Thursday, December 4, 2008

Why Smoking Kills

Smoking is one habit that is far from easy to break. But no matter how great the difficulty is, it is imperative. You cannot continue ignoring all the warnings given to you because once you come down with an illness because of it, remember: you are not the only one who is going to be affected, but also the people closest to you.

The bad effects of smoking affects almost every organ in your body. All the possible illnesses it could generate automatically put the smokers health at high risk. Statistics have confirmed that the drawbacks of smoking to our health are accountable for an estimated 5,000,000 worldwide deaths annually.

Moreover, one out of every five deaths in the US is due to a smoking related illness. In fact, smoking is the leading cause of death in the world, outranking AIDS, drug abuse, murders, suicides, and vehicular accidents. Individuals who have been smoking throughout their entire lives have a 50% chance of dying from smoke-related illnesses, and these are likely to occur when they reach middle age. Also, it has been identified that tobacco smoking is the culprit behind an estimated 25 kinds of ailments.

Although most of us are already aware of how the effects of smoking can shorten the lifespan of an individual, not all of us are particularly aware of the nitty-gritty, morbid details surrounding these physical illnesses incurred from smoking. Here they are:

Ailments Affecting the Heart and Circulatory System

  • Abdominal aortic aneurysm results from smoking.

  • A person who smokes cigarettes is twice more susceptible to having strokes.

  • Smoking cigarettes limits the arteries, which leads to a reduced circulation.

  • Individuals who smoke have a 10%percent higher chance of contracting peripheral vascular disease.

Cancer

  • Individuals who smoke are more susceptible to develop cancer of the following organs: stomach, pancreas, kidney, cervix, lung, esophagus, pharynx, oral cavity, larynx, and the bladder.

  • Acute myeloid leukemia is caused by smoking.

  • It has been found out that cancers related to smoking ranks is more likely among adult African-American males than in any other race in the world.
  • 90% of lung cancer deaths in men and 80% in women all resulted from smoking.
  • Research has divulged that the danger of dying from lung cancer among smokers is 23 times higher with men and 13 times more with women. This is considerably higher in comparison to non-smokers.

Respiratory Ailments and Other Illnesses

  • Smokers have a 10% higher chance of contracting and dying from chronic obstructive lung disease than non-smokers. Cigarette smoking has been identified as responsible for 90% of deaths due to chronic obstructive lung disease.
  • The bone density of post-menopausal women who smoke is considerably lower than that of women who do not smoke. In addition, women smokers are more susceptible to suffering from hip fractures as compared to those who do not smoke.
  • Smoking cigarettes is known to result to a lot of negative reproductive and early childhood effects. These include: stillbirth, low birth weight, pre-term delivery, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).



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Maricel Modesto is a writer and editor who writes for various health and lifestyle magazines.

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