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Consequences of SmokingBy now, everybody should know that smoking is harmful and can also lead to death. Smoking can lead to emphysema and asthma. These are only two of the many consequences of smoking. Smoking is not only harmful for the user, but it also affects the harmless people around the user that inhale the filthy smoke. This is called second-hand smoke. All parts of the body are affected when you smoke. Your face, your finger tips, and many others. Smoking can make you also have wrinkles and it tightens your skin. So, when you are 16 and still smoking by 20, you will look 35.
There are many effects from smoking. Long term effects include: Lung cancer, emphasema, heart disease, and ulcers. Short term effects include: coughing, shortness of breath, and premature signs of aging such as wrinkles. Those facts are not surprising, because when you smoke, you are inhaling over 2,000 known cancer-causing chemicals. Lung cancer is presently the number one killer in both men and women, and it is estimated that by the year 2000, approximatly over 300,000 people will die from lung cancer in the United States. These are a few facts that will have you thinking about the effects of smoking. In the next paragraph, I will talk more about lung cancer and its treatments. Lung cancer kills more men and women than any other form of cancer. Eighty percent of lung cancer cases have been linked to cigarette smoking. The risk of lung cancer is proportional to the number of cigarettes smoked. The disease spreads quickly which makes it hard to save the lives of the patients. Lung cancers are classified into small cell or non-small cell. Small cell cancer is the most aggressive type of lung cancer and has the worst prognosis. This kind of cancer tends to grow rapidly spread to other parts of the body early. Non-small cell cancer spreads to lymph nodes of the chest and it enters the blood stream where it gets carried to other organs such as the liver, bone, brain, and spinal cord. Emphysema is a condition where there is too much inflation of lungs known as the air sacs. The over inflation of the air sacs make the air sacs walls breakdown. Some symptoms of emphysema are shortness of breath and a cough. The elastic fibers in the lung allow the to expand and contract. A heathly lung has a great balance between two kinds of chemicals with opposing action. When the balance is changed, the lungs lose the ability to protect themselves against the destruction of these elastic fibers. Smoking is responsible for 82% of chronic lung disease. The treatment for this disease is if you smoke, you should quit. You can get antibiotics, also exercise is good. A lung transplant could be required in extreme cases.
Smoking causes other respiratory diseases like chronic coughs, shortness of breath, asthma, and emphysema. A smoker will also make colds, flus, and ordinary illnesses worse than usual. That happens because their immune system is worse than before they started smoking. A smoker will wake up everyday with a hacking cough and it stays there all day. Smoking dyes the smoker's teeth and fingernails yellow. It gives smokers bad breath, and it causes mouth cancers and gum disease. Smoking damages teeth and gums permanently. Smoker's teeth fall out faster than non-smokers and smoker's are likely candidates for oral cancer. Oral cancer is cancer of the mouth. It is on the tongue, cheek, and gums. Some of the symptoms are: sores in mouth that don't go away, red or white patches in mouth, constant bleeding in mouth, numbness in mouth, swelling or lump in mouth, and a late symptom- difficult in swallowing and speech. If a smoker stops smoking it can prevent the risk of oral cancer. Babies who are born to mothers who smoke usually are 200 grams lighter than babies born to mothers that don't smoke. Smoke inhalation contributes to babies being victims of "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome." In conclusion, if you are thinking about smoking, think twice because smoking is bad for you. Smoking can cause cancer, emphysema, gum disease, and many more. Smoking kills more people than any other cancer combined also including aids. I hope you, the smoker, learned something from this.
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