The Dangers and Effects Caused by Smoking

By smoking, you can cause health problems not only for yourself but also for those around you.

Hurting Yourself

Smoking is an addiction. Tobacco contains nicotine, a drug that is addictive. The nicotine, therefore, makes it very difficult (although not impossible) to quit. In fact, since the U.S. Surgeon General's 1964 report on the dangers of smoking, millions of Americans have quit. Still, approximately 440,000 deaths occur in the U.S. each year from smoking-related illnesses; this represents almost 1 out of every 5 deaths. The reason for these deaths is that smoking greatly increases the risk of getting lung cancer, heart attack, chronic lung disease, stroke, and many other cancers. Moreover, smoking is perhaps the most preventable cause of breathing (respiratory) diseases within the USA.

Hurting Others

Smoking harms not just the smoker, but also family members, coworkers, and others who breathe the smoker's cigarette smoke, called secondhand smoke or passive smoke. Among infants up to 18 months of age, secondhand smoke is associated with as many as 300,000 cases of chronic bronchitis and pneumonia each year. In addition, secondhand smoke from a parent's cigarette increases a child's chances for middle ear problems, causes coughing and wheezing, worsens asthma, and increases an infant's risk of dying from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Smoking is also harmful to the unborn fetus. If a pregnant woman smokes, her fetus is at an increased risk of miscarriage, early delivery (prematurity), stillbirth, infant death, and low birth weight. In fact, it has been estimated that if all women quit smoking during pregnancy, about 4,000 new babies would not die each year.

Exposure to passive smoke can also cause cancer. Research has shown that non-smokers who reside with a smoker have a 24% increase in risk for developing lung cancer when compared with other non-smokers. An estimated 3,000 lung cancer deaths occur each year in the U.S. that are attributable to passive smoking. Secondhand smoke also increases the risk of stroke and heart disease. If both parents smoke, a teenager is more than twice as likely to smoke as a teenager whose parents are both nonsmokers. Even in households where only one parent smokes, young people are more likely to start smoking.

Once You Start, It's Hard to Stop

Smoking is a hard habit to break because tobacco contains nicotine, which is highly addictive. Like heroin or other addictive drugs, the body and mind quickly become so used to the nicotine in cigarettes that a person needs to have it just to feel normal.

People start smoking for a variety of different reasons. Some think it looks cool. Others start because their family members or friends smoke. Statistics show that about 9 out of 10 tobacco users start before they're 18 years old. Most adults who started smoking in their teens never expected to become addicted. That's why people say it's just so much easier to not start smoking at all.

In Indonesia, an estimated 200,000 people die each year of smoking-related diseases. About a quarter of deaths in 2005 were from smoking and 80 percent of lung and respiratory cancer cases were due to smoking. About 220 million cigarettes were smoked by Indonesians in 2006.

Indonesia has a higher percentage of young smokers than any other country, but ignorance and a powerful Indonesia kids smoking tobacco lobby are making it difficult to stamp out nicotine addiction, say health workers and the government.

With a population of 230 million, Indonesia ranks third in the world according to the number of smokers, after China and India, whose respective populations are more than one billion, according to the former head of Indonesia’s Medical Association, Kartono Mohamad. While China and India may have more smokers given their larger populations, Indonesia has a higher prevalence among youngsters, he added. According to the Indonesian Health Ministry’s 2008 health profile, 29 percent of Indonesians aged 10 and above smoke an average 12 cigarettes a day. Some 10 percent started smoking at between 10 and 14 years while 0.1 percent started as young as five, according to the report, which was released in 2010.

How Smoking Affects Your Looks and Life

Which Twin Is the Smoker?

Maybe there is no fountain of youth, but there is a surefire way to make yourself look older. Smoking changes the skin, teeth, and hair in ways that can add years to your looks. It also affects everything from your fertility to the strength of your heart, lungs, and bones.

Lines Around the Lips

Smoking delivers a one-two punch to the area around your mouth. First, you have the smoker's pucker. "Smokers use certain muscles around their lips that cause them to have dynamic wrinkles that nonsmokers do not," Keri says. Second, you have the loss of elasticity. Together, these factors can lead to deep lines around the lips.

Age Spots

Age spots are blotches of darker skin color that are common on the face and hands. While anyone can develop these spots from spending too much time in the sun, research suggests smokers are more susceptible. In this image, the twin on the right spent decades smoking and sunbathing, while her sister did not.

Damaged Teeth and Gums

Yellow teeth are one of the most notorious effects of long-term smoking, but the dental damage doesn't stop there. People who smoke tend to develop gum disease, persistent bad breath, and other oral hygiene problems. Smokers are twice as likely to lose teeth as nonsmokers.

Stained Fingers

Think your hand looks sexy with a cigarette perched between your fingers? If you've been smoking for awhile, take a good look at your fingernails and the skin of your hands. Tobacco can actually stain the skin and nails, as well as the teeth. The good news is these stains tend to fade when you quit smoking.

Can You Quit?

Experts agree that giving up cigarettes is very difficult. But if you're telling yourself it's impossible, think again. While there are 45 million smokers in the U.S., there are at least 48 million former smokers. If 48 million people could quit, it is doable. Just keep in mind that most people have to try more than once, and only 4%-7% succeed without help. Ask your doctor which smoking-cessation strategies might be right for you.

When your parents were young, people can buy cigarettes and smoke pretty much anywhere - even in hospitals! Ads for cigarettes in all places. After we look at the facts and the effect of cigarettes, today we are more aware about how bad smoking on our health. Smoking is restricted or banned in almost all public places and cigarette companies are no longer allowed to advertise on TV, radio, and in many magazines.

Almost everyone knows that smoking causes cancer, emphysema, and heart disease; that it can shorten your life by 10 years or more; and that the habit can cost a smoker thousands of dollars a year. So how come people are still lighting up? The answer, in a word, is addiction.

So, from now make sure you are not smoking again and say that you can quit smoking! If you've quit smoking, it not only can improve your health but also it will change your whole life. Say Goodbye Smoking to yourself!

Source : http://www.medicinenet.com/smoking_effects_pictures_slideshow/article.htm

-Say Goodbye to Smoking-