Health Effects Of Smoking

Tobacco has been growing in America wildly for over 5000 years, and has been smoked and chewed for over 1000 years. The first person to discover it was none other than Chris Columbus. By the 1700s the smoking and tobacco industry had developed.

Today however smoking is a proven health hazard and is the leading preventable cause of death in America. It was thought to be a hazard to health in 1602 when the random study of an Englishman compared the illness found in chimney sweepers to that of smokers. At that time tobacco was smoked in pipes or chewed. Cigarettes were developed much later in the 1800s in 1920 they were finally positively related to lung cancer. From that point onward, the number of diseases which are caused by smoking tobacco just grew the more research was done on the effects of smoking.

So the list of the diseases caused by smoking include above all, “lung cancer" and other types of cancer. But as the smoking individual inhales smoke and it definitely reaches the lungs, the cancer of lungs is the first thing you sign up for when you smoke. It causes emphysema, which is the narrowing of the air passage and a change in the anatomy of the lungs which ultimately lead to breathing disorders and insufficient supply of oxygenated blood to the body.

Smoking also affects the brain and is known to be one of the leading causes of strokes. Its also diminishes the brain's intellectual ability and memory. In addition causing the narrowing of arteries it also causes abdominal aortic aneurysm, a bulge in the wall of the aorta near the stomach. In addition to this it has also shown to cause kidney cancer.

The truth is that smoking will damage every single major organ of the body, especially the liver. It lowers the supply of oxygen to the blood cells and when it causes the walls of arteries to narrow down, it raises blood pressure. Smoking also causes the soft plaque to build up and consequentially helps turn it to hard plaque.

The effects of smoking are high for both men and women but be warned that when you smoke you also in danger others because secondary smoke, the smoke that you exhale is even more hazardous than what you're taking in.

And ladies are warned that smoking is the worst possible thing to do during a pregnancy. It can result in complication during the pregnancy and will invariably affect your child. Remember if you aren't getting the right amounts of oxygenated blood, neither is your child and this deficiency will directly affect the baby's development. In addition to causing still births and pre mature births, it also causes what is known as “sudden infant death syndrome" whereby the child could die post birth without any warning.

And lastly smoking is addictive and once you get hooked, it's a struggle to stop. But treatments are available and improving with more and more research. For an immediate difference try a nicotine patch and save your lungs while your body heals. Consult doctors about the latest in smoking preventive medicines.

• Emma Bullock
• 30/01/2009, 6:59 PM
• 0 Comments