The reasons people smoke are because the cigarette often fulfils physical, emotional and psychological needs, even if we don't realise it. Cigarettes often give a sense of pleasure this pleasure comes from the relief of nicotine cravings. They can be used as a crutch in difficult times or situations. They are also a way to form and maintain friendships in social settings. Sometimes cigarettes can be used as a distraction in difficult situations - by giving your hands something to do.
It is a well known fact that smoking kills. Every year hundreds of thousands of people around the world die from diseases caused by smoking. One in two lifetime smokers will die from their habit and half of these deaths will occur in middle age.
Tobacco smoke also contributes to a number of cancers; it’s the cause of nine out of 10 cases of lung cancer, and a risk factor for cancers of the throat, mouth, oesophagus, stomach, kidney, bladder and cervix. Plus, it's linked to some types of leukaemia as well.
The mixture of nicotine and carbon monoxide in each cigarette you smoke temporarily increases your heart rate and blood pressure, straining your heart and blood vessels this can cause heart attacks and lead to a stroke. Smoking causes around one in five deaths from heart disease. It slows your blood flow, cutting off oxygen to your feet and hands leading to some smokers ending up having their limbs amputated.
Tar coats your lungs like soot in a chimney and causes cancer. A 20-a-day smoker breathes in up to a full cup (210 g) of tar in a year changing to low-tar cigarettes does not help as it was once thought because it has been shown that smokers usually take deeper puffs and hold the smoke in for longer, dragging the tar deeper into their lungs.
Carbon monoxide robs your muscles, brain and body tissue of oxygen, making your whole body and especially your heart work harder. Over time, your airways swell up and let less air into your lungs. Smoking causes disease and is a slow way to die. The strain put on your body by smoking often causes years of suffering. Emphysema is an illness that slowly rots your lungs. People with emphysema often get bronchitis again and again, and suffer lung and heart failure. Lung cancer from smoking is caused by the tar in tobacco smoke. Men who smoke are ten times more likely to die from lung cancer than non-smokers. In younger people, three out of four deaths from heart disease are due to smoking.
Smoking doesn't just affect you. It has ill-effects on the health of the people around you. Passive smoking, inhaling the smoke from someone else's cigarettes, can cause headaches, coughs, sore throats, dizziness, nausea and other symptoms. It may also cause miscarriage, stillbirth, cot death, asthma and other chest problems. Long-term exposure to passive smoke puts adults at increased risk of heart disease and a 20-30% increased risk of lung cancer.
References :
quit-smoking-stop.com
bupa.co.uk-health
bupa.co.uk-whydoyoulike
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