How does secondhand smoke affect non-smokers?
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Dr. Michael Roizen answered:If you live with a smoker, you have to encourage that smoker to quit. Aside from helping that person avoid serious health problems, it's self-defense. Secondhand smoke is one of the few actions that another person can do that can actually contribute to your aging process.
Spending an hour in someone else's smoke is equivalent to you smoking four cigarettes yourself. In other words, for every cigarette that a nearby smoker smokes, you're inhaling about a third of it yourself.
The consequences: Spending four hours a day in a smoky environment can make your RealAge up to 6.9 years older.
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If you live with a smoker, you have to encourage that smoker to quit. Aside from helping that person avoid serious health problems, it's self-defense. Secondhand smoke is one of the few actions that another person can do that can actually contribute... More -
Piedmont Heart Institute answered:Secondhand smoke causes disease and premature death in nonsmoking adults and children. Exposure to secondhand smoke irritates the airways and has immediate harmful effects on a person's heart and blood vessels. It may increase the risk of heart disease by an estimated 25 to 30 percent. In the United States, secondhand smoke is thought to cause about 46,000 heart disease deaths each year. There may also be a link between exposure to secondhand smoke and the risk of stroke and hardening of the arteries; however, additional research is needed to confirm this link.
Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), ear infections, colds, pneumonia, bronchitis, and more severe asthma. Being exposed to secondhand smoke slows the growth of children's lungs and can cause them to cough, wheeze, and feel breathless.
This answer is based on source information from the National Cancer Institute
Secondhand smoke causes disease and premature death in nonsmoking adults and children. Exposure to secondhand smoke irritates the airways and has immediate harmful effects on a person's heart and blood vessels. It may increase the risk of heart... More -
Boston Women's Health Book Collective answered:Exposure to secondhand smoke is a health hazard. Although there is a growing movement to pass laws that eliminate smoking in all public places, many of us are still exposed to secondhand smoke in our homes, our worksites, and public places such as restaurants. Women who work in service and blue-collar jobs are more likely to be around people who smoke on the job.
Regular exposure to secondhand smoke causes lung and heart disease, including lung cancer, in adults who do not smoke; and pneumonia, bronchitis, asthma, and chronic ear infections in children. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 36,000 adults die each year as a result of exposure to secondhand smoke. Many childhood deaths are also likely caused by this exposure.
Exposure to secondhand smoke is a health hazard. Although there is a growing movement to pass laws that eliminate smoking in all public places, many of us are still exposed to secondhand smoke in our homes, our worksites, and public places such as... More -
American Cancer Society answered:Smoking not only harms your health but it hurts the health of those around you. Exposure to secondhand smoke (also called environmental tobacco smoke or passive smoking) includes exhaled smoke as well as smoke from burning cigarettes.
Studies have shown that secondhand smoke causes thousands of deaths each year from lung cancer and heart disease in healthy non-smokers.
If a mother smokes, there is a higher risk of her baby developing asthma in childhood, especially if she smoked while she was pregnant. Smoking is also linked to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and low-birth weight infants. Babies and children raised in a household where there is smoking have more ear infections, colds, bronchitis, and other lung and breathing problems than children in non-smoking families. Secondhand smoke can also cause eye irritation, headaches, nausea, and dizziness.
Smoking not only harms your health but it hurts the health of those around you. Exposure to secondhand smoke (also called environmental tobacco smoke or passive smoking) includes exhaled smoke as well as smoke from burning cigarettes. Studies... More
