Direct Smoking & Indirect Smoking

Smoking, whether it is done directly or by inhaling secondary smoke, can cause severe health issues.

Smoking, either directly or indirectly---through inhalation of secondary smoke---puts you at risk for a host of health problems. Research indicates that smoking cigarettes, apart from being addictive, leaves one vulnerable to lung cancer and other chronic lung diseases, heart attack, stroke and cerebrovascular disorders.

A Plethora of Chemicals

Cigarettes contain nicotine, a highly addictive poison that stimulates the brain cells. Once it has been absorbed into the bloodstream, it causes a range of health hazards, from diminishing lung function to cancer. Nicotine, however, isn't the only danger. Cigarette smoke is a complex cocktail of more than 1,000 chemicals, including carbon monoxide and radioactive compounds.

Direct and Indirect

Indirect smoking is also called passive smoking, the inhalation of smoke produced by a person directly---or intentionally---smoking a cigarette. Passive smokers are often more at risk to cancer than direct smokers. The smoke most direct smokers inhale passes through a filter. Passive smokers, however, breathe the unfiltered smoke from the end of the cigarette as well as the smoke exhaled by the direct smoker. The unfiltered, "side-stream" smoke has a high concentration of cancer-producing nitrosamines. Nonsmokers may have a significant amount of smoke in their body fluids.

Ways To Avoid Passive Smoking

Passive smoking may be inevitable, but it is possible to limit it. Gently remind visitors that your home is smoke-free and ask them to confine their smoking to outdoors. If you live with a smoker, use exhaust fans and ensure proper ventilation.

When visiting a restaurant, ask to be seated in a nonsmoking section---as far away from the smoking section as possible.

References

• NCBI: Nicotine Exposure
• Not To Smoke: Quit Smoking Aids
• Not To Smoke: Passive Smoking
• Health-Cares: Passive Smoking Protection
• Health-Cares: Smoke Constituents