin is responsible for transporting oxygen; therefore, if less of it is available, then less oxygen will be transported around the body which leads to blood clots. Blood clots and aneurysms in the brain can lead to strokes.

The clots may also travel to legs, lungs and also lead to high blood pressure or poor blood supply to the legs.

Decreased blood flow into the penis may cause erections.

Smoking can also lead to poor wound healing or wound infection especially after surgery and also cancer (especially in the lung, mouth, larynx, esophagus, bladder, kidney, pancreas, and cervix)

Heart

Smoking promotes thickening of the arteries or atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is associated with many negative health outcomes in various body systems, including the heart. When the arteries narrow, blood clots are likely to form. Smoking accelerates the hardening and narrowing process in your arteries: it starts earlier and blood clots are two to four times more likely.

These will again contribute to coronary artery disease, where the heart’s blood supply becomes narrowed or blocked, starving the heart muscle of vital nutrients and oxygen, resulting in a heart attack. As a result smokers have a greatly increased risk of needing complex and risky heart bypass surgery. Smoking also increases the risk of having a stroke, because of damage to the heart and arteries to the brain.

Brain

Smoking accelerates the hardening and narrowing process in your arteries i.e. atherosclerosis. In this condition, blood clots are likely to form.

These clots may also lead to Cerebral Thrombosis in which the vessels to the brain can become blocked, which can lead to collapse, stroke and paralysis. Damage to the brain's blood supply is also an important cause of dementia.

Cancer

Every cigarette you smoke is exposing you to more carcinogens, and therefore the longer you smoke, the higher your risk of developing cancer. Smokers are more likely to get cancer than non-smokers. This is particularly true of lung cancer, throat cancer and mouth cancer, which hardly ever affect non-smokers.

The link between smoking and lung cancer is clear.

Ninety percent of lung cancer cases are due to smoking.
If no-one smoked, lung cancer would be a rare diagnosis – only 0.5 per cent of people who've never touched a cigarette develop lung cancer.
One in ten moderate smokers and almost one in five heavy smokers (more than 15 cigarettes a day) will die of lung cancer.

The more cigarettes you smoke in a day, and the longer you've smoked, the higher your risk of lung cancer. Similarly, the risk rises the deeper you inhale and the earlier in life you started smoking.

If you smoke, the risk of contracting mouth cancer is four times higher than for a non-smoker. Cancer can start in many areas of the mouth, with the most common being on or underneath the tongue, or on the lips.

Other types are cancer in the lung, mouth, larynx, esophagus, bladder, kidney, pancreas, and cervix:

Eyes

The blood vessels in the eye are sensitive and can be easily damaged by smoke, causing a bloodshot appearance and itchiness. Heavy smokers are twice as likely to get macular degeneration (the deterioration of vision with age), resulting in the gradual loss of eyesight.

Smokers run an increased risk of cataracts.

Mouth

Smoking has a detrimental impact on oral health, including a reduced ability to smell and taste. Smoking tobacco is one of the principle causes of teeth discoloration. Smoking stains your teeth and gums. It also increases your risk of periodontal disease, which causes swollen gums, bad breath and teeth to fall out.

Smoking causes an acid taste in the mouth and contributes to the development of ulcers

Cosmetic

In addition to all the negative health impacts of smoking on the body, it also has a negative effect on your appearance. Smoking affects your looks as smokers have paler skin and more wrinkles. This is because smoking reduces the blood supply to the skin and lowers levels of Vitamin A.

Smoking has been shown to have visible effects on the skin, including:

Increased facial wrinkling;
Premature ageing; and
Decreased capillary and arteriolar blood flow.

Reproductive system

For men in their 30s and 40s, smoking increases the risk of erectile dysfunction by about 50 per cent. Erection can't occur unless blood can flow freely into the penis, so these blood vessels have to be in good condition. Smoking can damage the blood vessels and cause them to degenerate as nicotine narrows the arteries that lead to the penis, reducing blood flow and the pressure of blood in the penis. This narrowing effect increases over time, so if you haven't got problems now, things could change later.

Erection problems in smokers may be an early warning signal that cigarettes are already damaging other areas of the body – such as the blood vessels that supply the heart.

Tobacco can have detrimental effects on sperm production, including reduced concentrations of sperm in the semen and reduced concentrations of normal and motile sperm. In order to give yourself the best chance of conceiving, you should stop smoking.

Harm to children from smoking

Smoking in pregnancy greatly increases the risk of miscarriage, is associated with lower birth weight babies, and inhibits child development. Smoking by parents following the birth is linked to sudden infant death syndrome or cot death, and higher rates of infant respiratory illness, such as bronchitis, colds, and pneumonia.

Smokers who switch to smokeless tobacco instead of quitting tobacco completely still carry a number of health risks:

Increased risk of mouth or nasal cancer
Gum problems, tooth wear, and cavities
Worsening high blood pressure and angina

Health risks of Secondhand Smoking

Those who are regularly around the smoke of others (secondhand smoke) have a higher risk of:

Heart attacks and heart disease

Lung cancer

Sudden and severe reactions, including those involving the eye, nose, throat, and lower respiratory tract

Infants and children who are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke are at risk of:

Asthma (children with asthma who live with a smoker are much more likely to visit the emergency room)

Infections, including virus-caused upper respiratory infections, ear infections, and pneumonia

Lung damage (poor lung function)

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)

The Benefits of Quitting

Although the health risks of smoking are cumulative, giving up can yield health benefits, regardless of the age of the patient, or the length of time they have been smoking.

If you join a proper smoking-cessation service, using all available help including medication and counseling, your chances of quitting may be as high as one in three (compared to just three per cent if you go it alone).

You will notice many benefits of quitting right away:

Your breath, clothes, and hair will smell better
Your sense of smell will return and food will taste better
Your fingers and fingernails will slowly appear less yellow
Your stained teeth will slowly become whiter

Your home, work, and social life will also improve immediately:

Your children will be less likely to start smoking themselves
It will be easier and cheaper to find an apartment or hotel room
You will miss fewer work days, or you may have an easier time getting a job
The constant search for a place to smoke when you're out will be over
Friends will be more willing to be in your car or home
Your dating prospects will become much wider, because 80% of the population does not smoke
You will have more money available (smokers spend much on per year on cigarettes packs)