When you see a woman smoking, what comes into your mind? You feel she is putting her life in more danger as compared to men smoking. In fact, studies confirm that smoking women succumb more often to lung cancer, cervical cancer, infertility, early menopause and throat cancer as compared to men. What about smoking pregnant mothers?

Lung cancer and heart diseases are the highest reported cases lifestyle diseases killing more youths and elderly daily. According to the National Research Centre for Women and Families, smoking has devastating effects to women than in men. Smoking causes infertility, anxiety, blindness, and osteoporosis to women, as well as heart diseases and cancer to all smokers.

However, pregnant mothers not only pose a threat to their lives, but also to the life of the unborn. According to studies, the smoke has the capability to penetrate through the placenta to the child while in the womb, hence causing premature birth or low birth weight.

New survey finding show that smoking among teenagers has dropped, although girls’ rates have reported to increase over the past few decades. What seems as a norm for boys or men has now turned to be a common behaviour to all. However, smoking has more effects to girls than boys.

Although counties have formulated and implemented strong policies to reduce advertisements for tobacco or cigarettes, some imposing ban on tobacco farming/smoking in public places and others implementing no smoking zones, the effects are far much seen.

According to researchers, the secondary smokers are worse than primary smokers. Passive smoking; persons who inhale smoke from smoker; inhale smoke that may contain tuberculosis bacteria if the smoker had tuberculosis. This is a situation common to women who handle young children. For example, in America, the percentage of women smoking is a notch higher than that of men at 28 to 26 percent.

For women who smoke, cancer of all sorts from breast, lung, cervix and skin can result. Besides, infertility, stroke, emphysema, blindness early menopause and osteoporosis are likely to occur due to complications cased by the nicotine, tar and smoke to the body systems.

Common to men, women smoking tend to have wrinkled skins, stress related complications, and anxiety. For pregnant women smokers, carbon monoxide and nicotine from the cigar passes through the amniotic fluid to the foetus. This reduces the amount of oxygen available for foetus growth while the nicotine reduces the blood flow to the foetus. This can cause fallopian tube implants, still birth and low birth weight.

According to Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (2007), one in six women in United States smoked. However, more teenagers are taking up the smoking habit despite mass campaigns by the government and public health organizations to educate the public on the dangers of smoking.

You have ears, eyes and the brain to hear the word from experienced smokers who have tried but unable to quit smoking, eyes to see what they undergo, and the brain to escape smoking and quit if you have started.

Related:

  Filed under:   Stop Smoking Articles