HOW SMOKING
DAMAGES YOUR HEALTH
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Tobacco smoke contain three principal dangerous
chemicals: tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide. Tar is a mixture of several
substances (hydrocarbons) that condense into a sticky substance in the lungs.
Nicotine is an addictive drug that is absorbed from the lungs and acts mainly on
the nervous and cardiovascular systems. And carbon monoxide decreases the amount
of oxygen that red blood cells can carry throughout the body.
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Consider the average smoker a person who smokes 15 to 20
cigarettes per day. Compared with nonsmoker he or she is about 14 times more
likely to die from cancer of the lung, throat or mouth 4 times more likely to
die from cancer of the esophagus, twice as likely to die from heart attack.
Cigarettes are a principal cause of chonic bronchitis and emphysema and having a
chronic lung disease increase the risks of pneumonia and heart failure. The
usually minor risks of blood clots from oral contraceptives are much greater
among women smokers and doctors do not usually prescribe oral contraceptives for
smokers over 35 for this reason. Smoking also increases the risk of high blood
pressure.
Some brands of cigarettes contain
less tar and nicotine than others hut there is no such things as a safe
cigarette. Switching to mild cigarettes does not usually help; habitually heavy
smokers usually adapt their smoking habits to the switch by inhaling longer and
more deeply and by smoking more cigarettes.
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