Smoking is a major health hazard that can lead to serious illness and disease. The body of evidence which includes epidemiological, experimental, pathological, and clinical studies demonstrates that smoking increases your risk of death and illness. The National Institute on Drug Abuse has estimated that in the U.S. alone, smoking is responsible for approximately 350,000 preventable deaths every year.
Due to the high nicotine content in cigarettes, a major side effects of smoking will often arise; this occurrence of a smoking side effect makes smoking all the more dangerous. Your own health, as well as the health of those surrounding you is at risk; as a result, leading smoking side effects such as lung cancer and heart attack can happen in younger smokers as compared to non-smokers.
Smoking effects - Rules of thumb
- Lung cancer risk - increases by 50-100% for each cigarette smoked
- Heart disease risks - increases by 100% for each pack of cigarettes smoked
- Switching to filter-tip cigarettes reduces the risk of lung cancer by 20%; risk of heart disease remains the same
- Smokers spend 27% more time in hospital treatment and twice as much time in intensive care as compared to non-smokers
- Each cigarette takes between 5-20 minutes off your life
- A smoker is twice at risk of dying before the age of sixty-five
Smoking side effects
While most people now know and understand that smoking effects are highly destructive for their lungs, they have yet to come to terms about how smoking affects the rest of their body as well. Damage to your skin, mouth, hands, respiratory system, heart, bones, reproductive system as well as the essential organs in your body is clearly evident if you are a smoker. Sometimes repercussions of smoking side effects can be disastrous. Areas of the body damaged by smoking include:
- Skin – Due to poor blood circulation and a loss of oxygen the skin loses its luster and plumpness.
- Mouth – Bad breath, mouth cancer, sore throat, reduced sense of taste, as well as stained teeth and plaque are the common effects of smoking.
- Hands – Poor blood circulation leaves your hands cold.
- Respiratory System - Lung cancer as well as bronchitis, a constant shortness of breath and persistent cough with sputum are the common respiratory conditions you can get.
- Heart – Many heart attacks can be traced to smoking, which blocks and weakens the arteries and constricts blood vessels.
- Bones – Osteoporosis, spine and hip fractures, and degenerative disc disease can all be traced back to smoking.
- Reproductive System – Many couples have trouble conceiving a child. Infertility is often an issue with heavy and chronic smokers, both male and female. While smoking lowers the sperm counts and decreases sperm motility in men, women have difficulty ovulating.
- Other body organs – There are many harmful effects of smoking on the human body which include cancers of the esophagus, abdomen, pancreas, kidneys, bladder and colon, in addition to blood diseases, decreased circulation to the feet and toes and difficulty recovering from wounds occur.
The effects of smoking are so grave that not a single place on the human body is spared. Hopefully, highlighting these side effects is a good enough reason for you to quit now.
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