The Effects of Smoking

We have many people in our lives, some of those we know had either quit smoking cigarettes and some who are still are trying. It had been a hard habit to break. The feeling of nicotine coursing through your blood and the sudden rush you get after the first inhale of cigarettes. We all know smoking is bad for you, but how bad is it? Well, let's find out.

Smoking at an early age can cause many health problems as you get older. The obvious ones are lung cancer, stroke, and various breathing problems. Some smokers can experience depression and emotional issues, sometimes the depression can cause one to think about suicide. Not only does smoking affect your mental health, but physical as well. Smokers are more likely to experience headaches and back pain than non-smokers. Smokers also tend to be thinner. A few smokers who have quit noticed that they gain more weight faster. If you are thinking about losing weight it is not the best idea because of the other issues it causes. It can also affect your sleep patterns, most smokers experience insomnia of some sort throughout their lives. It is shown that when smokers smoke less than regularly, they are getting better sleep.

Cigarettes are the most littered trash in the world. It not only contributes to the number of health problems, it contributes to the earth suffering from the large amounts of litter.

Smokers die thirteen to fourteen years earlier than any non-smoker. Life expectancy is decreased the more one smokes. If you quit before the age of 30, it is believed by some scientists that the death threat of smoking can be decreased significantly.

Smokers lungs compared to healthy lungs look significantly worse. You see the blackened char on the lungs and it does not look attractive and your lungs don't work half as well as the healthy lungs do.

Then, of course, one of the worst cancers to have is lung cancer. The symptoms of lung cancer are:

• Respiratory symptoms: coughing, coughing up blood, wheezing, or shortness of breath.
• Systemic symptoms: weight loss, weakness, fever, or clubbing of the fingernails.
• Symptoms due to the cancer mass pressing on adjacent structures: chest pain, bone pain, superior vena cava obstruction, or difficulty swallowing.

None of those sound remotely fun. 85 percent of people who have lung cancer have it from smoking. That should already discourage you from putting that cigarette into your mouth.

Ingredients in a standard cigarette:

Acetaldehyde, Aminobiphenyl, Anisidine hydrochloride, Arsenic, Benzene, Beryllium, Butadiene, Cadmium, Dimethylhydrazine, Ethylene oxide, Formaldehyde, Furan, Heterocyclic amines, Hydrazine, Isoprene, Lead, Naphthylamine, Nitromethane, Nitrosodi, butylamine, Nitrosodiethanolamine, Nitrosodiethylamine, Nitrosodimethylamine, Nitrosodine propylamine, Nitrosomethylamino, Nitrosonornicotine, Nitrosopiperidin, Nitrosopyrrolidine, Nitrososarcosine, Polonium, Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, Toluidine, Vinyl chloride.

Now, I don't know about you, but I did not understand half of those ingredients that were listed here and if you do not know more than half of the ingredients than, you probably should be not putting it in your mouth and inhaling it too. I mean look at the ingredients listed, there is a lot that goes into cigarettes.

Next up are whales. Smokers are killing whales because of the waste that ends up in our oceans, this is also from the factories that produce cigarettes, the amount of pollution that goes into making cigarettes is one of the reasons that our planet is suffering from global warming, of course, it is not only the cigarette manufacturers, but it still counts as a contributing factor.

You need to think about those around you because the other percentage of lung cancer patients have not smoked a cigarette in their lives. I have heard horror stories about the people that lived in a smoking home from a young age and never smoked a cigarette in their life, but then they end up as a cancer patient. It is not fair to those who have not smoked ever and get diagnosed with lung cancer because of your habit. I understand that it is a hard habit to kick with the nicotine you get from it, but smoking benefits no one.

Hopefully, this article will help you rethink your smoking habits.