One common habit that is also a major health hazard is the habit of smoking. The link between smoking and lung cancer has been established long ago. Cancer is a disease in which the cancer cells multiply rapidly without any control. The early warning sign of cancer of the larynx is the persistent cough or a change in the quality of the voice. In the case of lung cancer, the sufferer may spit up blood while coughing or develop a severe pain in the chest.
Chronic bronchitis begins as a smoker’s cough, clearing from the air passages of the throat and lungs, a slimy mucus produced by the irritating smoke that eventually starts to clog the lungs themselves.
The other problems caused by smoking are severe heart and blood vessel diseases, which kill thousands of people each year. Smoking can also cause sexual dysfunction and psychiatric disorders like depression.
Most people develop nicotine dependency on smoking regularly. It is this dependency, which creates withdrawal symptoms when the smokers try to quit smoking.
You will feel better, smell better, sleep better and breathe easier. You will cough less and have fewer headaches, stomachaches and respiratory infections. The level of oxygen depleting carbon monoxide in your blood will decline right away, and your stamina will increase. You will feel less guilty and, of course, you will have more money in your pocket.
In addition to these immediate payoffs, quitting smoking now – no matter what your age or how long you’ve been smoking – will give you a number of long-term benefits –
Your heart disease risk starts declining within a year. After 10-15 years of not smoking, your chances of having a heart attack will be the same as those of the general population.
Your risk of developing lung cancer also begins to decrease within a year. After 2 years of not smoking, your likelihood of getting lung cancer will decline by almost a third. And after 10-15 years, your lung cancer risk will be almost normal.
Your risk of all health problems related to smoking will decline steadily for 15 years. Then your risk of dying will return nearly to that of someone who has never smoked.
If your are pregnant and quit before the fourth month, your baby is likely to have a higher birth weight than a smoking mother’s infant. If you stay off cigarettes, your risk of having a low-birth-weight baby in your next pregnancy will be the same as that of a non-smoker.
It is not just smokers who are prone to health hazards caused by nicotine; people who inhale the smoke let out by smokers are equally likely to have health problems. Passive smoking can cause tobacco related diseases such as lung cancer.
Although a concerted effort is being made to discourage smoking in public places and there is a lot of awareness and concern, a lot more needs to be done to prevent passive smoking. Family members of smokers are at a high risk as far as tobacco related diseases are concerned. Opposition from the public or the family could bring the problem under control.
Some cancer risk factors, such as smoking and sun exposure, are controllable; others, like age and gender, aren’t. Regular checkups, self-examination of the breasts and skin, and faecal occult blood tests, Pap smears, and mammograms are important early detection measures, which could prevent many cancer deaths, every year.
Of all known factors that can be hazardous to health, and are controllable are– smoking, alcohol and drug abuse and obesity.
The panacea to most ills is a fit body, which requires healthy eating habits, regular exercise and no addictions.
