Smoking tobacco causes up to 480000 deaths a year in the US alone. If that does not shock you enough, it would be interesting to note that smoking wipes off 7 million people from the surface of the earth annually, and approximately 1300 people lose their lives as a result of the same daily. You may have grown up hearing that tobacco is not suitable for your health. But what exactly are the repercussions of too much smoking?
Tobacco poses both short-term and long-term risks to the body. However, we shall focus on the risks associated with long-term smoking.
Cancer
On the fourth of February, every year, the whole world is brought to a standstill to commemorate the deadly disease, cancer. Now and then, studies related to the disease have revealed that smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer. This type of cancer occurs by damaging the cells lining the lungs. Cigarettes have carcinogens-cancer-causing substances that affect the lung tissues. Smoking also puts you at risk of getting other types of cancer-related diseases, including bladder, kidney, stomach, mouth and pancreatic cancer.
Tolerance and dependence
Smoking tobacco also puts you at risk of developing addiction and tolerance. Simply put, you will need to smoke more and more tobacco to feel the effect. You may also develop dependence and begin to prioritize smoking over other activities.
Blood vessel constriction
Smoking affects the blood vessels and the blood itself. The chemicals in the cigarette smoke cause blood vessels to be narrow, which in turn limits the flow of blood to parts of the body. With these changes, you risk high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke.
Diabetes
Since tobacco increases blood sugar levels, it as well leads to a poor reaction to insulin. You risk severe complications due to uncontrolled blood sugars. Statistics show that people who smoke heavily are twice as likely to develop diabetes compared to non-smokers. Diabetes affects the normal functioning of your body parts, including the kidneys, heart, and blood vessels.
Heart attack
In the United States, smoking is responsible for about one-fifth of all deaths from heart attacks. The increase of plague in blood vessels due to smoking, causes the blood to thicken, increasing blood clots in both the veins and the arteries and because of the blockage, no air goes in or out, or even the blood flow, leads to instant death due to heart attack.
High blood pressure
Cigarettes produce nicotine that raises your blood pressure and heart rate. The chemicals produced can damage the lining of your artery walls, narrowing your arteries and hardening the walls, making your blood more likely to clot.
What alternatives do you have?
As a smoker, knowing the long-term risks may prompt you to think of safer alternatives. Cigars are safer for myriad reasons as we discuss below
A larger percentage of cigar smokers (75%) do not smoke daily, nor do they inhale cigar smoke, which differs from cigarette smokers who inhale up to 30 cigarettes or more on a daily. As such, smoking cigars exposes you to lesser carcinogens and poisons than a cigarette would. To back this up, you may have noticed the fewer instances related to death from cigar smoking when compared to cigarette smoking. The cigar experts from gothamcigars.com often say that if you are planning on switching to cigars, then you deserve only the best in quality as there is a distinct difference in flavor compared to cheap brands. Luckily, for you today, you don’t have to stress over finding the best quality among these cigar brands. There are many online stores from where you can place your orders at a considerable price. Some of the well-known and loved brands you can consider include; Swisher, Gurkha, Dutch Masters, AJ Fernadez, Padron, Camacho, Acid, and Arturo Fuente.
Most of the cigar shops usually have a wide selection of humidors that you can benefit from and offer you cigar samplers so that you can figure out the best flavors that you would enjoy. The offerings do not end there, most of them invest in 24/7 customer service, enabling you to reach them at any time of day. The gifts and accessories also add on the attractiveness of their offerings, and the premium cigar club is tailored to help the customer enjoy the finest cigars every month.
There are many effects of smoking tobacco in the long term. It places you at risk of getting cancer, heart attack, and diabetes. However, there are other options. Instead of smoking cigarettes, you can choose to smoke cigars. It is only possible to take at least one cigar a day or a month, and the smoking of a cigar does not involve inhaling the substances in it. There is also vaping wherein you are in control of your nicotine intake or nicotine patches and gums that have been already around for a long time. Whatever you do, be considerate not only to your own, but to other’s health around you as well.
I’m a 20-something stay-at-home mother and wife. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter, two loving dogs, and a lazy cat. I wouldn’t change my life for anything! I love to read, listen to music, cook and blog!
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