www.womanthismonth.com December 2016 54 LIFESTYLE | wellbeing The sultry actress on screen leans forward while a handsome man lights the cigarette she holds in her mouth. Their eyes meet as they exchange smouldering looks; all is well and glamorous in fantasy land. Cut to the real world, and the story takes a different turn. Every puff that the stunning lady inhales contains more than 4,000 chemicals (think carbon monoxide, nitrosamines, vinyl chloride, hydrogen cyanide and many other names you wouldn’t normally want anywhere near you), besides the deadly drug nicotine. Each subsequent cigarette will inhibit her lung function, damage her blood vessels and is likely to cause her an array of health problems sooner or later. The act of smoking has become socially accepted the world over and the compulsion of its addiction glazes thickly over the knowledge of the extent of havoc it can wreak in one’s body. General practitioner Dr Babu Ramachandran heads American Mission Hospital’s anti-smoking clinics in the hope of raising awareness of the ills of the habit and helping people overcome it. Dr Babu has undergone specialised training in respiratory medicine and was the senior research fellow at a centre in India conducting a study on smoking cessation. He says: “During my interaction with nearly 3,000 smokers, I observed that a good majority wished they had not started smoking and many found it difficult to quit the habit. This set me on track to start the anti-smoking clinic in Bahrain with the support of the American Mission Hospital.” In addition to the common pitfalls of smoking such as respiratory disorders and cancer, which even teenagers are aware of, he lists a range of other possible consequences. “Besides throat cancer, lung cancer and mouth cancer, smoking leads to depression and causes miscarriages in pregnant women,” he says. He adds that the use of tobacco is responsible for around 45 per cent of all heart-related deaths globally. Not an insignificant number. “These are just a few of the many dangers of smoking. Moreover, the harmful impact of passive smoking on non-smokers is also gaining greater importance today.” Second-hand smoke can increase the risk of cancer in non-smokers by a quarter, and has resulted in deaths due to lung cancer, heart and lung disease and stroke in the UK, according to www.cancerresearch.org. Studies show second-hand smoke particularly affects children exposed to it, leading to a higher risk of respiratory infections, asthma, bacterial meningitis and cot death. So when you light up, you are also threatening the wellbeing of those around you. While most of this is common knowledge, why do people find it difficult to quit smoking? The culprit is the nicotine. Once inhaled, it reaches the brain in a matter of seconds, and chemically alters the cerebral matter to make the smoker feel alert, energetic and relaxed. This elevation in mood and heart rate lasts for around 30 minutes and, as the effect of the nicotine wanes, the brain signals the smoker to light up again. Once the body adjusts to a steady dose of nicotine, the feel-good factor wears off faster over time, causing the smoker to increase the number of cigarettes in a day to achieve the same level of satisfaction. The reasons people start puffing on tobacco may be different, but the consequences of the habit are all the same. Behnaz Sanjana attempts to clear the smoke. STUB IT Out!
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