The Ugly Effects of Smoking

In medical views, cigarette or tobacco smoking is known as one of the essential sources of premature mortality among smokers. Every year, serious diseases and illnesses caused by cigarette smoking claim more than 400,000 lives in the United States alone. Fatalities also include children and adults who are merely exposed to second-hand smoke emitted by smokers.

When you smoke, you are actually inhaling more than 4,800 harmful chemical components, 69 of which are noted to trigger cancer diseases. The dreadful smoking habit is responsible for over 90 percent of lung cancer fatalities in the US and a range of 80 to 90 percent covering other respiratory-related deaths. If you happen to quit the habit, the chance of acquiring or developing chronic lung diseases is still high.

Moreover, smoking does not only affect your respiratory system. According to medical records and studies, you can also experience stroke and other coronary heart illnesses because of smoking too many cigarettes over the years. Note that each year, more people, smokers and non-smokers alike, acquire chronic heart diseases due to cigarette smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke.

In addition, even small children are likewise affected by the grim effects brought by second-hand smoke. Kids who are exposed to the mainstream smoke that is emitted by cigar and tobacco users can also acquire asthma and other allergy conditions like coughing, sneezing, and runny nose. Children can also experience serious cold condition and ear infection when they are regularly exposed to first-hand smokers' emitted smoke.

Smoking is also related to other bodily malignancies and disorders such as slow healing of wounds and infertility cases among women. Other ailments like peptic ulcer and pneumonia are also among the recently reported diseases caused by cigarette and tobacco smoking and exposure.

If you are a chain-smoker, a pregnant woman who smokes, or if you are always surrounded with individuals who are smokers, your baby will likely develop a weak heart and lungs with curtailed lung function and narrow air passages. Smoking can also lead to infants' deaths and premature delivery.