Apr
30
It’s very difficult for some people to understand, but the health effects of smoking touch more than just your lungs alone. While many still connect lung cancer with smoking, they are often uneducated about just how completely dangerous smoking effects can be.
Consider these areas of the body that are damaged by smoking. Your skin is usually touched by premature aging and wrinkles, as one of the common effects of smoking is poor blood circulation and a loss of oxygen, both of which are needed for healthy skin. A smoker’s mouth usually has discolored and stained teeth and plaque, and teeth can actually become loose as the gums dry up and become brittle.
Cigarettes are not just rolled tobacco, as many people innocently think. The tobacco industry purposely adds ingredients in order to increase tobacco’s addictiveness. There are approximately 4000 chemicals in cigarette smoke, many of them toxic. The ingredients in cigarettes affect everything from the internal functioning of organs to the efficiency of the body’s immune system. The effects of cigarette smoking are destructive and widespread, covering your entire body from head to toe.
Lung cancer is not the only smoking effect that hits the respiratory system. Most smokers are more prone to bronchitis, a constant shortness of breath and persistent cough with sputum, and are more likely to get colds, flu, pneumonia, and asthma. Smoking also complicates tuberculosis and virtually any other respiratory condition one can get.
The effects of cigarette smoking also reach out to those around you as well. Those who are exposed to second-hand smoke inhale about 15% the amount of nicotine as those who are active smokers, so for every ten cigarettes you have around your children, they may as well have smoked one a half cigarettes themselves.
When thinking about the body’s mid-section, cancers of the esophagus, abdomen, pancreas, kidneys, bladder, and colon are all traced to the effects of smoking. The bones are also not immune to smoking’s effects. Osteoporosis, spine and hip fractures, and degenerative disc disease can be traced back to smoking. Infertility is another issue with heavy and chronic smokers, both male and female. Men can have lower sperm counts and decreased sperm motility, and women can have difficulty with ovulation when smoking.
As for the rest of the body, the effects of smoking are many, including blood diseases, decreased circulation to the feet and toes, and difficulty recovering from wounds. Really, when you think about it, there is not one place on the human body that does not suffer, and suffer greatly, from smoking’s effects. Really, is there any reason why it’s not time to quit?
For more information about ways to quit smoking visit Effects Of Cigarette Smoking
