Smoking and Asthma, The Connection That You Should Know ?

Inhaling cigarette smoke, both actively and passively, can make you susceptible to asthma attacks, and ingesting a variety of substances ranging from food colorings and preservatives to drugs can prompt an allergic reaction, taking the form of a rash or wheeziness to anaphylactic shock in the most severe cases. Almost everyone today knows that smoking is bad for you. And yet between 15 and 20 percent of people with asthma still indulge in the habit, even though it makes them wheezier. Pregnant women who smoke increase the risk of the baby being asthmatic and having other respiratory illness. Tobacco smoke contains 4,000 chemicals, present either as gases or tiny particles.


Nicotine stimulates the central nervous system, increases heart rate, raises blood pressure and is highly addictive. Tar, the brown treacly substance that gathers at the filter tip of a cigarette, sticks to the lungs and is gradually absorbed. It contains a cocktail of noxious substances, including formaldehyde, arsenic, cyanide, benzene, toluene and carbon monoxide, al of which interfere with read blood cells, making them carry less oxygen around the body.

You do not have to smoke yourself to inhale the fumes. Every time you walk into a bar you will get a blast of tobacco and if your asthma is severe you should avoid such places. Other people's smoking habits can make your life a misery and if you live or work with a smoker there is little or no escape from smoke related risks.

There are many studies linking asthma and cigarette smoke. In one survey 8 out of 10 people said a smoky atmosphere made their asthma worse. Research shows that 28 percent of pregnant women who work are exposed to smoke at work. Passive smoking doubles the chance of a child developing asthma.

Children of smokers are more likely to have wheezy episodes and time off school than those with non smoking parents. It is generally worse when the mother smokes because many children spend more time with their mother than their father.

Chronic coughs and phlegm are more common among children of parents who smoke. Children of parents who smoke inhale nicotine in amounts roughly equivalent to smoking 60 to 150 cigarettes each year.