True Facts About Smoking

You know that smoking affects your health, but you may have specific questions or concerns about smoking. You may wonder what cigarette smoke actually contains that makes it so dangerous, and just how dangerous it is for children to be exposed to cigarette smoke.

You may also want to know if it affects men and women differently, and if so, in what ways.

Features

• Cigarettes contain chemicals that are absorbed into the body through the mainstream smoke, which is smoke you take in when you inhale the cigarette. They also contain chemicals that are released in the smoke you exhale. When people around you come into contact with secondhand smoke, they are getting the same chemicals you are.

  Forty-three of the chemicals found in cigarette smoke are known to be carcinogens---agents that cause cancer. These include but are not limited to dimethylnitrosamine, ethylmethylnitrosamine, nitrosopyrrolidine, hydrazine, vinyl chloride, urethane and formaldehyde.

  Cigarette smoke also contains nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide. Both of these are harmful gases. In addition, cyanide, benzene, methanol, or wood alcohol and ammonia, as well as other harmful chemicals, are also found in cigarette smoke.

Effects

• Smoking cigarettes causes a lowering of your HDL, or good cholesterol, levels. This can occur in teenage smokers as well as adult smokers.

  Smoking does not cause high blood pressure, but it temporarily raises your blood pressure. This causes long-term damage, such as hardening of the vessels.

  Diabetics who smoke may have trouble managing their condition. In addition, smoking increases complications that can occur as a result of having diabetes, including kidney disease, blindness and high blood pressure.

Danger to Children

• Women who smoke during pregnancy increase the risks of their children dying while still in infancy. Smoking during pregnancy also increases the risk of sudden infant death syndrome. There is a strong link between SIDS and smoking.

  The effects of cigarette smoke on children's lungs can begin when the child is only two to ten weeks old.

  Cigarette smoking even affects a child's teeth. Children who are exposed to secondhand smoke on a regular basis stand an increased chance of developing cavities.

How It Affects Women

• Smoking affects a woman's ability to make new bone. This places women who smoke at a higher risk for bone density loss and osteoporosis. Women who are menopausal or have passed through menopause and who smoke are at greater risk for suffering hip fractures, a risk that increases with age if women continue to smoke.

How It Affects Men

• A man who smokes 18 or more cigarettes a day for approximately two years can see a marked decrease in his ability to father children. In addition, cigarette smoking lowers a man's sex drive, making him desire sex less frequently

  Men who suffer from osteoarthritis in the knee experience a higher loss of cartilage and have more severe knee pain than men who do not smoke.