The Truth about Smoking Shisha

Some people say that smoking shisha is not as dangerous to health as cigarette smoking, but the truth is shisha smoke contains the same combination of nicotine, tar, carbon monoxide and other heavy metals that cigarette smoke contains. This means that all of the harmful effects associates in smoking cigarettes are also found in smoking shisha; these include lung cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and nicotine addiction among others. A typical one-hour long water pipe smoking session involves inhaling 100-200 times the volume of smoke inhaled with a single cigarette.

In fact smoking shisha harms others by producing second-hand smoke. Second-hand smoke from water pipes is a mixture of tobacco smoke in addition to smoke from the charcoal or fuel and therefore causes a serious risk to non-smokers. Passive inhalation of shisha smoke is associated with all the health effects linked to passive smoking and cigarettes. There’s no doubt that shisha smoking is a health risk. It is associated with the same fatal and life-threatening illnesses with cigarettes. Smoking shisha is as synonymous to having smoke directly injected into the inner areas of your lungs.

Shisha smoking rapidly increasing in the major cities. But unfortunately most people who use shisha are not aware of its harmful effects. Restaurant owners tell their customers that it is purely flavoured smoke.  Some people are unaware of the health effects of shisha, because of its sweeteners and flavourings; using a shisha pipe is just as harmful as smoking cigarettes, as it has tobacco in it.

Pregnant women should not even consider smoke shisha; but those who do smoke shisha are at a high risk of delivering premature babies – babies who would have breathing difficulties or at worse, might be delivered dead.

Now that you know these facts, you can make an informed decision.  If you are a shisha smoker, it is time for you to quit to this deadly practice. Quit shisha smoking and improve your personal health.

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