Effects of smoking on Health and Fitness

Effects Of Smoking On Health: People start smoking for different reasons. Some think it looks cool. Others start smoking because their family members or friends smoke. Almost all adult smokers started before they were 18 years old. And most smokers never expected to become addicted. 

According to the American Lung Association, Cigarettes contain about 600 ingredients and When these ingredients burn, they generate more than 7,000 chemicals. Many of which can also be found in E-cigarettes and hookahs too. Nicotine, Carbon monoxide, and tar are more dangerous among those chemicals.

In this article, along with Effects of smoking on Health, I’ll explain the dangerous Chemicals In Tobacco.

well-known forms of smoking

E-Cigarettes:

Also, beware of vaping (E-Cigarettes). Some people may feel that e-cigarettes are safer than regular cigarettes because they don’t contain tobacco. E-cigarettes use cartridges filled with nicotine, and flavorings, and other harmful chemicals and turn them into a vapor that’s inhaled by the user. In fact, the ingredients used in them are dangerous too.

Hookahs:

Hookahs are water pipes used to smoke tobacco through black gunk that builds up in a hookah hose. Some people think they’re safer than E-cigarettes because the smoke cools when it passes through the water and the black gunk. Some of that gunk gets into the user’s mouths and lungs. Their health risks might be even higher.

Dangerous Chemicals In Tobacco

Nicotine:

Firstly, Nicotine is an addictive drug that causes people who smoke to continue to smoke, as it gives you a temporary highness. Usually, people don’t realize that it is that harmful. Nicotine when absorbed into the bloodstream and seven to eight seconds later the brain can feel the reaction. Nicotine, in the long run, increases heart rate, Increases hormone production, and blood pressure.

Carbon Monoxide:

Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas. Generally, Carbon monoxide (CO) is found in smoke produced by burning fuel in cars or trucks, small engines, stoves, lanterns, grills, fireplaces, gas ranges, or furnaces. The carbon monoxide inhaled from smoking cigarettes binds to the blood’s hemoglobin, which impacts oxygen transport throughout the body.

It is no wonder that 15% of a smoker’s blood is carbon monoxide being carried to different parts of the body instead of oxygen. Over time CO leads to heart problems and disease, arteries being blocked, and dangerous circulation problems.

Tar:

Tar is the solid particles suspended in tobacco smoke. The particles contain chemicals, including carcinogens (cancer-causing substances). Tar is sticky and brown, and stains teeth, and 70% of the tar in every cigarette smoked is deposited in the lungs. Tar damages the lungs causing the biocides to narrow, and increase in bronchial mucus and it also damages the small hair-like structure which protects lungs from diet and infection and eventually causes severe coughing.

Smoking affects almost every part of the body that includes muscle tissues, organs, nervous systems. Some of the bodily effects are immediate and the complications and damage can last for years. The good news is that quitting smoking can reverse many effects over years but not immediately.

Effects Of Smoking On Health and Fitness Goals

Smoking Reduces Workout Performance:

A smoker’s heart rate is 30% faster than a non-smoker. A study published in The Journal of Physiology indicates that smoking decreases the number of small blood vessels that bring oxygen and nutrients to muscles in the legs and other muscle tissues. And therefore, the heart has to work harder to ensure adequate circulation during the workouts. The increased heart rate also raises blood pressure.

We know that smoking limits a person’s ability to exercise because controlling breath is important in exercising and lungs are eventually destroyed by habitual smoking. This can impact metabolism and activity levels and therefore, limit activity and exercise. You are not able to push yourself through the last reps and in a set. As a result, you build less muscle than a non-smoker.

Smoking Makes You Insulin Resistant:

Insulin is a protein cum hormone. It is released by the pancreas after consuming carb-rich foods and works as a signal for the muscles to absorb glucose in the bloodstream. 

When you become insulin resistant, the muscles refuse to respond to the signal to absorb glucose from the blood and your energy levels decrease due to overload of glucose in the blood. More insulin in the body over time increases fat deposits, especially belly.

Smoking Raises Cortisol:

Cortisol is a stress hormone. This hormone eventually decreases the production of testosterone, a muscle-building hormone. Cortisol also reduces protein synthesis, which is an important requirement for muscle growth.

Smoking cigarettes can damage the testosterone-producing cells within the body. And the low testosterone is eventually replaced by a hormone called estrogen that is linked to increased belly fat or where you least want it.

The conclusion

There are many effects of smoking a cigarette. Smoking in any form is dangerous. You should definitely quit smoking if your life is important to you. your lungs will be the most affected by smoking. Coughs, wheezing and asthma are just the start. Smoking causes 84% of deaths from lung cancer and 83% of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

I hope this article(Effects of smoking on Health) is helpful for you.

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