People's Daily Online reporter Yan Yan
May 31st is World No Tobacco Day.
In life, most smokers do not want to quit smoking, but "can afford it, but can't put it down".
"Smoking brings huge health and economic losses, and it has become one of the most serious public health problems." Professor Xu Xiaomao, chief physician of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine of Beijing Hospital, introduced in an interview with a reporter from People's Daily Online that tobacco smoke contains several Hundreds of harmful substances, including at least 69 carcinogens, can cause damage to almost every organ of the human body.
Smoking can lead to respiratory diseases, malignant tumors, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, etc., and the longer you smoke, the greater the harm.
Smoking is extremely harmful, but quitting smoking is not an easy task for the more addicted smokers.
Professor Xu Xiaomao said that in the face of quitting smoking, many people will go into misunderstandings and fail to quit smoking.
Myth 1: vaping is safe
In fact, electronic cigarettes not only produce a large number of known harmful substances, but also produce some unique new harmful substances, which are seriously harmful.
Smoking electronic cigarettes may cause severe pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, etc., and even lead to death.
Misunderstanding 2: The smoking age is too long, it is useless to quit
There is no age limit for quitting smoking, and you can benefit from quitting smoking at any age.
Smoking cessation is of great help in the treatment of diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, coronary heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Myth 3: Quit smoking to quit slowly
Once you decide to quit smoking, you should stop smoking immediately.
It cannot be done gradually by reducing the number of daily inhalations, which will increase the chance of failure to quit smoking.
Myth 4: Quitting smoking can lead to many diseases
After quitting smoking, some people will experience withdrawal symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, insomnia and other discomforts. The symptoms are especially obvious within 14 days after quitting smoking, and usually disappear after 1 month.
If this happens, you can go to the smoking cessation clinic and seek the help and guidance of a professional doctor.
Myth 5: Smoking can prevent pneumonia
This is completely wrong.
Smoking disrupts the defense mechanisms of the respiratory mucosa, which in turn increases the risk of viral infection.
Therefore, smoking is definitely not a defense against the virus.
Myth 6: Passive smoking is not harmful to health
Secondhand smoke contains a lot of harmful substances and carcinogens, and exposure of non-smokers to secondhand smoke also increases the risk of smoking-related diseases.
Evidence suggests that exposure to secondhand smoke can lead to asthma, lung cancer, coronary heart disease, etc. in children. Even short-term exposure to secondhand smoke will cause harm to human health. The existence of ventilation devices such as exhaust fans and air conditioners cannot completely avoid non-smoking. inhaling secondhand smoke.