Smoking

The effects of smoking cigarettes

Smoking is involved in most of all lung cancer deaths. An individual with chronic bronchitis, which is caused by smoking, is more likely to get a bacterial infection if he or she is a smoker. A smoker gets more nose and throat infections, respiratory infections, and bronchitis.

Cigarette smoking accounts for a third of all heart disease deaths. The carbon monoxide in the cigarette smoke increases the amount of cholesterol clogging the arteries. Smoking causes stiffness in the walls of the arteries, which are, is harmful to the artery and increases the risk for the artery to rupture. The nicotine in cigarettes can raise your blood pressure, heart rate, and the oxygen demand for muscles, especially the heart.

Cigarette Smoking is the major cause of cancer of the lips, tongue, salivary glands, mouth, and esophagus. The development of stomach cancer can be directly associated with smoking. Smoking is known to cause bladder cancer. Quitting smoking will not result in a high reduction in the risk of getting bladder cancer. A strong association exists between smoking and leukemia. Women who smoke are at an increased risk of osteoporosis.

Second Hand smoking can also be harmful. Infants and children have tender tissues and are more sensitive to second hand smoke. Many develop cancers when they get older.

It is about 53,000 deaths per year as a result of passive smoking in the United States. 37,000 of these deaths come from cardiovascular disease.

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The effects of tobacco smoke are just as bad, if not worse, in nonsmokers as in smokers. All of the risks for smokers also hold true for exposure to second hand smoke. Tobacco smoke is made up of many hazardous vapors and particles that when inhaled are harmful to both the smoker and to others around. The smoke at the end of a burning cigarette has more particles that are smaller and more harmful than the smoke directly inhaled by the smoker. These smaller particles go deeper into the lung tissue and do more damage. With reduced oxygen, the heart, lungs and brain cannot function properly. This leads to permanent brain and blood vessel change.