what are the long/short terms of smoking, alcohol and stress?

Question

This is part of my health and social care coursework...Email me @ [e-mail] thnx :)

Answer 1

Smoking- cancer (does not neccesarily matter how long or how much you smoke), Ageing- effects the skin and makes you look older. Throat and chest infections. There are over 3000 chemicals in one cigarette the effect of which will shorten your expected life span by 5 minutes per cigarette.
Alcohol effects all parts of the body- the list is as follows-
Throat- Inflamation, Painful swallowing, Haemorrhage, Swollen Veins. Lungs- Lowered resistence to infection. Liver- Hepatitis (the word Hepatitis means inflammation of the liver), cancer, fatty liver, Cirrhosis and a decrease in blood clotting factor. Pancreas-Diabetes and pancreatitis. Intestines- Irritation, vitamin defficiancy, nausea, ulcers, diarrhoea, cancers. Bones-decrease in ability to absorb calcium. Feet and hands-Loss of sensation and tingling (peripheral neuritis). Skin-Broken veins, rashes, itchiness and bruising. Reproduction-infertility, in men=impotence and in women=increased risk of breast cancer. Kidneys-impaired function and infection. Stomach-peptic ulcer, bleeding lesions, poor appetite, irratation. Heart/Blood-High blood pressure, heart disease, increased risk of stroke, other medicines made more/less effective. Brain and central nervous system- depression, aggression, slowed reactions, memory loss, blackouts, epileptic fits, poor problem solving, anaesthesia, permanent brain damage, respiratory failure, coma and ultimately death.
Now for stress- high blood pressure leading to increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. depression, suicidal tendencies.
I hope all of this helps and good luck with the course.

Answer 2

Alcohol causes liver disease and stress can bring on a heart attack, smoking releives any tension and helps you to relax, alcohol can also make you aggressive, smoking doesn't, as you can guess I am a smoker and have been for over 40years anyone I know have had more problems through alcohol and stress than they have had from smoking, relatives who have had cancer have been non-smokers and lived in smoke free homes but still got cancer, father in law died from alcohol liver disease, grandmother in law died of old age 98yrsold and smoked all her life, so try and tell me I would be better off not smoking.

Answer 3

If you removed all smoking, you would decrease cancer 30 %. What that really means is if 100 people had cancer, and none of them smoked you might get rid of 30 cancers. If smoking and drinking, they can be synergistic to help make cancer. Smoking is the number one cause of Bladder cancer. It also can cause colon, stomach, pancreatic CA, and others. It can remove the hair that lines your airways, so later you can't produce the sputum out of your lungs, and the passages narrow. Alcohol can cause Liver disease, stomach and Esophageal (tube from throat to stomach) Diseases. Recently they added it to a cause of Breast Cancer if you drank more that 3 days per week. Stress may lead to disease and cancer. Short Term: Alcohol may cause an accident like Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA).

Answer 4

The biggest problem is high blood pressure, this can be caused by all three and can lead to heart problems. Alcohol and smoking can caused organ damage too.