HEALTH RISKS OF SMOKING (SUCH AS ASTHMA)

By Daily News Reporter

People with asthma may wonder how smoking conventional cigarettes or using electronic cigarettes can affect their condition.

Smoking leads to disease and disability and harms nearly every organ system of the body. It is the leading cause of preventable death.

If you have asthma, an asthma attack can occur when something irritates your airways and “triggers” an attack. Your triggers might be different from other people’s triggers.

Tobacco smoke is a common trigger for asthma. Tobacco smoke including secondhand smoke which is unhealthy for everyone, especially people with asthma. Secondhand smoke is a mixture of gases and fine particles that includes:

• Smoke from burning tobacco products, such as cigarettes, cigars, or pipes
• Smoke that has been exhaled (breathed out) by someone who smokes

Secondhand smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals, including hundreds that are toxic and about 70 that can cause cancer.

If you have asthma, it’s important that you avoid exposure to secondhand smoke.

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So smoking even a few cigarettes a day can be dangerous and can lead to serious health problems.

• People who smoke fewer than 5 cigarettes a day can have early signs of cardiovascular disease.
• Just cutting back on cigarettes may not protect someone from early death. People who smoke heavily and reduce their cigarette use by half still have a very high risk for early death. On average, people who smoke die 10 years earlier than people who don’t smoke.
• People who reported smoking in social situations rather than on a daily basis have a behavior referred to as “social smoking” and they have similar blood pressure and cholesterol levels of people who smoke regularly.
• So Quitting Can Improve Your Health and your quality of life. This is true regardless of your age or how long you have been smoking.
• When you quit smoking completely:
• After 1-2 years, your risk of heart attack drops sharply and continues to drop over time.
• After 5-10 years, your risk of stroke decreases.
• After 5 years, your risk for cancers of the mouth, throat, and voice box drop by half.
• After 10-15 years, your risk of lung cancer drops by half.
• People who quit smoking completely live longer than those who keep smoking. The earlier you quit, the lower your risk for early death. Even quitting at age 50 cuts your risk in half for early death from a smoking-related disease.