Smoking kills not just your but earth and today we are going to talk about it. How it is damaging you, the non-smokers around you and this earth?
There is no easy way to stay fit and healthy without putting some effort into our lifestyle but there is one quick way to slash your life expectancy by 10 years. How you ask? Well, start smoking. Smoking can weaken your organs in drastic ways that you cannot even imagine. It is harmful to your health irrespective of how you smoke. Smoking can cause a myriad of life-threatening complications in your body, which can continue effecting your system throughout your life.
Even if you are a non-smoker, you are not forborne as around 6.5 trillion cigarettes are sold around the world each year, which translates to roughly 18 billion cigarettes per day. Those exposed to passive smoke are at higher risks of undergoing from most of the diseases and health complications associated with first-hand smoking. Moreover, exposure to passive smoking is rather more harmful as exhaled smoke contains toxic metals like carcinogens and poisonous gases
Smoking cigarettes affects the respiratory system, the circulatory system, the reproductive system, vision and physical appearance as well.
| Table of Content: |
|---|
| 1. Smoking effects on Respiratory System 2. Smoking effects on Circulatory system 3. Smoking effects on Reproduction system and sexuality 4. Smoking effects on Vision 5. Smoking effects on Integumentary system 6. Types of Cancers caused by Smoking 7. Smoking & Environment 8. Quitting 9. Bottom line 10. References |
Respiratory System
When you inbreathe smoke, you are taking in toxin substances like nicotine, carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide and other 4,000 chemicals that can damage your lungs. Over a period, this damage leads to a variety of problems. Along with the increased risk of infections, people who smoke are at higher risk for chronic irreversible lung conditions. As a result, smoking:
- causes lung diseases, including the majority of cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD);
- makes chronic lung diseases severe,
- increases the risk of respiratory infections,
- smoking increases a person’s risk of getting tuberculosis.
Children whose parents smoke are more prone to coughing, wheezing, and asthma attacks than children whose parents don’t. They also tend to have higher rates of pneumonia and bronchitis.
Circulatory System
When you smoke, the poisons from the tar in your cigarettes enter your blood. These poisons in your blood then:
- Make your blood thicker, and increase chances of clot formation
- Increase your blood pressure and heart rate, making your heart work harder than normal
- Narrow your arteries, reducing the amount of oxygen-rich blood circulating to your organs.
Together, these changes to your body, when you smoke increase the chance of your arteries narrowing, spikes blood pressure, weakens blood vessel walls, and clots forming, which can cause a heart attack or stroke and peripheral artery disease.
Smoking not only hits your cardiovascular health but also the health of non-smokers around you. Exposure to passive smoking an increased risk to a nonsmoker as compared to someone who does smoke. Risk includes stroke, heart attack, and heart ailments.
Reproduction System
In males, smoke toxins can cause male erectile dysfunction, impotency and decrease in sexual pleasure, as it damages the blood vessels that supply blood to the genital area. It can also damage sperm quality; lower sperm count and sex hormones. According to international health protocols, smoking just two cigarettes a day can lead to a decreased ability to have an erection. According to outlook India, impotence affects over 50 per cent of males above 40, and one of the contributing cause is excessive smoking.
For women, smoking can reduce fertility. The study estimated that the fertility of smoking women was 28% less than that of non-smokers. One study found that smokers were over three times more likely than non-smokers to have taken more than one year to conceive. Smoking while you are pregnant can lead to miscarriage, premature birth, stillbirth and illness, and it increases the risk of cot death by at least 25%. According to studies, smokers reach menopause about 18 months earlier than a non-smoker. Smoking can also result in sexual dissatisfaction by decreasing lubrication and the ability to attain orgasm.
Smoking effects on Eyesights
Smoking can lead to eye problems, blurred vision and in worst cases vision loss. Studies show smoking increases the risk of age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy and Dry Eye Syndrome.
- Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD)
- One way to reduce the risk of developing AMD is by NOT smoking. Smokers are three to four times more likely to develop AMD than nonsmokers. Nonsmokers living with smokers almost double their risk of developing AMD.
- Cataract
- Heavy smokers (15 cigarettes/day or more) have up to three times the risk of cataract as nonsmokers.
- Glaucoma
- There is a strong link between smoking and high blood pressure, cataracts and diabetes all of which are risk factors for glaucoma.
- Diabetic Retinopathy
- Smoking can increase your chances of getting diabetes. It can also make managing diabetes more difficult for those who already have it. Complications of diabetes made worse by smoking include retinopathy, heart disease, stroke, vascular disease, kidney disease, nerve damage, foot problems and many others.
- Dry Eye Syndrome
- Dry Eye Syndrome is more than twice as likely to impact smokers as non-smokers.
Smoking effects on Integumentary System
Skin
Smoking untimely ages your skin. Smoking affects the blood vessels and reduces the amount of oxygen that reaches your skin. This means that if you smoke, your skin ages more quickly and looks grey and dull. The toxins in your body also cause cellulite.
Smoke toxins damage collagen and elastin, two major factors of the skin, consequences to sagging & drooping skin, arms, breasts and wrinkles. Smokers are more sensitive to the development of age spots & psoriasis, an unsightly and often uncomfortable skin condition.
Nails
Smoking tobacco causes brittle, dry, cracked and slow growth of fingernails and toenails. In addition to it they get prone to fungal infection than non-smoker person. Smoking also discolours the skin of the nails.
Hair
Smoking can worsen the natural process of hair thinning, damaged hair follicles & scalp environment. It also increased DHT & head oil secretion. Some research shows that baldness & hair loss is more common in men who smoke; studies from Taiwan show that male-pattern baldness risk increases in Asian men who smoke.
Even exposure of passive smoke can result into mentioned severe conditions in a non-smoker.
Types of Cancer caused by smoking:
- Bladder
- Blood (acute myeloid leukaemia)
- Cervix
- Colon and rectum (colorectal)
- Oesophagus
- Kidney and ureter
- Larynx
- Liver
- Oropharynx (includes parts of the throat, tongue, soft palate, and the tonsils)
- Pancreas
- Stomach
- Trachea, bronchus, and lung
Smoking and the environment
Research has found that tobacco cultivation (mostly in rainforest areas) contributes significantly to deforestation and degradation of the environment. The process of cultivating tobacco requires a large number of chemicals and toxic materials which generates a huge amount of wastes such as pesticides and fertilizers. The industrial processing and the burning of cigarettes append a large volume of air pollutants in the atmosphere. In 2015, 1,312,796 pounds of toxic chemicals were reported disposed off, or otherwise released, from tobacco facilities. From the process of cultivation and the industrial process to smoking cigarettes involves the emission of a lot of Green House Gases, a major cause of global warming.
Cigarettes causing Water Pollution and Adverse Effects on Animals
Soil and land pollution through farming and from cigarette butts. Cigarette filters are produced from cellulose acetate, a plastic which only degrades under severe biological circumstances. In practice, cigarette butts tossed on streets and beaches do not decompose. Since 1980s, cigarette butts have consistently held 30 to 40 per cent of all items collected in annual international coastal and urban clean-ups. Even under optimal conditions, it can take at least nine months for a cigarette butt to degrade.
Aquatic environment and fishes are particularly affected by the cigarettes in several ways. Fish ingest the cigarette filters resembling fish food which reduces their stomach capacity and thus change in eating habits. Similarly, pets pick it which later leads to dysfunction of their body system. Even humans are not spared if by any chance they consume the affected fish or animal.
Forest Fire accidents due to smoking
Forest fires started by the burning cigarette butt fire are countless. About 17,000 people worldwide die each year because of fires started by cigarette lighters or discarded burning cigarettes. In terms of property damage, the losses are more than 27 billion US dollars every year. Further, such forest fires are damaging to the environment causing biodiversity loss, habitat loss, air pollution, deforestation and the death of humans and wild animals. A forest fire started by a cigarette butt in the year 1987 in China killed 300 people, left 5,000 other homeless and destroyed approximately 1.3 million hectares of land.
Quitting
While quitting smoking can be challenging but not impossible. There are now more former smokers than current smokers. You can take help of your doctor in planning and medication. Your loved ones can be your mental support in tough times.
Once a person stops smoking, the benefits start concentrating. These include clearer skin, improved oral health, more stable hormone levels, a stronger immune system, and a reduced risk of many types of cancers.
Some other benefits of quitting smoking include:
- After 20 minutes–12 hours: Heart rate and carbon monoxide in the blood drop to normal levels.
- After 1 year: The risk of a heart attack is much lower, as is blood pressure. Coughing and upper respiratory problems begin to improve.
- After 2–5 years: The risk of stroke drops to that of someone who does not smoke, according to the CDC.
- After 5–15 years: The risk of mouth, throat, oesophagus, and bladder cancer is reduced by half.
- After 10 years: The risk of lung cancer and bladder cancer is half that of someone who currently smokes.
- After 15 years: The risk of heart disease is similar to that of someone who never smoked.
Bottom line
So, by far you’ve clearly concluded that smoking kills just not you but the earth. It’s an hour of action now. Take a step against it and inspire others too!
Will You?
References:
- (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nhs.uk/smokefree/why-quit/smoking-health-problems
- Medicalnewstoday.com. 2020. 10 Effects Of Smoking Cigarettes. [online] Available at: <https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324644#quitting> [Accessed 1 May 2020].
- Health.ny.gov. 2020. [online] Available at: <https://www.health.ny.gov/prevention/tobacco_control/docs/smoking_can_lead_to_vision_loss_or_blindness.pdf> [Accessed 1 May 2020].
- Truth Initiative. 2020. Tobacco And The Environment. [online] Available at: <https://truthinitiative.org/research-resources/harmful-effects-tobacco/tobacco-and-environment> [Accessed 1 May 2020].
- Conserve Energy Future. 2020. 10 Serious Effects Of Cigarette Smoking On Environment And Human Health – Conserve Energy Future. [online] Available at: <https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/serious-effects-cigarette-smoking-environment-and-human-health.php> [Accessed 1 May 2020].
- Healthline. 2020. 26 Health Effects Of Smoking On Your Body. [online] Available at: <https://www.healthline.com/health/smoking/effects-on-body#6> [Accessed 1 May 2020].
