Why Not Today?




Anybody can answer positively on a question: is smoking unhealthy? But they do not usually explain what is so terrible about smoking. Well, it causes lung cancer, but is it all?

Teachers and special guests in schools usually show X-ray pictures of black smoker’s lungs and threaten that any person that touches a cigarette will sooner or later have the same situation with his or her lungs. After listening to them, young people watch TV, videos on the Internet or look at pictures in magazines and get a different impression: strong beautiful people hold a cigar in their hands while drinking a cup of coffee or a glass of whiskey; or tough cowboys get off their horses to smoke a cigarette while they watch a marvelous sunset of the Wild West. Nobody draws a picture in their heads that these good-looking people from the ads actually have black lungs presented by teachers.

While all of us want to be attractive and get respect from the people that surround us, smoking would not be the best way to do so. Maybe a man in a commercial will be kissed by a gorgeous woman after he puffs his cigarette, in reality a smoker’s breath stinks and a rare woman would enjoy having a taste of that (unless she is a smoker too). The romantic impression made by the well-set ads does not have anything in common with the reality.

Instead of looking at that pretty picture of a smoker, let’s see the inside of him. As soon as he inhales the smoke, it goes into the lungs and covers a large surface of them. The little blood-cells which came for a portion of oxygen, receive a dose of nicotine and a few hundreds of other toxins and run away, doing their usual chores while in fact, carrying the bad chemicals to all organs of the body. Numerous studies have shown that there are more than 4000 toxins which makeup cigarette smoke and none of them are good for the body. If you want even more details, it has been discovered that all these chemicals are presented by 43 carcinogenic substances and more than 400 toxic compounds which can be found in wood varnish, nail polish remover, and rat poison. A smoker opens wide gates to these chemicals in his lungs and body where they build up and eventually lead to severe complications of heart, lungs and other organs.

The most common health disorder connected with smoking is cancer. It is the root of more than 90% of all cases of lung cancer, and 30% of them are fatal. Smoking also leads to other types of cancer the most common of which are cancers of mouth, pancreas, larynx, esophagus, stomach, breast, kidney and bladder.

But cancer is not the only problem: smoking leads to numerous other health disorders. These are illnesses in lung area, such as emphysema and bronchitis; high blood pressure and heart disorders such as heart attack, coronary artery disease, and stroke.

Smokers also put other people in danger: secondhand smoking is almost as bad as direct smoking. It is especially bad for children because they are still growing and their organs are vulnerable. Smoking parents make their children susceptible to asthma, sudden infant death syndrome, bronchitis, pneumonia, and ear infection. Pregnant women should also take into consideration the fact that the unborn babies suffer a lot from the smoke: smoking women have higher number of miscarriages, their babies are usually born premature or with low birth weight. Their babies might suffer from asthma, chest infection or SIDS.

It is never too late to stop smoking, so maybe you should today?

Ruby Stapp

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Posted on May 25, 2010 
Filed Under Facts on Smoking, Smoking and Health, Stop Smoking

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