From movies to television to video games, many depictions of cool in our media included the idea of smoking cigarettes and looking awesome doing it. While many governments have imposed limitations on said depictions and on big tobacco itself, cigarettes remain a very present part of our culture. The reality though is that these treats once considered medically sound have now been dubbed cancer sticks by many people who campaign against cigarettes and for potentially stricter laws surrounding tobacco. Despite a push to reduce its marketing appeal and availability, big tobacco retains a lot of political power and economical leeway in the market. So let’s see what’s the true cost of smoking on your health and dig deeper into why it’s bad for you.
The first and most obvious issue that comes to mind when smoking is the high level of addiction that comes from nicotine consumption. Nicotine is a powerful chemical that will alter your brain chemistry and while some claim that it helps them deal with anxiety, studies have wondered if perhaps the sensed anxiety doesn’t come from nicotine withdrawal. Nicotine withdrawals can cause symptoms similar to paranoia, anxiety, and depression. Many people will have high levels of irritability and often feel shakes if they were pack smokers. The only way to wean off nicotine without said side effects is to invest in patches or gum that will slowly help you reduce your nicotine intake until you can safely stop completely.
Many cigarettes contain a trace amount of formaldehyde which while being awful for your health can also irritate your eyes, ears, and throat. This is often why my smokers have dry coughs or feel their mouths dry up when smoking. While this is not a dangerous symptom in itself it pairs awfully with some of the worst damages caused by smoking.
Lung diseases will become a very real risk to you if you smoke frequently. For example, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, and emphysema are often detected in smokers’ lungs especially if they have been smoking for a while. Since carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide are also chemicals that will enter your body as you smoke you can imagine that this will only worsen your condition often causing nausea, gasping breath, and also sometimes depriving some vital functions of bodies of getting oxygen it requires to function properly. Since carbon monoxide remains in your body for up to 6 hours this can become a very dangerous problem especially if you are a regular smoker who smokes whenever you get the chance.
Another less well-known issue is the reproductive problems caused by frequent smoking. While many people only think of it as being dangerous to smoke while you’re pregnant, smoking before can also affect your fertility to dangerous levels. Some male smokers have been found to have reduced sperm counts and many female smokers have found their health condition to be too poor to nurture conception healthily within their bodies. The issue arises often from the various other health issues that smoking can cause affecting your possibilities when you are trying for a child, while some of these are reversible you should always visit your doctor if you are planning for a child.
As we’ve talked of gasping breath you can imagine that poor lung health increases the breathing rate and the presence of carbon monoxide reduces the oxygen brought to many of your vital organs including the heart. Following many studies quoted by Nicoderm there’s been a clear pattern of problematic heart issues occurring in many smokers often leading to an increased chance of falling prey to a heart attack.
Of course, it’s never too late to reduce the risk to your health by stopping your smoking habit right in its tracks. For example, many have switched from smoking to vaping, either with a vape pen or disposable vapes. While this is still not ideal, many have used vapes as a good way to slowly reduce their nicotine intake as you can choose the amount of nicotine you will get in every drag by choosing your pods appropriately. You can also invest in therapy that will often help you deal with issues that you might feel the need to address by smoking, especially anxiety. Nicotine patches and gum are always potent alternatives that are tested and proven at this point. There are many ways to, if not reverse damage, at least stop yourself from worsening your state for the future and potentially lengthen your life.
As you can see many things we once considered healthy or even good for you have outgrown their initial assessments and proven dangerous to us in the long term. Such is the case of cigarettes once advertised by doctors, asbestos, and many other things we’ve inherited from older generations. Vapes meant to replace smoking have already fallen to scrutiny as many see them as a gateway to consuming even more nicotine while others see them as a great tool to stop smoking completely. Nowadays many countries have started to have a similar discussion regarding alcoholic beverages and the nefast impact consuming any amount of alcohol can have on our health both physically and mentally. Studies are always in the works so it’s our job to also keep track of the science to do what is best for us and take care of our health as best we can if we wish to live a long and full life.
