Dangers of Smoking
83Smoking is a down right filthy habit that affects not only your health, but the health of others around you. A pity on your children if you smoke around them.
And as governments continuously impose higher taxes on tobacco, the costs of lighting up can run into the thousands per year for each smoker. So why do people still smoke? Simple answer - nicotine addiction!
Nicotine
Nicotine addiction has been found to be one of the hardest addictions to kick. With an increase in anti-smoking campaigns, tobacco companies are upping the levels of nicotine in their cigarettes to make it all that harder to quit smoking.
Nicotine is odorless and colorless and varies in concentrations from 1 to 16 grams per cigarette.
Nicotine enters the bloodstream together with tar, reaching the brain in less than 10 seconds. In less than a minute, nicotine spreads throughout the entire body. It then increases the heart rate and blood pressure, providing the smoker with alertness and a relaxing effect. In less that 30 minutes, the nicotine effects decrease, and the smoker becomes irritable and less alert. That’s why they have the tendency to grab and light another cigarette to get a new "fix" from nicotine. This explains the addictive effect of smoking. Before a person knows it, they have lit more than 10 cigarettes in one day.
Tar
Tar attaches to the linings of the lungs and destroys its hair like projections (cilia) which traps harmful particles inhaled into the lungs. Tar also decreases the lung's elasticity, making it harder to pump much needed oxygen throughout the body.
Carbon Monoxide
Yet another toxic chemical released into your body when inhaling the smoke of cigarettes. Carbon monoxide binds with hemoglobin, decreasing the ability of red blood cells to supply large amount of oxygen to the body. That’s why smokers easily get tired because they need to take more breaks in order to compensate for the lack of oxygen in the body.
Long-Term Effects
As time goes by, the long-term effects of smoking become even more clear. Effects on the skin are apparent. A smoker develops stains on their teeth and fingers and develop halitosis (bad breath). Even the smoker’s clothes and environment smells like cigarette smoke.
Cardiovascular diseases develop because of the accumulation of plaque in the lining of blood vessels, especially on the coronary arteries, causing atherosclerosis.
A decrease in the functioning of the lungs can lead to diseases like chronic bronchitis and emphysema, which are irreversible diseases of the respiratory system.
Cancer, heart disease, increased risk of illness and reduced athletic performace is what a smoker really orders each time they buy their next packet of cigarettes.
Quit Smoking Advice - watch this!
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Comments
Excellent information and stats. Hopefully smokers will read this and take note. Good work mate.
there is little that can be done to stop smokers smoking tbh few will see this page unless they are looking thought things like this for kicks
It sounds so simple. Just go 48 hours without a smoke and the nicotine is gone and the health starts to improve.
Just wish I could do it.
Oh well you have motivated me to try again.
Thanks Nikoman
Amazing! i,ve been wanting to quit for so long but with work being so hectic it just became second nature to have a ciggie in my hand all day long.. i "WAS" smoking at least 3 packs a day (60) and i emphisize on WAS because after everything i,ve just read.. I WILL QUIT, I WILL DO IT & I WILL NOT LET NICOTINE BRING ME DOWN! It,s funny because i tried a few times but never succeeded, i just feel so positive right now and i really want to start enjoying my life and not worry that my time could soon be up with every puff i'd ever taken....
TO ALL SMOKERS, YOU CAN DO IT! WE ONLY LIVE ONCE AND WE HAVE TO START RESPECTING OUR BODIES & F**K THOSE B*****D TOBACCO COMPANYS, THEY KILLED A FAIR AMOUNT OF MY FAMILY.. I'D LOVE TO GET MY OWN BACK ONE DAY.
BLESS 2 U ALL
Chris
Smoking is the scariest word in my life. My two uncles on my dad's side died in 2007 from 45 years of cigarette smoking. I would do anything to bring them back, it's sooooo hard living without them. If this message could get to people that SMOKING KILLS then maybe people could use a little common sense. It doesn't just hurt your body, it hurts others around you.
I'm Callie's Aunt. for years I begged my husband to quit smoking. February 2007 he was diagnosed with lung cancer, by April 2007 he was gone. The love of my life, the man I wanted to grow old with, my protector, who made me laugh when I was down, who spent Friday night date nights together is gone. The pain is more than we can bear sometimes. Even worse is his 21 year old daughter. He coached her in softball since kindergarten. Their's was a rare relationship. Then 8 months later her Uncle died of lung cancer too. He and my daughter were very close, he had tried to fill that empty place for her. The pain I watch her go through is like another loss. She has loss 2 important men in her life. She thinks man that comes into her life will leave her. Tuesday she came home for the day from college because I knew she was hurting and needed totalk. She finally said mom, I have no man in my life, they have left me. No one I can turn to. Who is going to walk me down the aisle, who is going to be grandfather to my children and share in that joy. I wanted to share that with my husband and now we can't all because of smoking. It has taken 2 great men from us. IF
sorry, pressed wrong button. SO IF YOU THINK THE SMOKING IS JUST ABOUT YOU, YOU ARE WRONG, IF YOU THINK IT WON'T HAPPEN TO YOU, the odds are not with you. It is a horrible death to experience and watch your loved ones go through. You die, but your loved ones continue to suffer. Is it REALLY WORTH IT. We struggle everyday in countless ways, emotionally, spiritually, financially, in everyway it devastates.
Thanks for sharing your own first-hand experience at losing someone due to smoking. I hope you message delivers to others and helps others to quit.
yikes
I'm pleased to se that there are still people who take their time to make smokers understand how much it's bad for them!
Quit smoking!
My freinds smoke. I do not. I try to get through to them but it doesn't help if anyone could come and tell them something and thats its bad it would save the inviironment and my friends life
Smoking "STINKS", its bad for your health and causes you to look older than what you really are, not cool at all. People that smoke smell like crap right after smoking just 1 cigarette! BIG TURN OFF!!!
smoking gave my uncle throat cancer and it is hard lookin at him everyday like that. he can not live his life. since my family has gone through some of the dangers i will never start smoking. i just wish he had stoped smokin a long time ago
Both my parents smoke and i am scared they are gonna die, i have asked them to try and stop and they say they will but never do it. I am doing a science project on the dangers of smoking and i am gonna give them the poster to let them read it over and hopefully they will come to their senses and actually try this time.! I dont know how long they have been smoking but i have a feeling its been a while. I just wish they would stop so my parents wont leave me until its time for them to.!!!!
im a ceo of a ciggrete comony i will have this cite erased
exellant informations and stats hopefully smokers will read this and take note
Generally, the physical addiction is easier to overcome than the psychological one. That is why the various nicotine treatments have such a low success rate.
Smoking is a choice. If you choose to smoke then you need to take the responsibility to not get addicted. Do not use it as a stress reliever or you will smoke every time you are stressed. People who are already addicted have no one to blame but themselves for getting addicted in the first place.
If you want to quit and are serious about quitting, then get help from friends or family or even a professional. Yes, it's hard to quit, but if you have the will power and determination you can do it.
Smoking is a choice and should remain a choice to those who want to. The govt has no business controlling what we do with our lives by raising the taxes and taking the choice of smoking away from people. We can't just force people to quit smoking because it costs too much, that takes away the choice of the action. Same with the seat belt laws, If I choose not to wear my seatbelt that's, my business. Would have been decapitated if I would have had it on in a bad accident I was in.
If you think about it, a lot of people who smoke are people with either low paying or high stress jobs. Then laws pass that raise the price of cigarettes, so who get screwed? This keeps the poor, poor and the stressed even more stressed which casues them to use smoking to relieve the stress. The cycle goes on and on.
People can look up the dangers of smoking and can choose to quit, but until they do they will continue to smoke.
Hi all my mum smokes and i don't like it is there a way to convince her to`stop? i want my mom to live.....
Smoking is a personal freedom! I do not know why so many issyes about?!
The health damages are the issue. You can continue to smoke, that's fine. But we're all here to help those who WANT to quit smoking. If you don't want to quit and are happy with your bad habits, then that's your own freedom.
thansk for teh information, hopefully many smokers can read this hub and be motivated to stop smoking.
it was a good stuff for me to have found. with the knowledge read and internalized I hope to influence my colleagues who still enjoy smoking smoking to stop the habit immediately.
i thik that this is a good imformation for us as a student
Thank you so much for this information. I currenty smoke one pack ciggs per day, and for so long I just did it without thinking about the consequences, just enjoying the immediate effects. As a matter of fact I wasn't even thinking about quitting. It was an accident coming accross this article, then it looked interesting and i just started to read. .then I carefully read this article and the health risks scared the pants off me. I really want to quit, I pray I'll be able to do it.i hope other smokers like me see this 2 .thank u again.
Each and every smoker have to read this blog in order to stop smoking. You have clearly indicated the dangers caused due to cigars smoking. Thanks for the valuable information.
Just wanted to say Thank you. I have been thinking about quitting for about a month now. I have only been smoking for about eight years. I didn't start smoking till I was 25. I'm 33 now, and going to school to start a new career. I think I want to start a new way of life also. Thank you all for all the information on the health risks. I know I want to be around to see my children grow up and get married and go on with their own lives!
great article!!!
Go michele hope you can stop smoking...
it'll help you a lot!
so glad you chose to do it and you won't regret it!
Smoking is a nasty habit!!
watching these videos and illustrations really help me to understand why we should not smoke....
....that is why I never liked smoking.
My grandpa died of lung cancer due to smoking he started at the age of 13. I never ever want to start. It is so gross,not even close to cool. We should take care of our body and not harm others ariund us!
monitor says:
2 years ago
Oh man after seeing this any one smoking should really think about what they are doing. Please, please give up. Mon.