Smoking cigarettes is a dangerous habit to form. It causes and aggravates all kinds of health problems in individuals, as well as the people who share their space, and inhale their exhaled smoke. These conditions caused include heart attacks, high blood pressure, asthma, lung issues, cancer and stroke. All of these can develop in most anyone, but when exposed to smoke the risk is increased dramatically.
Strokes are a direct result of smoking. Not everyone that smokes will have a stroke, but among those smokers who have been stricken, smoking more than likely was the cause. When someone has a stroke, a problem with the blood vessels in the brain results in lowered blood flow and precipitates a failure in brain function. To all outward appearances, strokes affect a person's ability to think clearly and move in a normal manner. When mild, the effects of a stroke can resolve themselves over a short period of time, or the afflicted can respond to therapy. However, a more severe stroke can leave a person in a vegetative state or even kill. To the extent that smoking causes increases in blood pressure and lowers oxygen levels in the blood, it is a direct cause of strokes.
Cigarette smoke contains nicotine and carbon monoxide. These ingredients lower oxygen levels in blood cells. With lowered oxygen levels, and damaged vessel walls due to smoke, clots may form in the blood, and blood pressure increases. As a result of this a stroke can occur, which can be more severe if a clot forms in the brain, or if the blood pressure in the brain ruptures a blood vessel.
Smoking causes a lot of health issues in individuals that smoke as well as those around them. Heart attacks, asthma, cancer and strokes all can be caused by smoking, but they don't have to be. It is totally preventable if a person can just bring themselves to stop smoking, or avoid being around smokers. This doesn't mean that these illness won't occur, just that the risk of them occurring is greatly reduced. There is help out there for those that want to stop smoking. Patches, gum, therapy and other aids are available to reduce a smoker's intake. The biggest step has to be made by the smoker though.
