Because hookah has a pleasant flavor and aroma and is usually used seldom, people sometimes mistake it for a healthier alternative to smoking cigarettes.
However, there isn’t a healthy way to smoke. In addition to carrying hazards including cancer, heart disease, and lung disease, hookah is not any healthier than smoking cigarettes.
Both hookah tobacco and smoke are addicting and just as bad for your health as regular cigarettes. Hookah smoke also includes dangerous toxins.
In addition to increasing the risk of addiction, using a hookah increases the risk of cancer, low bone density, heart disease, lung illness, stroke, issues during pregnancy, and difficulties giving delivery.
What Is A Hookah?
A hookah is a type of water pipe used to smoke tobacco that has been flavor- and sugar-infused. Other terms for hookah include goza, hubble-bubble, argileh, shisha, and narghile. Typically rather big, the pipe has a tobacco chamber, a water chamber, and one or more flexible tubes that extend from it to allow many users to inhale simultaneously.
Frequently, molasses, fruit pulp, or honey are used to sweeten hookah tobacco. Other tastes like coconut, mint, or coffee are sometimes added. The taste and scent of tobacco are enhanced by flavorings, which appeals particularly to youth.
It’s vital to remember that hookahs may be used to smoke hashish, weed, and herbal shisha in addition to tobacco.
Hookah Toxins
A prevalent misperception is that smoking a hookah eliminates nicotine and other harmful substances from tobacco. Although water-cooled smoke is kinder to sensitive lung tissue, the toxins in the smoke remain the same, and this procedure does not remove the compounds in the hookah tobacco that cause cancer.
Many of the same dangerous compounds found in regular cigarette smoke are also present in hookah smoke, including:
Acetaldehyde, Acrolein, Arsenic, Copper, lead, Chromium, cobalt, Formaldehyde.
It is false for certain hookah tobacco products to say they don’t contain tar. Tar is never present in tobacco until it is burned, or heated in the case of hookah tobacco. Because of this distinction, some people assume that hookah tar is less hazardous than cigarette tar, yet this is untrue.
An additional layer of risk for hookah smokers is the charcoal used to heat the tobacco, which includes metals, carbon monoxide, and other carcinogens such polyaromatic hydrocarbons.
Smoking vs. Hookah
A produced cigarette typically has a nicotine content of 7 to 22 mg, of which around 1 mg is absorbed by the smoker. A typical hookah bowl has the same amount of nicotine as twenty packs of cigarettes. Since nicotine is a chemical, hookah smoking has the potential to be just as addictive as cigarette smoking.
In a 45-minute session, a hookah smoker inhales around 90,000 milliliters (ml) of smoke; in contrast, a single cigarette smoker inhales 500–600 ml of smoke.
Because inhaling through the water pipe necessitates a harder and longer drag or inhale, hookah smokers may inhale more of the added pollutants inherent in cigarettes, such as tar and heavy metals.
Health Issues Related To Hookah
There are several health risks linked with hookah smoking that are comparable to those of cigarette smoking, such as increased risk of cancer, lowered fertility, heart disease, and more.
Dependency
Nicotine is delivered via smoking a water pipe or hookah, exactly like it is with cigarettes and other tobacco products. Nicotine can have a number of negative health impacts and is extremely addictive.
In a matter of seconds, nicotine enters the brain and begins to cause the release of adrenaline. The hormone adrenaline is involved in the body’s fight-or-flight reaction. It alters physiological processes, raising blood pressure, breathing, and heart rate.
Cancer
Smokers of hookah are susceptible to a wide range of cancers, such as stomach, lung, esophageal, bladder, and oral cancers.
Reduced Fertility
Men and women may have lower fertility rates as a result of hookah smoking.
According to one research, men who frequently smoked hookah had worse sperm motility—the ability of sperm to travel in the right direction—and sperm morphology—the size and shape of sperm—than men who did not drink hookah.
Heart Conditions and Heart Attacks
Smoking a hookah increases heart rate and blood pressure, which increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Additionally, smoking a hookah might aggravate heart problems and blocked arteries.
Lung Conditions
Lung function is impacted by hookah usage, even for brief periods of time. You may find that when you conduct strenuous chores, you get out of breath more quickly. Smoking a hookah raises the chance of lung conditions such chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and diminished pulmonary function over time.
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