ACTIVE SMOKER: CHARACTERISTICS AND CONSEQUENCES - GEOGRAFÍA - 2025

An active smoker is the person who uses tobacco directly. Unlike passive smokers, who only receive the negative consequences of this drug for being close to a source of tobacco smoke, active smokers freely decide to submit to this substance.

We all know the harmful consequences of tobacco. In recent years, the media, public bodies and even tobacco companies have begun to warn us of what can happen to our body if we smoke regularly.

However, even today many people continue to be active smokers. In this article we will see exactly what this means, what consequences smoking has for our health, and how exactly a passive smoker differs from an active smoker.

characteristics

The active smoker is a person who consumes tobacco freely and directly, as opposed to passive smoker, who is one who receives tobacco smoke from being near a person who smokes.

The active smoker can consume tobacco in different ways: in cigarettes, cigars, pipe, or vaporizer, among others. Although the consequences of each of the consumption routes vary slightly, in all of them they are extremely harmful to health.

Active smokers are the only ones who can become addicted to tobacco, since nicotine only works when consumed directly. Some studies have investigated possible nicotine addiction in passive smokers, but the results have been inconclusive.

The frequency with which an active smoker uses tobacco varies greatly from one person to another. While some only have a cigarette once in a while (as would be the case with "social smokers"), others may smoke several packs of tobacco a day.

Obviously, the more tobacco you use, the worse the health consequences. Here we will see some of the most serious of them.

Consequences

Tobacco is one of the substances accepted by society that is most harmful to our body. Despite the fact that for several decades tobacco companies tried to discredit the research that linked tobacco consumption to all kinds of diseases, today we know that this substance has an infinite number of harmful consequences.

Addiction

One of the most striking consequences of tobacco is the addiction it causes. Nicotine, one of the main components of this substance, alters the brain in such a way that it needs an increasing dose to function properly.

The funny thing is that, unlike other substances, nicotine does not cause addiction by making the person who uses it feel good. On the contrary, the route by which addiction is generated is by making the person feel very bad when they are not consuming nicotine.

Cancer

Perhaps one of the most shocking consequences of tobacco is its link to cancer. This disease, which even today continues to be very difficult to cure and has become one of the main causes of death in the world, is much more likely to appear in an active smoker.

Tobacco is related to all types of cancer due to its harmful effects on the cells of our body, but above all it has to do with lung, throat and tongue cancer.

Circulatory diseases

Tobacco use in any form is also linked to all kinds of heart disease. Because it raises the heart rate, and because of the stiffening of the veins when smoking, the heart has to work much harder to circulate the blood.

This can have from mild consequences, such as increased fatigue or poor circulation in the extremities, to devastating effects such as heart attacks or strokes.

Reproductive problems

One of the main systems affected by tobacco is the reproductive system. Many studies confirm that smoking has very negative effects on fertility, libido or sexual function.

Some of these consequences are the following:

- Decreased sexual desire in both men and women.

- Loss of erections in men.

- Decreased fertility in both sexes.

- Increased risk in pregnancy for women.

- Greater chances of having a child with problems at birth.

Decreased defenses

Lastly, active tobacco use has been linked to virtually every disease in the world, due to its role in weakening the body's immune system.

By affecting and weakening the defenses of our body, active smokers are more likely to contract all kinds of diseases.

This adds to all the other negative effects of tobacco, making it a particularly dangerous substance.

Differences with passive smoking

Next we will see the main differences between a passive and an active smoker, to better understand how tobacco affects each of them.

Involuntary exposure

The main difference between a passive smoker and an active smoker is that the former does not choose to be exposed to tobacco, but only does so by being in contact with people who smoke.

These people can belong to your social circle, but also just be people with whom you meet in the same space.

Addiction

The second most important difference between the two types of smokers is that passives cannot become addicted to nicotine, simply because this substance does not enter their body. To consume it, it is necessary to smoke the tobacco directly, instead of just inhaling the smoke.

Less health consequences

Although any type of exposure to tobacco is harmful, the effects of inhaling the smoke are much less dangerous to your health than those of smoking cigarettes, cigars or vaporizers on a regular basis.

However, being exposed to tobacco smoke on a continuous basis can also increase the risk of cancer, heart disease, or decreased defenses. For this reason, many countries around the world are banning tobacco use in public places.

References

1. "Passive smokers and active smokers - The differences" in: How to quit smoking. Retrieved on: May 03, 2018 from How to quit smoking: comodejarelcigarrillo.com.
2. "Active smoking" in: Smoke Free. Retrieved on: May 03, 2018 from Smoke Free: smokefree.hk.
3. "Effects of tobacco on health" in: National tobacco control program. Retrieved on: May 03, 2018 from the National Tobacco Control Program: msal.gob.ar.
4. "What are the medical consequences of tobacco use?" in: Drug Abuse. Retrieved on: May 03, 2018 from Drug Abuse: drugabuse.gov.
5. "Passive smoker" in: Wikipedia. Retrieved on: May 03, 2018 from Wikipedia: es.wikipedia.org.