Smoking
is a deliberate way of taking health risks, suffering and losing life
The
Effects of Smoking on the Body
Tobacco
smoke is enormously harmful to your health. There’s no safe way to smoke.
Replacing your cigarette with a cigar, pipe, or hookah won’t help you avoid the
health risks associated with tobacco products.
Cigarettes
contain about 600 ingredients. When they burn, they generate more than 7,000
chemicals, according to the American Lung Association.
Many
of those chemicals are poisonous and at least 69 of them can cause cancer. Many
of the same ingredients are found in cigars and in tobacco used in pipes and
hookahs. According to the National Cancer Institute, cigars have a higher level
of carcinogens, toxins, and tar than cigarettes.
When
using a hookah pipe, you’re likely to inhale more smoke than you would from a
cigarette. Hookah smoke has many toxic compounds and exposes you to more carbon
monoxide than cigarettes do. Hookahs also produce more second-hand smoke.
In
the United States, the mortality rate for smokers is three times that of people
who never smoked, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
It’s one of the leading causes of preventable death.
Central
Nervous System
One
of the ingredients in tobacco is a mood-altering drug called nicotine. Nicotine
reaches your brain in mere seconds. It’s a central nervous system stimulant, so
it makes you feel more energized for a little while. As that effect subsides,
you feel tired and crave more. Nicotine is habit forming.
Smoking
increases risk of macular degeneration, cataracts, and poor eyesight. It can
also weaken your sense of taste and sense of smell, so food may become less
enjoyable.
Your
body has a stress hormone called corticosterone, which lowers the effects of
nicotine. If you’re under a lot of stress, you’ll need more nicotine to get the
same effect.
Physical
withdrawal from smoking can impair your cognitive functioning and make you feel
anxious, irritated, and depressed. Withdrawal can also cause headaches and
sleep problems.
Respiratory
System
When
you inhale smoke, you’re taking in substances that can damage your lungs. Over
time, your lungs lose their ability to filter harmful chemicals. Coughing can’t
clear out the toxins sufficiently, so these toxins get trapped in the lungs.
Smokers have a higher risk of respiratory infections, colds, and flu.
In
a condition called emphysema, the air sacs in your lungs are destroyed. In
chronic bronchitis, the lining of the tubes of the lungs becomes inflamed. Over
time, smokers are at increased risk of developing these forms of chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Long-term smokers are also at increased
risk of lung cancer.
Withdrawal
from tobacco products can cause temporary congestion and respiratory pain as
your lungs begin to clear out.
Children
whose parents smoke are more prone to coughing, wheezing, and asthma attacks
than children whose parents don’t. They also tend to have more ear infections.
Children of smokers have higher rates of pneumonia and bronchitis.
Cardiovascular
System
Smoking
damages your entire cardiovascular system. When nicotine hits your body, it
gives your blood sugar a boost. After a short time, you’re left feeling tired
and craving more. Nicotine causes blood vessels to tighten, which restricts the
flow of blood (peripheral artery disease). Smoking lowers good cholesterol
levels and raises blood pressure, which can result in stretching of the
arteries and a build-up of bad cholesterol (atherosclerosis). Smoking raises
the risk of forming blood clots.
Blood
clots and weakened blood vessels in the brain increase a smoker’s risk of
stroke. Smokers who have heart bypass surgery are at increased risk of
recurrent coronary heart disease. In the long term, smokers are at greater risk
of blood cancer (leukaemia).
There’s
a risk to non-smokers, too. Breathing second-hand smoke has an immediate effect
on the cardiovascular system. Exposure to second-hand smoke increases your risk
of stroke, heart attack, and coronary heart disease.
Skin,
Hair, and Nails (Integument System)
Some
of the more obvious signs of smoking involve the skin. The substances in
tobacco smoke actually change the structure of your skin. Smoking causes skin
discoloration, wrinkles, and premature aging. Your fingernails and the skin on
your fingers may have yellow staining from holding cigarettes. Smokers usually
develop yellow or brown stains on their teeth. Hair holds on to the smell of
tobacco long after you put your cigarette out. It even clings to non-smokers.
Digestive
System
Smokers
are at great risk of developing oral problems. Tobacco use can cause gum
inflammation (gingivitis) or infection (periodontitis). These problems can lead
to tooth decay, tooth loss, and bad breath.
Smoking
also increases risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, larynx, and oesophagus.
Smokers have higher rates of kidney cancer and pancreatic cancer. Even cigar
smokers who don’t inhale are at increased risk of mouth cancer.
Smoking
also has an effect on insulin, making it more likely that you’ll develop
insulin resistance. That puts you at increased risk of type 2 diabetes. When it
comes to diabetes, smokers tend to develop complications at a faster rate than
non-smokers.
Smoking
also depresses appetite, so you may not be getting all the nutrients your body
needs. Withdrawal from tobacco products can cause nausea.
Sexuality
and Reproductive System
Restricted
blood flow can affect a man’s ability to get an erection. Both men and women
who smoke may have difficulty achieving orgasm and are at higher risk of
infertility. Women who smoke may experience menopause at an earlier age than
non-smoking women. Smoking increases a woman’s risk of cervical cancer.
Pregnant
mothers who are exposed to second-hand smoke are also more likely to have a
baby with low birth weight. Babies born to mothers who smoke while pregnant are
at greater risk of low birth weight, birth defects, and sudden infant death
syndrome (SIDS). New-borns who breathe second-hand smoke suffer more ear
infections and asthma attacks.
Smoking
is one of the most dangerous habits to pick up for a person and it is even more
dangerous for people with asthma or heart problems. Smoking includes products
filled with tobacco and is inhaled into the lungs through a cigarette, pipe,
cigar or bongs.
Smoking
is a major health risk because it can cause heart attacks, long-standing lung
diseases, and finally lung cancer and death and even cause birth defects of
Children
born from parents who are smokers. The other forms of cancer caused by smoking
are also gum, kidney, breast, throat, bladder, and stomach and bowel cancer.
Unfortunately
we do not have reports about the death rate of dying of smoking here in the
Gambia but according to the facts of biological and long term harming of
smoking and the long term illnesses caused death of many, many Gambian every
year too.
Sadly
the fact is that the importing of poor quality of different kind of cigarettes
in to the Gambian a very large quantity is allowed and sold for far cheaper
prices than in the western countries.
This
is even more encouraging for very young and younger people to afford baying
them and harming their health, starting in young age in their lives. Cigarettes
are available for sale in every corner and every corner shops in the country,
sold without any control and any restrictions of age, even selling them in
single cigarette out of the box for a few affordable dalasi in particular to
very young people too.
It
is so heart- breaking seen so many of young male Gambian on many public places,
in particular where the most Hotels are locket, in front of corner shops and
often on the beach smoking cigarettes and pretend adolescence.
More
than 12 million Americans have died from smoking since the 1964 report, and
another 25 million Americans alive today are expected to die of a
smoking-related illness, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services
The
death rate in the United States from smoking has reached now almost 500,000
deaths per year and some experts predict that 1/3 of Chinese men will have
their lives shortened because of complications from smoking. Gambian smokers
are not an exception, suffering and dying from these mentioned health risks
every year too.
Who
is most likely to become addicted?
Anyone
who starts smoking can become addicted to nicotine. Studies show that cigarette
smoking is most likely to become a habit during the teen years. The younger a
person is when he or she begins to smoke, the more likely he or she is to
become addicted to nicotine. Almost 90% of adult smokers first smoked at or
before age 19.
The
nicotine in cigarette smoke can cause addiction. Nicotine is an addictive drug
just like heroin and cocaine:
Nicotine
reaches the brain within seconds after taking a puff, but its effects start to
wear off within a few minutes. This is what most often leads the smoker to get
another cigarette. If the smoker doesn’t smoke again soon, withdrawal symptoms
kick in and get worse over time
The
typical smoker takes about 10 puffs from each cigarette. A person smoking a
pack per day gets about 200 “hits” of nicotine each day.
When
taken in small amounts, nicotine creates pleasant feelings that make the smoker
want to smoke more. It acts on the chemistry of the brain and central nervous
system, affecting the smoker’s mood. Nicotine works very much like other
addicting drugs, by flooding the brain’s reward circuits with dopa mine (a
chemical messenger). Nicotine also gives you a little bit of an adrenaline rush
-- not enough to notice, but enough to speed up your heart and raise your blood
pressure.
What
does nicotine do?
In
large doses nicotine is a poison and can kill by stopping the muscles a person
uses to breathe. But smokers usually take in small amounts that the body can
quickly break down and get rid of. The first dose of nicotine makes a person to
feel awake and alert, while later doses make them feel calm and relaxed.
Nicotine
can make new smokers, and regular smokers who get too much of it, feel dizzy or
sick to their stomachs. The resting heart rate for young smokers increases 2 to
3 beats per minute. Nicotine also lowers skin temperature and reduces blood
flow in the legs and feet. It may play a role in increasing smokers’ risk of
heart disease and stroke, but other substances in cigarette smoke likely play a
bigger part.
Nicotine
is what gets (and keeps) people addicted to tobacco, but other substances in
tobacco cause cancer.
Why
do people start smoking?
Most
people begin smoking as teens. Those with friends and/or parents who smoke are
more likely to start smoking than those who don’t. Some teens say that they
“just wanted to try it,” or they thought it was “cool” to smoke.
The
tobacco industry’s ads, price breaks, and other promotions for its products are
a big influence in our society. The tobacco industry spends billions of dollars
each year to create and market ads that show smoking as exciting, glamorous,
and safe. More than one-third of the movies that show cigarettes are
youth-rated films. And studies show that young people who see smoking in movies
are more likely to start smoking.
TV
ads for smoking have been banned for many years, but films that show tobacco
brands are much more likely to include smoking scenes as part of their TV
trailers. This is also another fact of watching these movies in the Gambia too.
Is
smoking common among young people in the Gambia?
I
am afraid I must answer this question certainly and surely Yes. Research has
found that even smoking as few as 1 to 4 cigarettes a day can lead to serious
health outcomes, including an increased risk of heart disease and a greater
chance of dying at a younger age
Smoking
firsthand is not the only danger. Second-hand smoke has also led to the
aforementioned conditions of people who do not smoke but are in the company of
those who do smoke.
The
dangers of smoking and second-hand smoke have forced many countries, cities and
even states worldwide to create public smoking bans. Many bans have made it
illegal to smoke in restaurants, bars, casinos and arenas and offices. I am
certainly thankful to Gambian Authorities for created the same regulation in
the Gambia too.
Smoking
is extremely prominent in films and literature. The most famous movie star
smoker was Humphrey Bogart and the most famous literature character smoker was
Sherlock Holmes.
There
are a variety of ways for smokers to quit their bad habit. Tobacco and nicotine
are extremely addicting drugs that can be difficult to pull away from. Some
ways of quitting smoking are using nicotine replacement therapies which include
gum and the patch, hypnosis, quitting ‘cold turkey’ and acupuncture.
Is
there a safe way to smoke cigarettes?
Smokers
have been led to believe that “light” cigarettes are a lower health risk and
are a good option to quitting. This is not true. Studies have not found that
the risk of lung cancer is any lower in smokers of “light” or low-tar
cigarettes.
Hand-rolled
cigarettes are thought by some people to be a cheaper and healthier way to
smoke, but they are not safer than commercial brands. In fact, life-long
smokers of hand-rolled cigarettes have been found to have a higher risk of
cancers of the larynx (voice box), oesophagus (swallowing tube), mouth, and
preventive though herbal cigarettes do not contain tobacco, they give off tar
and carbon monoxide and are dangerous to your health. The bottom line is
there’s no such thing as a safe smokescreen (throat) when compared with smokers
of machine-made cigarettes.
Some
cigarettes are now being sold as “all natural”. They are marketed as having no
chemicals or additives and rolled with 100% cotton filters. There is no proof
they are healthier or safer than other cigarettes, nor is there good reason to
think they would be. Smoke from these cigarettes, like the smoke from all
cigarettes, contains many agents that cause cancer (carcinogens) and toxins
that come from the tobacco itself, including tar and carbon monoxide.
For
further information and advice text only Dr Azadeh on 002207774469 /3774469,
between 4-6 pm only working days and THE FRANCIS DeGAULLE NJIE FOUNDATION
(FDNF) on 8903104/3903104.email azadehhassanmd10@gmail.com
Author:
Dr Azadeh Senior Lecturer at the University of The Gambia, Senior Physician and
Clinical Director at Medicare Health Services.
