The last decade smoking has spread so much that it has become a real scourge of our society. The figures are simply horrifying. But in addition to the smokers themselves, they suffer from the harmful effects of passive smoking and their relatives, people who find themselves in the same room or in the neighborhood.
In recent years, the problem has become so huge that it became necessary to issue laws that protect the health of non-smokers.
The detrimental effect of secondhand smoke can be short-term or long-term. Depending on this, a short-term effect on human health can be manifested by irritation of the mucous membrane of the eyes, coughing, dizziness, migraine, a nausea, exacerbation of respiratory system diseases and cardiovascular diseases.
What is harmful for passive smoking for a long time?
According to the results of the conference of the World Health Organization, more than 5 million smokers die annually, and 600,000 people die every year due to secondhand smoke. Just like active, long-term passive smoking leads to a number of consequences:
- lungs' cancer;
- narrowing of the lumen of the vessels and infarction;
- laryngeal cancer;
- cancer of the esophagus and stomach;
- cardiovascular diseases;
- asthma;
- stroke ;
- early atherosclerosis (at the autopsy in 25-year-olds clogged vessels are found, and the degree of narrowing of the lumen of the vessels corresponds to the norm in 80-year-olds)
- aging of the skin;
- hypovitaminosis;
- gangrene against the background of atherosclerosis of the lower extremities.
The danger of second-hand smoke for mothers and children
Let's take a closer look at the dangerous passive smoking during pregnancy . According to doctors, passive inhalation of smoke from 4000 harmful substances, extremely adversely affects both the health of a pregnant woman and the health of her unborn child. Passive smoking, of course, leads to various pathologies of fetal development, the syndrome of sudden death of newborns, increases the risk of premature birth and miscarriages, predisposition to respiratory system diseases, leukemia, weight loss, low immunity. During passive smoking, along with smoke through the lungs of the mother, a large number of carcinogens and mutagenic substances enter the blood, and there is a shortage of oxygen in the blood of the mother, and consequently the child. In such conditions, he experiences an acute shortage of oxygen - this phenomenon is called hypoxia. With such oxygen starvation, the fetal organs are underdeveloped.
Also, passive smoking negatively affects the development of the fragile body of children. Children from families with one or more adult smokers are most likely to experience respiratory, allergic diseases, asthma, bronchitis and bronchopneumonia, reduce immunity, develop respiratory organs, weaken general health, and, due to hypoxia and the effect of nicotine, impair mental capacity , and, consequently, academic achievement.
It follows that if your child is a "forced" smoker, you seriously need to think about whether to put his health at such a risk.
What is dangerous for passive smoking of narcotic drugs?
Passive smoking of narcotic drugs from cannabis occurs by inhaling the vaporized cannabis or the smoke of marijuana by non-smokers of these drugs by a person who is in the company of drug addicts in confined spaces. At the moment, this problem has been little studied. Some researchers note that the effects of narcotic intoxication are diverse and depend on the individual characteristics of the human body and concentration in the air, and consequently the dose of tetrahydrocannabinol that has entered the body and the psychological contamination of the emotional state of the surrounding people. Smoking hashish and marijuana often occur alternately in teenage companies. That increases the toxic effect of narcotic substance and tobacco on their developing organism. The consequences of such toxic effects are very destructive for both memory and thinking, and for the health of the whole organism, in general.
There is a myth that passive smoking is more harmful than the active one. This is completely wrong. Damage to health caused by both types of smoking is almost equal, given the fact that a passive smoker with constant forced inhalation of harmful smoke is exposed to the same danger as the culprit himself.
In Russia, everyone smokes, considering the forced passive smoking. In addition, smoking is also gaining immense popularity with the help of the "example" of a smoker and the existing fashion for smoking. Tobacco companies do not have to spend a lot of money on advertising - it's absolutely free for them, paying from their own purse for cigarettes, will create smokers themselves, attracting others to smoking and own example of "a successful and self-confident person."