General effects of Cigarette

Smoking continues to be one of the greatest causes of illness and death in the world. In fact, the effects of smoking are so debilitative, that often the first step of any health improvement program is stopping the habit immediately, and is thought to be even more important than exercise, diet, or vitamins. Here are a few facts about smoking, explaining why it is so harmful and inappropriate.

Smokers usually have smelly hair, breath, clothes, and, if they smoke indoors, a smelly room. The stench of cigarette smoke is very penetrating and hard to remove. Even if the person quits smoking the odor remains for a long time. It stains the teeth yellow or sometimes even brown. Since this effect is long term, most people are not aware of it when they begin smoking. The truth is that a cigarette stain is very hard to eliminate from the teeth, and it will probably end up costing a considerable amount of money. Yellow teeth are disgusting because they give an unhygienic image and make people look older. Depending on the country the prices of cigarettes can differ. But even at an affordable price the regular consumption of cigarettes will eventually take its economic toll.

Deaths related to smoking are due mainly to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), heart disease and cancers. Smoking related illnesses kill around half of all smokers. The average life expectancy of a long-term smoker is reduced by 8 to 12 years compared to a non-smoker. The younger one is when smoking is begun, the higher the chances of smoking for longer, and dying early from smoking related diseases.

Nicotine, which is a drug contained in cigarette smoke, stimulates the brain. In people who are regular smokers, when the nicotine levels in their blood falls, they usually experience withdrawal symptoms like craving for a smoke, restlessness, irritability, anxiety, headache, difficulty in concentrating, or just an overall feeling of awfulness. Lighting up another cigarette relieves these symptoms almost instantaneously. Hence, in order to feel ‘normal’, and not get the withdrawal symptoms, smokers need to keep smoking regularly. This is what addiction to smoking is all about.

Secondhand smoke is a mixture of smoke from the burning end of a cigarette, pipe or cigar and the smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers. It is involuntarily inhaled, lingers in the air hours after cigarettes have been extinguished, and can cause a wide range of adverse health effects, including cancer, respiratory infections, and asthma. Secondhand smoke causes the same negative health effects as tobacco smoking, particularly heart diseases and cancer. Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or work increase their heart disease risk by 25–30% and their lung cancer risk by 20–30%. Secondhand smoke has been estimated to cause 38,000 deaths per year, of which 3,400 are deaths from lung cancer in non-smokers.

According to three separate studies commissioned by governments in the US and Europe, scientists have identified a genetic link that makes people more likely to become addicted to tobacco. This genetic variation causes individuals to smoke more cigarettes, makes it harder for them to quit and increases their likelihood of developing lung cancer by up to 80%.
Genetic markers of more than 35,000 people were surveyed by scientists in three separate studies, and all three found lung cancer to be associated with similar sets of genetic differences. Possessing a single copy of the mutation raises an individual’s risk of lung cancer by approximately 30%; for two copies the increase is about 80%. The gene was found to be attributable to 14% of lung cancer cases, and it was found to confer similar lung cancer risks irrespective of smoking status or quantity smoked.

There are also the social and emotional effects of cigarette. The social ones are polluting the air, putting others at risk from passive smoking, spoilt clothes and home, increased risk of fire in the home; the emotional ones are constant nagging sense of guilt to give up, non-smokers thinking of the habit as disgusting, not being in control of the habit, increasing pressure from society to quit.

However, there is good news for smokers: Stopping the habit makes a great difference to their health, and it is never too late to quit and benefit from its healthy effects.