Troo Health Care

It is not new news that smoking is bad for your health yet millions of people choose to ignore the warnings that just cannot be disputed. Shortly after the second world war papers were published drawing the inescapable fact that cigarette smoking was, at that time, the major factor in the rising incidence of lung cancer.

In the studies by Bradford Hill and Doll, only 1 in 200 male lung cancer patients were non-smokers. Similar statistics were found in women, supporting the conclusion that smoking was the main factor. They also determined a relationship between the correlation of the risk of getting lung cancer with the number of cigarettes smoked.

A further investigation by the same people began to show evidence of smoking causing other diseases, of which the most important were Chronic Bronchitis and Coronary Heart Disease. They were also able to demonstrate that cigarette smokers lived a shorter average life span than non-smokers, while giving up smoking reversed the risks to smokers relative to how long the gave up.

In addition to the three main diseases mentioned already further evidence emerged that cigarette smoking created other health problems, causes other lung disorders, delaying the healing of gastric ulcers, contributing to some cancers of the mouth, larynx, gullet and bladder, and causing skin damage.

If that is not enough we also now know that smoking is a cause of erectile dysfunction in men and can contribute to reduced fertility in both men and women. Smoking is a major factor in the development of athersclerosis, which not only contributes to coronary heart disease but also impairs circulation in the legs, causing walking pain, ulceration on often gangrene that can cause the loss of limbs. More recently smoking has also been linked to visual impairment later in life through age-related macular degeneration.

If you’re still not thinking about giving up think about this. Of all the non-smokers in your place of work only one in five will not reach retirement age. For smokers of around 20 cigarettes a day at least 2 in five will not reach the same age. Basically you are doubling the risk of not being able to enjoy the fruits of your labour. Maybe it’s time to turn to the zero nicotine patches?