According to statistics, more than 480,000 people in the United States die due to tobacco-related diseases, every year. Furthermore, smoking alone causes more deaths than alcohol use, firearm-related incidents, HIV, illegal drug use, and motor vehicle incidents combined.
Aside from causing premature death, smoking is also responsible for various health issues.
Heart
Smoking can cause cerebrovascular disease, peripheral vascular disease, stroke and heart attack, due to the damages of the heart and blood circulation.
Carbon monoxide and nicotine found in the cigarette smoke you inhale put a strain on the heart, increasing its rate.
Furthermore, you are also at a much greater risk of blood clots if you’re an active smoker, and you have twice the chance of dying from coronary heart disease, unlike the people who don’t smoke.
However, if you decide to quit, you can reduce the risk after only a year of not smoking. Quit for good, and after 15 years, your risk of dying from coronary disease will be the same as for a lifetime non-smoker.
Stomach
Stomach cancers and ulcers are also serious conditions many smokers may encounter. When you smoke, the muscle that controls the lower end of the gullet weakens, which allows acid from the stomach to go back up the gullet.
Moreover, smoking also increases the risk of kidney cancer. Namely, as research showed, people who smoked 10 cigarettes a day were one and a half times more likely to develop kidney cancer, unlike those who haven’t smoked at all.
The more cigarettes you have during the day, the greater the risk.
Lungs
Smoking can damage the lungs very bad, causing colds, coughs, wheezing and even asthma. However, that’s just the tip of the iceberg, as smoking leads to much worse conditions such as lung cancer, emphysema and pneumonia.
Furthermore, smoking causes 84% of deaths from lung cancer and 83% of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
While active smokers often suffer from aforementioned respiratory problems, second-hand smokers tend to be under a lot of risk as well.
That’s why it’s advisable for you to have the best air purifier for smokers in every room where non-smokers spend time with people who smoke, and at least protect their health if you don’t care much about your own.
The purifier’s HEPA filter will successfully eliminate 99.9% of smoke particles from the air, offering you a clean and fresh environment.
Brain
Smokers are at much bigger risk of having a stroke, unlike non-smokers. What’s more, smoking increases the risk of stroke by 50%, which can later lead to brain damage and even death.
Smoking can cause a brain aneurysm, which is one of the common causes of strokes. An aneurysm is a bulge in the blood vessel that can cause subarachnoid hemorrhage once it ruptures, which can lead to brain damage and death.
However, if you stop smoking, after two years of not having cigarettes, your risk of stroke will reduce to half that of a smoker.
Reproduction & Fertility
Impotence is one of the common effects smoking can have on men, due to the damage of the blood vessels that supply blood to the penis. Furthermore, smoking can reduce sperm count and cause testicular cancer.
As for women, smoking can cause reduced fertility, menstrual cycle irregularities or absence of menstruation and it increases the risk of cervical cancer.
Smoking during pregnancy often leads to stillbirth, premature birth, miscarriage, and even increases the risk of cot death by 25%.
Smoking increases the risk of heart disease, respiratory illnesses, fertility problems as well as several types of cancer, which is why you should seriously think about quitting, or do your best to make your loved ones quit.
Not only will they save their own health, but they’ll spare the people around them from all the smoke inhale they have to face when they spend time together.
