Things You Should Know About The Effects Of Smoking

Countless medical and other scientific studies had shown the menacing effects of smoking on the general health of smokers. Below are some findings digested from available health literature.

Cancer is the second cause of death in the United States of America, and in other major countries in Europe, Africa and Asia. Taken alone, this information means nothing but a piece of fact about the major cause of death in most countries around the world. And it would have remained as such had not numerous studies replicated successfully in countless trials shown that several types of cancer are among the diseases clearly linked to smoking.

From among the numerous cases of cancer related deaths, lung cancer tops the list - and smoking has proven to be a very high contributing factor to lung cancer.

Even for reasonably healthy individuals, the effect of smoking is devastating. Smokers, even those who started late, are 23 percent more likely to develop lung cancer compared to non-smokers. A related study shows that smoking causes about 90 percent of lung cancer deaths among men, and 80 percent among women.

But it seems lung cancer is not the only cancer caused by cigarettes. In 2004, the U.S. Surgeon General's report asserted that there more conclusive evidence that smoking causes cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, lung, and bladder, but not necessarily in that order.

The effects of smoking are also far-reaching. Carcinogens occurring naturally in tobacco and greatly magnified after undergoing a process in cigarette factories, damage important genes by tinkering with the growth of cells, either hampering it, or boosting it to multiply rapidly.

Newest findings on the effects of smoking yielded even more shocking conclusions. Smoking is directly attributable to the growing cases of cancers of the stomach, cervix, kidney, pancreas, and acute myeloid leukemia. Cigarette smoke is also a major source of benzene exposure, and benzene is a known cause of acute myeloid leukemia.

And if this cancer and cancer related diseases is not enough to dissuade people from smoking, then here's more. Smoking is also, to a large extent, responsible for the clumping or stickiness in the blood vessels feeding the heart.

And not only that - the effects of smoking on individuals are two pronged: not only does it it eat away on the victim's body, it also affects an individual's emotional health. Yes, the effects of smoking also take its toll to the over-all emotional and psychological health of smokers.

There is growing evidence that smoking activates a rather latent but potentially dangerous depression. Although direct links are still to be gathered, numerous affirmative results warrant a further study for replication.

For people with mild cases of depression, smoking tends to aggravate the propensity to be depressed further of these patients. Researchers are racing to determine whether the carcinogens present in tobacco products are the culprits.

And of course, there is the issue of hygiene. Nicotine present in tobacco produces a yellowish hue on a person's teeth and nails.

And another important effect of smoking: Would anyone like to kiss an individual reeking of tobacco smoke?

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