Why Smoking Harms Women More Than Men

Most people acknowledge what are the effects of smoking but not all people understand that smoking harms women more than men. It’s an accepted fact that tobacco has never done anything good to the body, but it seems unfair that women receive more damage for having a daily puff of Dunhill than men.

Here are some of the results of a research made by Lancet about the effects of smoking among women:

- Women are more prone than men to have heart disease caused by smoking

- Women receive more carcinogens and toxins from tobacco than men

- Yet, men are more likely to quit than women

The effects of smoking is more prominent in women than in men

The research started from 1966 to 2010 and studied individuals that came from diverse range of populations worldwide. The study received no funding, and the results were consistent. Smoking is more harmful for women because they are more heavily influenced by hormones compared to men. In men, the genes play much more significant role in their bodies.

Please go through this short article properly, the problem and the answers have number of variants. Women are mostly estrogen-powered; it keeps sexual characteristics and makes them feminine in many ways. It’s the estrogen that’s responsible for distribution of fats in favorable places like the breasts, hips and buttocks. It’s also responsible for menstrual cycles and maintenance of the reproductive tract. Estrogen makes the heart and blood vessels healthy. It stimulates bone formation and prevents its resorption to avoid osteoporosis. But nevertheless, high levels of estrogen are responsible for excellent mood (cranky mood is usually caused by insufficient levels of estrogen, which happens in cases like menopause and during menses).

One of the reasons why smoking harms more women than men is because nicotine (along with harmful chemicals found in cigarette smoke) reduces the ability of the body to produce estrogen. Reduced estrogen in the bloodstream is akin to a ‘mini’ menopause. The ‘favored’ fat distribution will be in disarray, piling up fat in places where no woman wants to have such as under the chin, arms and above the hips (lovehandles). Tobacco abuse can disrupt daily menstrual cycles, cause infertility, vaginal dryness and increased susceptibility to vaginal infections as the protective secretions dries up. Long-term tobacco use weakens the bones by inhibiting calcium absorption, causing early onset of osteoporosis.

As said, estrogen plays an important role to keep heart and blood vessels healthy. Estrogen helps increase good cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein) while keeping bad cholesterol levels down. And it can be a reason why women are more prone to heart disease the longer they smoke, because nicotine reduces production of heart-friendly estrogen. Therefore smoking increases risk of diseases in heart and blood vessels, especially in women.

Women’s bodies also have more fluid content than men. This is evident by having soft, suppler and clearer skin. It also makes them more sensitive to even slight changes in water levels. Cigarette smoke has a drying effect on the skin, and it constricts tiny blood vessels that nourish the skin with nutrients and water. It prematurely ages the skin, making it less elastic and decreasing its natural protection from the elements. Because of decreased blood circulation cell replacement slows down, causing emergence of dark spots. Nicotine also stains skin cells, which is hard to remove because of slow skin turnover. Women have proportionally more circulating blood than men of the same height and weight therefore this feature explains why women absorb more toxins and carcinogens in each puff of cigarette smoke.

But the big reason why the effects of smoking are more harmful in women than in men is due to their anatomy. It’s a fact that women have more complicated bodies; they’ve mammary glands, uterus and cervix which have no equivalent parts in men. They undergo pregnancy, monthly menstrual periods during reproductive years and menopause when supply of egg cell runs out. These complicated operations require precise actions of different body systems to accomplish. Men don’t to undergo such events. Therefore, components in cigarette smoke like toxins and carcinogens can do a lot more damage in women’s bodies.

Sadly, most cigarette cessation programs aren’t that focused on women. For example, most graphic cigarette warnings only depict damage in men and not on women. And one more thing, tobacco companies are currently increasing its advertisements to women, and sees them as its growth market in advent of increased scrutiny from authorities.

The vast majority of women are never aware of this. Though the research study advocates for increased emphasis in women in tobacco cessation programs, it seems the best recommendation for women is to avoid tobacco altogether. That includes first-hand and second-hand smoke because the effects of smoking in women can be far worse than in men.

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