Smoking is harmful to health, be careful of tobacco addiction

Author: Wang Changhong, Chief Physician of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical College

Gao Chang, Associate Professor, Jining Medical College

Reviewer: Zhang Ruiling, Chief Physician, Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical College

Smoking is very harmful to human health, and many diseases are related to long-term smoking. Long-term smoking may lead to tobacco addiction.

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1. The impact of smoking on health

In addition to nicotine, tobacco contains more than 4,000 chemical components, of which at least 250 are known to be harmful substances and more than 50 are carcinogenic. The main effects of smoking on health are as follows.

First of all , smoking can cause cancer. Smoking is one of the important risk factors for lung cancer. The risk of lung cancer for smokers is ten times that of non-smokers, or even more.

Secondly , smoking will increase the probability of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. For example, coronary heart disease, hypertension, cerebrovascular disease, etc. are all common diseases among smokers.

Third , smoking is one of the main causes of chronic bronchitis, emphysema and chronic airway obstruction.

Fourth , smoking can cause digestive system diseases. Nicotine in tobacco can reduce the tension of the pyloric sphincter, leading to gastric acid reflux, and in severe cases, it can cause digestive system ulcers.

Finally , smoking is even more harmful to women than men. Smoking can cause menstrual disorders, low estrogen levels, and osteoporosis in women, and smoking during pregnancy may also cause spontaneous abortion.

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2. How to identify tobacco addiction

Tobacco addiction is caused by long-term use of nicotine and has the following main manifestations.

First, the amount of smoking increases . Most smokers cannot adapt to the taste of tobacco when they first smoke, so they do not smoke much in the first period of time. However, as the smoking time increases, the tolerance to nicotine also increases, and the amount of smoking gradually increases. Heavy smokers even smoke dozens of cigarettes a day.

Secondly, there are obvious symptoms after quitting smoking . Smokers will experience some symptoms after quitting smoking when they reduce or stop smoking. These symptoms mainly include a strong desire to smoke, mental anxiety, and inability to concentrate. Some smokers who quit smoking will also experience an increase in appetite, which in turn leads to weight gain.

Finally, they cannot control their smoking behavior and have a strong desire to smoke . Most tobacco addicts know the harm of smoking and are willing to quit smoking, or at least want to reduce the amount of smoking. But many people fail after repeated attempts. Some smokers still cannot control their smoking behavior after becoming ill and cannot quit smoking completely. Some smokers will relapse after quitting smoking.

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How to deal with tobacco addiction

Once you become addicted to smoking, it will seriously damage your health. It is recommended to take countermeasures as soon as possible.

First , let smokers fully understand the serious harm of smoking, know the benefits of quitting smoking, remove their hesitation, and enhance their motivation to quit smoking. The longer the time of quitting smoking, the more obvious the beneficial changes to health; the earlier the time of quitting smoking, the more beneficial it is to personal health. For example, if you quit smoking at the age of 30, your life expectancy can increase by about 10 years; if you quit smoking at the age of 40, your life expectancy can increase by about 9 years; if you quit smoking at the age of 50, your life expectancy can increase by about 6 years; if you quit smoking at the age of 60, your life expectancy can increase by about 3 years, etc. Quitting smoking will also reduce the exposure of children in the family to secondhand smoke and reduce the risk of related childhood diseases.

Secondly , choose the right method and steps to quit smoking. Quitting smoking is a process. Before quitting smoking, smokers can set a specific quit date to prepare for their quitting actions and promote their own actions. From the beginning of preparation to the set quit date, it is recommended to be 4 weeks, preferably 2 weeks.

After starting to quit smoking, it is recommended to use the gradual reduction method or the immediate complete smoking cessation method. The gradual reduction method is to gradually reduce the amount of smoking until you stop smoking completely. The smoking cessation process is relatively comfortable and the withdrawal symptoms may be mild. The immediate complete smoking cessation method is relatively straightforward. It is a one-time immediate cessation method, which shortens the preparation time for smoking cessation. Smokers can become non-smokers earlier, but quitting smoking suddenly may cause withdrawal symptoms to worsen.

In addition, during the process of quitting smoking, you should try to divert your attention and reduce the attraction of smoking. You can eat some healthy food, drink more water or healthy juice; increase the amount of exercise appropriately, do some relaxation exercises, use deep breathing to increase the amount of oxygen in the brain; and maintain a calm state of mind. These are very helpful for quitting smoking.

Third , use drugs to help quit smoking. Smoking cessation drugs mainly include nicotine transdermal patches, nicotine chewing gum, nicotine nasal spray and other nicotine replacement products.

There are three advantages to using smoking cessation drugs. First, it can relieve smokers’ strong psychological desire for smoking during the period of quitting smoking, thus avoiding relapse. Second, it can reduce the pleasure smokers feel after each smoking, and reduce the temptation to smoke after quitting smoking. Third, although the nicotine replacement products in smoking cessation drugs contain nicotine, they are not addictive. Nicotine replacement products provide smokers with a small dose of nicotine in a safe and non-addictive way, replacing the nicotine in tobacco, thereby alleviating the withdrawal symptoms caused by the lack of nicotine in the body after quitting smoking.

Fourth , tobacco addiction is quite serious. If you cannot quit smoking on your own, it is best to go to a professional institution for consultation and treatment.

In short, smoking is very harmful to the human body, and the harm is even greater after addiction, so you should quit smoking as soon as possible.