According to WHO, the tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced, killing more than 8 million people a year around the world. More than 7 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while around 1.2 million are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.
Smoking tobacco can have many adverse effects on the body. Below are some adverse consequences:
- Tobacco smoking causes atherosclerotic arterial disease (hardening and narrowing of the arteries), leading to heart attacks, strokes, and lack of blood flow to the lower extremities.
- Pregnant women who smoke are more likely to deliver babies with low birth weight.
- Tobacco smoking can predispose to lung cancer.
- Tobacco causes middle-ear infections (otitis media), coughing, wheezing, bronchitis in babies, and aggravate asthma in children.
Generally, tobacco smoke is very harmful to your health, it can lead to a variety of complications in the body.
Quitting smoking can be difficult (whether you are an occasional or a lifetime smoker) as it contains nicotine, which has addictive effects but quitting it is worth it.
Quitting smoking efforts may include behavior modification, counseling, use of nicotine chewing gum (Nicorette Gum), nicotine skin patches (Transderm Nicotine), or oral medications such as bupropion (Zyban).
It requires a serious life-long commitment, you’ll need to address both the addiction and the habits and routines that go along with it. With the right support and quit plan, any smoker can kick the addiction, even if you’ve tried and failed multiple times before.
Do you have questions or comments concerning tobacco? Please feel free to leave a reply below.
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