Smoking is dangerous to your health and it leads to life-threatening complications. No matter how you smoke it, it is dangerous. All tobacco products have harmful substances such as tar, acetone, and nicotine that damage vital body organs and tissues.
Smoking affects the circulatory system, respiratory system, skin, eyes, reproductive system, and it puts you at high risk of cancers. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking causes more than 480, 000 deaths yearly in the U.S. Still, they found that smoking increases your risk for death from all other causes of death.
In this article, we are going to look at the possible effects of smoking on your body.
1. Heart Disease
Smoking damages blood vessels, blood cells, and the heart. The harmful substances in cigarettes increase your risk of atherosclerosis, which happens as a result of plaque build-up in the arteries. Buildup of plaque in the arteries limits blood flow and can lead to blockages.
Besides, smoking can make the arteries that supply blood to the arms and legs narrow or block (peripheral artery disease), restricting blood flow. Having pulmonary artery disease increases the risk of stroke, blood clots, chest pain, or heart attack.
2. Smoking Causes Pregnancy Complications
Women who smoke find it hard to become pregnant and their risk of infertility is high. Smoking damages vital tissues in the reproductive system. Still, when pregnant, smoking damages tissue in the unborn baby, mostly in the brain and lung.
Moreover, smoking affects pregnancy and developing fetus in the following ways:
- Increasing the risk of preterm delivery
- Risk of ectopic pregnancy
- It can reduce the baby’s birth weight
- Increases risk of sudden infant death syndrome
- It damages the fetus’s central nervous system.
3. Lung Damage
Smoking causes lung disease by damaging the airways and small air sacs found in the lungs. When smoking, you inhale nicotine and other harmful substances that damage your lungs. Cigarettes increase your risk of developing lung cancer. Furthermore, people who smoke are at higher risk for chronic lung conditions, such as:
- Bronchitis
- Destruction of air sacs in the lungs (emphysema)
- Lung cancer
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Withdrawing from tobacco products is the best way to heal your lungs, but you will have to experience respiratory discomfort as your lungs heal. Right after you quit smoking, having increased mucus production will be a good sign of respiratory recovery.
4. Smoking Causes Infertility and Sexual Problems
For both men and women, nicotine affects blood flow to the genitals leading to decreased sexual performance and sexual dissatisfaction. Smoking lowers sex hormone levels in both men and women, leading to decreased sexual desire.
In women, smoking damages the female reproductive system and makes it difficult to get pregnant. Mainly, tobacco and other chemicals in cigarettes affect hormone levels, leading to infertility. Moreover, males who smoke experience erectile dysfunction, low sperm quality, and sperm’s ability to fertilize eggs.
5. It Weakens your Immune System
The immune system is the body’s shield from infections and diseases. Cigarette smoking affects the immune system and makes the body weak at fighting diseases. Furthermore, smoking compromises the balance of the immune system, increasing your risk for immune and autoimmune disorders.
These disorders occur when the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks vital tissues and organs.
Recent evidence shows that there is an autoimmune disease called rheumatoid arthritis. It occurs when the immune system attacks the joints and causes pain and swelling.
6. Smoking Leads to Poor Oral Hygiene
Smoking largely leads to poor oral health. Smokers are at higher risk of developing gum problems, oral cancer, losing teeth, sensitive teeth, teeth decay, or complications after an oral surgery or tooth removal. Moreover, smoking causes a lack of oxygen in the bloodstream, making your gums weak and heal slowly.
Still, it can limit your ability to smell and taste things well or stain your teeth brown or yellow.
7. Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
Smokers have a higher percentage of developing Type 2 diabetes than nonsmokers. Smoking makes it hard to manage type 2 diabetes and regulating insulin levels. This is because increased levels of nicotine reduce insulin effectiveness, making smokers require extra insulin to regulate blood sugar levels.
Furthermore, if you smoke and you have diabetes, you put yourself at risk of heart disease, poor blood flow in the legs, kidney disease, and peripheral neuropathy.
8. Leads to Unhealthy Skin, Hair, and Nails
The harmful substances in cocaine change the structure of the skin, nails, and hair. Smoking accelerates hair thinning, staining, and abnormal nail shape in both men and women. Besides, smoking blocks the arteries that supply oxygen-rich blood and nutrients into the head, leading to hair thinning and premature air loss.
Because your fingernails and toenails are not immune from the effects of smoking, smoking increases your risk of fungal infections. If you want to have healthy skin, hair, and nails, eat foods with more Vitamin C and quit smoking.
9. Puts you at Risk of Other Cancers
Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of cancer and cancer deaths. The harmful chemicals in cigarettes damage DNA, making it hard for cells to repair the damaged DNA. Furthermore, cigarette chemicals damage the DNA that protects us from cancer.
Individuals who smoke are at more risk of developing bladder cancer than non-smokers. Cigarette smoking can cause cancer anywhere in the body including:
- Mouth and throat
- Kidney
- Liver
- Esophagus, stomach, colon, and pancreas
- Pelvis
- Cervix
- Trachea and bronchus
- Urinary bladder.
10. Eye Problems
Cigarette contains carbon monoxide and nicotine that cause fatty deposits in your eye’s blood vessels. Smoke can constrict the ciliary arteries, affecting blood flow to the eye. Insufficient blood flow to the eye causes blurred vision or dry eye. Know that long-term smoking can lead to vision loss. Luckily, quitting smoking is an easy way that can help improve your vision.
Second-Hand Smoking
The effects of smoking not only affects the smokers but also those who are close. Second-hand smoking occurs when a smoker smokes near you and you inhale the smoke breathed out. The smoker can be your family member, coworker, or friend. Second-hand smoke has more than 7, 000 chemicals, of which most are toxic and they can easily can cancer.
Whether it is short or long-term exposure to second hand smoke, it affects the cardiovascular system, causing stroke and coronary artery disease. Some of the dangerous effects of second hand smoke exposure include:
- Stroke
- Lung cancer
- Heart disease
- Increases the risk of ear infections and colds
- It raises blood pressure
- Reduces the levels of good cholesterol
- Makes asthma worse
- Leads to sudden infant death syndrome
- Respiratory infections.
Wrapping Up
Like any addiction, quitting smoking is not an easy task. Mostly, it is harder to quit when doing it alone. If you are struggling to quit smoking, you should seek support from friends, family members, or coworkers who can help you. For people who feel comfortable and happy when smoking, you should try finding another thing that can make you happy. This will reduce or protect you from life-threatening complications.