I was surfing the net to find out how Sheesha works, what makes it tick, and see whether I can DIY a set. But lo and behold, Sheesha isn't a good thing to have. And as always, I am against eating/inhaling/drinking/taking in things which destroy the body.
This can be supported by the evident stone and blur looks on the faces of my friends after a round of sheesha. They seem lost and I've even got a friend who couldn't even mount his bike. Carbon monoxide have entered their system and the brain lacks the oxygen to continue operating.
Friends claim its just smoke. Or some nonchalantly say that its just inhaling water. lolx. I am a very stubborn individual indeed and didn't buy their story till I did my own research.
To that cute girl over there (you know who you are), please stop sheesha-ing... Cause I want you to live a healthy and fruitful life. =)
Read this article below...
The Silent but Dangerous New Fad in the Tobacco Industry
By Mubashar Khan
Source: www.hahmed.com
In less than a decade, the tobacco industry has seen its public face diminished in a storm of its own lies, deceit, and decrepit marketing of an item known to be harmful to our health. Despite proper warnings by various medical institutions and individuals, the tobacco industry continued to promote cigarette smoking in a multitude of ventures. It took over fifty years for the world to realize that lies cannot continue and that advocacy of the individual’s health is far more important than the money capitalism showers upon the tobacco industry. Slowly, the world took notice. Airplane companies banned smoking. Restaurants as well as other public places banned smoking. Bars in New York prohibited smoking. Legislative bodies are now procuring support to ban cigarette smoking even in the outdoors. With every establishment taking notice, lung cancer rates have been dropping, as well as other diseases, i.e. heart disease, as well as the mortality rates directly attributed to cigarette smoking. However, a new form of inhaled death is taking shape as being the new cigarette. It has blinded individuals to believe that it isn’t harmful and that all who partake in this new fad will not be venturing on a road that might resoundingly lead to “déjà vu all over again.” This hopeful fad of hookah smoking has started to emerge in the west as an alternative to cigarette smoking minus the deleterious effects. No deleterious effects? This is too good to be true. The truth is inhaling smoke, in any form, can’t come without danger. The fact that it has other names, like many other illicit drugs, gave me insight that it’s not the safest item to use. It is also known as nargeela, argila, sheesha, ghalyan, as well as hubbly-bubbly.
I was first introduced to the concept of hookah smoking as a child, when I saw individuals back in South Asia puffing away on this long pipe. The shape of the apparatus consists of a base which is partially filled with water, a bowl where flavored tobacco is placed, a pipe that connects the base and the bowl, and a hose that connects to the air portion of the base. Like the even more dangerous bidi from India, tobacco of various flavors including peach, mango, strawberry, apple, blueberry, and many others, just to name a few are utilized as the variant ingredients of hookah’s smoke. Many times, it’s the flavor of the tobacco that people are enticed to continue smoking. It was not till the late 90’s and early 2000s that hookah had really caught on. Friends from college would end up spending their afternoons and nights in hookah bars for hours on end. Eventually, their addiction laid claim to them buying not one but several of their own hookahs. Their claim, like many hookah smokers, was that it has less nicotine due to the lower heat used on the tobacco amongst other items. That fictitious claim couldn’t be corroborated by any non-hookah smoker.
Many papers have been released in scientific journals such as Pediatrics (Water-Pipe (Narghile) Smoking: An Emerging Health Risk Behavior; Barry Knishkowy MD/MPH, Yona Amitai MD/MPH) as well as The Journal of Periodontology illustrating the injurious effects of hookah. First of all, the tobacco used in hookah consists of 2-4% nicotine, compared to 1-3% in cigarettes. After a single 45 minute smoking session, nicotine levels in the blood rose 60 fold (1.11-60.31 ng/mL) and cotinine rose well over 50 fold (0.79-51.95 mg/mL). The carbon monoxide content is much higher in hookah smokers than in cigarette smokers. A study comparing hookah smokers who smoked between 10-40 minutes and cigarette smokers and non smokers found that the concentration of carboxyhemoglobin (a degree of measuring carbon monoxide) in hookah smokers was 10.6% compared to cigarette smokers (6.5%) and non smokers (1.6%). The more carbon monoxide in the blood stream means less oxygen the various parts of your body will receive. This could very well correlate with the light headed feeling many hookah smokers claim to have after a session. The filtered smoke many hookah smokers profess to inhale isn’t filtered to a great extent. In fact, 100 puffs of hookah contained more significant amounts of nicotine, tar, arsenic, chromium, and lead compared to cigarette smoking. Some items might be less than those found in cigarette smoking, but hookah smokers end up smoking hours upon end, which increases the levels of various carcinogenic and harmful substances found in the body. Studies are presently being conducted on the health implications of hookah smokers. Preliminary studies confirm increased risks for various cancers including bladder and lung, decreased lung function, increased amounts of reactive oxygen species, and even infectious diseases (i.e. TB) due to the use of a single pipe by many smokers.
This is further being exaggerated by the fact that hookah bars are popping up just about every where. In New York City, about twenty have opened up in a matter of a few years. In these bars, cigarette smoking is allowed with the same fervor as hookah smoking, thus increasing the yield of second hand smoke. In New York City, it might seem contradictory that smoking has been banned in bars but hookah bars are still allowed. Excluded from the ban are those institutions that earn at least 10% of their revenue from tobacco and tobacco related products. With the ban on smoking in many public places being implemented, the scarcity of tobacco friendly areas promotes the establishment of more hookah bars. These bars aren’t opening in just any small area. Just around my alma mater, New York University, at least four exist within walking distance. Some of these hookah bars and lounges don’t even check for ID, further propagating the use of tobacco related products by minors. In essence, it’s the youth that are being targeted again. Did I mention déjà vu?
Actions should be taken now, focusing mainly on education. Many primary care providers as well as the general public haven’t been exposed to the information that hookah smoking has deleterious health effects. Public campaigns, like thetruth.com advertisements or magazine ads, should be run to inform the public. Secondly, health warnings should be placed on all tobacco related products. Hookah bars should limit the session in a day for each individual and provide disposable mouth pieces that prevent cross contamination of the air hoses from which people inhale from. This allows the possibility of infectious contractible diseases to be limited. These measures are just a start, but if implemented, would certainly curtail the spread of this new risky behavior. Hopefully, déjà vu is suppressed.
-Mubashar Khan:Mount Sinai School of Medicine 09′
This can be supported by the evident stone and blur looks on the faces of my friends after a round of sheesha. They seem lost and I've even got a friend who couldn't even mount his bike. Carbon monoxide have entered their system and the brain lacks the oxygen to continue operating.
Friends claim its just smoke. Or some nonchalantly say that its just inhaling water. lolx. I am a very stubborn individual indeed and didn't buy their story till I did my own research.
To that cute girl over there (you know who you are), please stop sheesha-ing... Cause I want you to live a healthy and fruitful life. =)
Read this article below...
The Silent but Dangerous New Fad in the Tobacco Industry
By Mubashar Khan
Source: www.hahmed.com
In less than a decade, the tobacco industry has seen its public face diminished in a storm of its own lies, deceit, and decrepit marketing of an item known to be harmful to our health. Despite proper warnings by various medical institutions and individuals, the tobacco industry continued to promote cigarette smoking in a multitude of ventures. It took over fifty years for the world to realize that lies cannot continue and that advocacy of the individual’s health is far more important than the money capitalism showers upon the tobacco industry. Slowly, the world took notice. Airplane companies banned smoking. Restaurants as well as other public places banned smoking. Bars in New York prohibited smoking. Legislative bodies are now procuring support to ban cigarette smoking even in the outdoors. With every establishment taking notice, lung cancer rates have been dropping, as well as other diseases, i.e. heart disease, as well as the mortality rates directly attributed to cigarette smoking. However, a new form of inhaled death is taking shape as being the new cigarette. It has blinded individuals to believe that it isn’t harmful and that all who partake in this new fad will not be venturing on a road that might resoundingly lead to “déjà vu all over again.” This hopeful fad of hookah smoking has started to emerge in the west as an alternative to cigarette smoking minus the deleterious effects. No deleterious effects? This is too good to be true. The truth is inhaling smoke, in any form, can’t come without danger. The fact that it has other names, like many other illicit drugs, gave me insight that it’s not the safest item to use. It is also known as nargeela, argila, sheesha, ghalyan, as well as hubbly-bubbly.
I was first introduced to the concept of hookah smoking as a child, when I saw individuals back in South Asia puffing away on this long pipe. The shape of the apparatus consists of a base which is partially filled with water, a bowl where flavored tobacco is placed, a pipe that connects the base and the bowl, and a hose that connects to the air portion of the base. Like the even more dangerous bidi from India, tobacco of various flavors including peach, mango, strawberry, apple, blueberry, and many others, just to name a few are utilized as the variant ingredients of hookah’s smoke. Many times, it’s the flavor of the tobacco that people are enticed to continue smoking. It was not till the late 90’s and early 2000s that hookah had really caught on. Friends from college would end up spending their afternoons and nights in hookah bars for hours on end. Eventually, their addiction laid claim to them buying not one but several of their own hookahs. Their claim, like many hookah smokers, was that it has less nicotine due to the lower heat used on the tobacco amongst other items. That fictitious claim couldn’t be corroborated by any non-hookah smoker.
Many papers have been released in scientific journals such as Pediatrics (Water-Pipe (Narghile) Smoking: An Emerging Health Risk Behavior; Barry Knishkowy MD/MPH, Yona Amitai MD/MPH) as well as The Journal of Periodontology illustrating the injurious effects of hookah. First of all, the tobacco used in hookah consists of 2-4% nicotine, compared to 1-3% in cigarettes. After a single 45 minute smoking session, nicotine levels in the blood rose 60 fold (1.11-60.31 ng/mL) and cotinine rose well over 50 fold (0.79-51.95 mg/mL). The carbon monoxide content is much higher in hookah smokers than in cigarette smokers. A study comparing hookah smokers who smoked between 10-40 minutes and cigarette smokers and non smokers found that the concentration of carboxyhemoglobin (a degree of measuring carbon monoxide) in hookah smokers was 10.6% compared to cigarette smokers (6.5%) and non smokers (1.6%). The more carbon monoxide in the blood stream means less oxygen the various parts of your body will receive. This could very well correlate with the light headed feeling many hookah smokers claim to have after a session. The filtered smoke many hookah smokers profess to inhale isn’t filtered to a great extent. In fact, 100 puffs of hookah contained more significant amounts of nicotine, tar, arsenic, chromium, and lead compared to cigarette smoking. Some items might be less than those found in cigarette smoking, but hookah smokers end up smoking hours upon end, which increases the levels of various carcinogenic and harmful substances found in the body. Studies are presently being conducted on the health implications of hookah smokers. Preliminary studies confirm increased risks for various cancers including bladder and lung, decreased lung function, increased amounts of reactive oxygen species, and even infectious diseases (i.e. TB) due to the use of a single pipe by many smokers.
This is further being exaggerated by the fact that hookah bars are popping up just about every where. In New York City, about twenty have opened up in a matter of a few years. In these bars, cigarette smoking is allowed with the same fervor as hookah smoking, thus increasing the yield of second hand smoke. In New York City, it might seem contradictory that smoking has been banned in bars but hookah bars are still allowed. Excluded from the ban are those institutions that earn at least 10% of their revenue from tobacco and tobacco related products. With the ban on smoking in many public places being implemented, the scarcity of tobacco friendly areas promotes the establishment of more hookah bars. These bars aren’t opening in just any small area. Just around my alma mater, New York University, at least four exist within walking distance. Some of these hookah bars and lounges don’t even check for ID, further propagating the use of tobacco related products by minors. In essence, it’s the youth that are being targeted again. Did I mention déjà vu?
Actions should be taken now, focusing mainly on education. Many primary care providers as well as the general public haven’t been exposed to the information that hookah smoking has deleterious health effects. Public campaigns, like thetruth.com advertisements or magazine ads, should be run to inform the public. Secondly, health warnings should be placed on all tobacco related products. Hookah bars should limit the session in a day for each individual and provide disposable mouth pieces that prevent cross contamination of the air hoses from which people inhale from. This allows the possibility of infectious contractible diseases to be limited. These measures are just a start, but if implemented, would certainly curtail the spread of this new risky behavior. Hopefully, déjà vu is suppressed.
-Mubashar Khan:Mount Sinai School of Medicine 09′
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