A primary cause of preventable death in the United States, smoking is one of the most hazardous activities that people pursue. For example, smoking causes about 85 percent of the annual deaths due to lung cancer in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC. Decreasing the medical problems associated with smoking often require learning how to resist the strong cravings that tobacco products such as cigarettes can create.
Disease and Premature Death
Smoking tobacco products poses extensive health risks to smokers due to the large number of poisonous and cancer-causing chemicals in tobacco smoke. Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals in total and more than 60 chemicals that can cause cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. Smoking makes male smokers 23 times more likely to get lung cancer and female smokers 13 times more likely, according to the CDC. People who smoke are also up to four times more likely than non-smokers to develop coronary heart disease or have a stroke. Overall, cigarette smoking causes almost 20 percent of the deaths in the United States each year, reports the CDC.
Nicotine Dependence
Nicotine is the ingredient in tobacco products that makes smokers keep smoking, according to the American Heart Association. An extremely addictive chemical, nicotine causes initial pleasant feelings due to changes in the smoker's brain. However, unpleasant withdrawal symptoms--such as anxiety, irritability and poor concentration, for instance--quickly replace those positive feelings when smokers cease smoking. The result of the inconsistent effects is nicotine dependence. The addiction is characterized by an ongoing craving for the positive effects that nicotine produces, and ongoing avoidance of the negative effects, both of which lead to continued smoking.
Secondhand Smoke
Non-smokers who breathe in smokers' tobacco smoke--which is called secondhand smoke, environmental tobacco smoke or passive smoke--are at higher risk of developing the same diseases as smokers and dying prematurely than smokers, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. For example, secondhand smoke increases non-smokers' risk of getting heart disease or lung disease by about 25 percent. The World Health Organization, or WHO, reports 40 percent of children around the world inhale secondhand smoke at home. Such children are more likely to develop medical problems that include ear infections and respiratory conditions such as bronchitis. Additionally, infants exposed to secondhand smoke have a greater risk of dying due to sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, than non-exposed infants.
Women and Their Children
Women who smoke endanger their own health and the health of their born and unborn children. Although smoking cigarettes increases a female smoker's risk of becoming infertile and unable to have children, according to the CDC, those who remain fertile are more likely to have a low-weight, premature or stillborn baby, or a child who dies from SIDS. Those who take smoke and take birth control pills are also more likely than non-smokers on birth control pills to have a heart attack or stroke or to get coronary disease or peripheral artery disease, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Young People
Statistics on young smokers from WHO are particularly troubling. The organization reports most adult smokers start using tobacco products when they are not adults and become addicted while they are still adolescents. Moreover, about 25 percent of young smokers smoke for the first time before they are 10 years old, according to WHO. Factors that contribute to smoking in childhood include affordable prices for tobacco products, cigarette advertisements, considering smoking a cool or normal activity, peer pressure and having friends, parents or relatives who smoke. Unfortunately, WHO estimates half of young smokers will eventually die from the habit if they do not quit.
References
- American Cancer Society: Questions about Smoking, Tobacco, and Health
- American Heart Association: Nicotine Addiction
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Women and Tobacco
- Cleveland Clinic: Smoking and Heart Disease
