Dangers of Smoking: How Smoking Harms You and Others Around You

Smoking brings a number of negative effects to our bodies, and not only to those who smoke but to the people around them as well. Still, people belittle these risks most likely because they are uninformed of these dangers. Courage Living Care & Services, Inc. is very much aware of these dangers. Today, we’ll discuss just how much smoking can affect us all.

There are both short-term and long-term effects of smoking. Short-term effects occur to those who just started smoking. These are not as serious but still wearisome. Here are some of them:

• Stain or discoloration of teeth
• Risk of other drug use
• Decreased lung capacity
• Increased risk or worsening of asthma
• Nicotine addiction
• Bad breath
• Limited lung function

The long-term effects of smoking are much more serious. In fact, it causes more deaths in a year than the combined number of deaths for HIV, vehicular injuries, drug/alcohol use, and firearm-related accidents. Here are some of the long-term effects of smoking:

• COPD or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
• Lung Cancer (and cancer in almost any part of the body)
• Coronary Heart Disease
• Increased risk of stroke
• Increased risk of heart attacks and other cardiovascular diseases
• High blood pressure
• Infertility and Impotence
• Preterm births, ectopic pregnancies, and other problems during birth and pregnancy

Note that these are only some of the many risks of smoking that people who smoke expose themselves to. However, smoking does not only affect the smoker. It can also affect others through Secondhand Smoking.

What is Secondhand Smoking?

Secondhand smoking comes as result of people inhaling cigarette smoke without smoking themselves. In fact, most of the cigarette smoke released by smokers are not inhaled by them but is spread through the air into their surroundings and thus inhaled by mere bystanders. This puts them at much greater risk than the actual smoker. Here are some of the effects of secondhand smoking:

• Asthma attacks
• Increased risk for respiratory infections
• Multiple types of cancer, especially Lung Cancer
• Increased risk of strokes and heart attacks
• Emphysema
• Problems/Issues with pregnancy and birth
• Others similar to the effects of long-term smoking

Knowing the risks and dangers of smoking, how do we stop and/or control it?

Smoking Cessation Therapy

Courage Living Care & Services, Inc. offers Smoking Cessation Therapy to help smokers control and effectively stop their smoking habits. In this program, we are able to monitor and guide you through your journey of overcoming the struggles of cigarette smoking.

Smoking Cessation is only one of the many services we offer. We also highlight one of our main services as being able to provide Home Care in Homestead, Florida. Other than that, we also offer Respite Care, Life Skills Development, Residential Habilitation, and other home care services.

Get to know more about what we do and how we can help you. Call us at 305-910-5460 or email us at info@couragelivingcare.com.