Disadvantages of cigaretts

Disadvantages of Smoking

Cigarette smoking is responsible for one out of every five deaths in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Unfortunately, even after warnings from friends and loved ones, negative advertisements about smoking on TV, and the advice of the doctor, some people start smoking and later find it is difficult to quit. Anyhow, you need to know smoking cigarettes is dangerous to you as well as people around you and there are many disadvantages of smoking. Like affecting your lungs, all organs of the body can be affected by cigarette smoking.

11 Reasons to Stop Smoking Now

There are many ingredients in tobacco that are chemically active. In fact, there are more than 4,000 active chemicals in cigarette smoke that can lead to serious and sometimes fatal changes inside the body. Some of these ingredients include carbon monoxide, tar, hydrogen cyanide, nitrogen oxides, ammonia, metal substances, and radioactive compounds that can do you serious harm.
Here are some body areas affected by cigarette smoking. You'll see how it affects your body thoroughly:

1.   Eyes
Research has shown that many different chemicals in cigarettes can result in damage to the macula of the eye, which is the most sensitive aspect of the retina. There can be small blood vessels bursting through the macula, leading to the damage that is often irreversible. Smoking also results in structural and functional changes in the lens of the eye and in the retina, because it causes atherosclerotic plaques that can lead to thrombosis and eye damage from the capillaries of the eye.

2.   Digestive System
Smoking is a known risk factor for all types of digestive cancers, such as cancer of the mouth, larynx and esophagus. People who smoke have 20-30 times the risk of death due to laryngeal cancer when compared to non-smokers. This is just some of the disadvantages of smoking. Smoking can also cause a variety of GI diseases, including peptic ulcers, heartburn, gallstones, Crohn's disease, and stomach cancer.

3.   Circulatory System
Smoking affects the circulation and the heart function by causing two main things: 1) it markedly increases the blood pressure; 2) it causes an increase in the heart rate. This effect occurs because the nicotine in cigarettes directly affects the nerves, resulting in an increase in heart rate and constriction of the blood vessels. Because smokers have lungs full of toxic fumes, the heart needs to pump much harder to get the oxygen to the entire body. Smoking also causes an increase in blood cholesterol and the levels of fibrinogen in the blood. These lead to cardiovascular diseases, such as an aneurysm, coronary artery disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease.

4.   Lungs
It is primarily the tar in cigarette smoke that does the most damage to the cells within the lungs. This can lead to cancer of the larynx or cancer of the lungs. It can also lead to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis. There are several factors that can affect cigarette smoke's contribution to cancer of the lungs. These include the length of time the person has smoked, the daily amount of cigarette smoking, and the type of tobacco being ingested. This is surely one of the biggest disadvantages of smoking.

5.   Brain
Smoking causes a buildup of cholesterol and other fatty types of plaques within the carotid artery leading to the brain. When a blood clot forms in the area of these plaques, a stroke can develop. Other things that tobacco smoke does to the damage of the brain include the decrease of the amount of oxygen that hemoglobin can carry to the brain cells because of carbon monoxide, the rise in blood pressure from excess nicotine, and a thickening of the blood that i
ncreases the risk of clotted blood.

6.   Skin and Hair
Smoking causes damage to the smokers' skin by reducing the amount of collagen in it. Collagen is what gives the skin its elasticity. Smokers eventually get very deep wrinkles in the skin of their faces because the nicotine adversely affects the skin capillaries which is necessary to keep it nourished. In addition, people that smoke run an increased risk of developing premature graying and thinning of their hair.

7.   Muscles and Bone
The chemicals that make up tobacco smoke are poisonous and can interfere with the growth and development of tissue cells of the muscle and bones. The various tissues of the body in smokers can't get adequate amount of blood supply so that it heals poorly. This means that smokers put themselves at a higher risk of osteoporosis.

8.   Reproductive System
This is one of the devastating disadvantages of smoking. Smoking is a known cause of infertility and decreases the chances of fertilizing the egg in both men and women. Men who are smokers have a reduction in total sperm count and have a reduction in the ability to fertilize the female egg. Smoking also lessens the ability of the female ovary to make eggs that are healthy enough for fertilization. If you smoke and are also pregnant, you are more likely than non-smokers to have a preterm baby or a low birth weight baby. About 20-30 percent of babies who are born with a low birth weight and 14 percent of births that are preterm are caused by smoking during pregnancy. What's more, once born, the infant born to a mother who has smoked during pregnancy has an increased risk of reduced lung function and asthma.

9.   Pancreas and Liver
It turns out that nearly half of all cases of bladder and renal cancer are the result of cigarette smoking.

10.   Cigarettes Are Expensive
Smoking not only damages your health, but it is a very expensive habit. An individual who smokes only a pack a day for 20 years will smoke about 7305 packs of cigarettes at a cost of more than $21,915. Smoking, according to the American Lung Association, results in total costs in the US of about $193 billion, which includes about $97 billion USD in lost work productivity and $96 billion USD in direct costs for health care.

11.   Smoking Is Bad for Those Around You
When you smoke, you do not just harm yourself. There is also the issue of passive smoking, which consists of breathing in tobacco smoke from those who are smoking around you. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 90 percent of people who do not smoke are exposed to secondhand cigarette smoke or environmental smoke. This type of exposure doubles the chances of developing a heart attack as well as other cardiovascular diseases and death from these diseases for a non-smoker. It can affect the appetite of growing children, causing stunting of their growth and an increase of smoking in teenagers. This is one of the most disheartening disadvantages of smoking.

Some effects of drinkings

DRUGS
Drunk And High: Science Explains Some Of The Side Effects That Come From Mixing Alcohol And Marijuana.

What can happen when you mix alcohol and marijuana?

Nicotine is the only drug that eclipses alcohol and marijuana as the most commonly used drugs in the U.S., according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. So, it makes sense that the latter two are also the most common drugs to be used together. Although most people probably have a preference of which drug they prefer, you most likely wouldn’t have to go very far to get a firsthand account of what it’s like to be high on alcohol and marijuana at the same time. What many don’t understand is the biology behind the side effects that follow using these drugs concurrently.

WHY CROSS FADE?

Using alcohol and marijuana at the same time is often referred to as "cross fading." Some people will mix the two because they enjoy the unique high it gives them. For others, they are already so intoxicated with alcohol that they are no longer making rational decisions. To them, taking a toke of a joint seems like a good idea at the time, although some may regret it later. Although a college student may not be able to tell you what the main subject on their senior thesis is, they most probably can tell you that smoking grass before beer, you’re in the clear, while beer before grass, well... isn’t as advisable. Is there any science behind this coming of age mantra passed down through generations? Turns out, there actually is.

GREENING OUT

Greening out is a term used to describe a situation where a person may feel sick after smoking marijuana. The individuals may go pale and sweaty, feel dizzy with “the spins,” nauseous, and may even start vomiting. This is most commonly followed by the immediate desire to lie down. Greening out is not a very common side effect of smoking marijuana, but it is much more likely to occur if a person has been drinking alcohol before they start smoking. However, when an individual smokes marijuana before they drink alcohol, the effect is not the same.

OVERDOING IT

Using alcohol and marijuana in combination is more likely to make the individual overuse both substances. It is common for an individual to experience the effects of marijuana more severely when they have already have alcohol in their system. Although “greening out” is not life-threatening, the effect of overdoing alcohol — alcohol poisoning — surely can kill you. Using both substances can make the individual drink beyond their tolerance and therefore be more likely to experience alcohol poisoning. According to Northeastern University, marijuana has an antiemetic effect, meaning that it makes it more difficult for the body to vomit. Normally this side effect is non-consequential, and it can even be beneficial in cancer patients who use medical marijuana because they have trouble keeping food down. However, in the case of alcohol poisoning, vomiting is the body’s way of expelling the excess alcohol. If a person is unable to properly vomit, they are more likely to choke on their vomit or succumb to the effects of alcohol poisoning.

INTENSIFIED HIGHS ARE NOT ALWAYS A GOOD THING

Alcohol is a depressant and slows down the central nervous system. Marijuana also slows the body down. Using them concurrently will magnify the effects of both, but how is highly unpredictable. Having alcohol in your blood can also potentially cause your body to absorb the THC faster. Based on information from Australia's National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre (NCPIC), in vulnerable people, the combination can produce psychotic symptoms such as panic, anxiety, or paranoia. Alcohol is known to have a very unpleasant side effect of making you "black out." New studies are just beginning to show the detrimental effects of marijuana use on memory.

Effects cigarets and alcohol are intertwined

Effects and some information about cigarets and alcohol

How cigarettes and alcohol affect psoriasis

Quitting smoking and cutting down alcohol consumption can improve your psoriatic .

Most people believe they know all about the dangers of smoking and drinking. But there is growing evidence that people with psoriasis ought to think especially hard before lighting up or downing more than a few.

Smoking and alcohol use increase your risk of developing psoriasis and may make the disease significantly worse. Heavy drinking may also prevent your treatment from working or your disease from going into remission.

This is a particular problem since many people use alcohol or smoking to cope with the tough emotions—such as stress or anxiety—that psoriasis can cause.

Cigarette smoking—What's the risk?

One study led by Luigi Naldi, M.D, published in 1999, found a much higher risk of psoriasis in smokers. Dr. Naldi's group compared people with psoriasis to people with other skin conditions; as many as one in five cases of psoriasis were related to smoking.

According to Dr. Naldi, "We know that smoking affects the onset of psoriasis and its clinical appearance. Smoking about doubles a person's risk of getting psoriasis; the risk increases with the number of cigarettes smoked per day, and is higher in women than men. The risk for women who smoke more than 20 cigarettes per day is about 2.5 times greater than the rate of nonsmokers, and in men the risk is about 1.7 times greater than the rate of nonsmokers."

Studies have also found a very strong association between smoking and a type of pustular psoriasis called palmoplantar pustulosis.

How does it affect the body?

Studies of how smoking might affect psoriasis on a biological level are complicated by the thousands of ingredients in cigarette smoke. Dr. Naldi points to nicotine as a possible culprit in altering the immune system and possibly skin cell growth, as well as directly affecting skin inflammation.

Smoking and alcohol may also be associated with the same psychosocial factors that may drive psoriasis, such as stress, worry and poor coping skills.

How does lifestyle affect risk?

A 2000 study examined the effects of various lifestyle practices on psoriasis. The researchers first found that alcohol use and smoking have negative effects on psoriasis (as did emotional stress, obesity and lack of exercise).

Then the researchers split the study participants into two groups, based on whether they had ever had remissions or a time when the disease had disappeared completely.

The results were dramatic: 78 percent of people who had experienced remissions were nonsmokers, and only 22 percent were smokers. But of those who never experienced a remission, 66 percent were smokers, and only 34 percent were nonsmokers.

Alcohol

Alcohol appears to affect psoriasis in men more strongly than in women. One study found that heavy drinking actually lowered treatment response in men. Other studies have shown that men with psoriasis drink more than men without, that there is a significantly higher incidence of psoriasis in alcoholics, and that abstinence can improve the severity of the disease.

Dr. Naldi confirms that "data concerning alcohol consumption are less clear-cut. It seems that only young men who are heavy drinkers are at a higher risk for psoriasis, but other studies have shown that drinking alcohol has a negative effect on clinical response to treatment and on the likelihood of remission."

In addition, it should be noted that alcohol can have dangerous side effects when combined with certain psoriasis medications, such as methotrexate or acitretin (brand name Soriatane) in women of child-bearing potential.

What about psoriatic arthritis?

There is very little data available about the effects of alcohol or smoking on psoriatic arthritis. One small study published in 1996 looked at the effects of smoking on ankylosing spondylitis (AS), which is a type of arthritis of the spine and nec

Images (pics)

cigarettes and alcohol is injurous to health

cigarettes and alcohol is very dangerous to health . everyone aware that smoking is injurious to health to health as it has tobacco and nicotine in it actually tobacco causes sever diseased that affects many body  organs like brain lungs and hearts. in facts smoking reduces the span of life to less than 0 years or more than it . it is a bad habit to smoke tobacco which contains high percentages of harmful nicotine in it.
    In what way smoking affects the health of an individual???