When living in a condominium or apartment, it’s possible for cigarette smoke to seep into the interior of your home. Secondhand smoke can enter your home through the open windows or the ventilation system. If water pipes and electrical outlets have spaces, secondhand smoke can find its way into your home through them. That’s why you should pay keen attention to such spaces when remodeling your home.

Basically, secondhand smoke travels with ease and this poses a serious danger to your family and visitors. That’s why some people and anti-smoking organizations have always campaigned for the crack down on cigarette smoking in living spaces and multi-unit housing.

According to the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people that live in townhouses, apartments, and condominium are negatively affected by smoking neighbors. It’s for this reason that CDC recommends a multipronged attack aimed at reducing smoking within multi-unit complexes. The plan includes local regulations and education.

Some parents that smoke are already aware of the effects of secondhand smoke on their loved ones. For this reason, they are turning to the use of the best e-juice to eliminate secondhand smoke in their living spaces.

 

The Basics of Secondhand Smoking

Tobacco smoke is basically the major source of indoor air pollution. It comprises of a mixture of many chemicals. When a person smokes inside a home, the chemicals are inhaled by smokers and nonsmokers in the living space. That means, when one person in a household smokes, other family members and visitors are exposed to cigarette smoke too.

Perhaps, the most important thing to note is the fact that secondhand smoke comes from the incomplete combustion of tobacco at a low temperature. This makes the smoke more toxic than the smoke that is inhaled and eventually exhaled by a smoker.

Fortunately, medical knowledge, implementation of government initiatives and society changes that include deliberate use of vape juice flavors that do not produce smoke has led to significant decrease in secondhand smoke exposure.

Effects of Secondhand Smoking

Today, effects of secondhand smoking in a home are widely known. Secondhand smoke has more than 4000 poisonous chemicals. 50 of these have the potential to cause cancer. Major among the secondhand smoke chemicals include Benzo[a]pyren, which is also found in the coal tar and Formaldehyde which is used for dead animals’ preservation. Secondhand smoke also has hydrogen cyanide which is a rat poison and Ammonia which is used in cleaning toilets and floors.

When a person doesn’t smoke but is exposed to secondhand smoke regularly, they can suffer life-threatening and serious health problems. On long-term basis, a person that is exposed to secondhand smoke has a greater risk of illnesses like heart disease, stroke, breathing problems, nasal sinus cancer and lung cancer.

The effects of secondhand smoke can occur within 20 minutes. Physical reactions of the body that relate to stroke and heart disease can occur within this period. These include reduction in the amount of oxygen that goes to the heart, constriction of the blood vessels which increases blood pressure thereby requiring the heart to work harder and increase in the heart rate. Exposure to secondhand smoke among pregnant women can increase the risk of premature birth, low weight of babies at birth and miscarriage.

Since the lungs of babies are developing and they can be damaged with ease, they are at a higher risk of getting ill due to secondhand smoke exposure. What’s more, babies breathe faster thereby inhaling more secondhand smoke than adults.

Babies exposed to secondhand smoke have a higher risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome death. The risk of lung infections like pneumonia and bronchitis is also higher among children that are exposed to secondhand smoke.

Additionally, secondhand smoke leads to fluid buildup inside the inner ear which can cause ear infection. When exposed to secondhand smoke, children can also get asthma or make chronic conditions worse.

Research indicates that children’s exposure to secondhand smoke has also been linked to reduction in intellectual ability, reduced attention span, grade retention, language skills, hyperactivity, and behavioral problems.

 

How to Prevent Secondhand Smoke Exposure

The only way to prevent secondhand smoke exposure is to make your home smoke-free. If you want to get your daily nicotine dose, use a premium e-cig juice instead of traditional cigarette. When remodeling your home, make sure that it does not have spaces via which cigarette smoke can get inside. Ensure that all rooms in your home are smoke-free. Also make sure that nobody smokes inside your home.

Secondhand smoke can spread in all rooms of your home even with the doors closed but windows open. Therefore, install an effective air cleaning system that removes all gases and small particles in secondhand smoke.

What’s more, talk to others about the importance of making a home smoke-free. If a family member, neighbor, or friend does not support you, explain the harmful effects that secondhand smoke has to them. Let them see the need to ensure that everybody is protected from secondhand smoke.

Study shows that tobacco residues are still present in a house after a smoker moves out and a nonsmoker moves in. This implies that new residents can pick and ingest these residues because they cling on the walls, furniture, and carpeting. Even dust in the rooms has these residues. Tobacco residues are toxic and hazardous to children and infants that may crawl or sit on the floors and put fingers in mouths later.

Therefore, when moving into a new home whose former occupants were smokers, measures like cleaning the home, painting it and installing new flooring should be taken. Look for signs like yellow spots on the ceiling and smell of tobacco then take appropriate measures to get rid of tobacco residues.

The Bottom Line

Secondhand smoke has many negative effects on the health of infants, children, pregnant women, and adults. Making a home 100% smoke-free is the best way to reduce secondhand smoke’s harmful effects. Using premium vape juice instead of smoking traditional cigarettes is one of the best ways to minimize the effects of secondhand smoke on nonsmokers.