Smoking cigarettes is the number 1 preventable killer in the world right now and has been linked to a huge variety of health problems such as heart attacks, strokes, cancer and more.
Since the 1950's when as a culture we realised that smoking is bad for us, extensive research has been done into the permanent effect that tobacco can have on the body, from respiratory conditions to vision problems and cancer.
Today though we want to look at a few of the lesser known issues from cigarettes.
Fertility problems
Smoking cigarettes can cause significant damage to both sexes reproductive system and make it extremely difficult to become pregnant.
It does this as smoking, or to be more precise the 4000+ chemicals and 50+ carcinogens in cigarettes, change and weaken all the parts needed for a successful birth.
Most of the damage is seen with women and smoking has been shown to affect every aspect of childbirth. Firstly smoking makes it that much harder to actually get pregnant by causing issues with the Fallopian tubes and actually damaging the eggs before sperm can get to them.
The eggs being damaged is especially important as women do not create more eggs, in fact they are born with all the eggs they will ever have. If eggs are damaged by smoking then the chances of becoming pregnant become smaller.
Research also suggests that this could be due to the effect that tobacco and the array of other chemicals found in cigarettes have on our hormone levels. As anyone who has tried to conceive knows there are a huge amount of variables which can be the difference between success and failure. With the hormone changes that cigarettes can bring they can be the deciding factor.
In men, the longer they smoke for and the more cigarettes they smoke, the more likely it is for them to develop erectile dysfunction. Smoking can also reduce fertility levels in men by harming the quality of their sperm.
Pregnancy complications
But if you do manage to get pregnant the dangers don’t stop there.
According to research, smoking tobacco heavily can also lead to pregnancy complications and can harm the fetus in a number of ways.
If you smoke during pregnancy your baby is more likely to have:
- Complications during pregnancy and birth
- A higher risk of stillbirth
- A Premature birth, which can lead to a whole host of problems
- A much higher chance of being born underweight, babies born by mother who smoke are on average 200 gms lighter. This can lead to problem during labour and an increased chance of infection
- A much higher risk of suffering from asthma
- A higher chance of sudden death syndrome or as it's otherwise known as, cot death
- But it's not just the mother who should stop, 2nd hand smoke can hurt the baby as well. Smoking around a pregnant mother can cause some of the above problems as well, including loss of weight and cot death.
Heart disease
Smoking cigarettes can seriously harm and cause permanent damage to the heart, blood cells and blood vessels.
The tar and man-made chemicals in cigarettes can increase the likelihood of a person developing a buildup of excessive plaque within the blood vessels, known as atherosclerosis. This buildup of plaque can restrict the blood flow to the heart and can lead to fatal blockages. Blockages and blood clots can also be caused by the toxins in cigarettes can tear up the blood vessels themselves, which like the plaque can cause blockages and blood clots.
Smoking heavily also increases the risk of developing peripheral artery disease (PAD), which takes place when the arteries to the legs and arms and legs start to restrict blood flow, which can lead to angina, blood clots, heart attack or stroke.
On a different note, the carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke reduces the amount of oxygen in your blood. This means your heart has to pump harder to supply the body with the oxygen it needs. Over time this can wear the heart down, and put it at more risk of failing. This isn’t helped by the fact that long term smoking damages your lungs anyway and hinders you from absorbing oxygen.
All of this means that as a smoker you are four times more likely to die of heart disease and three times likely to die from sudden cardiac death if you smoke cigarettes.
How E-cigarettes can help
With all these issues the main culprit are the toxins and chemicals in cigarettes. Unlike what you normally hear about cigarettes (the cancer-causing elements) the chemicals don’t harm you quickly, but over time they can still hurt you.
And that where e-cigarettes can help. As E-cigarettes only have 4 ingredients they don’t have the 4000+ chemicals that cause infertility or heart issues.
And because e-cigarettes have the same feel and taste of cigarettes without all the chemicals a lot of smokers are able to finally get away from cigarettes for good.
If you want to give SMOKO a try then have a look at our vape starter kits.
