Contents:
- Medical Video: Smoking Causes Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema
- What are the dangers of smoking for women?
- 1. Reducing bone density
- 2. Triggering rheumatism (rheumatoid arthritis)
- 3. Increases the risk of cataracts
- 4. Depression
- 5. Boils in the stomach
- 6. Irregular menstrual cycle
- 7. Causes lung cancer
Medical Video: Smoking Causes Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema
It is common that many women today smoke, even though the stereotype in society still considers that women who smoke are considered bad. Actually, the main problem is not on the label in the community, but on the impact of smoking on health itself. And it turns out, besides the impact of smoking that threatens all smokers, women are also at risk of experiencing the dangers of smoking that specifically occurs in the body of a woman.
READ ALSO: Danger of Vape and Other Facts About Electric Cigarette
What are the dangers of smoking for women?
If you see cigarette advertisements, surely you have read some of the effects of smoking on the body, one of which can cause interference with the fetus. Here are some of the dangers of other cigarettes for women:
1. Reducing bone density
Smoking can produce free radicals - molecules that attack the body's natural defenses. Free radicals can interfere with hormonal balance. Your heart will produce enzymes that can damage estrogen, which triggers a loss of bone density. In fact, estrogen has an important role for bone formation. If you are now entering the age of menopause, you should immediately stop smoking. The production of the hormone estrogen decreases during your menopause, and when you smoke, the bones will become more vulnerable because of the loss of density.
READ ALSO: Why are Menopausal Women at Risk for Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis?
2. Triggering rheumatism (rheumatoid arthritis)
Rheumatism makes your joints feel hot and swollen. Symptoms that appear sometimes are not detected. You will also feel stiffness and pain in the joints. The cause of this disease is still a mystery, although hormones and genetics can play a role in triggering this disease. But did you know that a study published in Arthritis Research and Therapy found that smoking can increase the risk of getting rheumatism?
The formation of rheumatism in the body will decrease when someone stops smoking. The researchers assume that smoking can direct the wrong immune function when you have a genetic factor in this rheumatic pain. In addition, smoking can also hinder the effectiveness of your rheumatism treatment. Even when you need surgery, smoking can increase the risk of complications.
You may not feel that smoking makes your arthritis worse. This is caused by the influence of nicotine. Additive substances can provide a calming effect, so you feel when you smoke, the pain decreases. Even though the facts in your body are not like that.
READ ALSO: Nicotine Addiction: Why Can It Happen and How to Deal With It?
3. Increases the risk of cataracts
Cataracts are a disease where your lens is foggy. Research shows that someone who has ever smoked has an increased risk of developing cataracts. In fact, these risks can also be experienced by passive smokers. Cataracts are common in the elderly, caused by age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in the middle part of the retina. Research shows that smokers have an increased risk of AMD compared to people who have never smoked at all.
4. Depression
Indeed nicotine can offer a calming effect to its users, but according to the British Journal of Psychiatry, researchers revealed that nicotine dependence can cause depression. There is evidence of an increase in depressive symptoms that are consistent between the effects of smoking and depression. According to Professor David Fergusson quoted by the Psychcentral website, although the evidence is still unclear, it is possible that nicotine can cause changes in neurotransmitter activity in the brain, resulting in an increased risk of depression.
5. Boils in the stomach
The mechanism of protection of the body naturally can be disrupted by substances contained in cigarettes, including disturbing stomach acid. According to Michael Brown, MD, professor of medicine at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, smoking can interfere with the digestive tract, indirectly contribute to ulcers and increase stomach acid reflux by weakening the sphincter muscle - which serves to prevent stomach acid from rising into the esophagus.
6. Irregular menstrual cycle
Women who smoke can be at risk of infertility. Smoking can also cause dysmenorrhea - pain that is unbearable during menstruation. In addition, women who smoke are also at risk of experiencing premature menopause, which is one to two years earlier.
READ ALSO: Why Can A Woman Have Early Menopause?
7. Causes lung cancer
At the beginning of the 20th century, lung cancer was still a rare disease. It was not until 1950 that lung cancer became a major cause of male death in developing countries. From 1970 to 1980, the number of deaths from lung cancer increased, both for men and women. One of the causes of lung cancer starts to spread to women because more and more women are already familiar with smoking. This cancer is caused by tobacco in cigarettes which will become toxic when it enters the body.
