Unhealthy

20 Health Risks of Smoking (No.9 You Don’t Aware)

Many people have smoking habits within their lives. In the matter of fact, that habit is not good at all for the health of your body because cigarette smoke could harm your body in various and different ways. So, why smoking is very dangerous for your health? It is because in a cigarette smoke, there are a lot of components and chemical things that would do the damage to your body. Here are the main components in a cigarette smoke:

  • Nicotine. Nicotine is a substance that stimulate the brain and this can cause the addictive effects because when you’re not smoking anymore, you will suffer the withdrawal symptoms such as craving, tiredness, anxiety, hunger, irritability, and headaches.
  • Tar with Other Chemical Things. The tar components will be more likely to deposit in your lungs and can get into the blood vessels and carried through the other parts of the body. In addition to that, cigarette contains thousands of chemicals and many of them can cause the cancers.
  • Carbon Monoxide. Carbon monoxide of course will affect the blood that carrying a lot of oxygen to the lungs. It can cause the reduced oxygen supply to, which make the baby in pregnant women wouldn’t grow properly. So, no wonder that carbon monoxide would do harm things on the baby’s development.

So, after you already know the components of the cigarette smoke, you might also need to know the health risks whenever you have the habits of smoking. Here are the various health risks of you have the smoking habits in your daily life.

  1. Addiction in the Brain

Health Risks of Smoking will effect you brain function. We bet that you all know that smoking will make you feel addictive whenever you’re doing it frequently. It is no surprise since smoke has nicotine, the substance that cause an addictive result. Whenever you are already affected by nicotine, that would be hard to resist since that substance will change your brain. So, the brain will accommodate the extra nicotine receptor to allow you to consume a large dose of nicotine and when you suddenly stop the consumption of nicotine from the tobacco, it can cause the nicotine withdrawal. Nicotine withdrawal will cause the severe anxiety, irritation, and you will also crave for more nicotine as well.

  1. Stroke

There is no doubt that people that often smoking will be more likely to develop stroke in the future. In the matter of fact, people who are smoking have higher risk of developing the stroke up to 50% compared to people who don’t smoke at all. Of course, the stroke could lead you to serious brain damage and death. So, smoking could increase the risk of having a stroke because it can increase the chance of developing a brain aneurysm, which is the form of a bulge in the blood vessels which caused by the weakness in the blood vessel wall. This brain aneurysm could lead you to more serious condition called subarachnoid hemorrhage, which is one of the type of stroke disease.

But, whenever you decide that you want to stop smoking, in just whitin the two years of stop smoking, the possibility of you having stroke would reduced rapidly compared with people who are still smoking. Within five years, the possibility of you having stroke would be at the same level with the non-smokers.

  1. Hearing Loss

You might be surprised that people who are smoking frequently will also suffer from the hearing loss. But that is the true. So, why smoking could affect the health of your hearing ability? This is because smoking will reduce the oxygen supply to the cochlea, which is a snail-like organ that located in the inner ear. Because of that, without a doubt it will cause the permanent damage in your cochlea, which then it will make you suffer from mild to moderate hearing loss in the future. So, whenever you want to keep the health of your ear, you need to stop smoking as soon as possible.

  1. Blindness and Night Vision

This is also one of the most scary bad effects that could happen to you whenever you just can’t stop smoking in your whole time. Smoking could lead to a physical change in the eyes that can threaten your eyesight. So, the nicotine component in a cigarette and tobacco could restrict the production of a chemical necessary for you to be able to see at night, which of course then will reduce your ability to see at night. In addition to that, smoking also increases the risk of developing cataracts and macular degeneration, a disease that will lead you to blindness in the future.

  1. Cavities

Aside from the fact that smoking will affect the health of your eyes and brain, it will also affect the health of your mouth. So, there is no secret that smokers have more oral problems compared with the non-smokers such as mouth ulcers and gum disease. In addition to that, people who are smoking a lot of times will have the cavities and lose your teeth at the young age. Also, smokers could also will be more likely to develop the mouth cancers and throat cancers. So, it is better for you to stop smoking from now before you have some health complications related to your oral and mouth.

  1. Old Face

It is no surprise that people who are smoking in a lot of times would have the face that older than their ages. This because smoking could make your skin become dry and then it will also lose its elasticity. Those conditions of course will cause the wrinkles and stretch marks to appear on your face’s skin and thus, it will make your skin tone become grayish and dull. So, there is no doubt that people that smoking in a lot of times would add some years to their face and their face won’t look fresh at all, just like people that have been addicted to alcohol and drugs.

  1. Heart Damage

There is also no doubt that whenever you’re smoking a lot of times, your heart will be gradually damage. The link between smoking and the damage in the heart is pretty obvious. Smoking will raise the blood pressure and also will put some stress in your heart, which then will affect and weaken the ability of your heart to pump the blood to the other parts of your body.

In addition to that, smoking will also release the carbon monoxide that contribute to the lack of oxygen, which of course will make your heart work harder than before. Those conditions, without a doubt, would put you at higher risk of developing the heart disease such as heart attack.

  1. Sticky Blood

Aside from the heart disease, smoking could also lead you to the sticky blood. Sticky blood is the condition whenever your blood become thick and then sticky. Whenever your blood is very sticky, it means that your heart must work harder to move the blood to other parts of your body.

Sticky blood is indeed will increase your risk of having the blood clots that will block the blood flow to your other parts of your body, including your brain. In addition to that, sticky blood could also make a damage in the lining of your blood vessels. Those conditions without a doubt would lead you to the more serious medical conditions, such as heart attack and stroke.

  1. Increase Amount of Cholesterol

Health Risks of Smoking many people not aware is could rise your cholesterol level. This is also one of the negative effects whenever you’re smoking in a frequent amount of time. Smoking could increase the amount of cholesterol and unhealthy fats that circulating in your bloods, which then those cholesterol and unhealthy fats will deposit in your body.

Whenever there are a lot of cholesterol and unhealthy fats that you have in your body, these things could build up some walls to you arteries, which then will make your arteries become narrower and thus, the normal blood flow to the other parts of your body will be interrupted too. Because of that, the possibility of you having the complications disease such as cardiovascular disease and stroke would be higher too.

  1. Inflammation in the Lungs

There is also no doubt that smoking will cause an inflammation in your lungs. Specifically, the inflammation will occur in the small airways and tissue of your lungs. Because of the inflammation, it can cause your chest feel tight and thus, it could make you feel the shortness of breath.

The continued inflammation then will also lead you to physical changes to your lungs and airways that could make you become harder to breath. If you left the inflammation untreated, it also will give you the lung irritation that can give you the chronic cough that accompanied with mucus.

  1. Emphysema

Whenever you’re smoking in a lot of times, there is no doubt that your air sacs, or your alveoli in the lungs that allow the oxygen to exchange will be destroyed. So, why is that thing could happen? Because the smoke whenever you’re smoking could naturally make some damage to those air sacs. In the matter of fact, after the air sack is already destroyed, they couldn’t grow back and also they couldn’t be healed, so you will suffer from the permanent damage of alveoli and also, the half part of your lungs.

So, whenever your alveoli are permanently destroyed, you will be more likely to suffer from emphysema, which then without a doubt would cause the shortness of breath and if you left it untreated, it can lead to the death.

  1. Respiratory Infections

Since smoking could lead you to the inflammation in the lungs and emphysema, there is no doubt that smoking will also lead you to the respiratory infections. So, the airways contain a tiny brush that has the texture like hair that called as cilia.

Cilia have the functions to sweep out the mucus and dirt that would potentially will harm your lung, so basically cilia main function is to ensure that your lung is stay clear from any foreign contaminants. But, in case you’re smoking, the smoke will make the cilia become paralyzed or even be killed, so that any foreign contaminants could do some infections into your lungs and your respiratory system. So, it is no surprise if the smoker have the higher probability of having the respiratory infections compared with non-smokers.

  1. Cancer

There is without a doubt that smoking would increase your possibility of having the cancer. In fact, it is pretty obvious because about one-third of the cancer deaths is caused by the tobacco. So, as you already know, the body contains a lot of genetic material called DNA that responsible to control the cell growth and function. In case you’re smoking, the smoke from cigarettes could cause some damages to your DNA.

Whenever the DNA is damaged, without a doubt the cell growth will turn out uncontrollable and create the cancer tumors in a short amount of time. Naturally, your body will always try to repair the DNA damage, but whenever you’re smoking, the smoke from cigarettes would break down that repair process and as the result, you will be more likely to suffer from cancer in the future.

  1. Bigger Belly

Have you ever noticed that the smokers tend to have the bigger belly than the non-smokers? This is the fact that smoker will have bigger belly and less muscle compared with those who are non-smokers. This is because smoking could lead you to the diabetes type 2 and obstruct your body to control the metabolism and diabetes.

So, it is no surprise that people who are smoking would have the bigger chance of having the diabetes type 2 and its complication diseases, such as blindness, heart disease, and kidney failure. Because these conditions are considered as the chronic conditions, in most cases, amputations would be the only way to cure it to stop the spreading of the disease.

  1. Lower Estrogen Level

If you’re women and you’re smoking, the probability of you having the lower level of estrogen compared with normal and non-smoker women would be higher. Whenever women have the lower level of estrogen than it should be, they will feel that their skin is very dry, and then thir hair is thinning, also they will have some problems related to their memory. In addition to that, women who are smoking will be harder to pregnant and have the baby.

In case whenever they’re pregnant, the chance of their pregnancy will lead to miscarriage and other pregnancy problems would be higher too, including the unhealthy baby with some defects. Also, smoking will cause the menopause, which means that you couldn’t get pregnant anymore and it will also lead you to various diseases too, including heart disease.

  1. Erectile Dysfunction

If smoking could lead to the lower level of estrogen in women, smoking will lead you to erectile dysfunction among men. So, erectile dysfunction is the condition whenever you’re unable to have or keep the erection. In addition to that, smoking will also cause the bad effects on men’s genital because smoking could do some damages to the genetic material in sperm.

This condition without a doubt will make men become infertile or they become unable to make their spouse getting pregnant. In case if they can make their spouse get pregnant, the possibility that the children will have the defects when they’re already born.

  1. Longer to Heal

Whenever you’re smoking, your wound will be taking more time to heal than the usual condition. This is because the minerals, vitamins, and other nutrients supply to the parts of your body through the blood stream. Well, whenever you’re smoking, the nicotine components from tobacco could cause the blood vessels to tighten, which then of course will decrease the amount of minerals, vitamins, and other nutrients that are supplied to your wounds.

These conditions, of course, will cause the wound would take longer time to heal and increase your risk of having the infections after having an injury, especially whenever you have the open wounds. The infections could develop the painful skin ulcers, which will cause the tissue around your wound to die.

  1. Weakened Immune System

This is very obvious that whenever you’re smoking, that would affect your immune system and could weaken your immune system. So, why smoking could cause the weakened on the immune system? This is because the cigarette contains a high amount of tar and other chemicals in it. These tar can make the immune system become less active to fight any infections that potentially will harm the body.

Whenever your immune system is getting weak, that means that your body becomes prone to any diseases and you could get sick easier than before. In addition to that, you will be more vulnerable to the autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, for example.

  1. High Level of White Blood Cells

Okay, you might think that the high amount of white blood cells could be the good sign because the white blood cells could heal your body to fight against many diseases and yes, smoking can make your white blood cells stay high, but whenever you’re smoking and the white blood cells levels are staying high, that means your body is under the constant stress because your body always fight against the inflammation and damage that caused by your cigarette.

So, basically when the white blood cells levels are high, that could be the signal that you’re injured and yes, high level on white blood cells count would increase the risk of developing serious diseases, such as heart disease and cancers.

  1. Broken Bones

The relation between the unhealthy bones and smoking is also very obvious and there is no doubt about that. This is because whenever you’re smoking , less blood and oxygen that will be supplied through your bones, which then will cause the inability of your body to built the new healthy bones and on the contrary, it will break down the existing bone tissue in a short amount of time. Thus, without a doubt that smoking will lead you to the thinning bone tissue and the bone will start to lose its density. When the bone loses its density, the possibility of osteoporosis and broken bone would increase rapidly.

Ways to Quit Smoking

Well, after you already know all of the health risks of smoking, we bet that you want to consider to stop your smoking habits. Well, that’s a great choice and althought it would be difficult to get rid of your smoking habits, but with the great determination and faithfulness in yourself, you could stop smoking in your entire life. Here are many ways that could help you to stop your smoking habits:

  • Without any Help. In the matter of fact, 90% of people who want to stop smoking do it without any outside help, such as medicine, therapy, support groups, or anything. They literally just do it by themselves and this is one of the most effective methods if you want to quit smoking, as long as you have the strong determination.
  • Make a Plan. Before you start your act to quit smoking, you need to make a plan first to allow you to make a preparation without losing your motivation to quit. You need to identify what kind of thing that can stimulate you to smoke, and how to deal with them.
  • Know that the First Few Days Are the Hardest. Whenever you decide to quit smoking without any help at all, you need to remember that the first few days would be the hardest part. In the first few days, probably you will feel depressed, anxiety, slow, and tired and you will feel that you just want to smoke again. But, you need to always remember your motivation to quit smoking. Once you get past those first day, your chance to quit smoking succesfully would be higher.
  • Don’t Give in to You Smoking Cravings. Once you decide to quit smoking, there is no doubt that in certain times, you will have a craving. But when you still decide not to smoke, then your chances of quitting successfully would be higher too. When you have a craving, try to find something for your mouth as the distraction, maybe eating carrots and other things.
  • Reward Yourself. So, whenever you already quit successfully, you need to give yourself a reward because something that you just have done is not easy as well. So, make sure that you give yourself a reward, maybe buying your favorite things or go to a cinema to watch a marathon movie, etc.

So, now you already know all you need to know related to the health risk of smoking. You need to remember that smoking will give you nothing but a bad effect for your health. So, it is essential for you to stop that habit as soon as possible. Although it is very hard to quit smoking, but it’s not impossible either. Have a healthy habits from right now and stay healthy.