What are the side effects of smoking? Difference between active and passive smoking?
Smoking is injurious to health. There is hardly a part of the body that is not affected by smoking.
Immediate side effects of smoking a cigarette includes:
- raised blood pressure
- decreased blood flow.
- nausea and dizziness.
- Hyper-acidity
- Loss of appetite
- Chronic cough
- Breath shortness
- Yellowish teeth and fingers
The withdrawal symptoms include:
- lack of concentration
- coughs
- headaches
- strong cravings
- changes in sleep patterns
How smoking affects different parts of the body?
- If we start from the top, risk of developing mouth cancer is increased. Tobacco can cause mouth ulcers, bad breath and tooth decay. Headaches
also caused by smoking.
- Chemicals like hydrogen cyanide and others damage the bronchi causing inflammation which results in cough. In lungs, the mucous secretion is affected causing chronic cough.
- Nicotine present in tobacco affects the heart as it raises the blood pressure and carbon monoxide leads to the development of cholesterol deposits on artery walls.
- Smoke tars can cause esophagus and throat cancer. The stomach acid increases which leads to ulcers and heartburn.
- Carcinogens in tobacco case damage to genes that control the cell growth.
- The chemicals present in smoking affects the immune system of the body and makes it weak.
- Smokers have low level of anti-oxidants in blood as compared to non smokers.
- Heart diseases and heart attack are very common among smokers as compared to non-smokers.
- During pregnancy, the risk of premature baby, low birth weight, spontaneous abortion are observed.
- Tobacco is responsible for cancer of lungs, mouth, pharynx, larynx, stomach, urinary bladder, gall Bladder, penis.
- Tobacco consumption reduces estrogen levels in women.
- Vitamin D metabolism decreases resulting in slow absorption of calcium in the body. Deficient calcium absorption can lead to osteoporosis or thinning of the bones.
- Antioxidants such as vitamin C, vitamin E and carotenoids help the body fight off diseases ranging from cancer to heart disease, and help stave off the degenerative effects of aging.
TYPES OF SMOKING
In active smoking, the person is lighting up the cigarette actively and smoking it.
Passive smoking is also called involuntary or second hand smoking as it involves people in your surrounding to inhale certain toxic gases which in turn could harm more than active smoking. In this type of smoking, people are forced to smoke.
The health risks that a passive smoker may occur are considerably less than those of an active smoker, secondhand smoke still contains many of the chemicals and carcinogenic compounds that are also breathed in by the active smoker.
Indoor air pollution is ranked as one of the top five major environmental health risks that affect us today.
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Categories: Asthma, Body, Breathe, Bronchial Asthma, Cancer, Oxygen, Reduce, Respiration, Respiratory system, Risk, Risk factors, Smell, Smoking, Swelling, Symptoms, Teeth, Teeth problems, Throat, Types Tags: Active, asthma, Avoid, Breath, Cancer, cancers, Cigarettes, Facts, Habit, health, larynx, Lungs, Mouth, Passive, pharynx, Quit, Reasons, Side effects, Smoke, Smokers, Smoking, stomach, Symptoms, Tobacco, Withdrawal
Tips to help your child’s teeth last for a long time…
Bad teeth are nor hereditary, it’s bad dental habits that are the main problem. Some tips to help your child’s teeth last for a long time are:
- Feed the proper diet
A diet that is mainly cereal based is too mushy to provide milk teeth and gums with the chewing and biting exercise that they need. Crispy veggies, fibrous fruit, chewing meat keep teeth and gums biting fit, because they increase the flow of saliva which keeps the mouth clean by washing away food particles.
- The baby should never be left asleep sucking a bottle of milk. Wipe gums and budding teeth with a gauze pad after each feed especially at night.
- Sugar coating should not be done as the baby is not born with a sweet tooth. She/He acquires one. Do not add sugar to food and drinks. Offer nuts, fruit, cheese as snacks. If given at bedtime, rinse the mouth or brush teeth.
- Try to reduce the risk of decay. Be stingy with sticky sweets and drinks which stay put on the teeth.
- Milk teeth serve several purposes like to eat, to talk, to look good, to secure places for permanent teeth, to allow the jaw and muscles to grow. Decay in baby tooth can affect the permanent tooth which is waiting to emerge. Infection can also be caused in the jaw.
- Begin six monthly tests by the time your toddler is three, which is when decay starts. The time to fill in a cavity is at the very beginning. This saves the tooth and hurts the child less.
- Clear lumps and puddles from your baby’s mouth after each meal into a wet cloth or gauze. When your child is around two years, it is the best time to get them a tooth brush. Let the child brush away till she has had her fun after which you can finish up.
- Flossing helps to get to some of those in between spots that a tooth brush can never reach do do not forget to floss. It may not go smoothly in the start but if flossing becomes a part of daily routine, they will accept in painlessly.