Cigarette Smoking: Harmful Effects on the Body

Cigarette smoking is a practice of burning dried or cured tobacco leaves and inhaling its smoke. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about one-third of the total male population in the world smokes tobacco. In addition to this, non-smoking women get exposed to secondhand smoke or passive smoking, which means inhalation of the exhaled smoke from another person’s cigarette. Most people smoke tobacco in the form of cigarette. People smoke for a variety of reasons, some smoke for pleasure, others smoke thinking it looks cool. Many people start smoking during their teenage due to the influence of others (family members or friends). However, if one starts smoking for any reason, it usually ends in becoming a habit. Knowingly or unknowingly, people get addicted to smoking.

Harmful Effects of Cigarette Smoking

Tobacco contains harmful chemicals such as nicotine and cyanide, which at higher doses are lethal. Nicotine is an alkaloid that has been used in insecticides and in medicines. Though everyone is aware of the fact that smoking can cause serious life-threatening health complications, people can’t quit since nicotine is highly addictive, similar to heroin and other addictive drugs. Researchers have found out that nicotine has a powerful impact on the brain activity and the body and mind get used to it as normal. Due to its unavoidable harmful effects, governments have launched public awareness programs and campaigns that ban smoking in public places. Let’s see some of the harmful effects of smoking on the human body.

Heart Disease and Stroke: Every time a person smokes, his/her heart rate increases temporarily due to the smoke that contains a mixture of carbon monoxide and nicotine. It results in straining the heart and blood vessels, leading to high blood pressure or hypertension. Smoking also causes fat deposition in the blood vessels and narrows them, causing heart attack and stroke. There are also cases of paralysis of feet and hands due to reduced blood supply and lack of oxygen in those parts of the body. About 30% of the deaths from heart disease are due to smoking.

Emphysema: Cigarette smoking is one of the major causes of emphysema. Emphysema is a chronic disease caused due to damage and destruction of the walls of the alveoli (tiny air sacs) in the lungs. Cigarette smoke enhances the production of substances that reduce the elasticity of the air sacs inside the lungs. This results in the overall reduction of the lung’s ability in inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide. About 80-90% of cases of emphysema are due to cigarette smoking. Patients of emphysema suffer from shortness of breath.

Cancer: Smoking can cause different types of cancer including lung, throat, stomach, and bladder cancer. Overall, 30% cases of cancer and 87% percent of lung cancer are due to smoking. Lung cancer is caused due to the tar (a thick sticky substance) in the tobacco smoke. It is found out that male smokers have 10 times more chances of getting lung cancer, than the non-smoking male population.

Heartburn and Peptic Ulcer: Smoking affects the whole digestive system of the body leading to heartburn and peptic ulcer. It weakens the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), and allows entry of the stomach’s natural acidic juices to esophagus, which in turn causes heartburn. Smoking increases the chances of infection of the stomach lining and also leads to excessive secretion of stomach acids. Therefore cases of peptic ulcer are seen more among people who smoke cigarettes.

Passive smoking is highly dangerous. According to a study, women who are exposed to passive smoking either in their childhood or as adults have high risk of fertility problems. It has also been suggested that they have more chances of miscarriage than other women who have not been exposed to tobacco.

Smoking affects mostly all the organs of the body and suppresses the body’s immune system. It results in bad skin (due to lack of oxygen supply), bad breath (halitosis) and also leads to yellowing of teeth. People who smoke are more susceptible to bronchitis, pneumonia and other respiratory diseases. Both men and women face fertility problems due to smoking. Smoking during pregnancy may result in the impairment of the baby's growth and development. Smoking is thus harmful and can shorten our life-span. So, let’s accept the smoking facts and stop smoking and practice healthy living.