Damage Control

- Luke Coutinho

Smoking is something that a lot of people do worldwide. While all are well aware of the ill-effects of smoking, many seem to struggle throughout life to get rid of this habit.

Firstly, it’s very important to understand what a cigarette contains and how our body takes it. When one understands the mechanism, they become more aware of what it’s doing to their health and how they can manage the collateral damage. Cigarettes contain nicotine and it’s the most dangerous part of the cigarette. It is what reaches the lungs and causes addiction. Cigarettes also contain tar which is very toxic and has the function of carrying nicotine to your lungs. Another toxic substance it contains is cadmium, which is a heavy metal. So the more we can help the human body remove heavy metal toxicity like cadmium from the body, the easier it gets to manage the collateral side effects.

When one smokes, there is a lot of carbon monoxide that is inhaled. Carbon monoxide is an odourless and colourless gas that has 20 times stronger affinity towards haemoglobin than oxygen, hence it latches onto it much faster and gets carried to all the cells in your body. Now even a tiny amount of carbon monoxide makes blood very toxic and can cause shortness of breath and higher heart rates.

Amidst all of this toxicity, there is a lot happening in the background triggered by smoking, like: