Smoking

Overall Description

Smoking is a world-wide habit, causing damage to the health of any individual and the whole society. Almost all categories of population are involved in the smoking process, and, what is the most dangerous, women and youth are among them.

Tobacco smoking is one of the most common types of abuse, covering a large number of people.

Smoking a cigarette gives pleasure to the smoker. The need to smoke appears particularly after a meal, while drinking, and negative emotions during strenuous work. At the same time the inhaled nicotine doesn’t have any positive effect on the body. The cigarette is rather distracting factor: it helps to push bad thoughts away or to stop hard work. Joint smoking facilitates contact between people.

According to doctors, the third most extended type of cancers is related to smoking. As a result of bad habits, the life expectancy is shortened, mortality is increased, and handicapped babies are born. The desire to stay healthy is an important social need of people, and the necessary condition for an adequate life. But many people ignore this danger, continue to abuse tobacco. Numerous surveys have shown that many people don’t possess enough information about all the dangers and consequences of smoking.

Consequences of Smoking

Tobacco smoking is the first of preventable causes of death in the world, but from 3.5 to 5.4 million people die annually due to health problems caused by smoking. In developed countries (e.g. USA), life expectancy of smokers is about 13 years shorter than that of non-smokers.

When you inhale cigarette smoke, it passes through your mouth and throat into the lungs. The smoke contains over four thousand chemicals including highly toxic and cancer-causing substances. For example, there are formaldehyde, benzene, arsenic and others. These substances interact with body tissues. When the smoke reaches the lungs, it is deposited there in the form of resins.

A large number of chemicals get into the bloodstream through the lungs. Carbon monoxide (exactly the same as cars exhaust!) replaces a part of the oxygen in blood. It causes a lack of oxygen in all organs, including the brain. One of the chemical elements getting into the blood is the nicotine. Its regular use leads to nicotine addiction. Nicotine is found in tobacco (2%) and in some other plants. It is absorbed by the body while smoking tobacco. Nicotine is a strong poison. In small doses it acts on nervous system as a stimulant, in high doses it causes its paralysis (respiratory failure, cessation of cardiac activity).

Smoking and the lung. Cigarette smoke comes into direct contact with the lungs, greatly increasing the risk of cancer, pneumonia, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and other lung diseases that difficulty breathing. Fortunately, many changes are reversible.

Smoking and your heart. The effect of chemical substances contained in tobacco smoke represents a major risk factor to get sick with myocardial infarction and other heart diseases.

Smoking and your appearance. Smoking affects negatively your appearance. It causes yellowing of the teeth and nails, as well as increasing the number of wrinkles and leads to the syndrome of “smoker’s face”.

Many people believe that smoking helps control weight. But in fact, giving up smoking, people gain no more than 3 kg. A proper diet and exercises can help control your weight after you quit smoking.

Due to years of smoking muscle blood vessels begin to contract convulsively, as a result many small cracks are formed in the tissue. These injuries lead to very adverse consequences. First of all, blood cells become stickier and form clots, and secondly, there are small scars, and smooth internal surface of blood vessels becomes rough. This roughness contributes to the accumulation of particles of fat and lime, and it accelerates atherosclerosis.

Smoking and health of men and women. In men, smoking increases the risk of impotence. In women, smoking leads to many complications of pregnancy such as premature delivery and decreased ability to bear children. Women who smoke may also have an earlier onset of menopause.

Smoking and cancer. Smoking may cause cancer in the organs that are in contact with the smoke: lungs, throat and mouth. As the chemicals from the smoke get into the blood, cancer may occur in many other organs.

Smoking and other diseases. Smoking also can cause diseases such as peptic ulcer and duodenal ulcer, bronchitis, endarteritis obliterans, atherosclerosis, autoimmune disease, etc.

Second-hand smoke. Smoking affects not only you. Tobacco smoke gets into the lungs of others and this may cause any complications which occur with active smokers.

How to Stop Smoking?

Quitting smoking is difficult because of the symptoms such as insomnia, irritability, nervousness, bradycardia, tendency to put on weight. A large percentage (60%) of people trying to quit smoking returned to the habit again three months later. Most smokers do not see any need to quit smoking, because the risks of smoking are long-term.

Do not think that you won’t be affected by negative effects of smoking! You are not an exception, and as all organisms, you live according to the laws of nature. If you smoke, you will always be under the risk of contracting serious diseases. Each cigarette takes away a part of your expectancy of life. So, quitting smoking is vital for you!

Everyone is different and there is no a universal recipe “How to stop smoking.” However, mankind has gained an extensive experience of tobacco control. There are psychological trainings, substitutes of cigarettes, special medicines.

In fact, it’s not necessary to transform the process of parting with cigarettes in a depressing process. There is a way to stop smoking without stress and harm to the body. The most harmless way for the organism to quit smoking is the use of natural food supplements.

Natural Way to Stop Smoking

Supplements are intended to fuel the weakened organism of the smoker. The smoker suffers from the lack of B vitamins, as well as C, E and beta carotene. In addition, the smoker’s organism lacks calcium, the bones of the smoker are quite fragile. Dietary supplements suppress the desire to smoke, causing the aversion to tobacco smoke, detoxify the body from poisons and toxins, eliminate disturbances caused by nicotine.

Natural supplements optimize the functioning of all systems of the organism by gently cleansing it of toxins, which the smoker fills his body of violently. Thus, dietary supplements can be used as a medication in addition to any method of quitting smoking.

Quitting smoking is not easy, but not impossible. Millions of people have already done it. And you will do it!

When you stop smoking …

… 20 minutes after the last cigarette, your blood pressure drops to normal, blood flow to the hands and feet improves;

• 8 hours later – oxygen content in blood is normalized;
• 2 days later – the ability to taste and smell increases;
• 1 week later – the color of the face improves, bad odour from the mouth, skin and hair disappears;
• 1 month later – you breath easily, fatigue and headache disappear, there’s no more cough;
• 6 months later – pulse is less accelerated, athletic performance improves – you feel the desire to exercise;
• 1 year later – the risk of coronary heart disease is reduced by half comparing to smokers;
• 5 years later – the probability of dying from lung cancer is dramatically reduced comparing to those who smoke a pack a day.