Smoking & Its Impact on Children’s Health: Parents Must Know! — Smoking is a harmful habit. Not only for smokers, smoking is also dangerous for other people, especially children. Therefore, this article will provide an explanation for you, especially smokers, to find out about smoking & its impact on children’s health. With these explanations, you will try to reduce this habit.
What are the Dangers of Cigarette Smoke to Other People?
Cigarette smoke can harm everyone, from small children to adults. However, cigarette smoke will be more harmful to children because children still do not have a perfect immune system to protect themselves from exposure to cigarette smoke.
People who inhale cigarette smoke are known as passive smokers. It contains 7,000 harmful chemicals. Of the 7,000 toxic compounds, 70 of them are types of compounds that can cause cancer.
Based on a report from the Surgeon General published in 1964, as many as 2.5 million adults (passive smokers) died from inhaling cigarette smoke from active smokers. That’s what makes smoking impact ratio on health very high because it can cause death.
These are the Effect of Cigarette Smoke on the Alveoli in the Lungs
Cigarette smoke has a bad effect on the lungs. Alveoli are the parts of the lungs that are negatively affected by cigarette smoke. How does smoking impact the alveoli?
So, cigarette smoke inhaled by active smokers will damage the protective area of the alveoli. It will cause the air sacs in the lungs to become perforated. If that happens, the lungs will be disturbed and it will be fatal to breathing. If you have trouble breathing, you won’t get good oxygen intake.
Because you don’t get oxygen intake normally, passive smokers will lack oxygen. That is what causes death in passive smokers. In addition, a hollow air bag will trap carbon dioxide produced from the breathing process in the lungs. In fact, carbon dioxide is a compound harmful to the body.
Carbon dioxide in the body will cause emphysema. What’s that? Emphysema is a chronic disease caused by damage to the alveoli. The disease makes it difficult for sufferers to breathe. Unfortunately, this disease cannot be cured.
What are the Impacts of Cigarette Smoke on Children’s Health?
Not only in adults, cigarette smoke can also cause various negative effects on children. Based on the explanations of Very Well Mind, there are several effects of exposure to cigarette smoke on children’s health.
- Cigarette smoke can cause bronchitis and pneumonia in children under 18 months of age.
- Babies who are exposed to smoke will experience sudden death syndrome or SIDS. So, the babies from mothers who have smoking habits will have a potential for SIDS of 3-4 times greater than mothers who do not smoke.
- Children who often have direct contact with active smokers tend to experience middle ear infections. This is because cigarette smoke can irritate the eustachian tube. It will swell and become infected. Finally, children will experience hearing loss such as partial deafness.
- Children who often inhale cigarette smoke are also susceptible to several malignant diseases such as leukemia, brain tumors, and lymphoma.
- There are 200,000-1,000,000 children who develop asthma. This condition will continue to get worse until children can experience chronic asthma and it is difficult to cure.
- Cigarette smoke can also affect the growth and development of children, especially related to height and weight in children.
Cigarette smoke is also harmful to the fetus. If the cigarette smoke is inhaled by pregnant women, the fetus will experience an increase in abnormal heart rate. It can also cause the fetus to be born prematurely with low birth weight or have defects. In severe conditions, pregnant women can experience a miscarriage.
How to Neutralize Inhaled Cigarette Smoke
If you or your children inhale cigarette smoke from active smokers, you can reduce smoking’s impact on health by coughing intentionally. This was done to expel smoke through the slime. In addition, you also have to exercise regularly so the compounds in cigarette smoke can come out naturally through breathing rhythm during exercise. You can also drink green tea because the antioxidant compounds in green tea can neutralize the cigarette smoke.
If you experience breathing problems after inhaling cigarette smoke, consult a pulmonologist to get treatment quickly. BIMC Hospital Kuta is ready to help you get the right treatment for that condition. So, never underestimate the inhaled cigarette smoke.
Referensi:
https://www.alodokter.com/sebab-wajib-menjauhkan-buah-hati-dari-asap-rokok
https://www.klikdokter.com/info-sehat/pernapasan/pengaruh-asap-rokok-pada-alveoli-paru
