It is no longer a secret that smokers are liable to die young. The major cause of this premature death arises from the harmful effects that smoking cause to the body. Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body. Some of these harmful effects are immediate while others may be future.
With every puff of
cigarette that you blow, your life span reduces. The only difference is that
you can see the cigarette burning, but not your inner self which is also
burning and gradually turning into ash.
Way back in 1964, United States Surgeon General Luther L. Terry came up
with the first report linking smoking and lung cancer. Cigarette smoking is, in
fact, the leading cause of preventable deaths in the U.S. According to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in every five deaths in
the U.S. is due to smoking that accounts for 480,000 deaths each year.
Smoking is responsible not only for lung or heart diseases but also for
many other ailments that people might not be aware of. The CDC said that more
than 10 times as many U.S. citizens have died prematurely from cigarette
smoking than all the wars fought by the country during its history.
Listed below are some of the diseases smoking may cause:
Hip fractures: Smoking is responsible
for brittle bones. Smokers are at a high risk of suffering from low bone
mineral density compared to non-smokers. This might trigger fractures in some
vital joints, including the hips. Moreover, prolonged smoking can increase the
risk of fractures during old age and of osteoporosis, which causes bones to
become weak and brittle.
Blindness: The National
Eye Institute says that smoking is one of the reasons for age-related macular
degeneration (AMD) that causes loss of vision. Various researches also suggest
that smoking doubles the risk of AMD.
Colorectal cancer: Colorectal
cancer is marked by the formation of cancerous cells in the tissues of the
colon or the rectum and is the second leading cause of cancer death in the U.S.
when both sexes are combined. Cigarette smoking increases the risk of
colorectal cancer and subsequent death.
Type 2 diabetes: According to
the CDC, smokers are 30-40 percent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than
non-smokers. Diabetics, who are also smokers, face trouble in adjusting insulin
dosage and in controlling the disease.
Ectopic pregnancy: An ectopic
pregnancy is the development of fetus outside the womb and can be
life-threatening for the mother. Women who smoke have high probability of
getting ectopic pregnancy.
Gum disease: Smoking is one
of the main causes of gum diseases. It can cause discoloration, loss of bone
within the jaw and loss of tooth, and can also increase the risk of developing
oral cancer.
Cleft lip and cleft palate: Known as
orofacial clefts, cleft lip and cleft palate are birth defects when a baby's
lip or mouth is not formed properly. The CDC says that women who smoke during
pregnancy are more likely to give birth to a baby with orofacial clefts.
Erectile dysfunction: Male sexual
abilities are affected by smoking as it can damage the blood vessels, and
erectile dysfunction is usually associated with less amount of arterial blood
supply to the penis.
The
list is inexhaustible and the damages are enormous. Addicts should seek proper
counseling and deaddiction treatment from approved centers.
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Type 2 diabetes: According to
the CDC, smokers are 30-40 percent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than
non-smokers. Diabetics, who are also smokers, face trouble in adjusting insulin
dosage and in controlling the disease.