Smoking And Health Argumentative Essays Example

Playing sports is a hectic and strenuous activity requiring huge amounts of body energy. Bodies of young athletes and sportspersons need rich supply of oxygen for better performance. The lungs feed the bloodstream of the body with filtered oxygen for the functioning of all vital organs. The blood in turn takes oxygen to the muscles where it is continuously burnt down as a result of physical activity. To begin with, smoking brings to the blood stream impurities and toxic substances, which on reaching the bloodstream goes to all body parts and interfere with the effective functioning of the organs. As advised time and again by health experts, smoking has got its own list of adverse effects in the human body. Smoking affects all the vital organs of the body like lungs, heart, brain, stomach, muscles and bones, in addition to influencing the immune system of the body (“18 Ways smoking affects”). Apart from increasing the risk of respiratory diseases associated with the health of the lungs, and cancer, smoking plays a key role in restraining the physical activities of the body. Many studies have established that smokers exhaust quickly compared to non-smokers. Hence smoking sportspersons are more likely to be less benefited by hectic physical exercises. Smoking limits the capacity of the lungs that highly influence one’s physical performance in addition to weakening the body and putting it at high risk of injuries, and making the body’s recovering ability slower.
A cigarette, appearing harmless with tobacco leaves rolled in a thin white paper and packed in a convenient fancy case, releases a cocktail of more than 5,000 dangerous chemicals on burning (“Smoking and cancer”). Nicotine, the primary ingredient of tobacco is a drug known for high addictive properties. Even though nicotine provides short-term high performance benefits to sportspersons, it has a potential of developing health complications in the long-run. Many studies have established that using nicotine for a longer period of time reduces the amount of oxygen the lungs require for normal breathing. Thus, smoking reduces the quantity of oxygenated blood available in the muscles for sportsmen involved in hectic muscular activities like cycling, running, swimming and other sports. Long-term nicotine use induces breathing shortness, which in turn tires the athletes quickly. Carbon monoxide, another ingredient present in tobacco makes the lining of the respiratory tract swell, thus restricting the passage of air passing into and out of the lungs. Also, carbon monoxide, known as the silent killer, on mixing with the bloodstream, reacts with the hemoglobin to reduce its oxygen carrying capacity. This in turn reduces the quantity of oxygen needed for healthy functioning of body cells, apart from putting extra burden on the heart to pump blood.
The amount of air that passes in and out of the lungs during a physical activity determines the lung capacity of a human being. For a sportsman, more the air he intakes, more would be the amount of oxygen absorbed into his blood stream. For better performance, sportspersons need to have higher lung capacity to intake more oxygen during each inhalation. Smoking significantly brings about structural abnormalities on the bronchioles of the lungs that aid in inhalation of oxygen into the bloodstream through the lungs. Increased physical activity, as practiced by sportsmen, helps in maintaining the health of cardio-respiratory system of the body. Since physical activities of sportspersons promote high intake of oxygen during each inhalation, healthier bronchioles are required to cope with the high intake of oxygen so as to continuously supply oxygen to the blood stream (Rexhepi and Brestovci). Since poisonous ingredients inhaled by smoking cause abnormalities on the bronchioles and limit the lung capacity through reducing the effective volume of oxygen passed into the bloodstream, the smoking sportsman tends to tire quickly.
Athletes and other sportspersons are more susceptible to meet with accidents and injuries while in action. Since smoking restricts the blood flow to the vital organs of the body like heart, brain and muscles, smoking adversely affects the body’s natural tendency to heal when wounded. A study undertaken by The Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics of the United University of Health Sciences in the U.S., in a study conducted on 1087 men and 915 women young army recruits, has found out that cigarette smoking and occurrence of injury are consistent and closely associated (Altarac et.al.). Smoking is also linked to chronic back pain. Studies have revealed that smokers are thrice more prone to back pain when compared to non-smokers. A new research corroborates the relationship between smoking and chronic back pain. Quitting smoking reduces the chances of youngsters falling prey to chronic back pain, suggests another research as a result of studying 160 young men (Davies). The study, quoting Bogdan Petre, lead author, Feindberg School of Medicines, Northwestern University, says that smoking affects the brain and the way brain reacts to back pain, and makes the person less flexible to the pain. A chronic back pain to a sportsperson would mean end of the road to his career. In the year 2012, researchers in the U.S. experimented on around 5,300 patients for a period of 8 months and found that, while treating cases with spine disorders, smokers complained much more pain than non-smokers or smokers who had quit. They also discovered that nicotine reacts with some proteins essential for controlling pain. Smoking also impedes the oxygen delivery mechanism to tissues thus exposing the smoker to the risk of bone and some other disorders associated with the joints like osteoporosis (Davies).
Collagen is a protein found in the connective tissues and skin of human body, which is necessary for wound healing. Smoking causes the release of certain enzymes that break the collagen and slow down the synthesis of collagen. Smokers thus have the risk of delayed healing when met with injury in bones, ligaments or tendons. Smoking puts one’s body at the risk of catching cold and seasonal flues. Also smokers have more chance of attracting bacterial and viral infections when compared to nonsmokers. Cilia are the tiny hairs lining the respiratory tracts of human body, which are meant for protecting the body against infection. The chemicals inhaled by a sportsman through smoking would impair the cilia in the respiratory tract thus making him susceptible to infections. Smoking, over a period of time, inhibits blood circulation in the hands and feet, thus ruining the career of a sportsperson.
Smoking affects almost all parts and systems of the body since the toxic substances are continuously carried around by the bloodstream. Therefore, chances of developing diseases, infections and conditions are very higher for a smoking sportsperson compared to a nonsmoker. Sportspersons know that smoking considerably reduces fitness of the body and the body’s capacity to filter the air normally inhaled that determines the pure and uninterrupted oxygen supply to the body cells to keep the body fit and active always. No wonder, one hardly sees a sportsperson smoking a cigarette during a break to fight the stress of playing a crucial match with a tough opponent.

Works Cited

"18 Ways Smoking Affects Your Health." Smokerfree.gov. Web. 18 Jan. 2015. <http://smokefree.gov/health-effects>.
Altarac M, Gardner JW, Popovich RM, Potter R, Knapik JJ, and Jones BH. "Cigarette Smoking and Exercise-related Injuries among Young Men and Women." Pubmed.com. 18 Apr. 2000. Web. 19 Jan. 2015. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10736545>.
Davies, Madlen. "Smokers Are Three times More Likely to Suffer from Back Pain - but Quitting Can Ease Symptoms." Mail Online. 4 Nov. 2014. Web. 18 Jan. 2015.
Rexhepi, Agron M., and Brestovci Behlul., "Influence of Smoking and Physical Activity on Pulmonary Function." ISPUB.com. Internet Scientific Publications. Web. 18 Jan. 2015. <https://ispub.com/IJPM/11/2/8755>.
"Smoking and Cancer: What's in a Cigarette?" Cancer Research UK. 5 Sept. 2014. Web. 18 Jan. 2015. <http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/healthyliving/smoking-and-cancer/whats-in-a-cigarette/smoking-and-cancer-whats-in-a-cigarette>.