Freedom From Smoking by Patricia Krenik - HTML preview

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Page 9 of 80

Freedom from Smoking Starts Now

Hands -- Smokers have poor blood circulation in their hands, and their fingers often get tar stained.

Esophagus Smoking can cause cancer of esophagus, usually of its lining.

Respiration and Lungs -- Smoking has the most injurious effect on the respiratory system. Smokers are as much as twelve times more susceptible to lung cancer than the non-smokers are. Moreover, it is only after about 15 years or so of totally quitting the smoking that one's risk for lung cancer becomes the same as that of the non-smokers. There is a rapid decline in the function of lungs among smokers after the age of 35; most smokers develop ‘ smoker's lung’ ( Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) during this age.

Initially, they show symptoms like bronchitis, and with the progress of disease, even a little exertion causes breathlessness.

Cardiovascular System -- Smoking also has a profound effect on the cardiovascular (blood circulatory) system. The resting heartbeats of an adult smoker are often two to three beats more than that of the nonsmoker. Smokers have greater chances of hypertension and a heart attack. They are also particularly prone to Atherosclerosis (narrowing and rigidity of arteries due to deposition of fatty material), Coronary thrombosis (formation of a blood clot in the artery that supplies to the heart). Smoking also increases a propensity of a blood clot in the arteries supplying the brain, and that may end in collapse, stroke or paralysis. In the event that the arteries or kidneys are affected, kidney failure might occur.

Liver -- Chances of liver cancer are greater among smokers.

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