Smoking_and_the_Health_Risks_That_Come_with_It.

Even though smoking is a bad habit a person can start, smoking causes health problems providing it causes COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease); emphysema and chronic bronchitis and cancer. Quitting can be the best thing a person can do for his or her health. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking harms nearly every organ in the body, causing many diseases and affecting the health of smokers in general. Quitting smoking has immediate as well as long-term benefits for you and your loved ones. Smoking is the cause of and a causative factor to many diseases, including heart disease, cancer, and emphysema. Smoking will reduce a person’s sense of smell and taste, and increase the signs of aging, such as wrinkles. One of the passing of term smoking health risks that smokers experience is the momentary loss of breath. Loss of breath is caused by the nicotine found in each stick of a cigarette. It brushwood to lungs and causes a deadlock that makes it more trying to breathe. Also because of the smoke and additional chemicals there are parts of the lungs and the throat that obtains injury. There are also physical smoking health risks that can be seen like stains and wrinkles. Because of the smoke, the skin gets degraded that is why many smokers have many wrinkles. Smoking also causes bad breath and it can turn a person’s fingers and teeth yellow, it also can do damage to a person who does not smoke. It is called second hand smoke. When a person’s fingers are yellow the cause is from stains from tar and nicotine. Oftentimes nicotine is responsible for the yellower stains and tar for the browner ones. Most smokers with nail staining have a yellowish brown color due to the mixture of both. When a nonsmoker is around a person who does smoke then it can cause many different diseases to that person. It is estimated that 46,000 deaths are from heart disease in non-smokers who live with smokers. There are about 3,400 lung cancer deaths in non-smoking adults and 50,000 to 300,000 lung infections (such as pneumonia and bronchitis) in children younger than 18 months of age, which result in 7,500 to 15,000 hospitalizations annually. In 2006 US Surgeon General's report reached some important conclusions. Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), acute respiratory infections, ear problems, and more severe asthma. Smoking by parents causes breathing (respiratory) symptoms and slows lung growth in their children, secondhand smoke causes premature death and disease in children and in adults who do not smoke. (American Cancer Society, 2009) When a person smokes it causes health problems. It can cause problems to the heart and brain. If a person smokes it can cause Coronary Thrombosis, and Cerebral Thrombosis. Coronary Thrombosis is the blocking of a coronary artery by a blood clot, which obstructs the blood supply to the heart muscle, resulting in death of the muscle and often, a heart attack. (Dr. Gavin Petrie, 02/14/2005) Cerebral Thrombosis is the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel, obstructing the flow of blood through the circulatory system. (Dr. Gavin Petrie 02/14/2005) Both of these diseases cause heart attacks, strokes and even death. Smoking can also cause cardiovascular disease that is the hardening of arteries due to a thickening of the artery lining from fatty deposits or plaques. It can cause poor circulation and angina (heart pains). It can result in a person acquiring a heart attack and even a stroke. It could even end up in death. When a person smokes it can cause a person to have emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Chronic bronchitis is a chronic inflammatory condition in the lungs that causes the respiratory passages to be swollen and irritated increases the mucus production and may damage the lungs. The symptoms are coughing and breathlessness, which will get worse over the years. The definition of chronic bronchitis is chronic cough or mucus reproduction for at least three months in two successive years when other causes have been excluded. There is no cure for chronic bronchitis; once the damage is there it can never be taken care of. There is no cure for chronic bronchitis. The damage done to the airways in the lungs by smoke or other irritants is permanent and is not reversible. (WD 06/30/2010) Emphysema is a lung disease that makes a person lose the ability to exhale. If a person gets emphysema it makes it hard to breathe without coughing. Emphysema is the most common cause of death from respiratory disease in the United States and is the fourth most common cause of death overall. There are1.8 million Americans with the disease, which ranks fifteenth among chronic conditions that cause limitations of activity. The disease is usually caused by smoking, but a small number of cases are caused by an inherited defect. (Deana Swartout – Corbeil, Answers.com) Smokers are more likely to get cancer than non-smokers. The most important reason why smoking is bad for a person’s health is because it causes cancer. Smoking can cause many different types of cancer. It can cause lung, bladder, cervical, pancreatic, kidney cancer, and cancer of the oesophagus. Ninety percent of lung cancer cases are due to smoking. (Dr. Gavin Petrie 02/14/2005) If no-one smoked, lung cancer would be a rare diagnosis - only 0.5 per cent of people who have never touched a cigarette develop lung cancer. It is probably because the people who have never touched a cigarette was around people who have, Second hand smoke is just as bad if not worse than when a person smokes themselves. The more cigarettes you smoke in a day, and the longer you've smoked, the higher your risk of lung cancer. When a women smokes it can sometimes cause cervical cancer. Smoking appears to increase a woman's risk of developing cervical cancer. Cancer of the oesophagus or gullet develops as a result of cell changes in the lining of the oesophagus. It is thought that smoking, among other things, can contribute to it. But it is not a proven fact. They have proven that drinking alcohol does cause cancer of the oesophagus. There is some evidence that spirits are the most dangerous type of alcohol to drink in connection with this type of cancer. (Professor Alistair J Munro 05/2009/2008) There are two types of kidney cancers but only one is the cause of smoking: Transitional cell cancer. This cancer is found within the drainage system of the kidney. It is the same cancer type as that commonly found in the bladder. The pancreas is an oblong-shaped organ located deep in the middle of the upper stomach region. The cause of pancreas cancer is not really known, but smoking and diets rich in red meats and cholesterol are suspected. (Dr. Paul Klenerman 01/05/2005) Cancer of the pancreas is the result of malignant cell changes, usually in the head of the gland. This cancer is more common in the elderly, and men are more prone to it than women. It is the fifth most common cause of cancer mortality in the United Kingdom. Bladder cancer is the result of cell changes in the mucous (inside) wall of the bladder. It is caused by changes in the cells' chromosomes or DNA. This form of cancer develops most often in people between the ages of 60 and 79, with the average age being 67. The disease is three times more common in men than in women. It is one of the most common forms of cancer to strike men. In most cases, bladder cancer is caused by external factors. Cigarette smoking (because of harmful chemicals within the cigarette) and exposure to some carcinogenic (cancer causing) agents such as aromatic compounds and chemicals used in industry and elsewhere can lead to bladder cancer. Approximately 50 per cent of all cases are caused by tobacco smoking and 10 per cent by job-related factors. Stopping smoking, even after many years, can be beneficial, as ex-smokers have a lower rate of bladder cancer than those who continue to smoke. In fact the best way to prevent all of these diseases that were mentioned above is to stop smoking. Even though smoking is a bad habit a person can start, smoking causes health problems providing it causes COPD; emphysema and chronic bronchitis and cancer. I think that quitting smoking is the best thing that a person can do to protect their health. If a person quits smoking their health will improve and get better. If a person is still not sure about quitting smoking then I think I would be wise to ask your doctor about it. I would also suggest doing more research on why it would be a good idea to quit. Macfarlane, John, Dr. Klenerman, Paul. (02/03/2005). Bladder Cancer. Netdoctor. Retrieved from http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/smoking/bladdercancer.htm Dr. Petrie, Gavin. (14.02.2005) Smoking – Health Risks. Netdoctor Retrieved from http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/health_advice/facts/smokehealth.htm Smoking Health Risks. (04/30/2010) Smoking health risks. http://www.smokinghealthrisks.net/ American Cancer Society. (09/22/2009) Second hand smoke. http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/CancerCauses/TobaccoCancer/secondhand-smoke