Smoking Tobacco: Is Among The Leading Causes Of Many Diseases.

What is Smoking?

Smoking is an act of burning substances in which the resulting smoke is breathed in to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, which have been rolled into a small rectangle of rolling paper to create a small, round cylinder called a "cigarette". Smoking is primarily practised as a route of administration for recreational drug use because the combustion of the dried plant leaves vaporizes and delivers active substances into the lungs where they are rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream and reach bodily tissue. In the case of cigarette smoking these substances are contained in a mixture of aerosol particles and gases and include the pharmacologically active alkaloid nicotine; the vaporization creates heated aerosol and gas into a form that allows inhalation and deep penetration into the lungs where absorption into the bloodstream of the active substances occurs. In some cultures, smoking is also carried out as a part of various rituals, where participants use it to help induce trance-like states that, they believe, can lead them to spiritual enlightenment.

Smoking is one of the most common forms of recreational drug use. Tobacco smoking is the most popular form, being practised by over one billion people globally, the majority of these smokers are living in developing countries. Less common drugs for smoking include cannabis and opium. Some of the substances are classified as hard narcotics, like heroin, but the use of these is very limited as they are usually not commercially available. Cigarettes are primarily industrially manufactured but also can be hand-rolled from loose tobacco and rolling paper. Other smoking implements include pipes, cigars, bidis, hookahs, and bongs.

Smoking can be dated to as early as 5000 BCE, and has been recorded in many different cultures across the world. Early smoking evolved in association with religious ceremonies; as offerings to deities(Human or non human with supernatural power), in cleansing rituals or to allow shamans and priests to alter their minds for purposes of divination or spiritual enlightenment. 

After the European exploration and conquest of the Americas, the practice of smoking tobacco quickly spread to the rest of the world. In regions like India and Sub-Saharan Africa, it merged with existing practices of smoking (mostly of cannabis). In Europe, it introduced a new type of social activity and a form of drug intake which previously had been unknown.

 Results from Tobacco use

Tobacco use is a leading cause of cancer and of death from cancer. People who use tobacco products or who are regularly around environmental tobacco smoke (also called secondhand smoke) have an increased risk of cancer because tobacco products and secondhand smoke have many chemicals that damage DNA.

Tobacco use causes many types of cancer, including cancer of the lung, larynx (voice box), mouth, esophagus, throat, bladder, kidney, liver, stomach, pancreas, colon and rectum, and cervix, as well as acute myeloid leukemia. People who use smokeless tobacco (snuff or chewing tobacco) have increased risks of cancers of the mouth, esophagus, and pancreas.

There is no safe level of tobacco use. People who use any type of tobacco product are strongly urged to quit.  People who quit smoking, regardless of their age, have substantial gains in life expectancy compared with those who continue to smoke. Also, quitting smoking at the time of a cancer diagnosis reduces the risk of death.

What are the constituents of Tobacco?

The primary constituents of tobacco smoke are nicotine, tar (the particulate residue from combustion), and gases such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Although nicotine can be poisonous at very high dosages, its toxic effect as a component of tobacco smoke is generally considered modest compared with that of many other toxins in the smoke. The main health effect of nicotine is its addictiveness. 

Carbon monoxide has profound, immediate health effects. It passes easily from the lungs into the bloodstream, where it binds to hemoglobin, the molecule in red blood cells that is responsible for the transfer of oxygen in the body. Carbon monoxide displaces oxygen on the hemoglobin molecule and is removed only slowly. Therefore, smokers frequently accumulate high levels of carbon monoxide, which starves the body of oxygen and puts an enormous strain on the entire cardiovascular system.

The harmful effects of smoking are not limited to the smoker. The toxic components of tobacco smoke are found not only in the smoke that the smoker inhales but also in environmental tobacco smoke, or secondhand smoke—that is, the smoke exhaled by the smoker (mainstream smoke) and the smoke that rises directly from the smoldering tobacco (sidestream smoke). Nonsmokers who are routinely exposed to environmental tobacco smoke are at increased risk for some of the same diseases that afflict smokers, including lung cancer and cardiovascular disease.

  What is the perception on smoking?

Perception surrounding smoking has varied over time and from one place to another: holy and sinful, sophisticated and vulgar, a panacea and deadly health hazard.

In the last decade of the 20th century, smoking came to be viewed in a decidedly negative light, especially in Western countries. Smoking generally has negative health effects, because smoke inhalation inherently poses challenges to various physiologic processes such as respiration. 

Smoking tobacco is among the leading causes of many diseases such as lung cancer, heart attack, COPD, erectile dysfunction, and birth defects. Diseases related to tobacco smoking have been shown to kill approximately half of long-term smokers when compared to average mortality rates faced by non-smokers.

Smoking caused over five million deaths a year from 1990 to 2015. The health hazards of smoking have caused many countries to institute high taxes on tobacco products, run ads to discourage use, limit ads that promote use, and provide help with quitting for those who do smoke.

What are the effects of Smoking?

Smoking kills, smoking causes cancer and smokers are at greater risk for diseases that affect the heart and blood vessels (cardiovascular disease).

 1. Cardiovascular disease

Chemicals in tobacco smoke increase the chance of heart problems and cardiovascular diseases.

Smoking causes atherosclerosis, which is when plaque builds up in the blood and sticks to the artery walls. This makes them narrower, reducing blood flow and increasing the risk of blood clots.

Smoking also damages the blood vessels, making them thicker and narrower. This makes it harder for blood to flow, and also increases blood pressure and heart rate.

Smoking has links with the following cardiovascular conditions:

coronary heart disease, one of the leading causes of death in the U.S

a heart attack, as smoking doubles the risk of heart attack

blockages that reduce blood flow to the skin and legs

stroke due to blood clots or burst blood vessels in the brain.

Even smokers who smoke 5 or fewer cigarettes a day may develop early signs of cardiovascular disease.

Carbon monoxide and nicotine make the heart work harder and faster. This means that smoking makes it more challenging to exercise. A lack of exercise further increases the risk of health problems.

Smoking causes stroke and coronary heart disease, which are among the leading causes of death in the United States.

Even people who smoke fewer than five cigarettes a day can have early signs of cardiovascular disease.

Smoking damages blood vessels and can make them thicken and grow narrower. This results in fast heart beat, high blood pressure and blood clots can also form.

A stroke occurs when:

A clot blocks the blood flow to part of your brain;

A blood vessel in or around your brain bursts.

Blockages caused by smoking can also reduce blood flow to your legs and skin.

 2. Smoking and Respiratory Disease

Smoking can cause lung disease by damaging the airways and the small air sacs (alveoli) found in your lungs.

Lung diseases caused by smoking include COPD, which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

Cigarette smoking causes most cases of lung cancer.

If you have asthma, tobacco smoke can trigger an attack or make an attack worse.

Smokers are 12 to 13 times more likely to die from COPD than nonsmokers.

  3. Effects of Smoking on Brain

Smoking can increase the likelihood of having a stroke by 2–4 times. Strokes can cause brain damage and death.

One way that stroke can cause brain injury is through a brain aneurysm, which occurs when the wall of a blood vessel weakens and creates a bulge. This bulge can burst and cause a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which can lead to a stroke.

 4. Effects of Smoking on Bones

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), smoking reduces bone density, making the bones weaker and more brittle. Smoking can also impair bone healing after a fracture.

Researchers find it difficult to say whether this is a direct effect of smoking, or due to other risk factors prevalent in people who smoke. These include lower body weight and doing less physical exercise.

This may affect females more than males. Females are more prone to osteoporosis and broken bones.

Quitting smoking, even later in life, can help limit bone loss linked with smoking.

 5. Integumentary system (skin, hair, and nails)

The more obvious signs of smoking involve skin changes. Substances in tobacco smoke actually change the structure of your skin. A recent study has shown that smoking dramatically increases the risk of squamous cell carcinoma (skin cancer).

Your fingernails and toenails are not immune from the effects of smoking. Smoking increases the likelihood of fungal nail infections.

Hair is also affected by nicotine. An older study found it increases hair loss, balding, and graying.

 6. Effects of Smoking on Digestive system

Smoking increases the risk of mouth, throat, larynx, and esophagus cancer. Smokers also have higher rates of pancreatic cancer. Even people who “smoke but don’t inhale” face an increased risk of mouth cancer.

Smoking also has an effect on insulin, making it more likely that you will develop insulin resistance. That puts you at increased risk of type 2 diabetes and its complications, which tend to develop at a faster rate than in people who don’t smoke.

 7. Sexuality and reproductive system

Nicotine affects blood flow to the genital areas of both men and women. For men, this can decrease sexual performance. For women, this can result in sexual dissatisfaction by decreasing lubrication and the ability to reach orgasm. Smoking may also lower sex hormone levels in both men and women. This can possibly lead to decreased sexual desire.

 8. Effects on pregnancy

Women who smoke are more likely to experience infertility and miscarriage (spontaneous abortion). When a pregnant woman smokes, some toxins from the smoke can be passed to the fetus. These toxins can later affect an infant’s lung development and lung function. Babies of women who smoke are more likely to be born prematurely, to have a low birth weight, and to have slower initial growth. Smoking cessation within the first trimester lowers these health risks to a level comparable to those of people who have never smoked. Infants in households where there is a smoker are more likely to die from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death.

  How do I quit smoking?

Quitting smoking is difficult, but your doctor can help you make a plan. Ask for doctor's advice. 

There are a variety of nonprescription and prescription medications that can help you quit. You can also search and read article on how to quit smoking here. 

 

There are both short and long-term benefits to quitting smoking. Since smoking affects every body system, finding a way to quit is the most important step you can take to living a longer and happier life.

Sources:

www.cdc.gov

www.wikipedia.com

+3 other sources