EFFECTS OF SMOKING

10 years ago | Posted in: Articles | 939 Views

Smoking is the term that is generally defined in context of inhaling tobacco when it is burnt. It is practiced in several forms, viz. Cigarette, Cigar, Hookahs, Bidi, vaporizers etc. It is a known fact since long times that smoking is injurious to health. This is even clearly embedded on the commercial packs containing cigarettes etc. But despite the warning there is no reduction in the sales of cigarettes in the society. On the contrary, an up rise in consumption of number of cigarettes has been noticed. Here cigarette smoking is emphasized; the reason being that it is the most common practice of inhaling tobacco smoke in the masses.Everyone seems to be aware of the fact that smoking causes lung cancer. But it hardly matters to those who smoke. As the disease occurs after due course of time, it leads to a state of helplessness. By the time the disease is diagnosed it has already done sufficient damage to the lung tissues and other systemic organs of the body.

In a report published in the yare 2007 it was stated that about more than 4 million people die due to smoking. This statistics are proof enough to highlight the effects of smoking. Smoking regularly decreases the life span of an individual by 7-8 years. Current health report warns against the surge in premature death of individuals in the industrialized countries. Men are affected more as compared to women only due to the factor that they inhale more smoke as compared to their counter parts.Smoking may lead to development of various cardiovascular diseases. These diseases are related to heart and the supplying blood vessels. Smoking affects the functioning of heart in various ways.The foremost is that it paves way for the deposition of cholesterol in the arteries that supply blood to the heart. This leads to hampered supply of blood to the heart and results in various severe complications like a heart failure. Blockage to vessels also leads to decreased blood supply to extremities of the body, resulting in gangrene and organ dysfunction in the longer run. In a serious condition clots may be formed in the blood which may block the flow in the vessels supplying heart and brain. This may lead to severe consequences like paralysis or even death in some cases.

Another common medical condition is the difficulty in breathing which is known as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. It can be defined as a syndrome, i.e. a group of disease. Obstruction in the airflow occurs in this condition which may lead to difficulty in breathing. Respiratory system is weakened due to damaged basic units which are alveoli. This may show up as breathlessness and chronic cough as the presenting symptoms. In some persons it also acts as the predisposing factor for Asthma.Smoking is more dangerous as it poses an equal threat to the passive smokers. They are the persons who don’t smoke actively but inhale it as released by an active smoker. ‘Smoking kills’ is the phrase enough to define the dangers of smoking.

 

By: Ammara Siddique

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