Health and Lifestyle

5 Smoking Myths That Can Keep You Addicted

Dr. Veena Madhankumar

May 31, 2019 — 3 min read

There are several myths surrounding the concept of smoking. The fact remains that smoking is in no way healthy. Quitting smoking can only have positive beliefs to your body and help you lead a healthy lifestyle.

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1. ‘Smoking keeps me skinny – I will gain weight as soon as I quit’

If you are a smoker, there are high chances that nicotine had affected your sense of taste and in certain cases, people might also tend to gain weight while quitting smoking. But this does not mean that smoking helps you maintain a healthy weight.

The fact is that nicotine can suppress your appetite hence, while you quit smoking you regain your appetite. This does not mean that your weighing scale should tip. Nicotine has no actual health benefits, all it does is cuts down the level of oxygen available for your body to consume as a result forcing your heart to work in a harder phase.

2. ‘Smoking is only a danger to my lungs’

Smokers are more prone to suffering from lung related diseases. This does not mean that nicotine does not affect any other organ in your body. Smoking causes a lot of damage to your blood vessels, leaving way for cardiovascular diseases and hypertension. Type 2 diabetes is also a prominent risk factor for smokers.

3. ‘My smoking harms no one else’

Studies have consistently shown that passive smoking or second-hand smoking(non-smokers inhaling smoke released by smokers around them) can have adverse effects on one’s health. Non-smokers who get constant exposure to second-hand smoking in their office or home environment have 30% more chances of suffering from cardiovascular diseases or even lung cancer while considering people who are not exposed to such smoke.

4. ‘The filter gets rid of all the toxins’

Your cigarette might have a filter. But stained cigarette bids do not mean that they have removed all the impurities from your cigarette smoke. Almost all of the harmful toxins can still get into your system via smoke that passes into your body. The stain that you see in the buds are not even the tip of the iceberg.

5. ‘I can quit smoking any time I like’

Quitting tobacco is not an easy task by any means. Nicotine, which is a primary ingredient in cigarettes is very addictive. Upon frequent use, it can alter several areas of your brain and create a constant craving for the drug. Quitting tobacco overnight is not at all possible. You will have to go through several steps to cut down on smoking before quitting altogether.

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