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Harmful Effects of Smoking on the body

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Smoking is the inhalation of smoke produced by burning tobacco rolled in cigarettes, cigars and pipes. Smoking is believed to begin as early as 5000 BC. Smoking is the common method of consuming tobacco and it is a habit of addiction to tobacco products. Smoking is said to develop enjoyable and pleasing emotions like boosting mood, treats minor depression, and relieves stress and anger because of addictive substance called nicotine. Nicotine develops pleasurable sensation by stimulating dopamine in the brain. When a person smokes a cigarette, the smoke enters the lungs directly and can be absorbed by the body tissues.

Cigarette smoking produces different types of smoke like
Mainstream stroke– smoke inhaled directly through burning cigarette by the smoker.
Exhaled mainstream stroke- smoke breathed out by the smoker.
Side stream stroke– smoke drifts from the burning end of cigarette.
Second hand smoke– it is also called as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). It is the combination of exhale mainstream and side stream stroke.
Both smokers and non-smokers get affected by smoking. People who are non-smokers get affected by breathing the second hand smoke in the environment. When we breathe second hand smoke we breathe same chemicals as a smoking person breathes. Not only smoking but also being around smokers causes health problems. Cigarette smoking is bad for health and causes several health problems and causes premature death. Smoking causes one million deaths in India every year. Though smoking gives pleasure and good feeling for short period, it causes several dangerous health issues and kills slowly. Some short term effects that smoking causes are bad breath, yellow teeth, stomach ulcers, wrinkles, weak immune system, breathing problems and smoke smell from their clothes.

Long Term Effects of Smoking :

Smoking is enormously harmful to our health and gives many health problems. Some long term health consequences of smoking include
Respiratory problems– Cigarette smoking causes many problems in your lungs and airways. Airways get irritated, become narrow and treat the air flow. It causes coughing and respiratory problems. Smoking increases risk of asthma, pneumonia and bronchitis.
Cancer– Chemicals present in cigarette causes various kinds of cancers like lung, mouth, throat, kidney, liver, pancreas and stomach cancers.
Heart diseases and stroke– Smoking causes narrowing and blockages in arteries. This leads to coronary heart disease, stroke and damages vessels.
Diabetes– Smoking increases sugar levels and leads to type 2 diabetes.
Infertility– Both men and women who smoke are at higher risk of infertility. Men who smoke face problems like poor sperm quality and erectile dysfunction. Women who smoke are at high risk of infertility, miscarriage, bleeding and early delivery.
Damages mouth and throat– Smoking leads to gum diseases, bad breath, damage sense of taste and leads to throat and voice box cancers.
Osteoporosis– People, who smoke are at high risk of osteoporosis and bone degeneration.

Smoking damages almost every organ of our body. The one and only way to protect against these dangerous health issues is to stop smoking. Quitting smoking may be hard but it is very helpful to you and your family.

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