Look at these second-hand smoke facts and then maybe you will be able to breathe more easily.
Secondhand smoke facts number one: Secondhand smoke is a silent, unnoticeable, and effective killer!
Secondhand smoke facts number Two: With an assortment of over four thousand chemicals, about two hundred of which are understood to be toxic and over sixty of which have been determined as carcinogens (cancer-causing), second-hand smoke could seriously place your health and, eventually, your life at risk!
“What an incredible cocktail:
though not one to serve at a party!!”
When you or people around you smoke a cigarette, approximately about half of the smoke is breathed in and exhaled by the smoker.
This is called mainstream smoke.
When it comes to the other half, it drifts around the air and is known as side-stream smoke. When these two come together, they compose what we call – ETS – shortened from environmental tobacco smoke, (kind of catchy, eh).
ETS is second-hand smoke, and as continuous studies and research expose… ETS plays an extremely severe function in wellness problems, a lot more than most people think.
So, let’s have a look:
Circulation Study, 2005.
Back on the 23rd of May, 2005; the publication – ‘Circulation’ – released research that looked deep into the effects of passive smoking (second-hand smoke) on the cardio systems of non-smokers.
Through thorough analysis of twenty-nine different researches, that measured the threat of heart problems in people who never smoked tobacco, but were exposed to second-hand smoke, the conclusions that they arrived at are worrying!
Smokers inhale half of the smoke from their cigarettes. Exposed non-smokers ‘absorb’ just a small percent. BUT the threats of struggling with coronary troubles are not too far apart.
Non-smokers breathing in second-hand smoke have a 30% higher risk of contracting coronary heart disease, than non-smokers who are not exposed to ETS.
Smokers, on the other hand, expose themselves to higher dangers of contracting coronary heart problems, by about 80 % more than non-smokers.
As if that is not enough, the researchers found that the effects of second-hand smoke on the cardiovascular system could result in cardiac problems and serious issues with your blood circulation system.
Here are a few more second-hand smoke facts such as:
- Platelets become more sticky resulting in inflammation
- Reduction in (HDL) High-Density Lipoproteins levels – the good cholesterol
- Raised insulin resistance
- The carotid arteries that carry blood to the brain begin to narrow
- Atherosclerosis – which is a hardening of the arteries
- Heart attacks – risks are doubled
What’s more, lots of these health threats can be determined within simply a few mins of exposure to second-hand smoke.
Now, picture exactly how severe these troubles might get when you are being exposed every day to a dosage of ETS!
The Dreaded ‘C’ word (cancer) and second-hand cigarette smoke
Aside from the study pointed out above, the United States Environment Protection Agency (or EPA) has classified second-hand smoke as – Group A carcinogen.
When a cancer-causing compound is categorized as a Group A carcinogen, it implies that they start slowly; they remain there, inside your system … slowly nicking away at your healthy cells until the cancer comes to be too much your body.
I hate to say it but, second-hand smoke really is a silent, unnoticeable – and very effective killer!
The cancers that are connected to passive smoking include lung cancer and over three thousand non-smokers perish from it every year, these also include nasal sinus cavity cancer, and cervical and bladder cancer.
If coming to terms with the negative impacts of smoking cigarettes on your well-being does not trouble you, perhaps understanding the dangers of secondhand smoke to your kids will assist you in deciding to stop for good!
Right, here are some alarming realities about secondhand smoke and youngsters, which will make you think twice about smoking cigarettes when children are around.
- Compared with infants with non-smoking mothers, babies whose mothers smoked during pregnancy weigh less when they are born, plus they have an enhanced risk of development problems and possible learning impairments.
- Fetuses that were exposed to chemical mixtures from cigarettes that survive the placenta face a raised risk of SIDS. Just in case you are uninformed, SIDS stands for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
- One will discover a large and varying array of opinions about the function that ETS or secondhand smoke plays in SIDS. Nevertheless, an EPA study in California has estimated that about 1900 to 2700 infants perish every year because of secondhand smoke-induced SIDS!
- Children who are constantly in smoke filled rooms, even for e few hours inhale poisonous chemicals and substances which amount to about 10 cigarettes!
- Let’s take a look at Asthma. The EPA has estimated that 200,000 to 1 Million children suffer from asthma, which aggravates their condition by inhaling secondhand smoke. And there’s very little these kids can do about it! They are not given a choice.
- In addition to that, passive smoking could also be the root cause behind thousands of new asthma cases that crop up every year.
- About 300,000 youngsters (exposed to secondhand smoke), who are under 18 months of age in the U.S., suffer from bronchitis and pneumonia every year!
- The risk of middle ear infections in kids is yet another serious and negative impact of smoking cigarettes that you should consider. Kids who are exposed to secondhand smoke deal with inflammation of the Eustachian tube. The subsequent swelling leads to ear infections… a cause of hearing loss in youngsters.
- About 50 to 75 % of children in the United States have detectable levels of cotinine in their circulatory system.
- This is by no means an extensive list. BUT seriously, do you need to see more evidence that kids’ wellness are negatively impacted each time you light of a cigarette?
So in conclusion – secondhand smoke facts:
Being subjected to second-hand smoke is a serious risk to your well-being. Nobody wishes to and should be forced to breathe in a cocktail of undetectable and silent-killing poison and cancer-triggers.
Second hand smoke facts: More and more studies make very little difference, it’s getting the message across where the problem lies!
We do not require more studies to show just how lethal ETS or second-hand smoke is.
What we really need is to start doing something about it.
And it all begins with you.
Make your house a smoke-free zone … a home that is safe for you and all the ones you care about.
Improve the health of your lungs with a good cleansing regime… Lung Detox
