What is the danger of smoking for he alth?

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The phrase "Ministry of He alth warns: smoking is dangerous for your he alth" is so popular that it is familiar to everyone since childhood. The reason for this is its presence not only on packs of cigarettes, but also on campaign posters, in tobacco advertising. The degree of "danger" in the modern world varies from a bad complexion to a malignant tumor of the organs.

However, the number of smokers on planet Earth is only increasing every year. This begs the question, is smoking really dangerous to he alth.

Some historical facts

Tobacco smoking came to Europe from America. The Indians grew bushes of this plant and, after appropriate processing, smoked the leaves. In the modern process of making cigarettes, there are no waste products in the form of tobacco stems. It is worth noting that Columbus did not appreciate the bush of dry leaves presented as a gift, and the first “smokers” who appeared in Europe paid for their addiction with imprisonment (the Inquisition considered the presence of “unclean” smoke puffs emitted by smokers). Since 1531, tobacco has been grown on plantations in Spain.

The penetration of tobacco into Europe began with the "high" society, since onlywe althy people. Of the women, only Parisian prostitutes smoked openly. The attitude of the state and the church to the "pernicious" habit of citizens changed as they realized the profitability of such a phenomenon as the "tobacco monopoly".

The decisive struggle between the tobacco monopolies for the consumer was the First World War, when free cigarettes were included in the soldiers' rations. Naturally, the calculation was made on the "conquest" of regular customers. After the war, the first studies were conducted on the side effects of smoking among soldiers. Cases of lung cancer were ten times higher than those among the civilian population. The fact that nicotine is a "dangerous poison" has been known to the scientific community for about a hundred years, but this did not prevent the development of the tobacco industry.

Tobacco as a cure for migraine

Initially, Europeans drew attention to the medicinal properties of a strange plant, and it was sold in pharmacies as a remedy for migraine, toothache, hysteria and other diseases. In those distant times, tobacco was sniffed, chewed, and tinctures were made, since only a few could afford to smoke “rolled tobacco leaves”. As you know, any medicine in unlimited quantities turns into poison. In addition, the effect of nicotine on the human body with uncontrolled intake has not been studied. Perhaps due to this historical use of the plant by Europeans, there is an opinion in modern society that smoking "calms the nerves" and the phrase "smoking is dangerous for your he alth" is perceived by consumers as an importunate lecture. Although, in factIn fact, all addictions show up brighter against the background of stress.

Cigars, tobacco, modern cigarettes

As you know, the Indians smoked only the leaves of the plant, but the "white people" did not limit themselves to this. In an effort to waste-free production and "surplus profits", tobacco companies did not disdain to add various kinds of chemical compounds to cigarettes. In addition, the stems of the plant were also processed into tobacco (with the help of chemistry), which led to the era of the flourishing of malignant tumors. Previously, it was believed that cigars are a cleaner product than crushed leaves, however, in modern production, the processing of tobacco leaves for cigars is carried out with the same pesticides. Therefore, it is impossible to say that only nicotine is present in cigars from poisons.

Composition of modern cigarettes

The composition of modern cigarettes is only 50% parts of a plant called tobacco. Laboratory studies have confirmed the presence of phenol, butane (they are also used in the "ripening" of exotic fruits), benzopyrene, cadmium, polonium-210, DDT, ammonia, urethane, taurene, arsene, vinyl chloride and more than 500 other ingredients, the presence of which in Only manufacturers know about cigarettes.

Nicotine itself is a poison. Studies of its effect on a living organism in combination with the substances listed above have not been conducted. It would seem that the answer to the question "why smoking is dangerous to he alth" is given. The most potent and destructive poisons are collected in a cigarette, and their dosage is far from the medicinal norm. But people don't smokefewer, and the list of diseases resulting from the use of cigarettes is constantly expanding.

Addiction or Habit?

Recent studies by scientists confirm that smoking is an addiction that manifests itself both physically and psychologically. Norepinephrine is to blame, to be more precise, a violation of the production of this substance in the human body due to smoking. The amount of "artificial" norepinephrine is controlled only by the number of cigarettes smoked, this is the "open gate" for the development of addiction.

It has been proven that it is possible to quit smoking if the liver, kidneys, and blood are cleansed of the consequences of heavy poisons, but often this is not enough. The main role here is already played by psychological dependence, which develops against the background of certain pseudo-social attitudes. As practice shows, getting rid of it is 50% of success on the path to a life without tobacco. Modern methods and programs successfully cope with this kind of addiction, provided that a person has consciously set a goal - to quit smoking.

Possible consequences

What is the danger of smoking for an adult? First of all, the impact on he alth. And the way it enters the body plays an important role in this matter - through the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract and lungs. This is the "fastest" way to deliver the substances contained in the smoke. Poisons, chemicals, heavy metals accumulate inbody, leading to organic changes in the internal organs (not just the lungs).

What is the danger of smoking for the state of the cardiovascular system? Research under the auspices of WHO has made it possible to establish a pattern between the severity of atherosclerosis and smoking (with the simultaneous use of alcohol). Substances in tobacco smoke cause damage to the nerve cells of the heart, which leads to vasospasm and rhythm disturbance. There are frequent cases of atrial fibrillation due to smoking.

A characteristic disease for smokers is right ventricular hypertrophy, which leads to pulmonary-right ventricular failure.

What is the danger of smoking for the respiratory system? First of all, it is chronic bronchitis, which often turns into an asthmatic form. In smoking representatives of mankind, the possibility of getting tuberculosis increases by 2-4 times. To this we can add a change in the structure of lung tissues and the occurrence of bronchial cancer.

What is the danger of smoking for other organs? The systematic replenishment of various poisons in the body is reflected in the work of the stomach, endocrine system, changes in hormonal levels, the state of the nervous system, the functioning of the brain, the state of the bones (mineralization decreases and weight decreases). There are no organs that are not affected by the effects of smoking.

What is the danger of passive smoking, which people who are close to smokers are trying to resist so much? The composition of smoke from a burning cigarette differs in composition from smoke in puffs. In the first, there are twice as many different substances, so passive inhalation of such smokenext to a smoker is equal to three cigarettes smoked.

It is precisely due to the saturation of cigarette smoke with various toxic substances that it can cause coughing, headaches, increased blood pressure, and exacerbation of chronic diseases in non-smokers. In the family of a smoker, non-smokers are 20% more likely to get lung cancer, and if a relative smokes a large number of cigarettes per day, the risk increases to 70%.

Cigarettes and women – is the future possible?

The film industry stubbornly exploits the image of a smoking heroine. This, in most cases, affects the self-determination of adolescents. The ban on "hidden" advertising of tobacco in the mass media is justified by the fact that smoking provokes infertility in women. State institutions consider this fact as one of the threats to the demographic situation. Why is smoking dangerous during pregnancy? A direct dependence of a large number of pathologies of pregnancy on the experience of a smoker has been established. Many women try to quit smoking when they find out they are pregnant. But it is dangerous to do this during this period - such actions provoke a miscarriage through a sharp change in the composition of the blood and the occurrence of a “breaking” of failure. If a woman has an interest in having a he althy offspring, giving up cigarettes should occur a year or two before the planned pregnancy.

Smoking during pregnancy is fraught with the occurrence of nicotine substance abuse in the newborn, various developmental pathologies, fetal hypoxia, as well as an increased riskperinatal mortality up to 28%.

Eysenck observations

Hans Jurgen Eysenck, as part of his scientific work, suggested that smoking and lung cancer are symptoms of one of the personality disorders, moreover, of a genetic origin. This meant that the owner of such a disorder did not have to smoke in order to get cancer (this is a genetic predisposition). It is enough for such people to “peck on the bait of smoking propaganda” in order to start the disease mechanism already embedded in them.

But the scientific community refused to accept this state of affairs and accused the scientist of juggling the facts.

In the modern world, "smoking of high-quality tobacco and cigars" is actively promoted under the guise of (mangled) Eysenck's theory, silent about why smoking is dangerous for humans. Taken out of context, the scientist's phrase about smoking and cancer in such cases only testifies to the illiteracy of the citation and does not close the question of the benefits or harms of smoking.

In closing

Each person chooses for himself life guidelines, habits and addictions. The main thing is that the people around him do not suffer from the recklessness of one person. If a citizen smokes, then he is simply obliged to do so without harming the he alth of non-smokers. And often quite the opposite happens. But, as practice shows, this kind of egoism can be cured, though not by very popular methods.