Smoking: Do you really know the risks? You probably know about the relationship between smoking and lung cancer, but did you know smoking is also linked to heart disease, stroke and other chronic lung diseases? Smoking can also increase your risk for cancer of the bladder, throat and mouth, kidneys, cervix and pancreas. Thinking about quitting? Look at the facts!
Why you should quit?
There are 4,000 chemical components found in cigarettes and at least 250 of them are harmful to human health, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here are a few examples:
Carbon monoxide is a harmful gas you inhale when you smoke. Once in your lungs, it’s transferred to your bloodstream. Carbon monoxide decreases the amount of oxygen that is carried in the red blood cells. It also increases the amount of cholesterol that is deposited into the inner lining of the arteries which, over time, can cause the arteries to harden. This leads to heart disease, artery disease and possibly heart attack.
Nicotine is a dangerous and highly addictive chemical. It can cause an increase in blood pressure, heart rate, flow of blood to the heart and a narrowing of the arteries (vessels that carry blood). Nicotine may also contribute to the hardening of the arterial walls, which in turn, may lead to a heart attack. This chemical can stay in your body for six to eight hours depending on how often you smoke. Also, as with most addictive substances, there are some side effects of withdrawal.
Second-Hand Smoke
Smokers aren’t the only ones affected by tobacco smoke. Secondhand smoke is a serious health hazard for nonsmokers, especially children. Cigarette smoke contains more than Nonsmokers who have high blood pressure or high blood cholesterol have an even greater risk of developing heart diseases when they’re exposed to secondhand smoke.
Environmental tobacco smoke causes about 46,000 heart disease deaths and 3,400 lung cancer deaths. Studies show that the risk of developing heart disease is about 25-30 percent higher among people exposed to environmental tobacco smoke at home or work. Secondhand smoke promotes illness, too. Children of smokers have many more respiratory infections than do children of nonsmokers. Nonsmoking women exposed to tobacco smoke are also more likely to have low-birthweight babies. Excerpted and adapted from "When Risk Factors Unite," appearing in the Stroke Connection Magazine January/February 2005 (Science update May 2008)
These are just a few of the dangerous chemicals found in cigarettes; there are many more. But you do not have to spend the rest of your life giving in to your addiction! Thousands of people kick the habit every year, and you can be one of them. It may not be easy, but you can do it!
PART 2
How can smoking affect your health? Smoking shortens lives A large 2013 study of women in the United Kingdom found that 2 out of 3 deaths in smokers who were in their 50s, 60s, and 70s were caused by smoking. The researchers observed that continuing smokers lose at least 10 years of their lifespans, but added that smokers who quit before age 40 were able to avoid 90% of the early deaths caused by continued smoking. If the women quit before age 30, they were able to avoid more than 97% of these early deaths.
Cancers Tobacco use accounts for nearly 1 in 3 cancer deaths. Women who smoke are about 26 times more likely than non-smokers to develop lung cancer. Tens of thousands of women will die this year from lung cancer, which has shot past breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer death in women. About 70% of lung cancer deaths in women will be caused by smoking.
Not only does smoking increase the risk for lung cancer, it’s also a risk factor for cancers of the:
Smoking raises the risk of heart disease and stroke Women who smoke greatly increase their risk of heart disease (the leading killer among women) and stroke. The risk goes up with the number of cigarettes smoked and the length of time a woman has been smoking, but even people who smoke less than 5 cigarettes a day can have heart and blood vessel disease. Even though most of the women who die of heart disease are past menopause, smoking increases the risk more in younger women than in older women. Studies suggest that smoking cigarettes increases the risk of heart disease even more among younger women who are also taking birth control pills.
Smoking damages your lungs Smoking damages the airways and small air sacs in the lungs. This can cause chronic coughing, wheezing, trouble breathing, and long-term (chronic) lung disease. More than 90% of deaths due to chronic bronchitis and emphysema – together these are known as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – are caused by smoking. Today, more women than men die from COPD, and evidence suggests that women are more likely to get severe COPD at younger ages than men.
The risk of COPD goes up with the number of cigarettes smoked each day and with the length of time a woman has been smoking. Female smokers aged 35 or older are almost 13 times more likely to die from emphysema or bronchitis than those who have never smoked.
The lungs grow more slowly in teenage girls who smoke. And adult women who smoke start losing lung function in early adulthood.
Smoking causes other health problems Smoking can cause or worsen poor blood flow to the arms and legs (a condition known as peripheral vascular disease or PVD). This can limit everyday activities such as walking, and may lead to open sores that don’t heal. Even worse, surgery to improve the blood flow often fails in people who keep smoking. This is why many doctors who operate on blood vessels (vascular surgeons) won’t do certain surgeries on patients with PVD unless they stop smoking. Stopping smoking lowers a woman’s risk of PVD. And in people who already have PVD, quitting smoking improves the odds that PVD treatments will work.
Women who smoke, especially after going through menopause, have lower bone density (thinner bones). This means they have a higher risk for broken bones, including hip fracture, than women who do not smoke. They may also be at higher risk for getting rheumatoid arthritis and cataracts (clouding of the lenses of the eyes), as well as age-related macular degeneration, which can cause blindness.
Smoking affects your reproductive health Tobacco use can damage a woman’s reproductive health. Women who smoke are more likely to have trouble getting pregnant. Smokers tend to be younger at the start of menopause than non-smokers and may have more unpleasant symptoms while going through menopause.
Smoking can also cause problems during pregnancy that can hurt both mother and baby. Smokers have a higher risk of the placenta (the organ that protects and nourishes the growing fetus) growing too close to the opening of the uterus. They’re also more likely to have an ectopic pregnancy (where the embryo implants outside the uterus), which can threaten the mother’s life. Smokers are also more likely to have early membrane ruptures and placentas that separate from the uterus too early. Serious bleeding, early delivery (premature birth), and emergency Caesarean section (C-section) may result from these problems. Smokers are more likely to have miscarriages, stillbirths, babies with cleft lip or palate, and low birth-weight babies, too.
Why you should quit?
- Smoking is the most preventable cause of death in the United States.
- Smoking causes more than one in five deaths in America.
- 90 percent of lung cancer in men is directly related to smoking and 80 percent of lung cancer in women is caused by cigarettes.
- About 23 percent of adult men and about 18 percent of adult women smoke.
- The highest percentage of people who smoke are between the ages of 25 and 44.
- According to the American Heart Association, most adult smokers started smoking when they were preteens or teenagers. Unfortunately, many young people don’t fully understand the dangers of smoking.
- About 60 percent of American children ages 4-11 are exposed to secondhand smoke at home.
- On average, smokers die 13 to 14 years earlier than nonsmokers.
- Since 1965, more than 45 percent of adults who have ever smoked have quit.
- You can be one of the millions of people who successfully quit every year.
There are 4,000 chemical components found in cigarettes and at least 250 of them are harmful to human health, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here are a few examples:
- 1,3-Butadine is a chemical used to manufacture rubber. According to the CDC, “it may increase risk of cancer in the stomach, blood and lymphatic system.”
- Acrolein is a gas linked to lung cancer. It inhibits DNA repair and can destroy the lining in the lungs that protects you from lung disease.
- Arsenic is used to preserve wood. In humans, it can cause heart disease and cancer.
- Benzene is used to manufacture other chemicals. It can cause cancer, particularly leukemia, in humans.
- Cadmium is a metal used to make batteries. Cadmium can interfere with the repair of damaged DNA, as well as damage the kidneys and the lining of the arteries.
- Chromium VI is used to make alloy metals, paint and dyes. It has been proven to be linked to lung cancer.
- Formaldehyde is a chemical used to kill bacteria and preserve human and animal remains. It’s a known cause of cancer, one of the main substances linked to chronic lung disease and a very toxic ingredient in secondhand smoke.
- Polonium-210 is a radioactive element inhaled directly into the airway. Some studies show that people who smoke a pack-and-a-half of cigarettes a day are receiving the same radiation they’d get from 300-plus X-rays per year!
- Tar is solid, inhaled chemicals linked with an increased risk for cancer. It also leaves a sticky, brown residue on your lungs, teeth and fingernails.
Carbon monoxide is a harmful gas you inhale when you smoke. Once in your lungs, it’s transferred to your bloodstream. Carbon monoxide decreases the amount of oxygen that is carried in the red blood cells. It also increases the amount of cholesterol that is deposited into the inner lining of the arteries which, over time, can cause the arteries to harden. This leads to heart disease, artery disease and possibly heart attack.
Nicotine is a dangerous and highly addictive chemical. It can cause an increase in blood pressure, heart rate, flow of blood to the heart and a narrowing of the arteries (vessels that carry blood). Nicotine may also contribute to the hardening of the arterial walls, which in turn, may lead to a heart attack. This chemical can stay in your body for six to eight hours depending on how often you smoke. Also, as with most addictive substances, there are some side effects of withdrawal.
Second-Hand Smoke
Smokers aren’t the only ones affected by tobacco smoke. Secondhand smoke is a serious health hazard for nonsmokers, especially children. Cigarette smoke contains more than Nonsmokers who have high blood pressure or high blood cholesterol have an even greater risk of developing heart diseases when they’re exposed to secondhand smoke.
Environmental tobacco smoke causes about 46,000 heart disease deaths and 3,400 lung cancer deaths. Studies show that the risk of developing heart disease is about 25-30 percent higher among people exposed to environmental tobacco smoke at home or work. Secondhand smoke promotes illness, too. Children of smokers have many more respiratory infections than do children of nonsmokers. Nonsmoking women exposed to tobacco smoke are also more likely to have low-birthweight babies. Excerpted and adapted from "When Risk Factors Unite," appearing in the Stroke Connection Magazine January/February 2005 (Science update May 2008)
These are just a few of the dangerous chemicals found in cigarettes; there are many more. But you do not have to spend the rest of your life giving in to your addiction! Thousands of people kick the habit every year, and you can be one of them. It may not be easy, but you can do it!
PART 2
How can smoking affect your health? Smoking shortens lives A large 2013 study of women in the United Kingdom found that 2 out of 3 deaths in smokers who were in their 50s, 60s, and 70s were caused by smoking. The researchers observed that continuing smokers lose at least 10 years of their lifespans, but added that smokers who quit before age 40 were able to avoid 90% of the early deaths caused by continued smoking. If the women quit before age 30, they were able to avoid more than 97% of these early deaths.
Cancers Tobacco use accounts for nearly 1 in 3 cancer deaths. Women who smoke are about 26 times more likely than non-smokers to develop lung cancer. Tens of thousands of women will die this year from lung cancer, which has shot past breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer death in women. About 70% of lung cancer deaths in women will be caused by smoking.
Not only does smoking increase the risk for lung cancer, it’s also a risk factor for cancers of the:
- Mouth
- Larynx (voice box)
- Pharynx (throat)
- Nose and sinuses
- Lips
- Esophagus (swallowing tube)
- Kidney
- Cervix
- Liver
- Bladder
- Pancreas
- Stomach
- Ovary (mucinous)
- Colon/rectum
Smoking raises the risk of heart disease and stroke Women who smoke greatly increase their risk of heart disease (the leading killer among women) and stroke. The risk goes up with the number of cigarettes smoked and the length of time a woman has been smoking, but even people who smoke less than 5 cigarettes a day can have heart and blood vessel disease. Even though most of the women who die of heart disease are past menopause, smoking increases the risk more in younger women than in older women. Studies suggest that smoking cigarettes increases the risk of heart disease even more among younger women who are also taking birth control pills.
Smoking damages your lungs Smoking damages the airways and small air sacs in the lungs. This can cause chronic coughing, wheezing, trouble breathing, and long-term (chronic) lung disease. More than 90% of deaths due to chronic bronchitis and emphysema – together these are known as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – are caused by smoking. Today, more women than men die from COPD, and evidence suggests that women are more likely to get severe COPD at younger ages than men.
The risk of COPD goes up with the number of cigarettes smoked each day and with the length of time a woman has been smoking. Female smokers aged 35 or older are almost 13 times more likely to die from emphysema or bronchitis than those who have never smoked.
The lungs grow more slowly in teenage girls who smoke. And adult women who smoke start losing lung function in early adulthood.
Smoking causes other health problems Smoking can cause or worsen poor blood flow to the arms and legs (a condition known as peripheral vascular disease or PVD). This can limit everyday activities such as walking, and may lead to open sores that don’t heal. Even worse, surgery to improve the blood flow often fails in people who keep smoking. This is why many doctors who operate on blood vessels (vascular surgeons) won’t do certain surgeries on patients with PVD unless they stop smoking. Stopping smoking lowers a woman’s risk of PVD. And in people who already have PVD, quitting smoking improves the odds that PVD treatments will work.
Women who smoke, especially after going through menopause, have lower bone density (thinner bones). This means they have a higher risk for broken bones, including hip fracture, than women who do not smoke. They may also be at higher risk for getting rheumatoid arthritis and cataracts (clouding of the lenses of the eyes), as well as age-related macular degeneration, which can cause blindness.
Smoking affects your reproductive health Tobacco use can damage a woman’s reproductive health. Women who smoke are more likely to have trouble getting pregnant. Smokers tend to be younger at the start of menopause than non-smokers and may have more unpleasant symptoms while going through menopause.
Smoking can also cause problems during pregnancy that can hurt both mother and baby. Smokers have a higher risk of the placenta (the organ that protects and nourishes the growing fetus) growing too close to the opening of the uterus. They’re also more likely to have an ectopic pregnancy (where the embryo implants outside the uterus), which can threaten the mother’s life. Smokers are also more likely to have early membrane ruptures and placentas that separate from the uterus too early. Serious bleeding, early delivery (premature birth), and emergency Caesarean section (C-section) may result from these problems. Smokers are more likely to have miscarriages, stillbirths, babies with cleft lip or palate, and low birth-weight babies, too.
Cigarette smokers have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
PART 3
Here’s why:
Factors like high blood pressure can stretch out the arteries and cause scarring. Bad cholesterol, called LDL, often gets lodged in the scar tissue and combines with white blood cells to form clots. The good cholesterol, called HDL, helps keep the LDL from sticking and building up.
Here are some other problems smoking causes:
Atherosclerosis is the buildup of fatty substances in the arteries, and is a chief contributor to heart disease – the No. 1 killer in America.
Stroke risks are higher, too. Because smoking temporarily increases blood pressure, and also increases cholesterol build-ups and the tendency for blood to clot, both types of strokes are more likely for a person who smokes. There are strokes caused from bleeding because of a weakened blood vessel and strokes caused by blockages and clots that form in a vessel and cut off blood flow to the brain. Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and adult disability in America.
Smoking also contributes to peripheral artery disease. Again, because of the added strain smoking places on the arteries and veins, peripheral artery disease is much more like among smokers, and the habit also further increases the risk for aortic aneurism.
There is hope and help
Despite all these scary facts, there is hope if you’re a smoker. Did you know that almost immediately after you quit smoking, your lungs and other smoke-damaged organs start to repair themselves? You can start getting better the day you put down the cigarettes.
Lung and breathing problems
Your lungs are “air-exchange organs.” They’re made up of tubes that branch out into small sacs called bronchioles and alveoli where oxygen exchange takes place. Your body takes in the oxygen you breathe and uses it as fuel. When you breathe in, the sacs inflate. When you breathe out, the sacs deflate.
In a healthy person, these tubes and sacs are very elastic and spongy. In a person with a chronic lung disease, these sacs lose their elasticity and oxygen exchange is greatly impaired. When that happens, your body is in grave danger because we can’t live without oxygen!
The lungs protect themselves with a thin layer of protective mucus and by moving toxic particles out with small hairs. In a smoker’s lungs, the small hairs, called cilia, move slower and struggle to remove harmful particles. You can’t cough, sneeze or swallow effectively to clear these toxins. They become trapped in your lungs, leading to higher risk for numerous dangerous health problems, including heart disease, stroke and cancer.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is usually made up of two conditions that make breathing difficult: emphysema and chronic bronchitis. When you have emphysema, the air sacs in your lungs start to deteriorate and lose their elasticity. Chronic bronchitis occurs when the lining in the tubes in your lungs swell and restrict your breathing. These conditions are directly related to smoking.
PART 3
Here’s why:
Factors like high blood pressure can stretch out the arteries and cause scarring. Bad cholesterol, called LDL, often gets lodged in the scar tissue and combines with white blood cells to form clots. The good cholesterol, called HDL, helps keep the LDL from sticking and building up.
Here are some other problems smoking causes:
- Smoking robs you of some of your good cholesterol.
- Smoking temporarily raises your blood pressure.
- Smoking increases the blood’s clotting likelihood.
- Smoking makes it more difficult to exercise.
Atherosclerosis is the buildup of fatty substances in the arteries, and is a chief contributor to heart disease – the No. 1 killer in America.
Stroke risks are higher, too. Because smoking temporarily increases blood pressure, and also increases cholesterol build-ups and the tendency for blood to clot, both types of strokes are more likely for a person who smokes. There are strokes caused from bleeding because of a weakened blood vessel and strokes caused by blockages and clots that form in a vessel and cut off blood flow to the brain. Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and adult disability in America.
Smoking also contributes to peripheral artery disease. Again, because of the added strain smoking places on the arteries and veins, peripheral artery disease is much more like among smokers, and the habit also further increases the risk for aortic aneurism.
There is hope and help
Despite all these scary facts, there is hope if you’re a smoker. Did you know that almost immediately after you quit smoking, your lungs and other smoke-damaged organs start to repair themselves? You can start getting better the day you put down the cigarettes.
Lung and breathing problems
Your lungs are “air-exchange organs.” They’re made up of tubes that branch out into small sacs called bronchioles and alveoli where oxygen exchange takes place. Your body takes in the oxygen you breathe and uses it as fuel. When you breathe in, the sacs inflate. When you breathe out, the sacs deflate.
In a healthy person, these tubes and sacs are very elastic and spongy. In a person with a chronic lung disease, these sacs lose their elasticity and oxygen exchange is greatly impaired. When that happens, your body is in grave danger because we can’t live without oxygen!
The lungs protect themselves with a thin layer of protective mucus and by moving toxic particles out with small hairs. In a smoker’s lungs, the small hairs, called cilia, move slower and struggle to remove harmful particles. You can’t cough, sneeze or swallow effectively to clear these toxins. They become trapped in your lungs, leading to higher risk for numerous dangerous health problems, including heart disease, stroke and cancer.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is usually made up of two conditions that make breathing difficult: emphysema and chronic bronchitis. When you have emphysema, the air sacs in your lungs start to deteriorate and lose their elasticity. Chronic bronchitis occurs when the lining in the tubes in your lungs swell and restrict your breathing. These conditions are directly related to smoking.