Impact of Smoking on the Human Body and Your Health Insurance policy

Smoking is the root cause of several diseases and it harms the human body in many ways than one can imagine. If you want to know the impact of smoking on your body, read the post to know more.

Smoking is considered a habit that can cause life threatening diseases among individuals. Smoking impacts your health in many ways and increases the chances of deadly diseases like cancer and heart attack.  Smoking is so dangerous that it not only affects the smokers but also the non-smokers who stay close to the smokers at the time of burning a cigarette.

For most people, smoking is very normal. Despite knowing the harmful effects of smoking, people smoke cigarettes and other injurious substances daily. This in turn causes them immense harm in the long run and they fall prey to various critical diseases.

When a person starts smoking, it may not feel any difference in their health in the initial stage. However, if you continue to smoke for years together, you are most likely to suffer health conditions like stroke, cardiac complications and so on. And as per doctors, smoking does aggravate these health issues further.

Though you may have health insurance policies or term life insurance plans to secure your health in case of an emergency and to cover your life. But, the best thing to do is to quit the habit of smoking in case you don’t want to deteriorate your health any further and do not want to experience the impact of smoking.

Smoking Impact #1 – Smoking Causes Cancer

Are you aware that smokers are prone to as many as 16 different kinds of cancer. Not just that, smoking also restricts the ability of the human body to fight the disease. Thus, the growth of malignant or cancer cells becomes fast, while the growth of benign cells that fight cancer cells from spreading becomes  ineffective. This makes the malignant cells outnumber the benign cells and supports the fast spread of the disease. Hence, curing cancer becomes all the more difficult.

The smoke of tobacco contains poison which damages the DNA cells of our body. The DNA is responsible for controlling the normal functioning of cells and their growth. However, when the DNA gets damaged, the growth for cells becomes out of control and starts turning cancerous. This may lead to the growth of cancerous tumors.

Not just cancer, the impact of smoke on human health can be seen in the form of many other critical diseases that cause damage to the human body beyond measure.

Smoking Impact #2 -Damages the Lung

Smoking harms the small air sacs and the airways inside your lungs. If you persist in the habit of smoking, it may result in lung function deterioration. Moreover, smoking may seem deadly for patients who suffer from pneumonia and asthma. These conditions get further deteriorated if the patient continues to smoke.

In addition to the above, smoking also increases the chances of COPD or chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases among people.  COPD is a lung condition, which is thought to be more severe than lung cancer.  For example, Chronic bronchitis is a kind of COPD. Here, the airways of the patient causes a lot of mucus that needs to be coughed out. As a result the patient gets into constant coughing caused by inflamed airways. Over time, the airways become choked because of mucus and lead to the development of pneumonia.

Smoking Impact #3 – Smoking Damages Your Heart and Blood Vessels

Smoking is also related to heart related ailments and it enhances the risk of several cardiovascular diseases.   As mentioned above, smoking aggravates the conditions of strokes and heart attacks among smokers. This is because smoking leads to high blood pressure and lowers a person’s ability to exercise. It further decreases the HDL cholesterol levels in the blood of the smokers and forms blood clots easily.

Besides, smoking also leads to PAD or peripheral arterial diseases and PVD or peripheral vascular diseases. In case of PAD diseases, smoking blocks arteries that carry blood to head, limbs and other body organs.  This in turn enhances the risk of various heart diseases.  In case of PVD, smoking worsens the flow of blood to the limbs.

Smoking Impact #4 – Smoking Damages other Parts of the Body

Smoking also leads to damage in several other parts of the body. In the case of women, smoking damages their reproductive organs. In fact, ectopic pregnancy is more common in chain female smokers, which can be life threatening. In this kind of pregnancy, the embryo gets placed outside the uterus. Besides, there are many other severe issues that women smokers might face during their pregnancy. Some such issues such as early separation of placenta from uterus, membrane getting reputed soon etc. that might cause issues in the pregnancies of female chain smokers.

In addition to the above, smoking also enhances premature skin aging due to the immune system’s decrease in functionality. The impact of smoking on health care costs can be seen in the form of all the above and other diseases.