However, every year, tobacco takes around 3 million human lives worldwide. Smoking is clearly linked to the development of lung cancer, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, angina, and stroke. It can also cause sudden death, aortic aneurysm, peripheral artery diseases, and other serious internal organ pathologies.

In Europe alone, the annual number of deaths related to tobacco consumption is approximately 1.2 million (14% of all deaths). According to the European Union, 19,000 non-smokers die annually due to passive smoking.

The No Tobacco Day is held annually on the third Thursday of November, initiated by the International Union Against Cancer. In Belarus, a national anti-tobacco information and educational campaign is held on this day, initiated by the Ministry of Health. The goal is to prevent diseases related to smoking, raise public awareness about the harmful effects of tobacco consumption and tobacco smoke exposure, and support measures aimed at protecting citizens from the harm caused by tobacco products.

Tobacco use is the most significant preventable cause of death. According to WHO, it leads to the death of one in every ten adults worldwide.

Smoking is responsible for up to 40% of deaths from ischemic heart disease and up to 30% of deaths from cancer. Furthermore, smoking significantly increases the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

 

Smoking has become a deeply rooted behavior among young people. Overall, the prevalence of smoking among young people aged 15–28 in Europe is around 30%, with a slight tendency to rise.

Prolonged smoking not only leads to frequent illnesses but also reduces work capacity, attention, and physical endurance. Memory, hearing, and fatigue worsen, and the number of mistakes increases. For this reason, smokers often fail to achieve high results in life. They frequently experience conflicts with non-smokers. Moreover, they become less attractive: their teeth darken, their skin takes on a gray or yellowish hue, and their gaze loses brightness.

Smoking significantly increases the risk of developing cancer, which can lead to premature death or disability.

Therefore, the advice for non-smokers is simple: “Better not to start.” And for those who have already acquired this habit, it is important to remember: “It’s never too late to quit.”

The primary impact on the body when smoking is caused by nicotine — a powerful toxin. Its lethal dose for humans is 1 mg per 1 kg of body weight. This is why, according to WHO data, 2.5 million people die every year worldwide from smoking-related diseases.

Smokers are unable to achieve high results in sports and other activities that require good respiratory function. For example, singers’ voices become hoarse, and athletes’ endurance significantly decreases.

In the lungs of smokers, tobacco smoke and soot gradually accumulate. The painful cough damages the lung tissues, reduces their elasticity, causes mucus buildup, and leads to lung bloating, significantly impairing breathing.

Nicotine initially stimulates the cells of the cerebral cortex, but over time, they become fatigued and slow down, reducing their activity.

Disruption of brain nutrition leads to memory impairment, reduced attention, increased fatigue, eye strain, worsened hearing, slower reading speed, and an increased number of mistakes.

Significant changes occur in the cardiovascular system — pulse rate increases, blood pressure rises, and the load on the heart increases. The blood vessels of the brain are affected, resulting in headaches, swelling, and pain in the lower limbs, a feeling of heaviness when walking. The digestive system suffers, leading to gum bleeding, cracked tooth enamel, and changes in tooth color.

No organ suffers from smoking as much as the lungs. This is not surprising, considering that a single cubic centimeter of tobacco smoke contains up to 600,000 soot particles. These substances settle in the bronchi and lungs. The mucous membranes of the trachea, bronchi, and their tiniest branches — the bronchioles and alveoli — are the first, after the mouth and larynx, to take the hit from the toxic smog released by a lit cigarette.

The danger of tobacco smoke goes far beyond just nicotine. It contains a whole “bouquet” of poisons that the smoker inhales: ammonia, carbon monoxide, aniline, hydrogen sulfide, carcinogenic hydrocarbons (which promote the growth of malignant tumors), and hydrocyanic acid.

These substances provoke excessive salivation. Part of the saliva is swallowed, allowing harmful compounds to enter the gastrointestinal tract. This leads to constant pain in the stomach and intestines, alternating constipation and diarrhea, progression of duodenal and stomach ulcers, chronic gastritis, and enterocolitis. In the worst cases, cancer may develop.

One of the severe consequences of chronic nicotine addiction is chronic bronchitis, lung emphysema, and bronchial asthma. Smoking significantly reduces the lungs’ resistance to various infectious diseases, ranging from the ubiquitous acute respiratory infections (ARIs) to tuberculosis — the risk of which is especially high among smokers (out of 100 people with tuberculosis, 95 were smokers by the time the disease developed).

It has been established that smoking pregnant women are 2 to 3 times more likely to experience premature births. It is estimated that every fifth stillborn child could have survived if the parents had not smoked.

Young children exposed to smoking environments have trouble sleeping, have reduced appetite, and often experience digestive disorders. They lag behind their peers in both physical and mental development.

Beginner smokers, especially teenagers, become irritable, anemic, perform worse in school, lag behind in sports, and fall ill more often.

It has been established that if we consider the work capacity of schoolchildren to be 100%, those who smoke a little maintain it at 92%, while those who smoke a lot see it drop to 77%. Among smoking schoolchildren, there are significantly more repeaters. Typically, kids smoke in secret and in a hurry, and when tobacco burns quickly, twice as much nicotine enters the smoke compared to when it burns slowly. As a result, the harm from smoking is even more intensified.

There is a difference in mortality rates among smokers depending on the number of cigarettes they smoke. A higher mortality rate is observed among people who started smoking at a young age and those who inhale the smoke deeply. The increased mortality among smokers is caused by a rise in the incidence of certain diseases.

Inhaling air with tobacco smoke is called passive smoking. Tobacco smoke is harmful not only to the smoker but also to those around them. Young children in smoking households suffer the most. Sleep and appetite disorders, digestive problems, increased irritability, poor academic performance, and delays in physical development are just a few of the consequences of tobacco smoke exposure on children.

Studies have shown that the danger of passive smoking is very real. The smoke emanating from a lit cigarette is unfiltered. It contains 50 times more carcinogens, twice as much tar and nicotine, five times more carbon monoxide, and 50 times more ammonia than the smoke inhaled through a cigarette filter. For people working in heavily smoked environments, such as in a bar, the level of passive smoking can reach the equivalent of 14 cigarettes per day, bringing them close to the level of a regular smoker.

Those who wish to quit smoking can seek advice on this matter from a narcologist or psychotherapist. Narcological offices are available in all districts and are also part of regional (city) narcological dispensaries. Psychotherapeutic offices can be found in all districts of the republic.

Treatment is carried out on an outpatient basis. Additionally, consultations with a psychologist are effective. The narcologist advises the patient, providing recommendations on how to quit smoking. If necessary, a treatment course is prescribed. The treatment is conducted on an outpatient basis, anonymously, and for a fee.