Read Health Hazards of cigarettes first.
Smoking around children:
The Dangers of Secondhand Smoke to a kid:
- Low birth weight for gestational age
- Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)- children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy have an increased risk of SIDS.
- The EPA estimates that passive smoking is responsible for between 150,000 and 300,000 of these infections in children under 18 months annually
- Asthma – According to the EPA, between 200,000 and 1,000,000 kids with asthma have their condition worsened by secondhand smoke every year. Also, passive smoking may also be responsible for thousands of new cases of asthma every year
- Chronic respiratory symptoms such as cough and wheezing may be attributed to secondhand smoke.
- Children who breathe in secondhand smoke are more likely to suffer from dental cavities, eye and nose irritation, and irritability
- Middle ear infections – exposure to ETS causes buildup of fluid in the middle ear, resulting in 700,000 to 1 1.6 million physician office visits yearly in the U.S.
How Secondhand Smoke Can Affect the Heart
- Heart disease mortality – an estimated 35,000 to 62,000 deaths are caused from heart disease in people who are not current smokers, but who are exposed to ETS
- Acute and chronic coronary heart disease
- Passive smoking has been linked to the narrowing of the carotid arteries, which carry blood to the brain
- Exposure to secondhand smoke cigarettes hastens hardening of the arteries, a condition referred to as arthrosclerosis
- Continual exposure to ETS has been proven to double the chance of heart attack nearly
Secondhand Smoke cigarettes – Worse Than We Idea:
Secondhand smoke cigarettes is serious business, and really should end up being a concern for anybody who breathes it in. nonsmokers inhaling secondhand smoke talk about some of the health threats smokers encounter. But smokers do encounter the most severe of it – the dangers of smoking cigarettes are compounded by inhaling and exhaling tobacco smoke in for another time.
Don’t underestimate the hazards of ETS. While secondhand smoke might not kill as many many people as smoking does, it is toxic and claims thousands of lives every full year around the world.
Very dire information indeed, and with all the current known facts of the consequences of cigarette smoking and inhaling carbon monoxide smoke, one might ask: what specifically are the health advantages of quitting smoking? Haven’t We ruined my lungs or various other organs already?
Health Advantages of Quitting Smoking:
As well as the physical health advantages of quitting, many ex-smokers record that they experience happier and calmer once they stop smoking. Many report a noticable difference within their sense of flavor also, having more energy, and feeling better about themselves knowing that they were able to do something so challenging. Physical health benefits include the following:
- As soon as 20 minutes after a smoker’s last cigarette, the body begins to recover from the negative health effects of smoking and the heart rate starts to slow.
- Levels of toxic carbon monoxide in the blood return to normal after 12 hours without smoking.
- Lung function improves and the risk for heart attack begins to drop as soon as 2 weeks after the last cigarette.
- Coughing and shortness of breath decrease 1 to 9 months after the last cigarette.
- Risk for coronary heart disease becomes half that of a smoker after 1 year.
- Risk for stroke approaches that of a non-smoker after 5 years.
- Risk for developing mouth, throat, esophageal, bladder, kidney, and pancreatic cancers decreases after a decade.
- Risk for loss of life from lung cancer gets to half that of a smoker after a decade.
- Risk for developing cardiovascular system disease is add up to a nonsmoker after 15 years
References:
Mayo Clinic
ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY Protection Agency (EPA)
The National Cancers Institute (NCI)
The American Heart Association
Wikipedia
NACADA