Are There Any Potential Risks or Hazards Involved in Quitting Smoking?

Update Date: 2024-09-19 Source: Network

Many people have the habit of smoking on a regular basis, and long-term smoking is particularly harmful to the body. If discomfort in the lungs or respiratory diseases occur, one should consider quitting smoking immediately. Some people have a particularly long history of smoking, and suddenly quitting may lead to various discomforting symptoms in the body, which are often misconstrued as the harms of quitting smoking to the body. So, what are the harms of quitting smoking? Let's take a look below.

Hazards of Suddenly Quitting Smoking

1. Thirst: Often accompanied by dry mouth and throat discomfort.

2. Sleep Disruption: One of the more distressing withdrawal symptoms, which is very common.

3. Coughing: After years of smoking, the lungs produce a lot of mucus for self-defense. During smoking cessation, the mucus loosens and is expelled from the respiratory tract, and cilia begin to move again. Typically, those quitting smoking will experience coughing for a period (weeks).

4. Headaches: Headaches can last a day and may recur after a week. The cause is unclear.

5. Night Sweats: Can be alleviated by frequent bathing. Those who exercise regularly experience less severe night sweats.

6. Tremors: Slight trembling of hands and fingers, which can last for weeks.

7. Inability to Concentrate: After carbon monoxide withdrawal, there are often some annoying and subtle symptoms. Quitters' sense of space and distance are affected, leading to a floating sensation and difficulty concentrating.

8. Itchy Hands and Feet: Caused by improved circulation. It usually doesn't last long.

Benefits of Quitting Smoking

1. Reduces the Incidence of Habitual Miscarriage: Smoking is a big no-no during pregnancy, as nicotine in tobacco affects sperm morphology, motility, linear swimming ability, and sperm's ability to penetrate an egg, leading to defective fertilized eggs. During pregnancy, toxic substances in cigarettes can be absorbed into the mother's blood through smoke, reducing maternal blood oxygen levels and subsequently decreasing oxygen levels in the placenta. Due to oxygen deprivation, the fetus may experience growth retardation, leading to malformation and miscarriage.

2. Lowers the Risk of Fetal Malformations: Exposure to smoke and alcohol during pregnancy can cause genetic mutations, affecting the growth and development of the embryo's maxillofacial region, leading to cleft lip, cleft palate, and other malformations. Data shows that the number of congenital malformations among children of smoking mothers is 23 times that of non-smoking mothers. Smokers are 2.5 times more likely to have children with anencephaly, cleft palate, cleft lip, mental retardation, and physical development disorders.

3. Reduces Postnatal Illnesses in Babies: Smoking has a significant impact on fetuses. Studies have found that urine from children of smoking mothers contains typical carcinogens produced by tobacco. The fetus absorbs nicotine through the umbilical cord, converts it into a carcinogen in the liver, and then eliminates it through the kidneys, damaging the liver, kidneys, and lungs of the fetus.

4. Avoids Affecting Babies' Intellectual Development: According to recent scientific research, children who are exposed to passive smoking for a long time have an IQ drop of two points. Cotinine, a substance produced during nicotine breakdown, reduces children's reading, math, and reasoning abilities when their blood cotinine levels increase. Children living with smokers who smoke less than a pack a day also experience reduced reading ability due to increased cotinine levels in their bodies.