Beware of Secondhand Smoking!

Secondhand smoke is a mixture of the smoke given off by the burning end of a cigarette, pipe, or cigar, and the smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers. This mixture contains more than 4,000 substances, more than 40 of which are known to cause cancer in humans or animals and many of which are strong irritants. Secondhand smoke is also called environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). This smoke can damage ones health even if one isnt a smoker. It is the third major cause of lung cancer. Research shows that the secondhand smoke that many people are exposed to is enough to prove fatal. Researchers have identified carbon monoxide and nicotine in environmental tobacco smoke to increase the risk to health.

There is a two-fold problem due to passive smoking. First, infants and young children suffer maximum amount of health risks. For young children, the major source of tobacco smoke is smoking by parents and other household members. Children whose parents smoke are among the most seriously affected by exposure to secondhand smoke, being at increased risk of lower respiratory tract infections such as pneumonia and bronchitis. Maternal smoking is usually the largest source of ETS because of the cumulative effect of exposure during pregnancy and close proximity to the mother during early life. Second, the environment is effected irreversibly. Smoking in a public place pollutes the air and it can result in damage to health in a number of ways. Combustion by-products from smoking tobacco have produced substances, smoke included, that contaminate indoor air. The problem affecting a person, who is in a contaminated environment, may result in coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, muscular aches, chills, headaches, fever and fatigue.

Secondhand smoke is a serious health risk to children. Asthmatic children are especially at risk. Passive smoking may also cause thousands of non-asthmatic children to develop the condition each year. It has been postulated that passive smoking causes more frequent and more severe attacks of asthma in children who already have the disease. The worst affected are the developing lungs of young children by exposure to secondhand smoke. Hence, they are more likely to have reduced lung function and symptoms of respiratory irritation like cough, excess phlegm, and wheeze. Childhood exposure to ETS is also causally associated with acute and chronic middle ear disease. It leads to buildup of fluid in the middle ear, the most common cause of hospitalization of children for an operation. Passive smoking causes artery damage that only partially heals. The artery lining is still not as healthy as the arteries of people who had never been exposed to smoke.

The medical impact of passive smoking is tremendous. A number of diseases and conditions result from this. First, the carbon monoxide competes with oxygen in the red blood cells. It not only reduces the amount of oxygen in the heart, it also makes the heart use oxygen less efficiently. During childbirth and infancy, low birth weight and cot death, better known as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), are common outcomes. Adverse impact on learning and behavioural development, meningococcal infections, neurobiological impairment, cancers and leukaemia may occur in various degrees in children. ETS has enhanced the incidence of childhood cancer dramatically. Also, a significant increase in food allergies has been observed in children exposed to secondhand smoke.

In conclusion, the aforementioned facts provide the most definitive evidence to date of the health effects of ETS or passive smoking on non-smokers. It is now known that exposure to ETS causes a number of fatal and non-fatal health effects. Heart disease mortality, sudden infant death syndrome, and lung and nasal sinus cancer have been causally linked to ETS exposure. While the relative health risks are small compared to those from active smoking, the diseases are common and the overall health impact is large. In view of the considerable health impact of passive smoking, particularly on the young, measures to restrict smoking in indoor environments should be a major public health objective.

Reprinted from: http://www.many-articles.com/Article/Health-and-Fitness/Quit-Smoking/200609/Passive-Smoking/

Smoking Increases Growth of High-Risk Polyps in the Colon

According to recent studies, tobacco smoking seems to promote growth of polyps in the large intestine. Researchers found that current smokers were twice as likely as nonsmokers to develop colon polyps. Former smokers also showed a raised risk, though it was less than that of current smokers.

Moreover, the studies found, smoking was peculiarly connected to "risky" polyps; while most intestibal polyps are not dangerous, high-risk ones are comparatively more likely to become cancerous.

The results give the scientific proof that tobacco smoking contributes to both the formation of polyps and their aggressiveness.

While smoking does seem to be a risk factor for polyps, past studies have been mixed as to whether it raises the risk of colon cancer itself. It can be explained by the fact that many studies may not have followed smokers for a long enough period; any heightened colon cancer risk from smoking could take decades to emerge.

The current results suggest that those who refrain from smoking can lower their risk of polyps and, subsequently, colon cancer.

According to scientists, there's also the possibility that smokers would benefit from earlier colon cancer screening. So, patients are advised to start colon cancer screening at the age of 50, though people at higher-than-average risk, such as those with ulcerative colitis, or a family history of colon cancer, often start earlier.

As a matter of fact, some physicians have already suggested lowering the screening age for longtime smokers.

Intestinal polyps typically emerge after the age of fifty, and the large majority of colon cancers develop after this age as well. But it's still not clear whether smokers tend to develop polyps at an earlier-than-average age, or whether their polyps tend to progress more rapidly to cancer.

What is evident is that both current and former smokers should be especially persistent and careful about following the current recommendations on colon cancer screening.

Long Term Hazards of Smoking

There has been so much discussion about the long term effects of smoking, such as increased chance of lung cancer and heart disease. There are so many others that while they may be just as much of a concern, they never seem to get as much documentation. If you have ever thought that maybe you would like to quit smoking, take the time to read through the rest of this article to get a better picture of what you may face if you don't quit.

Lung cancer isn't the only cancer that can be caused by smoking. Research also supports the fact that other cancers can be attributed to smoking as well. Some of the more common ones that you might suspect are cancer of the mouth, larynx, tongue and skin. Obviously these cancers are due to the direct smoke contact when inhaling a cigarette. A smoker with these types of cancer can expect to end up needing a stoma, which provides an opening into the throat directly. It often needs to be suctioned out in order to stay open. And, a voice box could be a possibility as well.

Other cancers that can be caused from smoking include kidney, bladder, cervix and breast. Recent evidence from research show that smokers are more prone to these cancers as well. In the case of kidney and bladder cancer it is really quite understandable actually. As the smoke enters the body, it goes into the lungs (which accounts for the high rates of lung cancer). The lungs filter the smoke into the bloodstream, which then is put into the kidneys. The kidneys produce urine, and the urine containing the remaining toxins that have been filtered out collects in the bladder. While in the bladder, the cells lining the bladder will be damaged.

COPD is also a very common concern. This stands for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease - and it ranges from a very mild case of bronchitis (often how it starts), to more severe cases. Emphysema is almost a certainty in long term smokers, and if you have never had to watch someone suffer with this disease then you are very fortunate. The air sacs in the lungs collapse and there is nowhere for the oxygen to exchange. This ends up in the person basically smothering - over a long time period.

There are so many other possible long term effects of smoking - including permanent nasal congestion, coughing, vision problems, gum disease - even amputation of limbs due to the inability of the body to provide oxygen to certain parts of the body. The truth of the matter is that there are so many negative physical effects to smoking that if you are even just thinking about quitting - you need to make a commitment and stop now before it is too late.

Article source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Long-Term-Effects-Of-Smoking-You-May-Not-Have-Been-Aware-Of&id=962163

Some Indisputable Reasons To Stop Smoking Now

If you haven't had the real impulse and motivation to stop smoking yet even though you may have heard how bad smoking can be to your health, you may need some more sound reasons to try and quit this bad habit. Let's consider them, here they are:

Brain Damage

Yes, no matter how frightful it sounds, it's really so. As a matter of fact a part of the senior population that smokes tobacco can experience a swift decline in their mental powers than does those who don't smoke. People with the effects of Alzheimer's disease as well that smoke cigarettes will notice the faster decline of their mental abilities than those people with Alzheimer's that are not addicted to this habit. When you smoke, you are clogging your arterial blood vessels. In this case you are at increased risk of stroke and this can speed up mental decline. To put it straight, those who are habitual tobacco smokers risk damage to the brain and can speed up the onset of a variety of diseases.

Smoking and Erectile Disfunction in Men

You would never believe that the consequences of smoking would get you in the bedroom, but many investigations show that it can and often does. Many men that suffer from erectile disfunction are puzzled about the real reason. But it it may rest in the pack of cigarettes that you smoke. It is statistically proven that those men who smoke a pack of cigarettes a day or more have more than a fifteen percent chance of having trouble getting an erection than those men who didn't smoke cigarettes.

Smoking and Immune System

Anyone who smokes cigarettes is at a higher risk for developing lupus and other conditions that affect the autoimmune system. Conditions of the autoimmune system include damage to your tissue, pain as well as inflammation. If you stop smoking today, you can bring down this risk considerably.

Smoking and a Developing Baby

Though many moms waiting for a child are aware of the risks that may tell on their baby they still light up a cig. But don't you know that moms who smoke during their pregnancy almost double the risk of their children being a victim of sudden infant death syndrom. Though many cases of sudden infant death syndrom can be traced to bed sharing habits, many investigations showed it was a particular danger for the child if the mother smoked throughout her pregnancy.

Smoking, Snoring and Sleeping Disorders

Bear in mind, if you smoke you are probably having a hard time at night breathing, because smoking impacts on every aspect of your respiratory system. Often smokers are violent snorers. What's more, they can also experience episodes of sleep apnea. It happens when you stops breathing for a short period of time while at sleep. This results in tiredness, depression, lack of attention, fatigue the next day. Severe smoking leads to insomnia in many cases.

And you can get rid of these problems and more and never come back to them if you just stop smoking. Today is as good a day to begin a new life! So what are you waiting for?