Effects of Cigarette Smoking

Thesis statement

It is inevitable to rule out the fact that though smokers have a right to smoke, cigarettes are harmful to their health and can result to life threatening illness.

Introduction

Cigarette packs will come with a warning that cigarettes smoking is harmful to your health and despite this warning, people still continue with this dangerous habit that can become life threatening. Every year, thousands of people die as a result of the diseases that are caused by smoking cigarettes with majority of those deaths occurring among people in their middles ages. It is a painful fact that even children as young as ten years old have started smoking for various reasons such as recognition, acceptance from their peer groups, rebelliousness and outright ignorance of the dangers cigarette smoking poses to their health. It is for this reason that the government in various states came up with a no smoking policy in various zones and on that effect, built specific places where smokers are allowed to smoke their way to an early grave without being a danger to the general public. This act has been emulated by other countries all over the world as a good and efficient way of preventing the smokers from becoming a nuisance to the non- smokers by smoking in public. A hefty fine tantamount to jail time is administered against those violating the laid down rules set in their counties (Laura & Fucito 57).

Body

We have billions of smokers around the world where other are oblivious of the harm they pose to themselves while others despite having the risks involved in cigarette smoking still go ahead and smoke their lungs out of commission. The main argument of smokers is that cigarettes help relieve the tension, calm their nerves and helps them to think straight whenever they are in a difficult situation. These are the words of a cigarettes addict who cannot function on a daily basis without smoking; it does not apply to all the smokers. Nicotine contained in the cigarettes reaches the brain within 10seconds of being inhaled and is found throughout the human body, even in breast milk. It is for this reason that women are advised against smoking when they are pregnant because the nicotine may adversely interfere with the growth and development of the fetus leading to severe repercussions such as mis-carriage, low birth weight, spontaneous abortion or poor formation of the limbs and brain development of the unborn baby (Laura & Fucito 60).

Cigarette smoking is legal in the country and people have a right to smoke whenever they want but have to obey the laws put forward by the government. Designating cigarette smokers to particular areas, is meant to prevent non- smokers from becoming passive smokers. They end up inhaling all the smoke emitted from the smokers when he releases the smoke from his mouth. They also run the risk of getting the diseases related to cigarette smoking despite not engaging in the act themselves. It is for this reason that smoking in public areas is prohibited not only by the government but also in many corporations.

It is quite easy to becoming an addict of cigarette smoking. Nicotine has an addictive element that makes a person hooked to it making it difficult for the smoker to function properly without it. Failure to take in nicotine leaves the person with withdrawal symptoms such as severe headaches, lack of concentration and shaking of the hands as well as shivering. These individuals need to be taken to rehabilitation centers where they undergo a routine therapy that in time helps their bodies cope without the constant urge to smoke and can function properly without nicotine. They are however, advised against being around places or people who smoke as it easier for them to relapse (Halliwell &. Poulsen 218).

There are a number of effects related to cigarette smoking that pose a threat to them, these include (Haustein & Groneberg 152);

• Whenever nicotine and carbon monoxide combine in your system, they strain your heart as well as your blood vessels as they temporarily the heart rate and blood pressure. This results to heart attacks as it slows down the flow of blood in your body which drastically reduces the amount of oxygen in your hands and feet resulting to amputation. What happens is that carbon monoxide binds itself to the hemoglobin in red blood cells preventing the cells from carrying enough oxygen needed in the various parts of the body. Carbon monoxide robs your brain, muscles and body tissues of the essential oxygen they need forcing the heart to work twice as hard in supplying blood with oxygen to the various parts of the body. Eventually, the airways swell up letting in less air every time.
• Cigarette smoking cause’s lung cancer as the smokers have a tendency of holding the smoke in, coating their lungs with tar. People who smoke are at a higher risk of dying from lung cancer than those who don’t smoke. For the young, out of every four deaths, three are as a result of heat diseases brought about by cigarette smoking.
• An example of another disease that results from cigarette smoking is Emphysema that causes your lungs to rot over time. People who have emphysema more often contract bronchitis frequently causing hear failure as well as the lungs to fail. When you smoke frequently, over the years fats are deposited around the blood vessels narrowing them making it difficult for the heart to pump blood to the body resulting to strokes and heart diseases.
• Various cancer causing agents referred to as carcinogens found in tobacco harm vital genes responsible for the growth and development of the body organs by destroying the genes responsible for the growth of cells leading to abnormal growth and reproduction of cells in the body. Genetic mutation becomes prevalent where the carcinogen pylorytic binds to the DNA. Smoking tends to lower the body’s immune system making it prone to all sorts of respiratory diseases.
• Cigarette smoking causes oxidative stress that results to DNA mutation, promoting atherosclerosis and results to severe lung injury. The tool behind aging is thought to be oxidative stress that contributes to the growth of cancer, COPD as well as cardiovascular diseases among smokers (Halliwell &. Poulsen 216).

The greater the length of time a person in smoking, the higher the chances of contracting smoke related diseases. However, should a smoker change his ways and stop smoking, he reduces the risk of contracting the diseases as the cells in the body are repaired. A person who stops smoking, at the end of the year he or she will have cut the chances of contracting heart diseases by half. Heavy smokers pose a greater risk to themselves as compared to light smokers though both of them are at risk of contracting the diseases. Some people spend their entire life smoking and are still strong and die in their old age, however, other after about five years of smoking end up contracting lung cancer or other heart diseases. It all depends on a person’s body which is ideally different everyone else (Laura & Fucito 67).

Conclusion

The government as well as NGOs has made a commitment of enlightening the people about the perils of cigarette smoking to prevent ignorance and increase public knowledge. Stiff measure have been established to protect non- smokers from the dangers posed to them by smokers by restricting smoking in public places such as restaurants, parks and creating smoking zones for those who must smoke. Prevention is always better than cure and people who smoke should quit while they still can.

Work cited

Laura M., Fucito, L, & Harrell, P. “The Influence of Nicotine Dose and Nicotine Dose Expectancy on the Cognitive and Subjective Effects of Cigarette        Smoking.”         Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology 19.2 (2011): 105-115.

Halliwell, B, &. Poulsen, H. Cigarette smoke and oxidative stress. Berlin: Springer. 2006.

Haustein, K, & Groneberg, D. Tobacco Or Health?: Physiological and Social Damages Caused     by Tobacco Smoking. Berlin: Springer. 2009.