Smoke

Do you know that more men smoke and that 75 percent of them are habitual smokers? In some areas and countries only 40 percent are non-smokers. The number of women who smoke cigarettes is also growing steadily. Maybe you smoke a lot yourself or are you already a successful non-smoker?

History & statistics about smoking

When Columbus was the first European to see Indians smoking cigars in 1492, he certainly had no inkling of the importance this custom would acquire for the world economy, private life and health.

Alexander von Humboldt once said: “Two plants of great importance have come to us from America, one as a blessing - the potato, the other as a spoilage - the tobacco!” In 1930 the annual world production was already around 2,800 million tons of raw tobacco, that's about 50,000 tons of pure nicotine. However, these numbers have already increased many times over.

After the end of the Second World War, cigarettes and tobacco products were even an important means of payment, which almost represented a currency substitute. In April 2008, 3.3 billion cigarettes were taxed in Germany alone. Annual consumption rose to 46 billion cigarettes. This means that on average every German has smoked 1,000 cigarettes. The increase in nicotine consumption is a serious problem.

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Dangers & Diseases

The prevention of smoking diseases and the fight against cigarette abuse are becoming more and more important from a medical and public health perspective, or have been for years. The risk of habitual abuse is particularly high when consuming nicotine, which is only achieved with regular smoking. Regular smoking, however, quickly leads to addiction.

The acute poisoning after the first cigarette with its unpleasant symptoms, such as nausea, dizziness and heart problems, is only overcome too quickly and smoking soon becomes a mental, emotional and physical stimulant or drug.

Almost all senses (taste, smell, sense of touch) are initially stimulated. The tired are refreshed, the nervous are relaxed, the anxious are brave - at least that's what smokers believe - and the way out of many difficulties is to reach into your pocket for a cigarette.

The harmfulness of smoking can hardly be proven in animal experiments, since the smoking process can hardly be imitated by the animal. Therefore, one can only ever try out one of the factors harmful to the smoker, such as the tar products or the volatile alkaloid nicotine or carbon oxide, in animal experiments.

But the great experiment on humans should be enough to draw the necessary conclusions. For several decades, bronchial cancer has increased enormously, in line with the increase in cigarette consumption. The tar products that are released when burned cause inflammation, prevent healing, and thus the ground is prepared for a tumor.

We repeatedly find the damage described in our patients in the clinic and at the doctor's. For several years we have been observing sick smokers particularly closely for such phenomena. In around 45 percent of all smokers, the condition is triggered, aggravated or hindered in healing by smoking.

Symptoms of illness such as circulatory disorders in the hands and feet and in the heart (angina pectoris, heart attack), smokers 'infections, bronchitis, bronchial cancer, gastric and duodenal infections and ulcers, some chronic constipation are typical smokers' complaints.

In-depth studies have also shown the harmful effects on the genital organs. We often see that patients get stomach ulcers again and again due to their chronic inflammation of the gastric mucosa, until one day they end up with the surgeon who has to operate on half of the stomach. The harmful smoking continues to have an effect, the gastritis gets worse again, and new disorders arise, which then soon affect the neighboring organs.

The nicotine is primarily a neurotoxin. While the tar products trigger inflammation, make them chronic and thus prepare the ground for a tumor, the special effect of nicotine on the heart and blood vessels must be emphasized again and again.

It is a well-known fact that nicotine and smoking are the most dangerous toxins for the circulatory system among the usual stimulants. The effects of circulatory disorders in the legs are such that cramps gradually occur after shorter and shorter distances, the patients have to stop temporarily and only then can continue. The vernacular speaks of the smoker's leg.

These facts persist even if there are people who allegedly smoke daily without harm into old age. The sensitivity of each individual to poisons is extremely different. However, it can happen to anyone as a prediction is never possible.