There are a lot of smokers today in the world. The majority of our population smokes, and their age is getting younger and younger. They start smoking at school, sometimes even in the elementary grades. By 20-25 years the majority of the these people already has experience of 10-12 years smoking. Everybody knows, that smoking causes irreparable harm to health, leading to the development of diseases that are very difficult to treat, and sometimes lead to death.
Smoking effects on the respiratory system
The very first thing that smoker starts to feel over the years and hundreds of cigarettes is cough, shortness of breath and then – the chronic bronchitis. Smoking and coughing are inseparable companions, however, many smokers get used to cough, not quitting smoking. It is believed that cough is just a side effect of smoking, which is quite possible to live with. But this is a very dangerous delusion, coughing suggests that smoking is actually destroying the body. Cough appears due to the fact that the upper respiratory tract dries under the influence of smoke and resin, the fibers of the epithelium die and no longer detain little particles, which come with air. As a result, all the dirt enters freely into the lungs and accumulates there, transforming them into a dead sponge impregnated with resins.
At first stage, a cough, as a consequence of smoking manifests itself very rarely, then it will appear every morning in a very nasty attack. Then the smoker’s cough turns into chronic bronchitis, reminding himself in every trifling cold. The more intensive smoking is, the harder and more painful cough becomes. Body’s resistance is sharply reduced, the risk of getting lung cancer, throat and stomach grows up.
Effect of smoking cigarettes on the heart-vascular system
The next stage after the onset of cough – smoking inhibits the cardiovascular system, greatly increasing the risk of heart attacks. Even at the beginning smokers acutely feel the lack of oxygen, manifested in shortness of breath, especially at high physical activity. Then every cigarette you smoke provokes cough, does not let you easily go up the stairs.
Also, the effects of smoking appear in the blood vessels and arteries. Permanent poisoning of the body by nicotine and tar small afflict vessels. Then major blood vessels and arteries are gradually becoming narrower and, as the result, sometimes are completely closed. Similar effects of smoking, at best, lead to amputation of limbs, and, at worst, they are fatal.
Smoking effect for the brain and nervous system
Among the inevitable consequences of smoking, which will definitely appear in all smokers, the effect for the brain and central nervous system is the most dangerous. Within a few years of continuous smoking your memory worsens, performance reduces, you may feel headaches, very rapidly mood changes and often depressions.
It is sad, but all these is just the tip of the iceberg. Every day there are more and more evidence that smoking causes many health problems, and its effects are often irreversible.
Today many people are aware of the harm that gives them a bad habit to smoke, and all society is getting to rebuild – life without smoking is becoming fashionable. Unfortunately, just a will to quit smoking is often not enough, nicotine dependence is a drug dependence. Today we can find hundreds of methods how to stop smoking – starting from the nicotine patch and to the latest electronic cigarettes. All these methods are good, they all can help, but… just for too small number of smokers.