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How Smoking and Secondhand Smoking Affects Your Health?

How Smoking and Secondhand Smoking Affects Your Health?

Everyone knows smoking is bad for health whether you are a smoker or non-smoker. Smoking not only affects those who smoke but also affects their families, friends, co-workers, neighbours, even strangers.

Everyone knows smoking is bad for health whether you are a smoker or non-smoker. Smoking not only affects those who smoke but also affects their families, friends, co-workers, neighbours, even strangers. 

Smoking can cause dangerous effects on the body which includes heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Even second hand smoking or passive smoking is associated with severe disease like headache or migraine, lung cancer or heart disease. 

Tobacco has negative impacts on the body whether you eat or smoke. Tobacco products contain harmful chemicals like acetone and tar , nicotine and carbon monoxide. 

According to several studies and research it has been noted that smokers are at higher risk of developing severe disease even death. Not only direct smoke, even secondhand smoke which you inhale accidently in public areas or in parties, might be you don't feel anything but breathing toxins in the air because someone's smoke can affect your health.

Effects of Smoking on the Body

Whether you smoke cigarettes, cigars, pipe, e-cigarette, or hookah won’t help you avoid the health risks. There is no safe way to smoke whether you use any kind of cigarettes , cigar or vaping. When you lit it generates 7000 chemicals, many of them are toxic even carcinogenic. 

So smoking can harm the organs in your body and negatively impact your overall health and immune system.  

Some of the smoking effects on the body are

Central Nervous System

A nod-altering drug NICOTINE is present in tobacco which is habit forming and addictive because of that person experience difficulty in quitting smoking.

Nicotine affects your brain and energises you for a while but after its effects wear off, you may feel tired again and you crave more. So it affects your emotions. You may feel anxiety, irritability and depression

Eyes

Smoking can affect vision and it may damage the optic nerve. It may develop certain other conditions like

  • Glaucoma
  • Cataracts

Respiratory System Damage

Inhalation of smoke directly or indirectly damage the airways, alveoli of the lungs and cilia which prevents the dirt and mucous from entering your lungs. 

Smacking can cause chronic causes and worsen asthma.

Also increases the risks of asthma and lung cancer.

It may cause non reversible lung damage like:

  • Emphysema
  • Chronic Bronchitis
  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD)
  • Lung cancer

Cardiovascular System

Smoking can damage the heart and vessels. The conditions includes:

  • High blood pressure
  • Increased risk of blood clots
  • Atherosclerosis
  • Coronary heart disease
  • Stroke
  • Peripheral artery disease
  • Abdominal aortic aneurysm
  • Smoking also worsen heart disease like - heart bypass surgery, heart attack and stent placed in the blood vessels.

Sexulaity and Reproductivity

Nicotine affects the both male and female reproductive system.

Smoking may contribute to fertility issues and decrease the sex hormone levels in both male and female.

Females who smoke may have irregular or painful periods. Low oestrogen hormone levels may cause mood swings , tiredness and vaginal dryness. It can also increase the risks of the following conditions:

  • Early delivery
  • Low birth weight
  • Infant death syndrome
  • Ectopic pregnancy
  • Menopause at young age

Skin

  • Smoking can change the structure of your skin and delay wound healing.
  • Also smokers show premature skin damage associated with ageing, wrinkles, more prone to psoriasis and skin cancer.

Hair

  • Smoking causes hair loss. 

Digestive System

Smoking can affect the digestive system. It increases the risk of cancer of the digestive system. This include:

Oral cancer, throat cancer, stomach cancer and many more

The Danger of Secondhand Smoke

Second hand smoking or passive smoking poses severe health problems. Exposure to second smoke increases the risk of developing respiratory disease, infections, asthma exacerbation and lung cancer. 

Secondhand smoke increases the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, respiratory disease and impaired lung functions in childrens. Additionally, passive smoking contributes to developing some cruel diseases like - lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, middle ear infections, bronchitis, low birth weight babies, and even may cause death from sudden stroke. 

How Are ill Effects of Second-Hand Smoke Diagnoses?

Commonly people who don't smoke are not tested for exposure because of lack of awareness. But if you are inhaling smoke from someone else smoke you are equally at higher risk of developing disease as smokers. 

To detect amount of nicotine in your body you may detect with routine health check up- because it checks the amount of nicotine in your saliva, blood or urine

To check your lungs, a doctor may advise you a pulmonary function test (PFT) by which doctor can detect the damage to the lungs caused by passive smoke or dangers like asthma. 

Best Practice and Better Future

  • Non-smokers need to be protected from second hand smoke exposure within the home, at school , workplace or public place. 
  • Remember there is no safe level of smoke whether it is active or passive.
  • Non-smokers- have the right to breathe in a smoke free environment.
  • Smoke-free workplace , no smoke in public transports and restaurants motivates the smokers to quit smoking.

Empowering Health, Empowering Wellness in Smoke Free Environment

Let's take a path of a smoke free future. Protection can be achieved through quit smoking and ban smoking and by smokers taking responsibility for not exposing others. 

The effects of smoke are very hazardous on health so safeguarding health becomes paramount. Ganesh Diagnostic and Imaging Centre stands committed to promoting awareness and health care. Through innovative diagnostic techniques it's easy to detect health risks associated with smoke and passive smoke. Ganesh Diagnostic offers lung function tests, imaging studies like- Chest X-Ray, CT Scan and biomarker assessment. As the best CT scan centre in Delhi we also offer PET CT scan in Delhi to detect early signs of cancer.

Our routine health package provides a comprehensive assessment of disease associated with smoke.

We also empower individuals to take active positive steps towards a smoke free and healthy future.