Passive smoking can provoke the development of the same diseases as in an active smoker.
That is why the issue of banning smoking in in public places– restaurants, bus stops, and places for smokers everywhere. Why is passive smoking dangerous?
Passive smoking and its effect on the body have long been studied by doctors around the world. And at the same time, not entirely comforting conclusions are drawn. Passive and active smoking have one, but huge difference.
Passive smoking affects all organs and systems, including the cardiovascular system and is manifested by the following pathologies:
State circulatory system complicated by constant exposure to nicotine, even passively.
What harm does passive smoking cause to reproductive system? If there is a smoking family member in the house, then passive smoking among women leads to acute reaction female body.
So, girls exposed to the passive effects of nicotine have the following consequences:
In men, active sperm motility may decrease, and sperm quality may also deteriorate.
Why is passive smoking dangerous for children? On the still fragile children's body Cigarette smoke indoors affects almost the entire body.
And since the child is still growing, systems and organs are also in the stage of growth and formation, passive smoking in the air of the living room also makes its negative contribution.
American (USA) statisticians cite the following disappointing statistics: in families of smokers, about 200 thousand children under one and a half years old suffer from acute diseases lungs (bronchitis, pneumonia). As a child ages, health problems only accumulate and worsen.
If a woman breastfeeds her baby in a smoky room, then the chemical compounds contained in tobacco smoke enter the baby's lungs through breathing and digestive system through feeding.
With such a shock dose of toxic substances, damage occurs nervous system, which manifests itself as excitement or, conversely, inhibition.
To reduce the impact tobacco smoke child, it is necessary to prohibit smoking family members from entering the children's room for at least 20 minutes after smoking, and even more so, it is forbidden to smoke in the room in which the baby is.
Wet cleaning should be done with the addition of a hypoallergenic detergent. The entire apartment should be ventilated every 4-6 hours for 20 minutes.
More than 60 percent of children are passive smokers, having one or both parents smoking. This means that more than half of all children are exposed to nicotine, which is harmful to health.
What are the dangers of passive smoking for the health of pregnant women?
The impact of second-hand and basic tobacco smoke on the body of a pregnant woman and on the child in her womb can be regarded as harm to the child, and intentionally.
So, the following pathological consequences may develop:
Passive smoking and its impact on health expectant mother and his child can lead to the terrible consequences of passive smoking - intrauterine deformities of the fetus, decreased quality of amniotic fluid, and the risk of complications during the birth of a child increases significantly.
Based on several statistical studies, it can be concluded that passive smoking affects general state forced passive smokers. So 40% of children who are diagnosed with bronchial asthma", are constantly exposed to cigarette smoke.
How does passive hookah smoking affect others? Tobacco smoke from hookah has less harmful chemical compounds than from passive smoking of a cigarette, and the density of the smoke is less, but at the same time a hookah is smoked for a longer time than a cigarette.
Usually hookah is smoked indoors - at home, in cafes. Passive hookah smoking accounts for about 50% of hookah tobacco smoke.
In rooms specially equipped for hookah smoking (hookah rooms) there must be good ventilation, ensuring a sufficient supply of fresh air, which dilutes the smoke concentration to a safe level.
Arguments that smoking is harmful rarely help a smoker quit smoking, and even more so, it does not help with arguments about the harm and impact of passive smoking.
In this case, you need to try to find a compromise, for example, ask the smoker to smoke only outside and not in the room.
In order to limit the impact of passive smoking on others, regular awareness-raising programs on the dangers of smoking are conducted in public places.
In European countries, cigarettes are much more expensive than in the CIS countries - this also affects the decrease in the percentage of smokers.
In residential premises (apartment, house) it is recommended to equip a smoking area in the entrance, on the balcony, on the veranda. The usual place for smoking is often the kitchen or bathroom, so an improved ventilation system should be installed, for example, installing additional fans in the ventilation shafts.
After smoking, the fan must be turned on and the smoke will be drawn out of the room faster.
In the kitchen, a kitchen hood can handle the ventilation task well. It is also recommended to do frequent wet cleaning with wiping of all surfaces - this will help get rid of tobacco smoke deposits.
Smoking is prohibited in workrooms and offices, according to fire safety regulations, but sometimes heavy smokers ignore these rules.
In this case, perhaps, the management of the enterprise will give instructions to allocate a specially equipped smoking area with good ventilation and compliance with all fire safety rules.
Offices should be ventilated two to three times a day, wet cleaning should be done every morning, and cleaning the workplace should become a habit.
If a non-smoking person is in a smoky room for 1 hour, then he inhales a quarter of all toxic substances of tobacco smoke, which a smoker absorbs when smoking one cigarette (in one working day in a smoky office, a non-smoking person involuntarily “smokes” 4-5 cigarettes).
The harm of passive smoking is much greater than that of active smoking. This is due to the fact that the smoker’s body is already adapted to the effects of nicotine and other substances that are released during the smoldering of tobacco, and passive smoker is not adapted to such stress when inhaling smoke, which means that exposure to tobacco has a more harmful effect.
The health risks of secondhand smoke are underestimated by many people, according to a recent WHO study. Meanwhile, the so-called “secondary smoke”, which people who are close to the smoker are forced to inhale, contains about 400 harmful chemical compounds, radioactive isotopes and about 70 carcinogenic substances. Thus, a person staying in a room with a smoker for one hour inhales such a volume of harmful compounds that is equivalent to smoking half a cigarette.
In just one hour, the body of a passive smoker is forced to absorb about 14 mg of carcinogenic substances, which linger in the lungs for 70 days. This simple arithmetic suggests that the risk of malignant neoplasm in the lungs of people exposed to cigarette smoke against their will is slightly less than that of those who voluntarily inhale toxic compounds.
The negative effects of passive smoking in non-smokers appear almost instantly. It is expressed in the appearance of cough, dizziness and headaches, irritation of the eyes and mucous membranes. If you stay in a heavily smoky room, vomiting may occur. These are the symptoms of intoxication of the body with harmful compounds contained in cigarette smoke.
Many Scientific research showed that passive inhalation of tobacco smoke leads to the occurrence of many diseases, including pathologies respiratory system And cardiovascular disorders. Possible development of atherosclerosis, asthma, inflammation of the middle ear, allergies, breast and brain cancer, Crohn's disease.
Most children in the world are passive smokers. Such children more often than others suffer from colds, asthma, and bronchitis, which often causes complications. They also tend to have reduced immunity. Tobacco smoke affects a child’s mental abilities and overall development. Passive inhalation of smoldering cigarette products increases the likelihood of dental caries. Children who have been exposed to tobacco smoke due to smoking parents have a high predisposition to smoking.
Passive smoking also causes great harm to pregnant women. It can cause the birth of premature babies, lead to oxygen starvation fetus With passive inhalation of tobacco smoke, toxicosis is observed in almost 75% of pregnant women. Such women are born with children with various defects 2-3 times more often than those who did not inhale cigarette smoke throughout pregnancy.
Passive smoking is also dangerous for those who quit bad habit. When inhaling tobacco, such people again develop nicotine addiction, the habit mechanism turns on. You will find information on how to protect yourself and loved ones from the harmful effects of smoking on a specialized website
Passive smoking is the forced constant inhalation of smoke coming from a cigarette or a nearby smoker. Inhaling air contaminated with tobacco smoke is passive smoking. The idea that a person who inhales smoke does not suffer any harm from being near a smoker is false. It has been proven that a person who is a large number of time near people who smoke, suffers more harm than the smoker himself.
Numerous studies prove that harm caused to a passive smoker, subsequently constantly being near smoking man leads to the following diseases:
A person who constantly inhales tobacco smoke and does not smoke is more susceptible to lung cancer than a person who has no contact with cigarettes or people who use them.
Passive smoking is dangerous the fact that the smoke obtained from a subsequently smoked cigarette contains a large amount of harmful substances: about four thousand and fifty carcinogens that can cause cancer. It consists of substances such as:
All these toxic substances negatively affect health. It is especially unfair when the smoker’s loved ones suffer from this and inhale these products against their will. harmful substances.
Constant inhalation of second-hand smoke has a very bad effect on children. They may lag behind in development, both mental and physical. Decreased immunity entails the likelihood of a large number of diseases such as:
At the same time, a small organism that has not yet formed is not able to fight this. Children become irritable, restless or too calm, and their sleep is disturbed. This also negatively affects both pregnant women and the fetus. In pregnant women who are exposed to second-hand smoke every day, the following may occur:
When a person smokes a cigarette, poisonous smoke that is already familiar to him, to which he is accustomed, enters his body, but when he exhales this smoke enters the air great amount harmful substances, and this amount is several times higher than the poisons received by the smoker himself. The body of a non-smoker is not adapted to this, and smoke can cause him:
And also these toxic substances for a long time stored indoors. Therefore, it is necessary to ventilate the room at least 4 times a day, especially if the room is a permanent place for a smoker. It is imperative to do wet cleaning frequently, since all the fumes and all the poisons resulting from smoking settle on objects, walls, furniture, clothes and even the hair of the person who smoked or was present.
The respiratory organs suffer in any case, whether through passive or active inhalation of tobacco smoke. It destroys the villi located on the bronchi, which serve as filters and bring everything to the surface. With regular inhalation of this substance, loss of villi further increases the risk of cancer. Resins found in tobacco smoke settle on the walls of the lungs, the vessels become clogged, and as a result the person is exposed to colds, pneumonia and bronchial asthma.
“Passive smoking” is a term that refers to the involuntary inhalation of air with tobacco smoke dissolved in it by people surrounding the person taking a drag from a cigarette. This phenomenon is most noticeable in enclosed spaces. That is why more and more measures are being taken to ban it.
How dangerous is passive smoking for the human body? Why is it as harmful as the active one? What are the consequences for a person of systematically being in the company of people who smoke?
During smoking, three types of smoke are produced:
Passive smoking involves involuntary inhalation of types 1 and 3 smoke. The difference between them can be seen even with the naked eye. Secondary smoke is less dense and has more pale color. However, this does not mean that it is safer for the body. A study by the World Health Organization showed that the smoke inhaled by passive smokers contains a full range of carcinogens: there are more than 4000 different chemical compounds in it, including CO and CO 2, ammonia, phenol, cyanide. Only part of the tar and nicotine settles in the lungs of an active smoker.
Additional studies conducted by tobacco companies have shown that the concentration of some compounds in second-hand smoke even increases. Added to this is primary smoke, with which the human body receives tens of times more harmful substances than what passes through the filters.
Thus, The harm of passive smoking is even higher than that of active smoking. Everyone should know about this. Despite the fact that an active and a passive smoker breathe the same air, the former does not receive back the smoke that exits his lungs; the second “enjoys” the full range of combustion products of tobacco.
Second-hand smoke and its effects on health became a concern in the early 1970s. Tobacco companies went out of their way to spread doubt about the dangers of smoke to others; however, today there is no point in arguing with this. Many studies have shown that passive smoking is fraught with the acquisition of:
The harmful effects on the body accumulate - the more time a person spends in smoky rooms, the more likely the manifestation of certain diseases. If your health is already weakened, for example, by diseases of the heart and blood vessels, the constant presence of smoking people nearby becomes a death sentence. According to statistics, in the USA:
Changes in the appearance of passive smokers are also noted. The smoke is absorbed into the skin, aging it, leading to the formation of wrinkles and discoloration. Nails and hair deteriorate. Smoke saturates clothes.
Due to the lack of adaptation of the body of a passive smoker to smoke, one of the most common effects is headache. Inhaled poisons lead to narrowing blood vessels, which becomes the cause of such a syndrome. Constantly being in a smoky environment leads to worsening mood, insomnia, and overwork.
A woman's body is less resistant to the harmful compounds contained in tobacco smoke. The reproductive system is particularly affected - the eggs, which, unlike male reproductive cells, do not renew themselves and accumulate some of the carcinogens. This can lead to infertility or impossibility of pregnancy healthy child. A passive smoker runs the risk of giving birth to a baby with developmental delays and a number of genetic abnormalities, even if she stays away from cigarettes during pregnancy.
The danger of passive smoking is even greater when a child suffers from it - the child’s body is not able to resist harmful effects as active as an adult. Inhalation of tobacco smoke by a child leads to:
Problems may appear immediately childhood, or they can accumulate and result in serious troubles in the future. The effect is noticeable even if parents or caregivers do not smoke directly in the presence of the child. The atmosphere in the house will inevitably become saturated with combustion products, which will lead at least to hypersensitivity baby to colds. It is believed that children of smoking parents get sick on average twice as often as non-smokers.
It is worth noting psychological impact. A child who constantly observes mom and dad's addiction to cigarettes is much more likely to want to adopt this behavior in the future.
Many smoking women They believe that all they have to do is stop smoking cigarettes while pregnant, and everything will be fine. However, passive inhalation of smoke causes no less harm to the body of the expectant mother and the fetus. Therefore, not only the expectant mother, but also the rest of the household should give up cigarettes. It is better to do this a year before pregnancy.
A passive smoker has an increased risk of the following complications:
Chemical compounds can penetrate the fetus’s body and have a teratogenic effect. The likelihood that a child will be born with developmental abnormalities and mutations increases. In addition, it is possible sudden death newborn. In general, the more time a pregnant woman spends around smokers, the less healthy baby will be born.
Nicotine entering the blood of a pregnant child leads to the fact that a baby is born with an existing addiction. It has been noticed that children of smoking parents cry more in maternity hospitals than non-smoking ones.
Thus, bad habit harms not only the smoker himself, but also the people around him. A single inhalation of someone else's smoke will not lead to the development of diseases. Regular passive smoking becomes no less harmful than active smoking.
Unfortunately, many smokers, like non-smokers, underestimate the dangers of passive smoking. According to various sources, the proportion of people directly and indirectly affected by smoking reaches 30%. Smokers claim “their right” to smoke, while any addiction excludes the right to choose. Unfortunately, those closest to us suffer most from passive smoking, and especially children, who not only breathe toxic smoke, but observe and “absorb” bad habits like sponges.
Good afternoon! Everyone knows that smoking is harmful. But when they talk about passive smoking, many grin: what nonsense! So, passive smoker - what does it mean? Let's look at passive smoking and its impact on health.
Not all of us are addicted to smoking, and many simply cannot stand tobacco smoke. But in a number of cases they are forced either to be in the same room with a smoking person, or to breathe tobacco smoke in different public institutions. After the adoption of laws prohibiting smoking in places where there are a large number of people, the risk of passive smoking has decreased somewhat, however, there are still many smokers who neglect not only their health, but also the well-being of their loved ones. This primarily applies to smoking at home and in the workplace. Since in these situations the absorption of harmful substances becomes a constant phenomenon, the risk of developing unpleasant consequences for passive smokers increases tenfold. Let's understand the problem.
Passive smoking refers to the inhalation of tobacco smoke, regardless of what type of product emits it. These can be cigarettes, cigarettes, cigars, pipes and hookahs; the only question is the quantity and intensity of harmful substances entering the atmosphere. Greatest harm cigars, pipe tobacco and cigarettes are applied, since in this case a lot of toxic substances and various resins.
The issue of harm is also related to the intensity of smoke inhalation. If a person passed a smoker on the street and coughed from an unpleasant, irritating cough, the harm can be considered caused, but minimally possible. If a person breathes thick, foul fumes day after day, it is not surprising that the harm will be maximum, since toxic and carcinogenic substances tend to accumulate in the body and gradually carry out their destructive effects.
Scientists have calculated that only 20% of all excreted tobacco products smoke enters directly into the lungs of the smoker himself. The remaining 80% is allocated to environment. It turns out that most of the harmful substances contained in tobacco smoke enter the lungs, and from there into the blood of people who are in no way involved in the act of smoking.
Naturally, being a smoker in the open air somewhat mitigates the harm of inhaling smoke by other people, since the concentration is minimal due to the dispersion of the flow of tobacco smoke. But if this happens indoors, Negative influence the impact on the health of all people is becoming colossal.
Smoke contains a huge variety of chemical substances and compounds, the vast majority of which are toxic and/or carcinogenic. When they enter the body, they begin their destructive effect. The more and more often a person is in a smoky room, the more harmful substances accumulate in his body. Eventually, the concentration of harmful substances becomes so high that it begins to have a destructive effect on human health. The trouble is that these substances not only “clog” the lungs, but are also absorbed into the blood and tissues, which means they poison the entire body as a whole.
The respiratory organs are primarily affected by smoking in any form. The thing is that the flow of smoke is divided into two “portions” and the one that is released into the air and enters the lungs of a passive smoker causes much more harm than that inhaled by an active tobacco user.
Tobacco smoke contains a lot of harmful toxic substances:
All these elements play an extremely negative role for lung health. Resins are deposited on their walls, “glue” the alveoli and clog blood vessels, causing the development of enphysema, frequent colds and pneumonia of various types, and causing benign and malignant tumors.
Very often, passive smoking leads to weakened lungs and a sharp decrease in immunity. A person becomes especially susceptible to various infectious and colds, which further weakens the lungs and leads to the development of many pathologies. In addition, volatile substances in smoke contribute to the development allergic reactions and bronchial asthma.
What diseases can develop in a passive smoker? The worst thing that passive inhalation of tobacco smoke can lead to is oncological diseases. The thing is that the carcinogens, tars and other toxic compounds contained in tobacco products cause mutations at the cellular level.
First of all, the respiratory organs suffer from this, so cancer of the throat, lips and lungs is much more common in heavy smokers than in other groups of the population.
Another target of tobacco is the cardiovascular system. The vessels not only become fragile, they become thinner and break at the most unexpected moment for a person. This is how heart attacks and strokes occur, in a significant number of cases causing disability or death of the patient.
Another serious harm that occurs both from smoking itself and from inhaling smoke. This has a negative impact on the human reproductive system. Active and passive smokers are much more likely to have various pathologies, preventing conception and bearing offspring. In men, these are mainly disturbances in the formation and motility of sperm and weakness of potency, in women - difficulties in conceiving and bearing a fetus, a tendency to bleeding and spontaneous abortion, dysfunction of the placenta, fetal hypoxia and congenital pathologies.
Smoking and inhaling smoke from tobacco products irritate the olfactory receptors. The more often they are exposed to aggressive influences, the greater the risk of weakening their sensitivity up to complete atrophy. In addition, acrid smoke causes severe dryness mucous membranes of the nose, which also negatively affects the sense of smell. Prolonged or regular stay in a smoky room can lead to the appearance of vasomotor rhinitis, accompanied by constant swelling of the mucous membranes of the nasopharynx. This condition also has an extremely negative effect on the state of the olfactory system.
Passive smoking is especially dangerous for people whose work is directly related to a high-quality sense of smell. For them, passive smoking is one of their main enemies.
Second-hand smoke poses the greatest risk to young children. The main problem is that nicotine and other harmful substances have a destructive effect on the growing body, accumulating in it and poisoning it. The baby is very weak immunity, especially if it is on artificial feeding, did not receive colostrum immediately after birth or suffered from serious illnesses in infancy, was exposed to surgical intervention. Any chemical poisoning, and this is exactly what happens to a child when inhaling smoke from burning tobacco products, which can lead to serious disruptions to the functioning of internal organs.
First of all, this affects the state of the cardiovascular, respiratory and nervous systems. The vessels react with increased fragility, a sharp narrowing, which leads to spasms and the risk of ruptures with bleeding, and this in the future can cause strokes or heart attacks. Under the influence of passive smoking, a child becomes nervous, irritable, sleeps poorly, and has poor appetite, he is gaining weight slowly. Accumulation of toxic compounds and tars in the lungs and respiratory tract leads to more frequent and severe colds, which further weaken the child’s body.
Mothers who smoke, who breastfeed, or who refuse to breastfeed because of their reluctance to quit smoking, inflict especially serious harm on their children. Nicotine and other toxic components easily penetrate the placental barrier and into breast milk, therefore have a detrimental effect on the development of the fetus and the health of the baby. In pregnant women who smoke, the rate of miscarriages and fetal pathologies is much higher than in those women who do not have bad habits.
If the mother also smokes in the house where the child is, then this significantly aggravates the already difficult situation. The baby may be behind mentally and physical development, get sick often, lose weight and height.
Since there is no combustion or oxidation of substances in electronic cigarettes, this means that there is no release of carcinogens, tars, formaldehyde and other dangerous compounds into the air. However, if there is nicotine in the vaping liquid, a tiny fraction of it will still be released into the air. However, compared to smoking regular cigarettes the amount of harmful elements is significant, tens and even hundreds of times lower than in the case of “classic” tobacco products.
Since detailed studies on this topic have been insufficient, it is impossible to say unequivocally that e-cigarettes are completely harmless for passive smokers. But comparison with conventional tobacco products is clearly in favor of electronic cigarettes.
Smoking, in whatever form it may be, active or passive, is absolutely harmful to human health. If smoking is the free choice of every person, then his responsibility to society and loved ones is to minimize damage to the health of others. It is necessary to ensure that no non-smoker becomes a passive smoker against his will, and even better, to protect his own health by giving up the use of tobacco. Now do you understand what it means - a passive smoker? Help your loved ones quit smoking! I think you will find the information you need. Don't forget about the dangers of passive smoking! And at the end, as usual, a video
