Does hookah affect... What to do: the harm of hookah - a myth or a bitter reality? The effect of hookah on lung function

It is considered more in a safe way this bad habit than cigarettes or cigarillos. In addition, hookah is always associated with socializing in good company, relaxation after a working day, etc. Does this mean that anyone can and should smoke hookah?

It is impossible to answer this question unequivocally. In a hookah they smoke a tobacco mixture, which, like any type of tobacco, contains nicotine and tar, so its effect cannot be called beneficial. On the other side, additional substances, contained in the mixture can have a positive effect.

We must not forget about the psychotherapeutic effect of the procedure. Thus, we can only talk about the ratio of harmful and beneficial qualities.

Hookah harm:

1. Contains nicotine and tar.
2. Additional flavorings in the mixture may cause allergies.
3. Smoke reduces the supply of oxygen to the lungs.

It should be taken into account that harmful substances The tobacco mixture for hookah contains fewer harmful substances than the same amount of cigarettes. In addition, paper combustion products are not mixed into the hookah smoke.

Benefits of hookah:

• Relaxing effect.
• Additional medicinal effects herbs (if they are natural).

A hookah is a fairly large device, and preparing it for smoking takes time, so it is impossible to smoke it on the go or go out with it to smoke during a break. In addition, it is customary to smoke a hookah in a group, and the process itself can be ritualized.

Which significantly reduces the frequency of hookah smoking, and therefore its harmful effects, but does not exclude it completely. There are special medicinal options for hookah mixtures, consisting of medicinal herbs and do not contain tobacco.

How does hookah affect the heart and blood vessels?

There is a common experiment - comparing the level of heat generation from the surface of the skin of the hands before and after smoking a cigarette. According to these data, immediately after a smoke break, the skin of the hands becomes significantly colder due to narrowing peripheral vessels. This effect does not occur when smoking a hookah. Generally any instant effects nicotine levels are not expressed when smoking a hookah.

But if we consider the long term, then everything looks far from so harmless. Frequency, ischemia and various disorders vascular tone among hookah and cigarette smokers is approximately the same and noticeably higher than among people who do not have such a bad habit.

However, it is worth mentioning that hookah smoking is only one of the factors that provoke cardiac and vascular pathologies. It is neither the only nor the determining cause. But for patients with other predisposing factors, the influence of hookah can be detrimental.

How does hookah affect the central nervous system and vision?

Hookah smoke has a direct irritating effect on the mucous membrane of the eye. However, a number of impurities that are added to make the smoke smell pleasant can enhance this effect, especially if the patient is hypersensitive to them. Irritation is manifested by redness of the eyes, lacrimation, dryness of the conjunctiva. This effect is enhanced if the room where hookah is smoked is not ventilated for a long time.

In the long term, constant irritation can provoke conjunctivitis, uveitis (inflammation of the choroid) and dry eye syndrome.But similar conditions It is quite easy to avoid - you need to regularly ventilate the room and not allow the smoke to fall directly on your face.

The effect of hookah on the central nervous system is manifested in oxygen starvation of brain cells.

If the patient is constantly in a smoky room, then persistent hypoxia occurs, which is manifested by constant headaches, fatigue, decreased memory, attention, slowed reaction and decreased speed of thinking.

For people for whom these qualities are extremely important during work, this condition can lead to loss of professional skills. You can combat this effect in the same way as with the negative impact on vision - regularly ventilate the room and go outside. Fresh air.

How does hookah affect the lungs?

The respiratory system is most affected by any type of smoking. It is into the lungs that the smoke enters, and there it has its negative effects. Hookah is no exception, but the effect of the damaging factors of hookah smoke has its own characteristics compared to cigarette smoke.

Direct irritant effect on the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract, hookah smoke is much lower than cigarette smoke due to the lower temperature. In addition, cigarette smoke contains small particles of ash, which are not found in hookah smoke.

Therefore, the likelihood of cancer of the larynx and bronchi in hookah smokers is lower than in cigarette smokers. However, smoke still irritates the mucous membranes, increases mucus secretion, and can provoke chronic bronchitis, although this happens less frequently.

Air saturated with hookah smoke is poorer in oxygen than clean air. This effect is more pronounced in hookahs than in cigarettes. He creates additional conditions for the development of brain hypoxia, and also reduces the efficiency of gas exchange in the lungs, due to which the pulmonary capillaries narrow.

Can it be addictive?

Smoking is one of the most powerful addictions that is difficult to overcome. The direct influence of nicotine, which is integrated into metabolism, and psychological addiction take part in its formation.

More information about the dangers of hookah can be found in the video:

Things are completely different with psychological dependence. Hookah is strongly associated with a pleasant smell, good company, and a whole ritual associated with its preparation and smoking. All this effectively helps to relax and relieve excess tension, but it is also much more addictive than cigarettes. Besides. patients most often do not realize psychological dependence from the hookah, so they don’t even try to get rid of it.

What happens if you smoke hookah every day?

Smoking a hookah daily can have a dual effect. The first thing the patient will notice is that his psychological state will noticeably improve. Stress is much easier to bear irritating factors cause less strong reaction, in general, a person becomes calmer and more peaceful. On this basis, many patients conclude that smoking hookah is beneficial, and continue to use relaxing procedures with the same regularity.

However, after a few months of regular hookah use, the negative effects of hookah begin to appear. The efficiency of mental activity decreases, fatigue increases, and sleep is disturbed. In especially severe cases, the patient cannot get enough sleep at night due to drowsiness during the day, and during the day he is always sleepy due to the fact that he did not get enough sleep at night.

The body's resistance to stress and infections also decreases significantly - people get sick more often, and the frequency of colds especially increases.

Eye pathologies associated with the influence of hookah smoke occur. Negative effects associated with exposure to smoke internal organs, appear after about a year or more.

Today, hookah smoking is a special ceremony. It is used during important negotiations, when meeting with friends or as an alternative to cigarettes. The smoking process takes place in an atmosphere filled with a pleasant fruity smell and spicy aroma.

Few people think about the question “is hookah harmful?”

Inhaling aromatic vapors acts on the nervous system as a sedative, it relieves stress and has a positive action on the human body.

But is it worth blindly trusting the above, endangering your health?

The world organization conducted a social survey among residents of the Russian Federation, during which shocking figures were revealed. It turns out that only 30% of the population believes that hookah is harmful. This part includes not only people who have reached the age of majority, but also teenagers. The reason for this is the lack of awareness in modern society.

Even after multiple studies, the true extent of the danger to smokers is unknown. The reason is the use of non-standardized tobacco mixtures of dubious quality.

Considering these factors, you can easily get an answer to the question “why is hookah harmful?”

How the device works

What a hookah is has become known since the times ancient East. The exact version of the origin of the device has not been clarified to this day, but researchers around the world are of the same opinion. They believe that hookah has Indian roots. More than 2 thousand years ago, the appearance of the hookah was different from the modern version, but the principle of operation was the same as now.

Before entering the lungs, the smoke is purified in a flask filled with liquid. It could be plain water, milk, wine or herbal infusion.

A sharp change in temperature allows you to minimize the harm of the hookah. 60-80% of hazardous compounds remain in liquid substance. However, the myth about the complete harmlessness of smoking has been refuted.

Consequences of smoking

The process of hookah smoking is quite lengthy, because time flies in a pleasant company. You can spend several hours talking, while enjoying inhaling the sweet vapors. After just an hour, the benefits of such a rest disappear, and further smoking becomes dangerous. Even though less tar and nicotine enters the body, there are still health risks.

Chemical elements and heavy metals act destructively and disable the respiratory system. In addition, smoke from a hookah causes acute poisoning carbon monoxide.

A 60-minute session is equivalent to smoking one pack of cigarettes within an hour. The smoke enters the lower Airways and contributes to the development of symptoms of poisoning.

Now let’s look in detail at how harmful hookah is, and whether it causes various diseases.

1. Harmful substances. Arsenic, carboxyhemoglobin, lead, nicotine, chromium, cotinine have a negative effect on the functioning of all organs. This is due to the fact that water is unable to 100% remove chemicals from steam. The consequences can be disastrous and further lead to lung dysfunction, coronary heart disease, low weight at the birth of a child. U married couple If you smoke excessively, you may have problems with pregnancy or even infertility.
2. Saliva exchange. Smoking a hookah is very rarely done alone. Most often this friendly companies or unfamiliar friends. During the process of inhaling smoke, it produces great amount saliva. In any case, it will remain on the mouthpiece or get into the filter liquid. Inattention and lack of personal hygiene can lead to herpes, hepatitis B and other equally terrible diseases.
3. Passive smoking. Spending time in the company of smokers carries certain dangers. Along with the inhaled steam, you can get a dose of carbon monoxide and nitrogen. This is fraught with diseases of the respiratory system. In addition, smoldering products of tobacco and coal enter the body along with smoke. If you find yourself in a company of smokers, you need to go out into the fresh air more often or sit near an open window.
4. Addiction. Like cigarettes, hookah can cause nicotine addiction, despite its low content. This will lead to an increase in dose and a difficult recovery process after quitting smoking. Except nicotine addiction behavioral dependence is known. It implies a passion for smoking on a superficial level. This often happens among the younger generation and the purpose of smoking is to look more prestigious, cooler, more modern.
5. Pathogenic microorganisms. Due to non-compliance sanitary standards in public institutions and bad washing, harmful bacteria can develop on hookah structures. There have often been cases when it was necessary to fight an infection resulting from hookah smoking.

Causes of headache after smoking hookah

Beginners often experience dizziness after a session, accelerated heartbeat, nausea, pain in the temple area or in the back of the head. This is due to insufficient heating of the coal or the use of a low-quality tobacco mixture.

Another reason is the reaction of an unprepared body to factors associated with the ingestion of other substances.

If one of the symptoms appears, you must stop smoking and go out into fresh air. A cup of hot coffee will help you feel better, green tea with lemon, fresh milk, citrus fruits or a light snack.

Electronic hookah - harm or benefit

Not long ago, the tobacco industry introduced a new product - electronic hookah. It is non-addictive, does not contain nicotine and is less toxic.

Propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin produce a sweet vapor that can become alternative option other smoking products. The operating principle is similar to the mechanism electronic cigarette, has a stylish design and is easy to use.

But the truth is that adherents healthy image life completely refuses to rest in this way. It is not known for certain whether a hookah in an electronic version is harmful, because such a device appeared recently and has not been fully studied.

According to doctors, of all known types of smoking, electronic hookah is the most acceptable option. But if nicotine is added to the mix, it is the same as smoking traditional cigarettes. Whatever the benefit, it also has contraindications: pregnancy, tachycardia and angina pectoris, mental disorders, restless sleep.

Be that as it may, whether spending time with a smoke pipe is harmful or not, a person chooses for himself.

How to reduce the harm from hookah smoking

If such thoughts have visited you, it means that you have decided to bring yourself back to normal and minimize the harmful effects.

The basic rules are:

1. You should not smoke on an empty stomach, during meals or before bed.
2. Under no circumstances should you combine hookah with drinking strong alcohol-containing drinks.
3. If you have chronic illnesses, asthma, or heart problems, then it is better to quit smoking.
4. Smoking only in well-ventilated areas and going out into fresh air more often.
5. In cafes or restaurants, use only a new mouthpiece.

If you have a “smoke pipe” at home, you need to keep it clean, because the accumulated substances will definitely enter the body. The filter fluid can only be used once; it contains harmful compounds and resin elements. In addition, if you smoke for a long time, you need to change it as often as possible.

It is better to choose tobacco, coals and foil yourself in specialized stores. It is in the spontaneous market that you can become a victim of unscrupulous producers.

Such products may not only cause allergic reactions, but also poison mildly toxic microelements. Ideal option tobacco mixtures based on natural ingredients will become.

It is worth remembering the dangers of hookah and smoking sessions no more than 2 times a week.

Hookah A special vessel for smoking, in which the role of a filter is played by a liquid that moisturizes and cools the smoke inhaled by a person.

Since hookah is very popular among young people and lovers of a calm, measured type of relaxation, many rumors and opinions have arisen about the dangers of smoking hookah. Many smokers generally consider a hookah to be a practically harmless device, however, this is not the case.

Harm

Hookah harm

Even if we don’t go into details, we can logically assume that hookah, like any other type of smoking, cannot be harmless by definition. Nevertheless, we naturally will not limit ourselves to logic alone and will try to analyze the entire process of smoking and highlight the main elements that are primarily harmful to health smoking man.

Hookah is addictive

Most often, hookah lovers claim that it is not addictive. In fact, if you pay attention to a pack of tobacco, you can see that a package weighing 50 grams contains 0.05% nicotine. If the percentage of nicotine is converted to milligrams, we get a value of 25 mg.

Since one pack of tobacco is enough for four hookah refills, by simple calculations we find that one serving of tobacco contains 6.25 mg of nicotine versus 0.8 mg of nicotine contained in a cigarette. That is, the nicotine content in one portion of hookah tobacco is 7.5 times more than in one cigarette. Nicotine has a strong neurotoxic effect and is addictive. This means that the information about the supposed absence of addiction when smoking a hookah is just a myth.

Is hookah smoke harmful?

Supporters of hookah smoking will most likely immediately remember the wonderful liquid filter, which makes inhaled smoke almost harmless.

Indeed, the liquid when smoking a hookah retains up to 50% of solid particles, 90% of phenols, acrolein, acetaldehyde and a small part of polycyclicenes and benzopyrene, and also reduces the amount of nicotine in the smoke. However, it is not able to retain substances such as:

• Arsenic
• Kotinin
• Lead

Usually when medical examination The content of these substances in a hookah smoker is no less than that of a cigarette lover, and their presence in the body can lead to such disorders as:

• Coronary heart disease
• Dystrophies of the unborn child
• Various disorders pulmonary function
• Lung cancer

Harm of hookah tobacco

Often, in defense of the hookah, another argument is made about wet and sticky tobacco, which does not burn in the hookah like a cigarette, but smolderes slowly, without releasing harmful substances into the smoke.

In fact, hookah tobacco very often does not contain information on the composition at all on the packaging, which remains known only to its manufacturers.

Moreover, tobacco is placed on coals heated to 600-650 degrees Celsius, the smoldering of which releases carbon monoxide and benzopyrene. Now let's talk in more detail about each of them.

Benzopyrene is a carcinogen cancer-causing and belonging to the first class of danger. It is formed as a result of the combustion of any substance, can accumulate in the body and cause cancer, and also has a mutagenic effect, causing DNA mutations, which will not have the best effect on future offspring.

Carbon monoxide is no less dangerous, since when smoking a hookah a person inhales 100-200 times more smoke than when smoking one cigarette, and a large amount of it enters the lungs carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide binds more easily to hemoglobin than oxygen, causing oxygen starvation in a smoker.

As a result of such hypoxia, all internal organs do not receive oxygen. The brain, trying to cope with the situation, throws its reserves into supplying vital important organs oxygen, while constricting blood vessels, blocking the flow of blood to secondary organs. The heart begins to contract intensively, trying to pump as much as possible more blood to supply the organs with oxygen, but instead the smoker inhales carbon monoxide mixed with harmful impurities, which are instantly distributed throughout the body.

You can get infected through hookah

If you prefer to smoke hookah in a group, then you must be confident in the reliability of your friends. In the sense of knowing that they do not suffer from infectious diseases transmitted by airborne droplets. Otherwise, after a fun holiday in an interesting circle of interlocutors, a few days later you may discover that you have such diseases as:

• Herpes
• Angina
• Dysentery
• Diphtheria
• Hepatitis
• Tuberculosis

Even if you have an extremely negative attitude towards hookah smoking, but are present in the room with those who like to smoke, then by inhaling the smoke generated during smoking, you also receive a dose of harmful substances (nitrogen, carbon monoxide) and nicotine. That is, you are a passive smoker

There is another popular, but, unfortunately, incorrect statement that hookah with milk is less harmful. In fact, milk, like water, is not able to filter out all harmful substances, so hookah with milk only affects taste qualities, giving the smoke a milder taste.

Benefit

Smoking hookah has no beneficial properties.

How to smoke hookah correctly

When purchasing tobacco, make sure that the packaging contains information about the composition, manufacturer and place of production of the product. If the package does not contain such information or does not look of good quality (smudged printing, unclear text), then it is better to refrain from purchasing such a product, since the contents of such packaging during smoking can lead to unpredictable consequences for good health.

Do not use as a filter fluid alcoholic drinks(with the exception of red wine), their vapors can enter into harmful compounds with substances contained in smoke and cause harm to health.

If you consider yourself a connoisseur or like taste experiments, then you can “fill” the hookah with milk, red wine or grape juice.

To reduce the concentration of carbon monoxide, it is recommended to remove excess carbon monoxide every 15 minutes through a special valve in the hookah.

Precautions when smoking hookah

If you smoke hookah in big company or in the company of unfamiliar people, then do not be lazy to observe the rules of hygiene by using disposable mouthpieces. This will prevent you from contracting airborne diseases.

It is recommended that after each use of the hookah, rinse all tubes and the flask of the device, since harmful substances settle and accumulate on their surfaces, resulting in a concentration harmful impurities in smoke can increase significantly.

Do not smoke hookah while in under stress, since smoking tobacco can create a relaxing effect from stress. Your brain will remember this state, and in the future will subconsciously demand a hookah the next time you experience stress. Naturally, hookah is not always at hand, which is why people often switch to cigarettes and start smoking.

Under no circumstances should pregnant women or couples planning to conceive a child smoke hookah, as smoking introduces highly toxic substances into the human body that can negatively affect the development of the unborn fetus, causing genetic mutations.

Do not allow children to smoke hookah. This may lead to serious problems with health and negatively affect the future development of the child, as well as create an emotional predisposition to smoking.

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IN last years Smoking a hookah has become fashionable, but the harm caused by a hookah can scare away those who previously did not know about it from this fun. Now you will learn something about the dangers of hookah for your health.

Go. A hookah, if anyone doesn’t know, is not a complicated smoking instrument, which consists of a reservoir filled with water, a tube with a designated place for the smoking mixture and another tube, at the end of which there is a mouthpiece. The process of smoking tobacco occurs through the second tube.

The fact that hookah is harmful is terrible truth, or a duck of tobacco corporations? If there is still harm from smoking hookah, then how dangerous is it? There have been debates about the dangers of hookah for more than one year. There are more than enough supporters and opponents of this newfangled entertainment for Russia, both on the Internet and in real life. Opponents of smoking, in principle, are irritated by the promotion of hookah smoking as an alternative to smoking cigarettes; they are also concerned that hookah smoking in in public places, such as cafes and bars, can negatively affect the health of non-smoking visitors to these establishments, who unwittingly become hostage to hookah smoke.

Passive hookah smokers can also be friends, relatives, and, worst of all, children who are close to the smoker. And the harm from hookah smoking on human health, as studies have shown, is quite serious.

What do we know about smoke

The smoke that is formed during the incomplete combustion of a substance, be it tobacco, grass or wood, contains substances quite harmful to health, such as various tars, nicotine, formaldehyde, carbon monoxide and much more. Inhalation of such substances by humans naturally leads to a large number of they settle in the lungs.

It's about the smoke in in a broad sense, but tobacco smoke, no matter whether it’s in a hookah, a cigarette or a cigar, not only does it spoil the lungs, it also affects human body at the genetic level. This effect has not been fully studied (or perhaps the research results are classified?), and smokers may, of course, not see the result of these changes, but their children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren will certainly feel them.

Where does hookah come from?

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Hookah came to the Middle East, in North Africa, and later to Europe and the USA from India. In the East, hookah has always been smoked both during leisure and during business conversations and negotiations. In the countries of the East and Asia, hookah smoking has long become part of the culture of many peoples, and there it is not customary to discuss the fact that hookah can be harmful. This is for us fashion innovation appeared quite recently, thanks to our compatriots, who have chosen the hotels and beaches of Turkey and Egypt in the last decade.

The first hookahs began to be brought to Russia as an exotic souvenir to smoking friends and relatives, and managed to gain a certain popularity among young people and all those who, through touching the exotic, want to feel like some kind of special person. Our tourists brought this curiosity, naturally, without suspecting that the harm of a hookah in many respects is much greater than the harm from cigarettes. It is noteworthy that even some people who lead a healthy lifestyle consider this exotic fun harmless and from time to time “indulge” in hookah.

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Proponents of hookah believe that smoking tobacco through a hookah makes it minimally harmful (and some with saliva at the mouth, prove that it is completely harmless) to the health of the smoker. That supposedly smoke, before it reaches a person’s lungs, is filtered and comes out of the mouthpiece completely purified. But that doesn't happen.

Not a single filter, be it a filter for purifying tap water, or for purifying emissions industrial enterprises, does not clean 100%.

Despite the fact that such places use very complex cleaning systems. And here they claim that the harm from smoking a hookah is neutralized when the smoke passes through a primitive flask of water and a pipe. Of course, something settles there. But only a small part.

Some people consider hookah an alternative to cigarettes, but unlike cigarettes, you can’t put this alternative in your pocket and you can’t smoke it anywhere. As a result, people who decide to quit smoking cigarettes using a hookah do not quit cigarettes, and besides, they also become addicted to hookah smoking with all the ensuing harmful consequences.

Among hookah lovers it is believed that it is not addictive, but researchers from Canada have proven that the eastern smoking device It is no less addictive than cigarettes.

It is also believed that the state of euphoria that hookah smoking leads to is absolutely harmless, that it is just relaxation. However, the use of alcohol or drugs has never been considered harmless, and it also leads to a relaxed state. Such parallels suggest that the danger of hookah is not such a mythical thing.

What dangers does hookah pose?

Temperature and resins

As I wrote above, there is an opinion that smoke passing through water cools in it and leaves harmful substances in it, the products of tobacco decay. In fact, the smoke in a hookah has a temperature of about 450 degrees. How well do you think it will cool down after passing through a couple of liters of water and a tube? The smoke does not have time to cool down to a temperature that is safe for the smoker’s respiratory system, this conclusion was reached, oddly enough, by Egyptian researchers, in whose country the tradition of hookah smoking goes back hundreds of years. This is the first thing the Egyptians learned.

Egyptian researchers were concerned that the incidence of cancer and the spread of infectious diseases in the country had increased in recent decades. Although this figure in Egypt was already high according to statistics World Organization Healthcare. It is worth noting that Egypt, with its hot and dry climate, does not in any way contribute to the spread of tuberculosis, however, despite the climate, the “disease of the poor,” as tuberculosis is often called, has quite a presence in Egypt wide use. Experts from the World Health Organization believe that hookah is to blame. But we’ll get to this later.

The next conclusion they came to is that most of the solid constituents of the smoke particles resulting from the smoldering process of hookah tobacco, which occurs at a temperature of about 450 degrees, are insoluble in water in principle, and whether the smoker wants it or not, they end up in into his lungs while smoking a hookah. Studies conducted back in 2003 showed that the body of hookah lovers always has an increased (several times) content of silver, beryllium, cotonine, arsenic, nickel, chromium, cobalt and lead, which leads to slow and irreversible poisoning of the smoker’s body.

The content of all these substances also leads experienced hookah smokers to diseases of cardio-vascular system And cancer diseases respiratory organs. Plus, smoking a hookah in the future threatens a heavy smoker with impotence or infertility. The longer you smoke a hookah, the more all this nasty stuff accumulates in you, the more it poisons you, the higher the risk.

The hookah smoking ceremony lasts about an hour. During this time, an amount of smoke, tar and other decay products of tobacco enters the lungs of the smoker, comparable to the amount of the same substances entering the lungs when smoking 60 regular cigarettes. But in this case, the harm from a hookah lies not only in the total amount of smoke and tar, but in a massive attack on respiratory system person. The body experiences a real shock and directs its energy and resources to eliminate negative influence hookah smoke, which causes relaxation.

State of euphoria

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A state of relaxation and euphoria appears in everyone who smokes a hookah. At first there was a suspicion that in addition to tobacco itself, other narcotic substances were added to hookah smoking mixtures. However, this assumption has not been proven.

For this, it has been proven that in smoke passed through water, the concentration of carbon monoxide increases, which contributes to the dilation of blood vessels. This would seem to be an argument in favor of hookah smoking, but after the blood vessels dilate, they narrow, to a size much smaller than in in good condition. This effect, similar to the effect of drinking alcohol, causes a state of euphoria. In addition, carbon monoxide also helps reduce the elasticity of the walls of blood vessels.

By the way, if you compare the harm from smoking a hookah and cigarettes based on the carbon monoxide content in comparable quantities of the smoking substance, it turns out that a harmless oriental toy causes harm at least twice as much as cigarettes.

Cancers

Today, hookah smoking mixtures are produced all over the world, from the USA and Russia to the United Arab Emirates, Iran, India and China. The competition in this market is quite serious, and therefore, manufacturers are trying to reduce the cost of producing mixtures as much as possible through artificial flavors, adding low-quality tobacco and attracting unskilled labor, without complying with the necessary sanitary standards. Naturally, these factors further increase the danger of hookah to human health. Most of the hookah smoking mixtures are produced without complying with the necessary standards, you can be sure of that. This is facilitated by corruption, both in Russia and in eastern countries.

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Speaking about the quality of hookah tobacco, we can add that the most common types of tobacco in the east are not represented here, and only export versions of smoking mixtures are supplied to Russia.

The danger of hookah is manifested, as I already mentioned, in the fact that the dosage of nicotine, smoke and tar during hookah smoking is much higher than when smoking cigarettes. Tobacco for hookahs "tumbak", for example, contains twice as much nicotine as tobacco used in the production of cigarettes. Due to the high concentration, harmful substances affect not only the bronchi, but also the pharynx and trachea. And this can subsequently lead to cancer of the larynx and lungs.

I can assume that thousands of hookah lovers will now rush to explain that none of them have gotten sick yet, but they don’t immediately die from cigarettes either. A cigarette kills in small doses several times a day, and a hookah kills in one powerful dose once a week. The harm from smoking a hookah, like the harm from a cigarette, will make itself felt much later, when it will be impossible to correct the situation.

Transmission of infections

According to tradition, even if a hookah is smoked by a group of several people, the mouthpiece and smoking pipe are used for everyone. This method of passing a mouthpiece in a circle has always contributed to the transmission and spread of diseases such as tuberculosis, hepatitis A or herpes. True, as far as I know, today the harm from group hookah smoking, in terms of the transmission of infections, can be neutralized by using disposable hookah mouthpieces, or by using a special hookah with separate pipes and mouthpieces independent of each other. However, this point is also worth considering. Moreover, the plastic nozzles that I personally have seen are very short, and if a person suffering from tuberculosis exhales through the nozzle into the hookah tube, he can easily send a portion of saliva containing pathogens into it. And you, in turn, will inhale these bacteria along with the smoke the next time you puff. This already concerns hygiene. I touched on this issue a little in the article Rules for a healthy lifestyle, although in the future I expect to devote several separate articles to this issue.

Combined with alcohol

Quite a few daredevils manage to aggravate the harm caused by hookah smoking and drinking alcohol in order to supposedly enhance pleasant sensations or a state of high. However, what is called " pleasant sensations“This is nothing more than symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, initial stage poisoning, of course. But sometimes the combination of hookah smoking and alcohol consumption leads to pre-syncope and even fainting. For each individual person predict the consequences of such dangerous combination impossible.

There is also a way to combine hookah with alcohol. It consists in the fact that instead of water, alcoholic drinks or even pure alcohol, through which smoke passes, entering the human lungs. Along with such smoke, alcohol vapor also enters them. And alcohol enters the bloodstream through the lungs much faster than through digestive system. With this combination, by the way, a person risks very quickly becoming an alcoholic, although he does not drink alcohol directly.

It may be objected that with this combination, significantly less alcohol enters the blood. But the whole point is that when smoking a hookah through alcohol, the alcohol enters the human blood through the lungs, at the same time when nicotine and other products of tobacco decay negatively affect the heart and the body as a whole. When drinking alcohol while smoking, the effect of alcohol is slightly delayed in time and the harm of alcohol, although greater, is not superimposed on the harm of a hookah, but follows it in turn. From this we can conclude that both methods of drinking alcohol simultaneously with smoking a hookah are approximately equally harmful.

Is hookah addictive?

Hookah addiction can be viewed from two points of view. On the one hand, it is nicotine, physiological dependence, the same as from cigarettes. On the other hand, dependence is psychological.

Dependence on nicotine does not appear immediately, but gradually. With the gradual entry of nicotine through the lungs, as well as through the mucous membranes of the nose and mouth, into the body, nerve cells are irritated. These cells are sent to internal organs human body impulses through which they influence the functioning of these organs. With the periodic intake of nicotine into the body, the number of cells irritated during smoking begins to increase accordingly, and their sensitivity increases. As a result, the body, through nerve cells that are already irritated and “sharpened” by nicotine, gets used to the process of smoking as a source of nicotine.

Psychological dependence lies in the smoker’s subconscious attempt to assert himself through a ritual for “accomplished people,” and this is exactly how hookah smoking is positioned by the entire hookah industry. Hookah bars and hookah lounges are positioned as places for elite pastime. In cinema, while not yet as common as cigarettes, hookahs have still begun to appear. Moreover, as a rule, successful and rich people of the East smoke hookah in movies. Of course, they won’t tell you a word about the dangers of hookah. All this creates a certain halo of success and freedom around the hookah smoker, in his own eyes. After all, it’s nice to feel like some kind of Arab sheikh, the owner of a harem, for a minute. 🙂

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Many, if not all, hookah lovers will unanimously say that this is not so, but I will not argue, since I am not talking about people’s conscious actions, but about unconscious ones, which, as a rule, they cannot control. To get rid of psychological dependence, and thereby eliminate this dangerous entertainment from your life, either independent work over your complexes, a kind of introspection, debriefing, if you like. Or self-realization in life. Not imaginary self-realization like “buy a car, build a career and fly to the Maldives, or at worst to Egypt,” but self-realization according to your inner worldview. For some it is to learn to play the violin or piano, for others to ride a bicycle around the Earth, for others to write a book, not for the sake of money, but for yourself, for the soul. Have you thought about this? This is the realization of the inclinations and talents inherent in you by nature.

True, in order to force yourself to give up this “fun”, you must first realize the harm to your body from smoking a hookah. This task is no less difficult for most.

Much more dangerous for young people

Data-lazy-type="image" data-src="http://zdoru.ru/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/vred-kalyana.jpg" alt=" girl with a hookah" width="300" height="300" srcset="" data-srcset="http://zdoru.ru/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/vred-kalyana..jpg 150w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px">!} I want to emphasize that hookah is especially dangerous, in terms of addiction, for teenagers and young people, due to the fact that bad smell tobacco smoke is masked in it by various aromatic additives, ranging from the smell of apples and ending with the smells of exotic fruits and incense, a soft aftertaste, unlike cigarette smoke. This is the main trap of hookah for all ages. Addiction can arise completely unnoticeably, gradually and not intrusively. A person is even more in danger if he is sure that hookah addiction does not exist in nature. But you need to understand that regardless of the taste and smell of tobacco smoke, it contains nicotine, and sooner or later the body will require more hookah, then it will demand it again, and this is already an addiction.

Through hookahs, young people are much more likely to get involved in smoking cigarettes, through them to light drugs like cannabis, and then it’s not far from hard drugs. This, of course, does not apply to all teenagers, and depends on many other factors, but nevertheless, everyone who tries it is at risk.

And in conclusion of this article about the dangers of hookah, I want to appeal to all readers, without exception.

Our future, the future of our children and grandchildren, the future of our country and the Russian language depends on how much we can instill in future generations an understanding of the meaning of life. Understanding that we are given one life, and that is why we should not waste it aimlessly in imaginary pleasures, chasing images of wealth and beautiful life, and to approach with intelligence and wisdom any activity that they will engage in, on which their time will be spent - the most precious thing that nature has given to man.

By bad habits, we voluntarily shorten this time, bringing the moment of our death closer. But why, because life gives us an endless number of opportunities for self-realization? I agree, very often routine does not allow you to raise your head and see these opportunities. And routine is the flow of events that we allow to control our lives. Among these events there are many that we could refuse. This also applies to bad habits. I include not only feasts, like New Year's or May holidays, where beer and vodka flow like a river and hookah gatherings. TV and computer games– this is also a very bad habit, taking away 30-40 hours a week from us, as well as the opportunity to lead an active life.

Someone will object that they cannot help but devote time to their relatives or friends, to whom they are invited to the next drinking party. But it’s unlikely that anything will change significantly for you if you become at least half as likely to attend such events. The question is, what will you do with your free time? These are worth seriously thinking about.

And think about whether you are satisfied with your life. Answer this question only for yourself, secretly from everyone. And if it turns out that it is not, then why are you going to teach your children the same way of life that brought your life to a dead end? Set an example of the kind of life you would like to lead. Or, if this is difficult for you, do at least the minimum, limit them from the influence of their own bad habits, give them the opportunity to choose, and they will figure out what is bad for them and what is good.

Hookah is one of the the most ancient ways smoking. It was invented in India, and its modern look acquired already in Turkey in the 17th-19th centuries.

Smoking cigarettes, vaping, hookah - all this is the same thing: inhaling smoke and nicotine. The only question is which of the above lists is more harmful. The debate about whether hookah is harmful continues to this day.

How does hookah smoking happen?

Today, hookah smoking service can be found in many cafes and restaurants.

A hookah is an exotic device for smoking a tobacco mixture. The role of a filter in it is performed by a flask with some liquid, but more often with water.

To smoke a hookah, special smoking mixtures with aromatic additives, which are covered with hot coals on top.

The smoker draws smoke through the pipe. Thus, the smoke from the bowl with the smoking mixture rises into the flask, and through the pipe into the lungs of the smoker.

Thanks to such a long path, the smoke is cooled more, and along the way it is moistened. All this creates a feeling of safer process for a person.

Is hookah harmful to health?

Let's look at what harm a hookah can cause to the body and what its main disadvantages are.

Development of addiction

Addiction to hookah smoking is impossible - this is the argument that hookah lovers rely on, emphasizing that it is more harmless compared to cigarettes.

However, this statement applies more to those people who like to breathe hookah on weekends, for example, or even a couple of times a month.

However, regular hookah smoking causes the same addiction that cigarette smokers have to fight. And this addiction is based on nicotine. Of course, we do not take mixtures without nicotine for review.

How many cigarettes are in a hookah?

Almost 8 pieces – During one smoking session, a hookah smoker's lungs are exposed to the effects of 8 cigarettes.

Here's how this calculation was arrived at:

• One pack of hookah tobacco weighing 50 g is saturated with nicotine up to 0.05%, which is approximately 25 mg.
• It is designed for an average of 4 servings.
• This means that one smoking is 6.25 mg of nicotine, while one cigarette contains 0.5-0.8 mg.
• That is, one portion of hookah tobacco contains 7 and a half times more nicotine than a cigarette.

The neurotoxic effects of nicotine are almost instantly addictive.

Unlike a cigarette, the first experience of smoking a hookah may seem pleasant and attractive, which encourages hookah lovers to use this method of relaxation more and more often.

About the dangers of deep tightening

A big problem hookah lies in the fact that when inhaled strongly, the resins are deposited not on the bronchi and on the upper part of the lungs, but on the much more sensitive middle and lower parts of the lungs, which increases the risk of developing lung cancer several times.

From one smoking a hookah smoker receives as much harm as heavy smoker smoking more than a pack of cigarettes daily.

Imperfect filtering

Hookah advocates often argue that the liquid filtration system cleans the smoke very well. However, no water filter can cope with the amount of harmful substances contained in hookah smoke.

If when smoking regular cigarettes the lungs take up to 400 ml of smoke, then when using a hookah mixture the amount of smoke increases to 2 liters.

The liquid filter on water retains up to 90% of phenols, acrolein, acetaldehyde, 50% of solid particles and part of polycyclicenes and benzopyrene. The amount of nicotine decreases slightly as it passes through the filter. However, chromium, arsenic and lead continue to seriously poison the body.

Sometimes you can hear another incorrect statement that a milk filter is more effective. This is wrong. Milk also cannot filter out all the toxins, so it only affects the taste of the smoke.

Composition of hookah tobacco

Let's look at what tobacco is included in smoking mixtures.

Often, hookah tobacco is made in a handicraft manner and is not subject to any examination or control.

A smoker, filling his device with such tobacco, often does not know what its composition is, where the raw materials were grown, how they were processed, or how they were stored.

And tobacco is not as terrible as smoldering coals.

Carbon monoxide formation

To obtain hookah smoke, the coals are heated to a temperature of 600 degrees. It is under these conditions that benzopyrene begins to form, which has a mutagenic effect - causing DNA mutations.

Hazardous Exposure benzopyrene is aggravated by the formation of carbon monoxide, the harmfulness of which is beyond doubt. Oxygen starvation is caused by the binding of hemoglobin molecules.

As a result of hypoxia, internal organs stop receiving oxygen. The brain, trying to solve this problem, constricts the blood vessels, and the heart begins to contract harder, trying to pump more blood to supply the organs with oxygen.

However, instead of oxygen, the smoker continues to saturate the body with carbon monoxide mixed with harmful impurities.

Passive smoking

Hookah is smoked indoors, so the organisms of non-smokers sitting next door also have toxic influence fumes.

People near the smoker inhale not only the smoke released from the mouthpiece, but also the fumes emanating from hot coals and moist tobacco.

Harmful effect hookah smoking on passive smokers is obvious. People start complaining about headache, weakness, nausea, even just after sitting in a smoky room for half an hour.

Definitely harmful to the health of passive smokers:

• Nicotine.
• Benzopyrene.
• Carbon monoxide.
• Salts of heavy metals.

Hygiene

When smoking a hookah, hygiene rules are constantly violated: the mouthpiece passes through many people.

Not everyone agrees to constantly change disposable attachments: some people think that this slows down the process of getting pleasure, others just think that they are showing disrespect for their friends.

This increases the risk of transmitting common viruses such as herpes and diseases such as strep throat. In this regard, cigarettes are much more hygienic.

Why is hookah harmful?

Smoking hookah and cigarettes are equally harmful to the body, doctors say.

Let's take a closer look at what happens if you smoke a hookah and what effect it has on the human body.

Harm to the cardiovascular system

Increased concentration of nicotine in the heart muscle tissue leads to their gradual degeneration, which is the root cause of the development of myocardial infarction.

Inhalation of hookah smoke leads to:

• Decreased amount of oxygen in the blood.
• Development of atherosclerosis.
• Blood thickening.
• Formation of blood clots.
• Poor blood circulation.

All of the above reasons may indirectly cause premature death.

Thickening of the blood can cause blood clots to form. The broken blood clot enters the bloodstream and begins its movement throughout the body. Sooner or later, it clogs the vessel, blocking blood access to it. As a result, a stroke occurs in the organ that was affected oxygen starvation.

Fatal consequences are most common when the blood clot enters the head or heart.

Effects on the lungs

Hookah smoke fills the lungs, settling on them in the form of resins, which cause damage to the alveolar sacs.

Connective tissue The lungs lose their elasticity, which increases the risk of bronchiectasis - chronic dilatation of the bronchi. This disease threatens shortness of breath, frequent exacerbations of cough and secondary complications - cardiopulmonary failure, abscess, pulmonary hemorrhage.

Carcinogens found in hookah smoke irritate the mucous membrane of the larynx and trachea and negatively affect the ciliated epithelium, causing its destruction.

Destruction of the epithelium of the lungs leads to the development of frequent pharyngitis and chronic bronchitis followed by and more serious pathologies like oncological diseases.

Effect on the central nervous system

Half an hour after you start smoking hookah, the blood vessels narrow sharply. Exposure to nicotine reduces the oxygen saturation of the blood, leading to hypoxia. At this stage, both the brain and the nervous system suffer.

Irritability, fatigue, poor appetite and sleep disturbances are all characteristic symptoms of an avid hookah smoker.

Diseases may also develop:

• Neuritis.
• Radiculitis.
• Polyneuritis.
• Plexit.

Tobacco smoke can cause multiple sclerosis, which is the extreme degree of defeat nervous system.

Hookah harm to eyesight

Oddly enough, the impact of smoke on the eyes from a hookah is even greater than from a cigarette.

Hookahs are harmful to vision because their smoke causes:

1. Conjunctivitis - smoke is an allergen and irritates the mucous membrane of the eyes, which causes redness, tearing and burning.
2. Blockage of blood vessels - Smoking a hookah contributes to a sharp contraction of blood vessels, which disrupts the blood supply to the retina and choroid, which can lead to damage optic nerve.
3. Tobacco amblyopia- that is, damage to the central part of the retina. Due to degeneration of part of the retina, central vision is lost.
4. Cataract- cloudiness eye lens. Cloudiness of the lens caused by smoke exposure can cause vision loss.
5. Uveitis- inflammation of the choroid of the eye. Symptoms of the pathology are photophobia, lacrimation, loss of vision. Develops due to smoke inhalation.

According to statistics, every tenth hookah smoker runs the risk of losing his sight completely.

Harm of hookah to men's health

According to statistics, men smoke hookah much more often than women.

For men's health Daily and prolonged exposure to hookah smoke is even more dangerous than for women:

1. The elasticity of blood vessels deteriorates, causing blood to stop flowing to the male genital organ.
2. Lymphatic fluid stops saturating corpora cavernosa, which has bad influence for potency.
3. After some time it comes sexual dysfunction. Already by 30-35, hookah lovers who smoke mixtures 3-4 times a week risk becoming impotent.
4. Sperm activity decreases, which can lead to problems with conception.

Advantages of hookah without nicotine

Smoking a hookah has both positive sides.

The originality of the process, the beauty of the ritual, the pleasant aroma - this is what attracts many people to enjoy smoking periodically.

Even in the process of hookah smoking there is no burning of paper, which is a factor in the formation of many toxic substances.

As for water filtration, it is practically helpless in cleaning smoke from nicotine and benzopyrene, but it cleans it very well of toxic substances. chemical substances- acrolein and acetaldehyde.

In addition, there is always the opportunity for a smoker to switch to nicotine-free mixtures, the effect of which on humans is much less harmful.

There are 3 types of nicotine-free tobacco:

• Volcanic minerals soaked in a special syrup.
• Cream applied to the walls of the tobacco bowl.
• Natural blends that use dried herbs and roots instead of tobacco, mixed with flavorings and glycerin.

On the one hand, this option is more harmless. The main thing is to choose natural smoking mixtures from a reliable, trusted manufacturer.

On the other hand, any chemical flavoring in the mixture becomes carcinogenic when heated.

The dangers of hookah compared to cigarettes

Having considered all the pros and cons of hookah smoking, and assessing why it is useful and why it is dangerous, you can understand how hookah smoking affects human health.

And if we compare it with cigarettes, we can note the following:

• In cigarettes, smoke passes only through a filter, but in a hookah - through a shaft, on the walls of which enough harmful substances are deposited and through a water filter. Thus, the composition of the smoke improves and causes less damage to the body.
• Cigarettes contain paper, which when burned is also a source of many toxins.

Precautionary measures

If you like to smoke hookah for a long time, take at least basic precautions:

• Buy tobacco only in packaging containing information about the manufacturer and composition.
• Do not smoke for more than one hour.
• Do not use alcoholic beverages as a filter; their vapors may combine with toxins in the smoke.
• Don't take deep drags.
• Remember to remove excess carbon monoxide through the valve every 15 minutes.
• Use disposable mouthpieces.
• Rinse the device thoroughly after each use.
• It is definitely dangerous for pregnant women and children to smoke and breathe hookah.

By following these rules, you can reduce the harmfulness of hookah to the body and smoke it truly for pleasure and relaxation, and not to the detriment of your health.