Cool to death

“Every time I used to watch action movies when I was young and see the ladies smoking, I was intrigued. They seemed to have it all going for them. They were the bad girls who were very pretty and sassy. Every puff they took was a show of their prowess and their ability to concur anything and anyone. Then came the death of my grandmother who used to smoke like it was her last day on earth, and that changed it all. I was disgusted by cigarettes and now I feel like everyone who smokes is headed for death. One might argue that we are all going to die, but the truth of the matter is that all smokers are digging their own graves at a faster rate than everyone else.”

This is what Nancy (not her real name), a financial analyst, had to say when I asked for her opinion on cigarette smoking. Tobacco is used mainly in two forms; smoked in cigarettes or chewed.

Sadly, tobacco has no health benefits whatsoever and its use is harmful. Let us look at cigarette smoking a little more closely.

Components of tobacco smoke

Tobacco smoke contains over 400 chemicals. Some of the prominent chemicals include: cyanide, ethanol, lead, methanol, nicotine and tar. Over 40 of these chemicals are known to induce cancer.

Nicotine — This is the most addictive substance contained in tobacco. It is also used as an insecticide. It is colourless and has no smell.

After smoking a cigarette, nicotine gets to the brain in seven to 10 seconds, where it stimulates the pleasure centre and causes an intense “good” feeling.

Unfortunately, nicotine is cleared from the body as fast as it is taken in, which means the smoker loses the “good” feeling almost immediately and therefore needs a second puff.

As it is used more and more frequently, the smoker develops dependence on it. When one hasn’t smoked for a while they feel very low and irritable. They are now hooked.

Nicotine also simulates the release of adrenaline (the fight or flight hormone), which makes one feel more alert, increases blood pressure and heart rate, and also causes release of glucose (blood sugar) into the blood stream.

At the same time, it suppresses insulin, keeping the glucose in the blood, the reason why most smokers have little or no appetite.

Tar — This is the second most prominent component of cigarettes. A cigarette usually contains about seven to 20 mg of tar. This chemical is the main cause of lung disease, including cancer.

Effects of tobacco use

The use of tobacco negatively affects every part of the body. Some of these effects include the following:

• Damages blood vessels.
• Leads to brain diseases such as stroke.
• Causes heart diseases such as heart attacks.
• Damages the eye causing blindness.
• Knocking out blood supply to the hands and legs hence causing gradual oxygen deprivation that ultimately leads to death of digits and limbs, which ultimately leads to their amputation.
• Makes the lung tissue less elastic. With time, the lungs cannot work as they should, resulting in lung diseases such as emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
• Chewers’ and smokers’ mouths look and smell awful.
• Cigarette smokers are at a very high risk of throat cancer, which usually involves the voice box. Even if cured by surgery, they have to use an artificial voice box.
• Tobacco use can cause cancer anywhere in the body, especially in the lungs. This type of cancer is almost always very virulent and highly dangerous.
• Cigarette smoking affects fertility in both men and women. It is particularly distressing to men who develop erectile dysfunction.

Women who smoke when they are pregnant subject their unborn child to the following:

• Nicotine addiction.
• Increased risk of birth defects.
• Increased risk of premature birth.
• Low birth weight.
• A weakened immune system.
• Increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome.

Shisha is not innocent

There is a growing trend in Nairobi and other urban areas of using hookahs (commonly called shisha). Please be cautious, smoking shisha is not, in any way different from smoking cigarettes.

Shisha users ingest about 100 times more lead than that found in cigarette smoke. Furthermore, it exposes a user to other risks such as contracting hepatitis-B and tuberculosis through the sharing of the mouth pieces.

Dr Dennis Nturibi [email protected]