Smoking anywhere is unhealthy, as smoking cigarettes accounts for 25% of cancer-related deaths worldwide, but it just becomes highly dangerous when a person smokes inside an air-conditioned room. The closed space, lack of ventilation, and recirculation of the air increase the toxicity of smoke from cigarettes, as this affects vital organs such as the heart, brain, and kidneys.
Dr. Brajesh Kumar Mishra – Interventional Cardiologist and Cardiac Electrophysiologist, Manipal Hospital, Gurugram shares with us how smoking in an air conditioned room affects different organs of the body
Heart Health
Smoking is known to enhance the chances of cardiovascular diseases, but in an air-conditioned room, the risks multiply. When there is little circulation of air, toxic chemicals such as carbon monoxide, nicotine, and tar hang longer in the air. These chemicals decrease the blood’s level of oxygen, which increases your heart’s workload. This unabated hard work for your heart increases your blood pressure and increases your risk for heart attacks and strokes. Prolonged exposure can cause chronic heart diseases even among nonsmokers who are exposed to second-hand smoke.
Brain Function
The brain, which is highly dependent on oxygen supply, suffers most in cases of smoking in an enclosed environment. Carbon monoxide from cigarette smoke lowers the blood’s oxygen-carrying capacity, thus starving the brain of oxygen. This would affect cognitive abilities, such as those pertaining to memory and concentration. Chronic exposure will increase risks for stroke and long-term neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. These risks are increased inside a closed, air-conditioned room when there is little ventilation; hence, a person is exposed longer to the toxic elements emanating from cigarette smoke.
Kidney Damage
The kidneys clean the blood of toxic substances. When smoking, an array of poisons passes through, including nicotine and heavy metals, which the kidneys must be more laboured to excrete. The continuous exposure is brought about when these toxins get trapped in the environment where smoking is done in an air-conditioned room. However, this extra workload on kidneys over a long time can cause CKD. In addition, there is also an increased chance to have other disorders that may involve hypertension, thereby further damaging kidney function.
It significantly heightens the risk to your heart, brain, and kidneys when you smoke in an air-conditioned room. In addition to affecting the smoker, smoking exposes people around them to the dangers of second-hand smoke. For health’s sake, there should be no smoking, most particularly inside an enclosure, to help the body ward off the bad effects of tobacco.
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