This is an article I found about anti-smoking... I don't smoke, thank goodness, but a lot of my loved ones do so it is a great concern of mine. Please read the article if you smoke or know someone who does so that you can make them aware of the risks they are taking.
Costs of smoking
As with other forms of addiction, smokers are often unaware of the full price they are paying for their drug dependence.
Of all the drug addictions known, smoking addiction is, in some ways, the worst. The cancer-causing chemicals in cigarette smoke kill half its dependent users. More people die from cigarettes than from car accidents, plane crashes, alcohol, and illicit drugs combined! Compared to heroin, cocaine, or alcohol, the chances of quitting and staying quit are poorer.
Tobacco smoke does most of its damage in the digestive, respiratory, and cardiovascular systems. Smokers also suffer from a wide variety of other medical, psychiatric, and social consequences from their use of tobacco. As with other forms of addiction, the smoker is often unaware of the full price they are paying for their drug dependence.
Although 20% to 35% of our population now smokes, this proportion has decreased. A shift in attitude is occurring making smoking far less socially acceptable.
Health consequences of smoked tobacco
Inhaling a drug provides the most rapid pathway to the brain, faster even than an intravenous injection. The faster the delivery system, the stronger the compulsion and craving once addiction has occurred. That's why it is so difficult to toss cigarettes away for good - smokers crave that "hit" that smoking gives them.
Combustion of dried plant material produces hundreds of toxic and many carcinogenic compounds. Inhaling cigarette smoke delivers this toxic mix directly to the delicate tissues lining the air pathways, including the mouth, nose, and bronchi as well as the lungs themselves. Although nicotine, when given by other routes, has been shown to cause cardiovascular problems, compared to the hazards associated with the carcinogens and other toxins in smoked tobacco, the health consequences of nicotine are significantly less.
Health consequences of smoking include:
cancers of the lips, mouth, throat, bronchial tubes, and lungs
cancer of the bowel, kidney, bladder, and breast
chronic bronchitis, asthma, and emphysema
coronary artery disease and heart attacks
peripheral vascular disease (decreased blood flow to the extremities, which can be painful and lead to serious complications such as gangrene)
increased clotting of blood, which may cause stroke or blood clots in the lungs
disordered sleep
anxiety, irritability, and depression
vitamin and nutritional deficiencies
bone conditions such as osteoporosis and fractures
peptic ulcer disease, irritable bowel, and high blood pressure
decreased fertility
decrease in fetal size
sudden infant death syndrome
Why put yourself at risk, when there are many treatments available to help you quit? Talk to your doctor or pharmacist today. You certainly don't have to do it alone.
Source(s): © McNeil Consumer Healthcare, division of Johnson & Johnson Inc. 2008
Costs of smoking
As with other forms of addiction, smokers are often unaware of the full price they are paying for their drug dependence.
Of all the drug addictions known, smoking addiction is, in some ways, the worst. The cancer-causing chemicals in cigarette smoke kill half its dependent users. More people die from cigarettes than from car accidents, plane crashes, alcohol, and illicit drugs combined! Compared to heroin, cocaine, or alcohol, the chances of quitting and staying quit are poorer.
Tobacco smoke does most of its damage in the digestive, respiratory, and cardiovascular systems. Smokers also suffer from a wide variety of other medical, psychiatric, and social consequences from their use of tobacco. As with other forms of addiction, the smoker is often unaware of the full price they are paying for their drug dependence.
Although 20% to 35% of our population now smokes, this proportion has decreased. A shift in attitude is occurring making smoking far less socially acceptable.
Health consequences of smoked tobacco
Inhaling a drug provides the most rapid pathway to the brain, faster even than an intravenous injection. The faster the delivery system, the stronger the compulsion and craving once addiction has occurred. That's why it is so difficult to toss cigarettes away for good - smokers crave that "hit" that smoking gives them.
Combustion of dried plant material produces hundreds of toxic and many carcinogenic compounds. Inhaling cigarette smoke delivers this toxic mix directly to the delicate tissues lining the air pathways, including the mouth, nose, and bronchi as well as the lungs themselves. Although nicotine, when given by other routes, has been shown to cause cardiovascular problems, compared to the hazards associated with the carcinogens and other toxins in smoked tobacco, the health consequences of nicotine are significantly less.
Health consequences of smoking include:
cancers of the lips, mouth, throat, bronchial tubes, and lungs
cancer of the bowel, kidney, bladder, and breast
chronic bronchitis, asthma, and emphysema
coronary artery disease and heart attacks
peripheral vascular disease (decreased blood flow to the extremities, which can be painful and lead to serious complications such as gangrene)
increased clotting of blood, which may cause stroke or blood clots in the lungs
disordered sleep
anxiety, irritability, and depression
vitamin and nutritional deficiencies
bone conditions such as osteoporosis and fractures
peptic ulcer disease, irritable bowel, and high blood pressure
decreased fertility
decrease in fetal size
sudden infant death syndrome
Why put yourself at risk, when there are many treatments available to help you quit? Talk to your doctor or pharmacist today. You certainly don't have to do it alone.
Source(s): © McNeil Consumer Healthcare, division of Johnson & Johnson Inc. 2008
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment