Give it a thought...

Dedicated specially to the bitsian fraternity of smokers:

Note/Disclaimer: This post contains some technical details that could really help make a healthier you. A lot of the scientific details have been taken from different websites and papers. I don't claim any of the scientific information or pictures as my own. As this is just a blog...and not a technical paper written for school, I havent listed all of them out as references!

Definition: "A cigarette is a euphemism for a cleverly crafted product that delivers just the right amount of nicotine to keep its user addicted for life before killing the person.'' World Health Organization director-general Gro Harlem Brundtland.

Cigarettes have always been something that have completely annoyed me. ..the very smell just puts me off, not to forget the wheezing and coughing I'm almost immediately subject to when someone smokes around me. And beyond a point it turns into a splitting headache, by when I actually lose it completelyyyy and end up either sulking or screaming or getting totallyyy pissed. But well, quite ironically, most of my friends smoke...even those reallly close ones whom you know will understand if you yell at them for their disgraceful habit. Tried as I have over the last 4-5 years to convince them to quit, it hasnt been quite successful. I've tried everything a person could possibly do....advice them, caution them, scream/yell at them, throw a fit, walk away with a cold face,and to some...Ive even broken down in tears asking them to quit....but as I said, they havent been received very well. So with time, I've become accustomed to their habit and have also learned to like my friends just the same. And heck..they are my friends (which is why Ive been begging them in the first place!!)..but come on..Im sure they have their own justifications for doing what they are doing. And I know it can get really annoying if someone is at your back all the time telling you what is right and wrong. So as I said, Ive just learnt to remain silent and have got used to their habit.
However, over the last one year as a grad student in a PhD program, there have been these courses and lectures covering the different ill-effects of smoking, and I've had several chances to reflect upon the damage cigarettes and smoking beget. In this post, I have attempted to list some of them. I think every smoker should know what they are doing to themselves...to every single part of their body, and then decide if thats the value they have for their own life and health.

Disclaimer: I'm not writing this blog in an attempt to convince anyone to quit....although it'd do you a whole world of good, and me a lot of happiness, either directly or indirectly, if you did.

CANCER: Cancer cures smoking! (No..I havent written that wrong..jus re-read it.) Almost everyone is just aware of the fact that lung cancer is predominantly caused by smoking. Not many know that smoking is a major cause of several other cancers, including larynx (voice box), oral cavity, pharynx (throat), and esophagus, and is a contributing cause in the development of cancers of the bladder, pancreas, liver, uterine cervix, kidney, stomach, colon and rectum, and some leukemias (blood cells).
87% of lung cancer is caused by smoking and is the leading cause of cancer deaths in men and women alike. Its difficult to detect at the early treatable stages, but its a disease that can be largely prevented. I just found a good pic online with the caption "Healthy lung vs smokers lung. You decide."


Here are a few others... (they might look a little scary..but as I said..a smoker MUST know all that the body is put to simply bcos of inhaling smoke off the cancer sticks.) This one I really want to state the website..
http://freehosting.tomaweb.com/QuitSmoking/scarystuff.htm
The first picture is that of a neck tumor caused by excessive smoking, where the cancer can spread from the lungs to the neck. The second is an X-ray which shows how it can happen, and the third is the image of a person with oral cancer.





If a person stops smoking, the risk of lung cancer reduces drastically. Yearly the abnormal cancerous cells are replaced by normal cells. 'After 10 years, the risk drops to a level that is one-third to one-half of the risk for people who continue smoking.

HEART: Please visit http://www.quitsmokingsupport.com/heart.htm when you get a chance. It does not have any scary pics ( I guess..), but has a lot of scientific details that make a good read, espply if you are interested in your heart and its healthy functioning.

Within minutes of inhaling cigarette smoke, the heart rate begins to rise, almost by 30% in the first 10 minutes. It raises the blood pressure and causes the heart to work harder to pump blood to the rest of the body. Smoking also increases the blood cholesterol levels and makes the arterial walls sticky. In Australia, government health campaigns use TV images of fatty deposits being squeezed out from an aorta (VERYYYY important artery in the human body, that carries pure blood or oxygenated blood to the rest of the body). Smoking causes fat to be deposited in the walls of the aorta to an extent that it can clog it up entirely. So when a person consumes food or a dish rich in fat, what would otherwise be not very unhealthy to a normal non-smoker, becomes catastrophic when the person is a smoker.
Below is the pic of fatty deposits being squuezed out of the aorta of a 33 year old smoker, who used to smoke since he was 23. The red tube like structure is the aorta.



So if you are in your 20's and are a smoker, and if you think, you can consider quitting later on in your life, cos now you are just too young to quit...afterall you jus started...you might want to reconsider the thought. I dont intend being pessimistic, but I think its important to know this instead of being regretful later. The nice thing is that its never too late to quit. So go ahead and use your common sense and do the thing that seems more logical.

Smoking also causes the blood to become more sticky (by causing raised fibrinogen levels and platelet counts). Carbon monoxide (CO) which is one of 4000 different toxic compounds identified in tobacco and tobacco products, reduces the ability of blood to carry oxygen, reducing the amount of oxygen available to the tissues. All these contribute to a smoker developing atherosclerosis, a condition where an artery carrying blood becomes blocked or narrowed 'cos of fat deposition. This causes lesser blood flow and as the atherosclerotic plaque progresses a clot or an occlusive thrombus can develop, which can lead to a fatal heart attack or myocardial infarction. In some cases, the clot can undergo 'embolism' and migrate to the brain, blocking blood flow to the brain and thus lead to a stroke or cerebral thrombosis. In some smokers, a condition called aneurysm can also develop, which is the ballooning of the arterial wall with an increased risk of bursting/clotting leading to catastrophic results.
To those folks interested in cardiovascular research: 'Smokers are very much more likely to die from a ruptured aneurysm of the abdominal aorta than non-smokers'.
Some statistical details I found interesting...check 'em out..espply the second one.

"One cigarette can impair circulation for up to 45 minutes by constricting the small blood vessels. (The narrow vessels in the feet are particularly vulnerable to the damaging effects). (Hara Podiatrist Group, Covina, Ca., Prevention magazine, Dec. 1987)"

"In the winter, smokers may be at an increased risk of heart disease due to higher blood pressure and heart rate, say researchers in Israel. Although winter blood pressure readings are typically higher for most people, in smokers the average increase in systolic blood pressure was twice the increase in non-smokers. (“Cold Weather Raises Heart Risk for Smokers,” heartinfo.org - June 2001)"

OTHER ORGANS: As I was surfing the net for the ill-effects caused by smoking, I came across this really scary disease, that most people dont know. And I thought I should list it down here... I know it is quite a lot of technical jargon, but if you've read thru till here..I'm hoping youll be interested in knowing more about the damages cigarettes cause..and so I hope you wont mind the technical details.
Thromboangiitis Obliterans (Buerger's disease). This is a peripheral vascular disease caused by heavy cigarette smoking. It involves an inflammatory condition of small vessels that leads to blocking of the arteries and the gangrene. It is a disease caused in young males(20-40) who are heavy smokers. Offlate, however women have also been found to aquire the disease. This disease is most common in the Orient, South east Asia, India, and the middle east. The disease is characterized by excessive pain caused by insufficient blood flow to the extremities of the hands and feet, leading to numbness and tingling sensation resulting in amputation of the limbs.

http://vasculitis.med.jhu.edu/typesof/buergers.html - This is where you can find lots of info on the disease. Here are some pics (again, might be scary!)





Apart from these, smoking causes diseases like bronchitis, emphysema, severe pneumonia. Tobacco is also a teratogen (a substance known to cause detrimental effects in the development of a baby), and has damaging effects on a woman's reproductive health...being associated with increased risk of miscarriage, premature delivery, still birth and infant death. Also, cigarette smoking causes impotency apart from affecting the beauty & looks of a person by causing darkening of lips and teeth, increased wrinkles, increased features of aging, etc.

So all of you smokers out there.. think, and think well. Is it worth soo much torture?..the smoking that is done, jus outa peer pressure, or jus to act cool or jus to impress ppl, or jus for the heck of it.. You might have started with a reason, a reason that seemed perfectly justifiable to you, but now you have more than 1 health reason to quit. This blog is just a small description of the real damage smoking does to you, but theres definitely a LOTT more to it...simply giving key words like "damage/ill effects caused by smoking" etc on search engines like google gives tonnes of information. So read up and see what you are doing to yourself and then decide if this is what you really want to do. Reason out rationally and do what is healthy and what is right.

PS: I individually thank every one of you, who've read this blog till here! Thanx guys!