Is one drag worth your health?

Khevna.P.Shah, INN/Bangalore

@Shahkhevna1, @Infodeaofficial

Increasing work pressure and change in lifestyle have led people into unhealthy habits such as smoking and consumption of tobacco. The few moments of pleasure result in long time damage to health. According to Dr. Villoo Morawala-Patell, the FOUNDER and CMD, AVESTHAGEN, “No organ is immune to the destructive effects of tobacco, it has the worst impact on the lungs. What may start as a harmless cough can soon develop into asthma, and ultimately fatal and damaging diseases such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and lung cancer.”

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The effect of smoking on your health

It is responsible for causing cancer, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, heart disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD), which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Smoking also increases the risk for migraines, fatigue, tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and problems of the immune system.

Children who are exposed to secondhand smoke are at the risk for sudden infant death syndrome, middle ear diseases, asthma, slowed lung growth, and acute respiratory infections. Apart from the second-hand smoke causes stroke, lung cancer, and coronary heart disease among adults. Exposure to secondhand smoke contributed to approximately 41,000 deaths among non-smoking adults and 400 deaths in infants each year.

One of the ingredients in tobacco is nicotine, a mood-altering drug. It has the tendency to energize you for a while, but as the effect wears off it just makes you tired and craves for more. Nicotine is habit-forming and withdrawal from it might impair your cognitive functioning and makes you feel anxious, irritated, and depressed, also causes sleeping problem and headaches.

Nicotine also causes the blood vessels to tighten, restricting the blood flow. This ongoing narrowing damages the blood vessel and causes peripheral artery disease. Along with that smoking also raises blood pressure and blood clots and also weakens the blood vessel walls.

But knowing the long-term risks may not be enough to push one to quit smoking and it is hard to feel truly threatened by diseases that may strike decades later. But sooner or later one might face the repercussions.

So what’s the solution?

 “There are many factors which promote somebody to smoke: stress, social pressure, and even poverty play an important role. So one must tackle these issues at a basic level,” comments Dr.Villoo Morawala-Patell.

The first step is to get to the root of the problem, like what made you smoke in the first place, and then understand how smoking affects your body and causes irreversible damages, And the next step is to educate yourself with ways to deal with stress like joining the gym, meditation or engaging in any sport. And lastly reminding yourself that smoking not only affects you but also the people around you.

Quitting smoking is difficult, but your doctor can assist you to make a plan and also gives you advice. There are a variety of nonprescription and prescription medications that can help you quit smoking. There are both short and long-term benefits to quitting smoking. Since smoking affects your body system and health, finding a way to quit is the most important step you can take to live a happy and long life.

 

 

 

 

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