Facts About Smoking

Many research studies have been conducted to conclude on the facts about smoking cigarettes. All forms of tobacco smoking can be very harmful to the active smoker's health as well as non-smokers around them. It can also lead to death in chronic cases. Tobacco is known to have a stimulant substance within it called nicotine. This is what causes people to get addicted to smoking cigarettes. Many teenagers begin smoking  due to either peer pressure or the need to feel older and wise. A lot of adolescence who has been surveyed in high school (and has smoked over 100 cigarettes) has reported that they would like to quit cigarettes. Research shows that adolescence can have just as hard a time quitting smoking as long time smokers.

                                                              Illnesses and Smoking go Hand in Hand

All sorts of ailments and illnesses can develop as a cause of actively smoking and inhaling second hand smoke. Heart disease, emphysema, lung cancer, bronchitis and pneumonia (especially in children less than 18 months) are some of the health risks associated with inhaling smoke directly, mainstream (smoke from the exhalation of a smoker) and sidestream (smoke from the lit end of a cigarette).

International studies have shown that active smokers oftentimes have stained teeth, fingers and hair; increased amount of colds, such as chest colds and bronchitis; asthma; neauralgia; constipation; diarrhea and colitis; nausea; convulsions; heart murmur; Buerger's disease, which is inflammation of blood vessel linings; wrinkles and premature aging; eukoflakia or smoker's patch; insomnia; flu; gastric, duodenal and peptic ulcers. Many more ailments can be obtained by inhaling cigarette smoke.

While smoking cigarettes, it causes a widespread destruction of the tiny air sacs in your lungs, called alveoli. It also narrows the small blood vessels within the lungs, making it much harder to breathe. This causes blood pressure to rise, which then can lead to extensive circulatory problems and premature heart attacks. Physical activity in smokers is usually non-existent because of difficulties with breathing. Some circulatory problems are located in the hands and feet, which can sometimes lead to amputation of one or more limbs.

The lungs have tiny hair-like coverings called cilia and are layered on the thin membrane of the surface of the lungs and trachea. In a whipping and beating action, they produce and upward current that causes mucus and other foreign material to be cleansed from the lungs by coughing and then swallowed or expectorated. When smoking, cilia is at first paralyzed, then they eventually deteriorate. This delicate cleansing system is destructed, leaving the smoker with coughing as the only cleansing method for their lungs.

Non-Smokers Have Longer Life Expectancy and Are Healthier

Non-smokers are much more likely to get over and survive illnesses than smokers. Smokers are much more sensitive to even smaller sicknesses that could have been recovered from had they not been using cigarettes.

When a mother smokes during pregnancy, her baby will average to about six ounces or less and will have a pulse rate 30 percent faster than a non-smoker's baby. There will be withdrawal symptoms in the baby after birth (increased hunger, insomnia, irritability, etc).