Smoking facts

People smoke to get some gratification, for social or ritualistic needs or when the dependence on Nicotine hampers his way of life. In a study, it was seen that smoking is the single largest primary or secondary cause of illness and premature death in the United Kingdom. More than 450,000 deaths due to smoking related diseases occur in the United States per year. Tobacco smoking is an addiction as it contains nicotine, a molecule that is addictive in nature. When the dependency occurs, it becomes very tough to quit smoking. Tobacco also contains Harmane (a Mono Amino Oxidase inhibitor). The cumulative effect of nicotine and Harmane is the reason behind the sense of euphoria and its addictive properties.

For the first time and infrequent smokers, nicotine creates a state of alertness and increase in the memory function besides creating a euphoric state. Nicotine also depresses some metabolic processes and it is known appetite killer by increasing blood sugar level.

As the nicotine level in the blood increases, dependency to nicotine becomes obvious. And if somebody is restricted to smoke, the ‘withdrawal symptoms’ occurs such as anxiety, craving for smoking, restlessness, irritability, headaches, difficulty to concentrate and sense of doom. The entire symptoms will vanish with the next puff of cigarette. Because of that, most of the smokers take puffs regularly to feel normal or to avoid ‘withdrawal symptoms’.

Another detrimental component of cigarette smoke is ‘tar’. It gets deposited in the tiny blood vessels of lungs and later carried out to other parts of body. It is the prime cause of ‘Burger’s disease of the foot’.

Cigarette smoke contains over 4000 different types of chemical components. Of these, 50 elements are highly carcinogenic.

Some other smoking facts are –

About 106,000 people die due to the disease directly or indirectly related to smoking in the UK. Smoking related deaths are mainly due to lung and oral cancers, membrane lung diseases (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary/Lung Disease – also named COPD/COLD) and cardiac thrombosis.

About half of all the smokers die due to smoking related diseases.

For the chronic smokers (who are continuing for 10-12 years), even after 30 years of age, life expectancy decreases. It is about 8-12 years less than the non-smokers. Take it this way – roughly 8 persons out of 10 non-smokers live more than 70 years whereas 50% of chronic smokers survive till 70 years.

If the starting age is less, the person is more likely to continue smoking in the adult life and there is more chance of dying earlier.

Smoking related diseases grinds the sufferer. There are no quick deaths like accidents and cardiac arrest. You have to suffer for years in distressed and debilitated conditions if you develop COPD and cancerous conditions.

Smoking is the predisposing factor for many diseases. Some of them are not fatal. But they can offer bad times for years.

A couple of cigarettes in continuation increase the level of fat by 200-400% in blood. The average smoker (30 cigarettes a day) has about 5 times more risk to develop heat disease if he is in the age group of 45-54 years.

Overall, the conclusion is ‘quit smoking for better living’.