Article Advise

submitted: Aug 27th 2008 | by: ClareInnes | Total views: 1 | Word Count: 945 | |

This isn't going to be one of those articles that preaches (well, that's not my intention anyway) and I'm sure that you are already au fait with the dangers that smoking brings. But I reckon that there are still quite a few of you out there that think that by eating a healthy diet and getting some good and regular exercise, that you can be healthy even though you still smoke.

The message that 'smoking is bad for you' is an old one, so not everyone gives it much attention anymore. Here, however, is a list of some of the facts and figures that are not so well known about the health risks of smoking:

There are nearly 4000 chemical compounds in every single cigarette that you smoke, and of these, around 400 are toxic to your body. The tip of a cigarette burns at 700 degrees centigrade, whilst the core burns at 60. This combined heating and burning process turns the tobacco into various toxins (poisons, effectively) which is then sucked toward the butt as you inhale. If you smoke a cigarette right up until the filter, this is where you get a much higher level of toxins into your body.

The most damaging products are:

1) Tar, a carcinogen that causes cancer

2) The addictive substance is nicotine, which raises cholesterol too

3) carbon monoxide reduces oxygen in the body

The problems caused by smoking can be influenced by:

1) How many cigarettes you smoke

2) If the cigarette has a filter or not

3) In what way has the tobacco has been prepared

It has been shown that life expectancy can be improved by as much as seven or eight years if you do not smoke, but not only that, recent research has shown that if you continue smoking from a young age, people are dying of smoking related illnesses at much younger ages.

It is a staggering fact that if you add together all the deaths of people under the age of 70, who died from traffic accidents, AIDS, breast cancer and drug addiction, there are still more who die from smoking related illnesses.

I did promise not to preach, but I'm going to take a liberty here anyway (because it's my article!). The longer you have smoked, the more cigarettes in a day that you smoke and the more deeply you inhale, the more you will increase the likelihood of you developing lung cancer. When you do stop smoking, it can take as much as 15 years to get back to the risk level that a non smoker has.

Other cancers that are not so publicised are cancers of the mouth. If you smoke the risk is four times that of a non smoker to get cancer on or under the tongue, or on the lips. Another illness that smokers do not tend to be as aware of as lung cancer is COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), for which smoking is responsible for 80 percent of cases.

Emphysema is also a disease caused by long-term smoking, and here are a couple of scary numbers for you. If you smoke 20 a day, when you die and your lungs are examined, you will have a 94 percent chance of there being emphysema present. As a non smoker, however, that percentage drops to 90 who have little or no emphysema at all.

When anyone ages, it is a natural process for their lung function to slowly reduce. However, for a smoker this can be as much as three times faster. Over years, you can expect to become more and more breathless, until needing constant oxygen, hospital care and then death due to slow suffocation...NOT GOOD.

And now one especially for the guys...did you know that smoking can affect your favourite person...yes, I am talking about mini-you! Men in their 30s and 40s can begin to suffer from erectile dysfunction because smoking can cause damage to blood vessels in various parts of your body. If the vessels are not functioning well in the penis, the blood cannot get there to do it's job. Nicotine narrows those arteries...that should give you something to think about!

This narrowing effect increases over time, so if you haven't got problems now, things could change later (and I'm not apologising for scaring you on that one)...in actual fact, 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.

The smoke that you do not inhale and is released from your cigarette between puffs actually carries a higher risk than inhaled smoke. Maybe it's time for a little thought for your non smoking partner, kids, friends, etc., (yeah, I'm trying the guilt trip tactic now).

Kids that grow up in a home with smoking parents are far more likely to have asthma and asthmatic bronchitis. The risk of having generalised allergies is much higher too. Younger babies and toddlers can have chest infections and even cot death.

It has been proven that the risk of lung cancer is increased amongst people who smoke 'passively' but as yet there is no proof of whether the risk of heart disease is also increased. You can be sure though, that you can look forward to a much healthier old age if you can stop smoking.

The message after all of this (and you must be a little bit interested if you're still with me) is that there are people around who care about you, and programmes out there that can help you to quit. So do it for you (and for me)...stop smoking now!

About the Author

About the Author: Clare Innes has a number of health, fitness and lifestyle websites, including one showing the world's most successful ways to give up smoking. Look out for more of her websites in the 'First For...com' series that is currently under development.

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