HappyLifestyleJournal
The habit of smoking is one of the biggest health issues in the world today. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (http://www.hhs.gov/), smoking causes more than 470,000 deaths per year in the United States. Even the imposition of higher taxes on it has not stopped many people from buying them and inhaling the poisonous smoke that it emits. Why? It’s because people have become addicted to cigarettes and to the vision of the lifestyle cigarettes project. More information should be disseminated in order to make them realize what smoking can do to their bodies. It doesn’t matter how or when have you started smoking, NOW is the best time to break the habit.
Cigarette Content
Tobacco is made up of more than 4,000 chemicals, including over 70 known to cause cancer, and if you knew what cigarettes contain, you just might quit immediately. A single cigarette contains arsenic, which is used to kill insects, formaldehyde, used for preserving dead bodies and cyanide, used for poison production and in explosives. And this is just the tip of the toxic iceberg.
Lung Related Diseases
Smoking can cause lung diseases by damaging the airways and the small air sacs (alveoli) located in the lungs. Years of smoking can lead to all sorts of lung related diseases like asthma, wheezing, emphysema, coughs and shortness of breath, and not to mention lung cancer. Don’t wait for the moment when you spend most of your time in bed, and breathing with the aid of an oxygen tank. Even walking short distances will take great effort. If you already have asthma, smoking can set off an attack or make an attack more severe.
Lung Cancer Is Just the Tip of the Cancer Iceberg
You probably though that, in most cases, smoking causes ‘only’ lung cancer. Well, then here is something to contemplate on – heavy smoking can increase the risk of developing the following cancers: bladder, cervix colon and colorectal, blood (acute myeloid leukemia), esophagus, kidney, larynx, liver, oropharynx (includes parts of the throat, soft palate, tongue and the tonsils), pancreas, stomach, trachea, bronchus cancer, and the infamous lung cancer. This means that smoking can cause cancer in any part of the human body. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (http://www.hhs.gov/), if nobody smoked one of every three cancer deaths in the United States would not happen.
Sexual Problems
It has been claimed that men who smoke have a higher chance of experiencing erectile dysfunction and reduced sperm count. It is because smoking damages the muscles in the penis responsible for erectile function. Of course, sexual problems are not bound to only these issues. As we already mentioned, due to smoking you may feel shortness of breath which can hinder the sexual experience, and when sexual performance decreases, so does sexual desire. It has to be said that women smokers are also risking a lot, like miscarriage, cervical and breast cancer and reduced fertility. Not to mention the health problems of babies being born to smoking mothers, like low birth weight, sudden infant death syndrome, preterm delivery, or in some extreme cases even stillbirth.
Skin Appearance
When a person stops smoking for even just a week, their skin will appear healthier and more glowing. Smoking makes the skin look dull and also speeds up ageing. It can cause your skin to have wrinkles at an early age and make you look older than your actual age.
Enhanced Sense of Taste and Smell
Smoking dulls your taste buds, and that’s why you seem to lose appetite during meal times. Even your sense of smell gets affected, so even if you were eating the most awful smelling meal, you wouldn’t know it. It’s better if you stop smoking and start enjoying your food.
Better Oral Condition
Smoking causes your teeth to become yellowish and more brittle. It can lead to excessive teeth loss. Brushing more often will not help because the nicotine in your cigarette sticks on your teeth and around the gums. You will also definitely have foul smelling breath, which can cause embarrassment everywhere you go. So, always remember to bring breath mints, and lots of it.
Healthier Family
Second-hand smoke increases the risk of your family to develop heart and lung diseases compared to smokers. Exposing them to cigarette smoke is not only doubly bad for them, it also makes them feel like you don’t care for their health. Making your loved ones suffer because of your habit is really not a good idea.
Warnings on the harmful effects of smoking have been widely advertised all over the world, but the problem still persists. Drastic methods must be implemented in order to remove this habit from our society. It endangers everyone and keeps smokers from living a longer and healthier life. If you care about your health and your family’s wellbeing, NOW is the best time to quit.
If you find yourself reading this article, and thinking about quitting smoking here is a link to the guide to quitting smoking provided to you by the American Cancer Society.
