When smoking a hookah, blood pressure increases or decreases

Anonymously

Around the clock

Attention! The material contains information about substances, the use of which can cause serious harm to your health!

Article prepared by an expert

Knoblokh Ekaterina Sergeevna

Leading psychologist. Medical psychologist, full member of the OPPL, emotional-imaginative therapist. More than 10 years of experience working with addicted people in outpatient and inpatient rehabilitation programs.

Read in the article:

1. Hookah or cigarettes - which is worse?
2. Hookah and cancer risk
3. Hookah and heart and vascular diseases
4. Smoking a hookah during the coronavirus pandemic

Hookah is a popular and fashionable entertainment among young people, the smoking of which is associated with various rituals. It is smoked in special cafes - hookah bars, you can find it on the menu of restaurants, and passionate smoke lovers buy the device for home. In our article we will talk about the harmful effects of hookah on the body and the increased interest in this type of smoking during the period of self-isolation.

Hookah or cigarettes - which is worse?

Cigarettes and hookahs use tobacco, but in the latter the inhaled smoke first passes through water, milk or alcohol. The only advantage of a hookah is that it is impossible to smoke as often as cigarettes, because it is too bulky to always carry with you.

What is the difference between smoking hookah and cigarettes:

• “inhalation” while smoking a hookah causes more severe lung damage;
• smoking a hookah lasts more than an hour, as opposed to the time for one or two cigarettes;
• cooled hookah smoke is inhaled deeper, so the smoke enters the deep parts of the lungs;
• The nicotine content in hookah tobacco is less, but due to prolonged smoking, more substances enter the body.

But in both cases, smoking produces tars and other substances that affect a person’s lungs.

How often to change tobacco

The need to replace tobacco leaves is indicated by bitterness in the mouth. This can happen from overheating of the tobacco mixture. If replacing the coals and overheating did not help correct the situation, you need to fill the bowl with new filling. It is advisable to change the tobacco and water from the flask.

Some smokers prefer to refill the bowl when the flavor of the mixture evaporates. There is no need to do this. The richness and clarity of the aroma is a matter of personal taste, and may change when preparing a hookah.

Just like when using cigarettes, in hookah sessions you should not exceed the limit and smoke for pleasure. When burned correctly, the tobacco releases its impregnation slowly. After the loss of active qualities, it is better to replace the leaves and not risk your health.

Hookah and cancer risk

One study confirmed that when smoking a hookah for more than 45 minutes, a person inhales the same amount of carbon monoxide as when smoking a pack of cigarettes. Even if the hookah is tobacco-free. An evening in the company of friends smoking increases the level of nicotine in the body, which can cause addiction.

Another danger is toxic chemicals in smoke that cause cancer. Irritation of the mucous membranes of the mouth, larynx and lungs when smoking can develop into inflammation, and then into cancer.

The most delicious tobacco

Each tobacco manufacturer develops its own line of flavors that would meet all needs. Each has several flavors – favorites. Let's look at the main manufacturers of the smoking mixture.

Dark Side

The product is made in Russia; many experts compare it with Tangiers because of its strength, aroma, high heat resistance, and first-class raw materials. The line includes a huge range of flavors with different degrees of strength. Successful types - bananaPapa, hunter, wildberry, bergamonstr, icecream, a delicious hookah mix will bring pleasure.

Tangiers

The hookah mixture is produced in the USA and is popular in the CIS countries and Russia. High strength, a distinct tobacco aftertaste without unnecessary impurities are its characteristics. Like domestic tobacco, Tangier has 3 strength lines and more than 50 flavors in each. The top ones are peach Iced Tea, horchata, ololiuqui, schnozzberry, cane Mint.

Starbuzz

The tobacco mixture is popular among girls and lovers of sweets, characterized by a weak expression of taste, easy to use and smoky. The manufacturer may not like it due to a possible chemical smell. Users' choice: cola, raspberry, mint chocolate, blue mist.

Fumari

Tobacco comes from the USA with a light strength, optimal strength, and small cut size. Used alone or when mixed with other tobaccos and flavors. Users prefer lemon mint, spiced tea, prickly pear, blueberry muffin, and ambrosia.

Nakhla

Produced since the 20th century. The brand is famous for its thick, soft aroma, dry composition of the mixture and low price. Some of the best flavors include cinnamon, lemon mint, chocolate mint, double apple, and blueberry.

Al Fakher

The tobacco mixture from the UAE is popular on the Russian market and in the CIS countries. The packaging retains freshness and moisture for a long time, fine cutting allows you to quickly fill the hookah bowl. Pleasant tastes - grapes, melon, watermelon, cherry, apple.

Hookah and heart and vascular diseases

The smoke that enters the lungs and blood when smoking a hookah negatively affects the body. It is wrong to believe that the water through which smoke passes can cleanse it of toxins.

Why does the heart experience increased stress when smoking a hookah?

• the pulse increases, causing the heart to work harder;
• blood pressure increases, causing the heart muscle to become overstrained;
• the risk of developing a heart attack or stroke increases;
• toxic substances enter the blood, poisoning the internal organs.

Few people consider the hidden health hazards of hookah smoking to be justified. On the contrary, because of the fruity aroma of tobacco, people consider it safe and attractive. Some smokers switch from cigarettes to hookah, believing that they have gotten rid of their addiction. But believing in misconceptions while continuing to smoke means deliberately harming your health.

Hookah - a medicine for hypotension

With the help of smoking, a smoker can get rid of hypotension. Doctors still advise individuals suffering from hypotension to reconsider their diet (the body needs a lot of vitamins) and spend more time in the fresh air. Don't try to raise your blood pressure by drinking coffee.

To normalize the indicators, it is recommended to lead a healthy lifestyle. It is better not to risk your health; before visiting a hookah room, it is recommended to consult a doctor.

Smoking a hookah has a positive effect on the vocal cords, a person’s mental state, helps overcome stress and has a calming effect.

It has a positive effect on the condition of the respiratory system. This effect can be achieved by adding medicinal herbs to the smoking mixture. These substances stimulate the immune system; the device plays the role of an inhaler.

To normalize blood pressure it is recommended:

• give up this habit, and if this is not possible, you should try to smoke less often;
• When choosing a tobacco mixture, pay attention to substances of reduced strength;
• Avoid smoking the device with wine and other alcoholic beverages.

Take the smoking test

Smoking a hookah during the coronavirus pandemic

During the pandemic, people have little access to entertainment and hookah smoking is becoming an attractive leisure option. The danger is that in a company, hookah is transmitted from person to person, and if someone in the company is infected with the virus, it will quickly spread.

In addition, smoking in the form of “inhalations” causes more serious toxic damage to the lungs, and this increases the risk of a severe form of a disease such as coronavirus. We must not forget that smoking causes nicotine addiction, which you will have to get rid of with the help of specialists.

If your loved ones need help in treating addiction, then sign up for a free consultation by calling the hotline of the Zdravnitsa professional treatment and rehabilitation center: 8-800-200-27-23 . Our specialists will select an effective treatment plan and accompany you throughout the course. We guarantee results if all our recommendations are followed.

Similar articles:

Stimulants as drugs

Smoking mixtures

How long does heroin last in urine?

My son is a drug addict

Cravings and what to do with them?

How long does the session last?

You can smoke hookah for an unlimited amount of time. For example, Eric Hoffman, who is the creator of Tangiers tobacco, admitted that he likes to smoke a full bowl in 5 hours, stretching it out over the whole day.

If no side effects are observed, you can use the same padding for a longer session. The difference will only be reflected in the richness of the taste of the smoking mixture.

By varying the packing density of the filler, you can get:

• Hookah with a rich sauce that stays strong for 20 minutes;
• Hookah of less pronounced taste, but designed for 60-120 minutes.

The airier the position of the tobacco in the bowl, the brighter the taste. If the main thing is the duration of smoking, it is better to pack the tobacco more tightly, compacting it in a container. The hookah will be stronger and more durable, but the flavor from its sauce will evaporate faster.

The stuffing method is suitable for those for whom the main thing in the process is puffs of smoke. As long as there are puffs of smoke, the smoking session will continue. Loose filling of the bowl will provide a richer flavor. You can try it, but the durability will disappear after 20-40 minutes.

It takes 30-40 minutes of continuous use to smoke one mixture. Over time, taste sensations are lost. The maximum duration of smoking a bowl is an hour. During this time, the coal should be well heated.

Properly heated cubes will have a rich, bright red color on 4 sides. Charred, cooled coals are replaced with new ones. If there is enough smoke in the hookah and the process does not cause discomfort, you can smoke the bowl for longer than 60 minutes.

In this case, the time may increase depending on the number of smokers. If one hookah is actively used by 2-3 people, it will be used up faster. Much depends on the type of cup. Clay or silicone veneers allow tobacco to prolong the combustion period.

Dental clinic No. 2

This year the summer does not spoil us with warm weather. While walking on a cool evening, you want to go to a cafe and drink a cup of hot tea. However, often in a small cozy room you are greeted by the suffocatingly sweet smell of smoke and tobacco. And you realize that you are in an establishment where the owners offer hookah to visitors. Smoking hookah became fashionable several years ago in our country. It is presented as some kind of trend. Hookah establishments are opening one after another. Most hookah consumers are young people who, out of ignorance or under the influence of advertising, naively believe that hookah is safe for health. Few people think about how hookah affects health. What will happen to the body even after several puffs? The World Health Organization has conducted multilateral studies, the results of which will dispel myths about the safety of hookah.

Myth 1. Tobacco used in a hookah is safe because, passing through water, it is cleansed of harmful substances. According to the World Health Organization, analysis of hookah smoke revealed the presence of carcinogenic substances such as nitrosamins, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, formaldehyde, benzene and toxic substances: nitric oxide and heavy metals. In addition, the very combustion of charcoal used in hookahs generates high levels of carbon monoxide. These toxic substances are related to the occurrence of heart and lung diseases and lead to the development of cancer. The most dangerous among them is benzopyrene. It is this, in combination with carbon monoxide, that destroys the lungs, provokes the rapid growth of cancer and leads to rapid death. A survey of hookah smokers revealed that after three years of hookah smoking, the condition of their lung tissue is 10 years ahead of their passport age. Hookah smokers are at risk of the same diseases as regular smokers. These are: - oral cancer; - lungs' cancer; - stomach cancer; - esophageal carcinoma; - decreased lung function; - impotence; - decreased ability to bear children; - weakened vision. Research has documented increased heart rate and blood pressure, other harmful acute cardiovascular effects, impaired lung function and exercise capacity, increased incidence of pneumonia, fainting, and acute carbon monoxide poisoning in hookah smokers. Being in the company of hookah smokers is equated to passive smoking, having an effect equivalent to being in a room filled with cigarette smoke. In this case, combustion products of charcoal, used as a combustible substance for hookahs, are added in the form of carbon monoxide and other chemical compounds.

Myth 2. When using a hookah, a person absorbs fewer toxic substances. Research has shown that smoking hookah exposes smokers to significant levels of toxic compounds. Hookah tobacco is packaged in 5() gram boxes, each containing 25 mg of nicotine. This amount is enough to fill four hookahs. A simple mathematical calculation shows that each person consumes 6.25 mg of nicotine. To push the smoke through the water, hookah smokers take a deep breath, filling the tiniest alveoli of the lungs with moist tobacco, which contains nicotine, carbon monoxide, heavy metal salts and carcinogens. Over the course of an hour, a hookah smoker takes from 40 to 200 deep puffs, and with each of them, about a liter of smoke enters his lungs.

Myth 3. Smoking a hookah is not addictive. The addiction to hookah is currently significantly underestimated. Nicotine is an addictive substance found in tobacco. It is also present in significant quantities in hookah smoke. The water filter retains some of the nicotine, but does not guarantee the safety of smoking, and therefore smoking a hookah is addictive. Alcoholic drinks are often used in hookahs instead of water. Alcohol vapor passes through the lungs directly into the blood, which over time can lead to alcohol dependence.

Myth 4. Nicotine-free hookah tobacco is harmless. Studies of non-nicotine tobacco and herbal hookahs show that smoke from them contains carbon monoxide and other toxic substances that can increase the risk of cancer, heart disease and lung disease. When passively smoking nicotine-free mixtures, emissions of toxic substances are equal to or even higher than emissions from smoking tobacco-based mixtures. Thus, hookah smoke from tobacco-free products is also dangerous, and in addition to nicotine, it contains the same toxic substances and has the same biological activity as tobacco-based products.

Myth 5. Hookah use does not affect fertility. Any smoking affects the ability to have children. Damage to reproductive function occurs in both women and men. In women who smoke hookah, their childbearing age and menstrual cycle are reduced, which leads to a decrease in the ability to conceive. In men who prefer to smoke hookah, the number of irregularly shaped sperm in the seminal fluid increases and they become inactive. These changes persist for several months. Even if the expectant mother, upon learning of her pregnancy, immediately stops smoking hookah, the risk of birth defects in children remains. Doctors are seriously concerned that hookah smoking is becoming increasingly popular in our country and are trying to inform people about the harm hookahs cause to the body. A person always has a choice of how to spend his free time. Some people enjoy training their bodies in the gym, or helping homeless animals with friends, while others are ready to sit for hours at a hookah and consciously make efforts to destroy their health. Infertility, sick children, oncology, cardiovascular and other diseases - isn't the price too high?

Hookah tobacco, composition and nicotine content

The hookah mixture includes the following ingredients:

1. Tobacco leaves.
2. Syrup.
3. Flavors.
4. Glycerol.
5. Preservatives.

The type of tobacco leaf used determines the nicotine level of the entire mixture. Popular tobaccos are Burley, Oriental, and Virginia.

The first type is considered to have the highest nicotine content. Burley, due to the way it is produced, conveys the aroma better. Tangiers is produced from this tobacco leaf.

The second place in strength is occupied by Virginia leaves, which are used in most hookah mixtures (Al Fakher, Fumari, Social Smoke, others).

Oriental is part of Egyptian tobaccos and is found in Nakhla.

It is believed that 50 grams of tobacco mixture contains from 0.05% to 0.5% nicotine. Meanwhile, one cigarette concentrates 0.8-1 mg of nicotine.

The molasses included in the product is a substance obtained from sugar and starch, and is intended to bind all the elements of the product. Previously, honey was used in the production of the product in question, but now due to its high cost it is not used.

Glycerin is added to create a thick smoke, as it increases the moisture separation significantly.

Without the preservatives used in hookah mixtures, mold will grow on the surface of the leaves.

Flavors, which can be natural or artificial, are responsible for taste. Organic supplements are obtained from dried berries, herbs, and fruits. For the first time, strawberry jam was added to hookahs as a flavoring agent.

Artificial flavors are food additives that imitate a variety of products obtained through the development of the chemical industry.

How does hookah affect blood pressure?

Hookah increases blood pressure. This occurs under the influence of carbon monoxide, which is formed during the combustion of the tobacco mixture. Carbon monoxide can cause severe toxic poisoning and death.

An increase in blood pressure occurs due to the narrowing of blood vessels, reducing the speed of blood flow. Hookah and the pressure after it provoke the appearance of symptoms such as general malaise, headaches, dizziness and nausea, and in rare cases, loss of consciousness, convulsions, and pale skin.

Many smokers experience a rapid heartbeat while smoking, which is the first sign of hypertension, in which hookah use is contraindicated, and you need to get rid of this habit.

The pressure from a hookah increases due to a lack of oxygen in the human blood. A smoker develops hypertension. This is the name for persistent elevated pressure, which exceeds 140/90 millimeters of mercury. This condition leads to disruptions in the functioning of internal organs, primarily affecting the heart, brain, kidneys and vision.

When it could be worse

Experts say that the harm from hookah smoking can be increased several times. And this effect is achieved if you smoke for a long time in a closed room where there is no flow of oxygen. Frequently smoking a hookah in a room where there is no fresh air increases the harm from the process several times. It is important to note that not only smokers suffer, but also everyone around them. Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning may occur. The person suffers from severe headaches, nausea and shortness of breath.

It is harmful to combine hookah smoking and drinking coffee drinks. Both of these pleasures significantly increase blood pressure, and this is fraught with serious consequences. Teenagers and people suffering from hypertension especially need to be careful. When smoking a hookah, you do not need to drink alcohol. This puts a lot of stress on the heart, and a pleasant pastime can end in a heart attack.

You cannot smoke hookah on an empty stomach. As a result of the harmful effects, the gastric mucosa is damaged, and this leads to the risk of ulcers and gastritis. The best option would be to sit around a hookah with light fruit snacks and green tea. These products are rich in beneficial antioxidants that reduce the harmful effects of tobacco tar on the human body.

A classic hookah is not as harmless a pleasure as it might seem at first glance. Its use causes side effects. Those who suffer from hypertension are at risk.

Basic recommendations for hookah smoking

What should those heavy smokers who are unable to give up hookah smoking do? Doctors recommend:

• Reduce the frequency of sessions.
• Do not use alcohol for smoking mixtures.
• Select tobacco mixtures only with reduced strength.

It is also worth emphasizing such an important point as the ability of many components of smoke to influence the absorption of medications of various effects, including antihypertensives. This means that if a hypertensive person takes medications for high blood pressure, then their therapeutic effect decreases significantly when using a hookah.

Symptoms of changes in blood levels during hookah smoking

Hookah smoke inhaled by a person, especially in a poorly ventilated room, can lead to a deterioration in the smoker’s well-being due to carbon monoxide intoxication and a surge in pressure.

Accelerated pulsation is caused by a strong spasm of cerebral vessels - their narrowing causes fainting.

The symptomatic picture may worsen if smoking is combined with drinking coffee. Such a combination can provoke a hypertensive crisis and incurable disorders in brain function. It is known that caffeine can affect arterial health by elevating it.