What gets a person to want to smoke? Life, stress, kids, and boredom could be the reason. Or is it because it is cool? Well trying to be cool can kill you and anyone you smoke around. I do not really understand the whole nicotine addiction, but I do understand the harmful effects it has on you and others. Nicotine is the most serious form of drug used in the U.S. In scientific measures, smokers show all the physiological signs of an addict.
Secondhand Smoke is a toxic health hazard. After 10 years of research EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) classified secondhand smoke as a “Group A Carcinogen”, meaning it causes cancer in humans, and ranks it among health hazards such as radon and asbestos. Secondhand smoke may be the cause of 53,000 deaths of nonsmokers, using blood test 9 out of 10 Americans are breathing in the smoke 2 times more than the amount predicted. Children are especially affected by cigarette smoke because there is no way for them to escape the smoke’s damaging effects. There may be 12 million American children 5 and under who are smokers but have never picked up a cigarette. Children who are exposed may cough, wheeze and have a hard time recovering from colds.
Secondhand smoke can cause Asthma, Allergies and other respiratory or Viral infections such as Bronchitis and Pneumonia. Tobacco smoke is responsible for 307,000-522,000 cases of asthma in children under 15. Children with parents that smoke are twice likely to develop asthma, children who already have asthma it can get worse when exposed to smoking. 436,000 smoke-related bronchitis cases has been reported in children under 5 and there have been 115,000-190,000 reports of pneumonia. When exposed to the smoke the children can develop bad Ear Infections, Sinus Infections, Hearing Problems, Damaged Teeth, Stunted Growth, Birth Defects, SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.) do to damaged lungs in infants. Between 284-360 children die from lung disease by secondhand smoke or fires.
Effects of Nicotine use: cloudy vision, cataracts, blindness, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, heart attack, lung cancer, emphysema, respiratory infections, colds lasting winter season, ulcers, stomach,throat, and bladder cancers. Also heartburn, urinary incontinence, lowered body temperature, more painful menstruation, earlier menopause, fertility problems, miscarriages/ stillbirths, backaches, slower healing, insomnia, fatter belly and love handles. Smoking and cigarette smoke can cause serious damage to the body, If you smoke be careful who you smoke around. If you have the willpower to quit and have family do it for them and most importantly do it for you.
Safe and natural way to quit smoking and get your life back
Lorna Darden
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Posts Tagged ‘Health Hazards’
Secondhand smoke is a combination of the smoke produced from a burning cigarette and the smoke exhaled by the smoker. Second-hand smoke is also known as passive smoke or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). Mostly the term second-hand smoke is used as opposed to ETS because the latter infers a relationship between tobacco smoke and the environment in general resulting in confusion about its exact meaning. Such environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) can be easily recognized by its distinctive odor as it contaminates the air and gets retained in clothing, curtains and furniture, etc.
However, it is not just limited to irritation; ETS represents a dangerous health hazards across the globe. Over 4,000 different chemicals have been identified in ETS, and around 50 of these chemicals are known carcinogens. Some of the commonly found chemicals in secondhand smoke include, but are not limited to:
• Benzopyrenes: These are otherwise found in coal tar, one of the most potent cancer-causing chemicals.
• Formaldehyde: It is normally used to preserve dead animals.
• Hydrogen cyanide: It is used in rat poison!
• Ammonia: It is used to clean floors and toilets.
Breathing second-hand smoke can be more dangerous than inhaling smoke through a cigarette. It has twice as much nicotine and tar as the smoke that people smoking inhale and five times more carbon monoxide, a deadly gas that starves your body of oxygen.
Harmful effects of Passive Smoking:
People who do not smoke, and who are exposed to the toxic chemicals in second-hand smoke on a regular basis, can suffer serious and life-threatening health problems. In the long term, people exposed to second-hand smoke have a greater risk of suffering from lung cancer, nasal sinus cancer, heart disease, stroke, and breathing problems, including increased coughing, wheezing, pneumonia, bronchitis, and asthma. In fact every time a person breathes in second-hand smoke, he/she consumes over 100 harmful chemical agents – carcinogens and toxins.
People who live with someone who smokes and are exposed to tobacco smoke on a regular basis have around 30 per cent increased risk of developing lung cancer and heart disease. Even as little as 8 to 20 minutes of passive smoking can cause physical reactions linked to heart disease and stroke, such as increased heart rate, less oxygen to the heart, and constricted blood vessels that increases blood pressure and makes the heart work harder.
Effects on Infants:
Children are at even higher risk because their lungs are still in a stage of development and can be more easily damaged by second-hand smoke. Infants also inhale more amount of the smoke because they breathe much faster than adults. Infants who breathe second-hand smoke have a greater chance of dying from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), also known as crib death. More than three times as many infants die from second-hand smoke-related SIDS as from child abuse or homicide. Effects of tobacco smoking on children is more than adult person. Children who are exposed to second-hand smoke have double the risk of getting bronchitis and pneumonia.
Second-hand smoke can affect children’s behavior and their ability to understand and reason. Studies have shown that children who are regularly exposed to second-hand smoke score lower on tests in reading, math, logic and reasoning skills. For children with asthma, exposure to even small amounts of second-hand smoke can trigger an asthma attack. Breathing second-hand smoke can increase the number of asthma attacks. Exposing children with asthma to second-hand smoke in the home increases the number of emergency room visits and hospital stays. Exposure to second-hand smoke can cause children without asthma to develop it.
Discount herbal supplements for weight loss, anti aging, skin care and overall health are available online. Herbal supplements have been widely used and are recognized across all populated continents.
There is a wide range of natural remedies and treatment on the market today. However, because there is no standardization in the herbal industry, there is no guarantee as to consistency or the potency of the herbal remedies you choose to buy.
You not only can save money for getting a supplement at a discount, but according to several offers you can also get other vitamins free for the cost of one. It is easy to find discount vitamins: dietary supplements, herbal supplements and Nutritional products manufactured according to FDA norms ensuring highest degree of potency and consistency.
However, a supplement at a discount price doesn’t mean that is will be cheap. If the website traditionally sells its’ items at a higher price than other retailers, their item at a discount may actually be more than most other stores regular prices. There are websites that offers comparative prices and products, making it easier for you to choose.
Herbal supplements are the craze of today’s healthy world. Treating stress, anxiety and other health hazards with aromatherapy and homeopathy are the methods that people who can afford expensive treatments are doing for long term good health. discount herbal supplements offer everybody the chance to be treated in the same way regardless of income (or lack thereof).
While most people get enough vitamins to avoid the classic deficiency diseases, relatively few get enough of the five key vitamins that may be important in preventing several chronic diseases. If you do use herbal supplements, absolutely only do so under the guidance of a health care professional so that you are aware of the possible health risks involved. Tell your Health care professional if you are taking any prescription drugs or non prescription medications, as some herbal supplements may have adverse interactions with those medications.
Remember, you certainly can achieve better health with the aid of discount herbal supplements. However, remember that, unequivocally, the most important component of good health is proper nutrition and good exercise habits. If you believe you can simply eat junk food all day long, simply take an herbal supplement and remain disease free, you’ve got another thing coming.
Discount herbal supplements are there for just one purpose; to help a person who already possesses good eating and exercise habits become even healthier. These are not magic health pills, and do not utilize them as such.
The health hazards of exposure to secondhand smoke are well recognized by experts in the healthcare field. Secondhand smoke is that environmental tobacco smoke resulting from cigarette, cigar or pipe smoking by a smoker. There are two forms of secondhand or passive smoke, mainstream smoke and sidestream smoke. Mainstream smoke is that which a smoker exhales. Sidestream smoke is the smoke which comes directly from the burning tobacco product. Either form unfortunately is harmful to innocent individuals who involuntarily engage in passive smoking as a result of it the tobacco pollution caused by the willful smoker.
If it were not bad enough that nicotine which is a powerfully addictive substance with harmful health effects is present in passive smoke, tobacco also produces more than 4000 chemicals and 250 of them are toxic. Worse yet, 50 of the chemicals in passive smoke are felt to be carcinogenic or cancer-causing. Some of those carcinogenic chemicals are as follows:
• Benzene — A component of gasoline
• Formaldehyde — A chemical used to embalm corpses
• Hydrogen cyanide — A highly poisonous gas used in chemical weapons
• Carbon monoxide – A gas in automobile exhaust
The Surgeon General issued a report in 2006 concluding that secondhand smoke can kill and that there is no safe amount of passive smoke. The report also concluded that the greater the degree of passive smoke exposure the greater the health risks.
Some alarming statistics relating to secondhand smoke exposure are as follows:
• In the United States alone 126 million people non-smokers are exposed to passive smoke at home and/or at work.
• In the United States 50,000 people per year die because of passive smoke exposure.
• In the United States approximately 3000 deaths per year occur because of lung disease in non-smokers caused by secondhand smoke exposure.
• Secondhand smoke exposure increases non-smokers’ risk of developing lung cancer by between 20% and 30% and their risk of developing heart disease by 25% to 30%.
• Exposure to passive smoke causes the development of respiratory conditions such as pneumonia and bronchitis in between 150,000 and 300,000 children under the age of 18 months, of which between 7,500 and 15,000 require hospitalization.
• More than 40% of children requiring visits to emergency rooms for severe asthma attacks live in homes where smoking occurs.
Given these alarming facts and statistics about the harmful effects associated with the exposure to secondhand smoke, it is important to determine your degree of exposure if you are a non-smoker in a home where someone smokes or if you are possibly exposed to passive smoke in the workplace.
Thanks to a home test kit which gives instant quantitative results it is now possible to determine not only if you are exposed to passive smoke, but also your degree of exposure. There is also a quantitative test kit designed for professional use. Each kit comes in two types. One requires the use of a urine specimen for testing. The other uses saliva.
By determining your level of environmental tobacco exposure you can then take the necessary actions to address one of life’s serious health hazards.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purpose only and is not intended to be a substitute for medical consultation with a qualified professional. The author encourages Internet users to be careful when using medical information obtained from the Internet and to consult your doctor before make decisions that can affect your health or if you are unsure about your medical condition.