Shisha
This Stoptober many people will benefit from stopping smoking for 28 days throughout the month of October and will get a head start on a smokefree future. Stopping smoking of other forms of tobacco such as Shisha is just as important as stopping cigarettes for your health. So if you smoke Shisha why not also join in this Stoptober!
Shisha smoking is a popular way to socialise in groups of young people and young professionals but the health implications of smoking Shisha are not always highlighted prior to use. Many Shisha pipes do not display a warning sign like cigarette packets do. eg: (Smoking kills).
What is shisha?
Shisha (also known as Nargile, waterpipe, hubble-bubble) is flavoured tobacco smoked through a water pipe. The damp tobacco which is placed in the head is heated by hot coal which is placed on top.
Shisha tobacco comes in many different flavours including fruit and herbal. It also comes in tobacco free but this is still harmful as it contains other burning chemicals from coal and carbon monoxide.
Many people think that shisha is less harmful than smoking. It feels less harsh than cigarettes do as it is smoked through water. However, this isn’t the case and you can inhale 200 times more smoke in an hour of shisha smoking than when you smoke a single cigarette.
Top 10 Myth busting Facts about Shisha:
- Smoking Shisha can be as harmful as smoking cigarettes
- Fruit flavours disguise the harmful tobacco in shisha
- Smoking shisha through bubbling water won’t filter out dangerous toxins
- Shisha smoking during pregnancy can harm the unborn baby.
- Second hand shisha smoke poses a serious health risk, especially if smoked in the home.
- Sharing a shisha mouthpiece can spread diseases eg: TB, Oral Herpes.
- ‘Tobacco Free’ shisha isn’t safe. Smokers can inhale dangerous levels of carbon monoxide.
- Shisha tobacco contains highly addictive nicotine
- Charcoal and other heat sources applied to burn tobacco increase the health risk because they produce their own toxins when heated.
- Any product containing tobacco should have health warnings, however, this is not always the case with shisha.
Other health effects of smoking shisha.
Your lungs will be operating as a heavy smoker.
Your heart rate is greatly increased after one shisha session, having a harmful effect on the heart and blood circulation.
Smoking shisha for 45 minutes raises your carbon monoxide levels 4 times higher than smoking a single cigarette.
Women who smoke shisha while pregnant result in the babies having lower birth rates.
For help in quitting shisha contact the One You Hounslow Stop Smoking Service on 020 8973 3530 or find your nearest stop smoking drop in clinic.
You can also find out about extra support available for Stoptober
Jessica Cox and Lavina Ramlingam
Stop Smoking Specialists
One You Hounslow Stop Smoking Service.
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