The Consequences of Smoking Cigarettes

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Smoking! Why do people do it? Do they want to be cool? Peer Pressure? What people don’t realize is that smoking is the number one cause of preventable deaths in the United States. (http://community.healthgate.com) Another thing people don’t realize is all the kinds of sickness the can get or even give to there children due to secondhand smoke. Some of the most popular ones are heart attacks and strokes, lung problems, and what happens to there children when around it.

When smoking does a person really think about what that smoke is doing to there heart? Heart attacks and strokes are a common health risk in smoking. UK studies show that smokers in their 30’s and 40’s are five times more likely to have a heart attack than non-smokers. (http://news.bbc.uk) When smoking, the chemicals contributes to the hardening of the arteries, when these are blocked then the heart is left with no blood flow, causing a heart attack. Also, smoking can increase the risk of having a stroke. Smoking is responsible for at least 20% of all deaths from heart disease in the United States. (http://community.healthgate.com)

Not only your heart is being involved with scary things but so are your lungs. When smoking a person has a higher risk of getting pneumonia, flu, bronchitis and emphysema. Lung cancer is an extremely high risk caused in smoking. Lung cancer kills more than 20,000 people in the United States every year. (http://community.healthgate.com) The lung damage which causes emphysema is irreversible, and makes it extremely difficult to breath. But the worst thing is that, with any kind of lung disease, it could be fatal.

Adults are not the only ones suffering from the illnesses due to smoking. Approximately 4 million children become ill from being exposed to secondhand smoke. (http://community.healthgate.com) Children exposed to secondhand smoke and smoking parents have an increased risk of Sudden Infant Death syndrome, asthma, bronchitis, and pneumonias and the list goes on. Another sad thing due to parents smoking is most likely there children will follow them in that footstep. Adults don’t put this into any consideration, that the choice’s that they make now, will be affecting there children’s health.

So why do people do it? There are no benefits to smoking. They have all the cons.

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