Smokers’ wrinkles or discoloration of the skin seem to be trivial consequences of practicing addiction, if we take into account the effects of passive smoking, which most often occur in our loved ones – and there are a lot of them! First of all, passive smokers are exposed to two types of smoke – both the smoke exhaled by the smoker himself and the smoke coming from a burning cigarette (it is this smoke that is the most toxic because it contains the most tar substances).
Passive smoking significantly increases the risk of cancer – including lung cancer and other cancers of the respiratory system (this also applies to people who have never smoked a single cigarette in their life). Passive smoking is also an increased risk of developing obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiovascular disease, increasing the frequency of asthma attacks in patients with this disease and strengthening the symptoms of allergy in allergy sufferers – including seasonal ones.
A dangerous consequence of smoking in the presence of a small child is also SIDS, i.e. cot death, most often recorded in children between the second and third months of a toddler’s life. Thus, the benefits of quitting smoking will extend not only to the smoker himself, but also to his family and loved ones.