According to the American Heart Association (AHA), diseases caused by smoking kill more than 440,000 people in the United States each year; of that number, more than 135,000 deaths are cardiovascular related. Even with anti-smoking campaigns and medical disclaimers in place, many people continue to smoke or start smoking every year. According to the American Cancer Society, 90 percent of new smokers are children and teenagers, in many cases replacing the smokers who quit or died prematurely from a smoking-related disease.
Smokers not only have increased risk of lung disease, including lung cancer and emphysema, but also have increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and oral cancer.
Consider the latest statistics available from the American Lung Association:
In posing health risks on the body's cardiovascular system, smoking:
In addition, smoking has been associated with depression and psychological distress.
The American Heart Association reports that an estimated 35,052 nonsmokers die from coronary heart disease each year as a result of exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke. Secondhand smoke is smoke that is exhaled by smokers and smoke emitted from the burning end of a lit cigarette, cigar, or pipe.
Both direct and indirect smoking exposure poses significant health hazards to pregnant women, infants, and young children. Children and infants exposed to tobacco smoke are more likely to experience ear infections and asthma, and are at a higher risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) than children and infants without the same exposure.
The following common symptoms may be associated with exposure to secondhand smoke. However, each individual may experience symptoms differently. Symptoms may include:
The symptoms of secondhand smoke may resemble other medical conditions and problems. Always consult your adolescent's physician for a diagnosis.
Smoking, in addition to high cholesterol, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, obesity, and diabetes, tops the list as a primary risk factor for cardiovascular disease. In fact, smoking has been classified as the single most preventable cause of premature death in the United States.
According to the American Heart Association, eliminating smoking not only reduces the risk of coronary heart disease, but also reduces the risk of repeat heart attacks and death by heart disease by 50 percent. Research also indicates that smoking cessation is crucial in the management of many contributors to heart attack, including atherosclerosis, thrombosis, coronary artery disease, and cardiac arrhythmias.
Quitting smoking is both a mental and a physical undertaking. Mentally, you should be ready and relatively stress-free. Physically, you need to commit to exercising daily and getting plenty of sleep. A person trying to quit must overcome two obstacles: a physical addition to nicotine and a habit. The American Academy of Otolaryngology and the American Lung Association offer the following tips to help users quit using tobacco products:
In some cases, smokers benefit from nicotine replacement products to help break their smoking habit. Nicotine replacement products continue to give smokers nicotine to meet their nicotine craving. However, the benefit of nicotine replacement products is the elimination of tars and poisonous gases that cigarettes emit. Pregnant or nursing women and people with other medical conditions should consult their physician before using any nicotine replacement products. Some examples of nicotine replacement products include:
Zyban, a non-nicotine alternative to help people stop smoking, was approved in 1996 by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Offered in pill form to smokers who want to quit, Zyban (Bupropion HCI), has been shown to alter mood transmitters in the brain that are linked to addiction. Zyban must be prescribed by a physician and may not be appropriate for everyone. Consult your physician for more information.
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