I admit that I used to smoke during my school days due to my friends influences but I’d rather call it “self-experience”. Anyway, going back that days we asked to made a write-ups for our school paper. And because I always wanted to be a doctor, first thing that comes in my mind was HEALTH issue. And now, I decided to research about “Cigarette Smoking”. I know smoking is bad for our health.
Why is it bad?
Here are some facts about cigarette smoking:
from: http://www.tendringdc.gov.uk/
Why you should not smoke?
Tobacco is a very dangerous drug. It is legal and widely used.Thousands of people die every year as a result of smoking cigarettes, cigars and pipes. The combined effects of nicotine, (the main drug in tobacco) and other gases which enter the lungs when smoked, greatly increases the chance of disease and ill-health. Tobacco is a stimulant drug giving smokers a 'lift'.Smoking has been directly linked to lung cancer, heart disease and other major illnesses, as well being dangerous during pregnancy for the mother and unborn child.
It is also recognised that secondary smoking or passive smoking can put the health of others at risk. This is one of the reasons why smoking has been so widely banned in public places.
What Are The Costs?
Physical
• Wheezing, shortness of breath
• Lack of energy, poor concentration
• Dull skin, nicotine-stained fingers, premature wrinkling
• Reduced fertility, risky pregnancy, baby at risk
• Damaged taste buds, stained teeth
• Lung cancer, emphysema, stroke, heart attack - the list goes on
• Damaged circulation, gangrene, amputationSocial
• Polluting the air with carcinogens
• Children at higher risk of asthma, cot-death, bronchitis and glue ear
• Smoke gets in your eyes
• Dusty, stuffy home. Nicotine stains your walls as well as your fingers.
• Spoilt clothes and furniture
• Increased risk of fire in the home
from: http://www.youngwomenshealth.org/smokeinfo.html
Why is cigarette smoking bad for me?
Everyone knows that smoking can cause cancer when you get older, but did you know that it also has bad effects on your body right now? A cigarette contains about 4000 chemicals, many of which are poisonous. Some of the worst ones are:
· Nicotine: a deadly poison
· Arsenic: used in rat poison
· Methane: a component of rocket fuel
· Ammonia: found in floor cleaner
· Cadmium: used in batteries
· Carbon Monoxide: part of car exhaust
· Formaldehyde: used to preserve body tissue
· Butane: lighter fluid
· Hydrogen Cyanide: the poison used in gas chambers
Every time you inhale smoke from a cigarette, small amounts of these chemicals get into your blood through your lungs. They travel to all the parts of your body and cause harm.
What do all these chemicals do to my body?
As you might imagine, even small amounts of the poisonous chemicals in cigarettes can do bad things to your body.
Here are some facts about what smoking cigarette does to you:
· Smoking makes you smell bad, gives you wrinkles, stains your teeth, and gives you bad breath.
· Smokers get 3 times more cavities than non-smokers.
· Smoking lowers your hormone levels.
· When smokers catch a cold, they are more likely than non-smokers to have a cough that lasts a long time. They are also more likely than non-smokers to get bronchitis and pneumonia.
· Teen smokers have smaller lungs and a weaker heart than teen non-smokers. They also get sick more often than teens who don't smoke.
What happens to my lungs when I smoke?
Every time you inhale smoke from a cigarette, you kill some of the air sacks in your lungs, called alveoli. These air sacks are where the oxygen that you breathe in is transferred into your blood. Alveoli don't grow back, so when you destroy them, you have permanently destroyed part of your lungs. This means that you won't do as well in activities where breathing is important, like sports, dancing, or singing.
Smoking paralyzes the cilia that line your lungs. Cilia are little hair like structures that move back and forth to sweep particles out of your lungs. When you smoke, the cilia can't move and can't do their job. So dust, pollen, and other things that you inhale sit in your lungs and build up. Also, there are a lot of particles in smoke that get into your lungs. Since your cilia are paralyzed because of the smoke and can't clean them out, the particles sit in your lungs and form tar.
Smoking is really worth the risks.
· Nicotine can make you feel good, but is feeling good (a feeling you can also get from healthy activities like playing sports) really worth all the bad things cigarettes do to you? If you smoke, you'll get sick more often. You also have the chance of getting lung cancer or emphysema, which will make you really sick for a long time before you die. If you are very sick, that good feeling from nicotine won't seem so important anymore.
· Smoking doesn't really help people lose weight. If that were true, every smoker would be thin.
· Smoking lowers your hormone levels.
After reading this article, I immediately stop smoking because I don’t want to get any disease from my bad habits.
There are some guys or girls feel comfortable when they smoke. And some said that it release their stress. Is it true? Well, they feel relax and they feel good every time taking it. Some people think that it helps to lose weight and stay sexy. But they’re wrong because its ruin our health and it might causes disease.
Guys, if you want to live a healthy and a long life. You should STOP smoking!
