I am not a regular smoker, but really enjoy smoking during weekends when we are in a bar or something. All the studies that I have seen on smoking involve people smoking atleast 1 pack a day. My average is around 3-4 cigs. per week. \n\nBesides the social aspects, like some people not liking it, how harmful is it for health reasons?
217455
ANY amount of smoking is harmful to your body. \nThis is from an article by Marie Claire magazine called "what smoke does to your body"\n*Causes strokes. Nicotine reaches the brain 10 seconds after you inhale\n*Gives you bad breath and yellow teeth. Associated with gum disease and mouth cancer\n*Gives you a two times higher risk of heart attack than a non smoker. Just one to five cigs a day can double your risk\n*Raises risk of breast cancer if you started smoking within 5 years of your first menstral period\n*Raises risk for stomach and peptic ulcers\n*In addition to lung cancer, smoking raises risk tenfold of chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), a collection of fatal lung diseases\n*increases the odds that you wont ovulate or concieve. Smoking when pregnant increases miscarriage risk by 39%\n*Smokers have more severe PMS and 50% more cramps\n*the longer you smoke, the higher your risk for cervical cancer and colar rectal cancer\n*Hardens your arteries, raising odds for high blood pressure and heart attacks\n*Smoking can dampen libido by constricting blood flow to your clitoris\n*smoking may make bones thinner and more fragile, raising your risk of fractures\n*prematurely ages your skin by 10-20 years
553575
yeah .. but only because society makes smoking seem so glamourous and we all know it's addictive.\n\nI dont believe you could be addicted after only the first cig. I believe it was more of brainwashing(we all know it's addictive) than actually addiction.\n\nI tried it once and i imagine it but only cuz i know it's bad for u and i've been told it help relieves stress and i am always in high stress.
352323
Actually, I don't think they should stop to prevent people from smoking. That should be a personal choice that the person should make on their own behalf. This is a free country and people jump down tobacco product companies throats for what reason? Because the smoking population spends their own money on cigs. So personally, I am no smoker but I am not tempted to buy cigarettes no matter what the commercial says. If that's what an individual wants to do w/ their then so be it. If that's the case then we should stop making alcohol, we should shut these fast foods joints down, etc.... so really, smoking and lung cancer is a matter of choice.
495754
It takes ten years of smoking a pack of cigarettes a day before it shows up on paper - notheless, I doubt anyone would argue that inhaling the smoke, tars, and nicotines of 60,000 cigarettes is a good thing.  \n\nOur bodies have an amazing ability to adapt especially when we are relatively young.  Once we start to age that compensation is less pronounced.  So the question you have to ask yourself, is how many morbidly obese 80 year olds do you see wondering the streets?  Yeah, they either lost weight or they passed before they got to be 80 - of something. \n\nYour lab work is not the end-all be-all of health.  Neither are other studies like a head to foot CT exam.  On the other hand obesity is not even in the top five of cardiac risk factors.  It does however strain the heart to profuse more tissue than normal.  Obesity does predispose you to hypertension and to diabetes.  I suspect if we have this discussion in twenty years, both of those conditions (DM and HTN) would be affecting you - and they ARE among the top five risk factors for cardiac disease.\n\nFinally while I support your efforts to loose weight, I certainly do not support weight loss at any cost, including dangerous medications or procedures that put you at unnecessary risk.\n\nI hope this helps.  Good luck.
293246
I have 3 kids. 11, 8 and 18 months. My hubby and I both smoked before and during pregnancy and while breastfeeding. NO cigaretes though. My kids were all 7 or 8 lbs and no problems. Not even 11 years later. Most people smoke cigs as well so most research is tainted. I have many friends who only smoke weed as well and there children, up to 16, are fine. Even my mother says she smoked occasionally. I have heard that the seeds can reduce a mans sperm count but who smokes seeds.
536524
Here are some facts about smoking:\n\nHalf of all people who smoke will end up dying of a smoking-related problem. (National Institute on Aging)\n\nEach day, over a thousand people in America die because of a smoke-related issue. (CDC)\n\nSmokers die an average of 12 years younger than their nonsmoking neighbors. (NIA)\n\nEach year in America, 100 billion dollars is spent treating people who are sick from a smoke-related problem. (WHO)\n\nA spouse or roommate of a smoker is likely to develop problems from second-hand smoke, including stroke, lung cancer, and even breast cancer. (Vanderbilt University Study)\n\nSmall children who live with a smoker are more like to have asthma. (CDC)\n\n70% of smokers suffer mental disorders caused by their addiction to nicotine. (National Institute of Alcohol Abuse)\n\nNocitine damages a smoker's home -- wallpaper, carpet, and curtains get discolored and have the smell of smoke.\n\nThe average price of a carton of cigarettes is 20-40 dollars. If you smoke a carton a week, that's about 100 dollars a month you're wasting.\n\nAccording to a study by the Australian Medical Journal, smokers generally don't go on as many dates as nonsmokers. Smoking has been shown to stain your teeth, affect your complexion, and leave the smell of smoke on your breath. \n\nAnd if that's not enough, consider this: some 80% of the nonsmoking world wants to ban smoking in public altogether, so in a few years smoking will be all but illegal anyway.\nCigarette smoking in public places causes pollution and poor air quality, which means people with asthma are made sick by their neighbors who smoke.\n\nSmoking is not just a personal decision. It affects your neighbors, your spouse, your children, your pocketbook, your coworkers, and your customers.
181896
I was a smoker for what seemed to be eternity.  The worst was smoking around someone who was attempting to quit.  They would claim it didn't bother them, insist I light up, and then drool and twitch during each drag I took.  It was painful for both of us.  On the other hand, I have also been around smokers after I first stopped smoking.  It was pure torture.  Just the smell of the cigarette alone was enough to send me into tremors.  Sometimes I would break down and bum a cigarette.  I couldn't get away with that too often because I'd get the "Oh, so you didn't quit smoking you just quit buying" speech.  Even when I wasn't around smokers, my mind would obsess about smoking.  I'd think to myself, maybe I'll just have one after dinner.  Or, maybe I'll just smoke when I have a few drinks.  I'll just keep an emergency pack in the freezer just in case I really need one.  Well, eventually all the obsessing ended and I came to the realization that I'm better off not smoking.  But, truth be known, there are still some times when I'm sipping some Pinot, watching the sunset when a nice Dunhill would hit the spot.  *sigh*
83659
Yes. Very much so. And I'm a smoker. I do not smoke in public, around children, or around pregnant women. It is MY choice alone to die of cancer. Not theirs. I do not defend smokers in ANY way. Smoking is a dangerous habit that I wish I could control and quit. Unfortunately, I can't seem to stop. I've been a smoker for 18 yrs. and I will NEVER tell another human being to deal with MY habit in public because I have the right to smoke. They have more of a right to breath and to live with out being wrongly affected by me. I smoke in the privacy of my own home. I apologize for those smokers who do not get it, that WE are the offenders. Keep it up guys...maybe smoking will be banned.
9857
I am a non-smoking, smoker. figure that one out! \n\nSmokers are a complete contributor to the health service. \n\nThe NHS could not survive without such a donation as tobacco sales, and cigarette merchandise. Society has made the media give mixed messages on this time after time. They invent treatments, they come up with causes, they say it's highly unethical and unhealthy to smoke, yet they advertize it all at the same time. Why is this such a conflict? I'll tell you why. \n\nA) They advertize this because they know that smokers are one of the biggest donators to the treasury, over 10,000.00 is spent on tobbacco daily. They fear getting sued, so the media makes up for the advertisements, by smashing down smoking economy, and making smoking legal only for people of the ages, 18 and up.. I'm sure though that if 16 year olds could legally start a career at that age, they would lower the smoking age. \n  \nThink about it, 18 and up. Adulthood, where choices can be made, career choices open, college dues must be payed, so on, so forth. \n\nThey just fear getting sued. Honestly, as much as the Health administration would like, NOT to admit it. They would crumble without the daily tobbacco sales.
44021
Nonsmoker: I'm under 18 and already I know that smoking is REALLY BAD!!! I hate it. I know a lot of things by joining after school groups and they teach about in school sometimes. I would never really want to be around someone who smokes, unless they are family or really close friends.
542612
I do not consider myself a smoker or addicted - just smoke when I need, I usually don't  ihnale ...\nAbout 0-3.\nFemale, 23
504197
So you went to a party for the first time in ages after being at home with 3 kids and had nothing to talk about to anybody? And you really believe that the reason you didn't fit in and had nothing interesting to say was because you are not a smoker? Whoa! \n\nSO if you start smoking, you believe you will achieve a higher level of hipster consciousness. Really?\n\nAnd your smoking friends were just standing there and were in tune with all going on? Really? No careers, no lovers, no kids - sounds like a bunch of severe underachievers. That's polite for 'losers.' \n\nIt all sounds pretty fucking absurd and boring to me.\n\nI live in another world - perhaps you can call it a "bizarro" world- where those who do NOT smoke have important, interesting jobs; career success; friends; healthy, smart children who do not inhale second-hand smoke; have healthy skin (women who smoke have horrible skin); and do NOT tan because it's unhealthy.\n\nMaybe you should consider a personal coach rather than a cigarette habit.
551923
Yes, although I was a former 3 day a day smoker, I now find it smells horrible.  Worse, I am allergic to it.  I get ill if smoke blows my way.  I once was in the car with a chain smoker I was dating.  I started having chest pains and went to the hospital.  They said it was due to the smoke and that if I had not breathed this medicine they gave me, my chest pains would have continued (indefinitely??).  why should I have to spend time and money and fear cause someone else wants to smoke when I try to live a healthy lifestyle.\n\nI had breast cancer 15 years ago and several of the women in the waiting room were victims of lung cancer (which is always fatal) who had never smoked.  Their husbands had smoked.  The issue was good and people had already voted down issue 4 once before...plus they were trying to make it a constitutional amendment to allow smoking in some places against the will of the majority who already said no the first time.
189432
Nonsmokers have some serious issues with "control" when they start talking about not smoking outside. Just walk around the smoker huddled next to the ash can, it's really not that difficult. If he's not huddled next to the ash can do that silly fake cough thing, that will show him. Sigh.
390029
I don't smoke because I need it, just when I want one.  I smoke about 4 a day (not Packs) but I've gone days without one.
390511
Yes its still bad.  What happens is that heat stays in your mouth.  Your mouth isn't meant to have that mush heat.  Instead of getting lung cancer you could potentially get mouth cancer.  Also the cigarette toxins still stays in your mouth and you will end up swallowing them into your stomach.  This will get into your digestive track and that's not good.  In essence it is all most the same thing as someone who chews, but with more heat.
194464
Smoking is addictive.  Cigarettes have many different chemicals in them along with tobacco - stuff like Ammonia, Benzene, Formaldehyde, Arsenic to name a few of the worst.  The longer you smoke the harder it is to give it up and when someone does it is usually because of a major health crises.  I know because I have seen.  I have never smoked but both my parents did.  My father had to give it up when he needed a bypass and his chances were given less than a 50% survival not because of his heart but because of the shape his lungs were in.  Smoking had done so much damage that no doctor was sure he would be able to make it out from under the anesthesia. Luckily he did and hasn't smoked since.  He also used to tell my brother and myself not to smoke because even though he knew the dangers he could not at the time quit.