The effect smoking has on the body is no secret, yet it’s still spreading rapidly as a norm among teenagers and youths today.
The truth about smoking is that it doesn’t help you break from the harsh realities of life’s circumstances or stimulate your mental health positively. Rather, the effects of smoking puts you one step closer to the grave.
Smokers are liable to die young as written on cigarette packs which most smokers do not even read, is the only danger of smoking they know. Notwithstanding, the effect of smoking on the body portrays more danger that far outweighs any pleasure derived from it.
Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, eye problem, diabetes and can also increase the risk of tuberculosis. It poses more danger than what consumers care to know. Some other harmful effects of smoking cigarettes include:
#1. Cardiovascular Diseases
Diseases of the heart, blood vessels and circulation, are known as cardiovascular diseases. Cigarettes contain nicotine, which tightens the blood vessels and hinders blood flow. This makes it easier for the entire cardiovascular system to get damaged within a short period.
The damage to blood vessels causes peripheral artery disease and weakens the blood vessel walls. The combination of both (artery disease and weak blood vessel walls) can increase your chances of having a stroke. Also, if you are a smoker with a high cholesterol level, your risks of developing cardiovascular disease skyrocket by almost 400%.
#2. Respiratory Complications
Smoking has always been known as a key factor in harming lives, especially that of the human body’s respiratory system. It increases your susceptibility to pneumonia, flu, and other infections that interfere with the breathing passages. As a smoker, you are most likely in danger of the following lung diseases:
- Emphysema — The damage of air sacs in the lungs.
- Chronic Bronchitis — The continual inflammation that affects the lining of the lungs’ breathing tubes.
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) — This comprises several lung diseases.
The more a person smokes, the higher the risk of contracting diseases that would lead to respiratory complications. Additionally, children who have parents who smoke tend to cough more frequently, develop asthma attacks, and have an increased rate of pneumonia compared to children of non-smokers.
#3. Damage to Digestive System
While smoking does lead to various problems relating to the heart and the lungs, the digestive system faces its fury as well. With the amount of toxins found in cigarettes, you may find that you will have an increase in acid from your stomach, which you may find painful or uncomfortable most of the time.
Cigarette smoking can also reduce your appetite and weaken your digestive system’s ability to absorb nutrients from the meals you eat, leaving your body system with deficiencies.
#4. Weakens Sexuality and Reproductive System
The nicotine in cigarettes hinders blood flow to the male and female sex organs. While it reduces sexual performance and effectiveness in men, it impedes lubrication in women. This makes it more difficult for women to attain orgasm.
#5. Cancer
Smoking cigarettes is one of the leading causes of cancer. According to statistics, 1 in every 3 cancer deaths can be prevented if individuals quit smoking. Smoking causes cancer in almost every organ of the body, such as the pancreas, cervix, stomach, colon, larynx, blood, bladder, stomach, trachea, bronchitis, liver, oropharynx, and many more.
Severe consequences arise from smoking cigarettes. In order to decrease your chance of having cancer through smoking, it’s advisable to quit today.
Conclusion
When you genuinely think about it, there is not one place in the human body that does not suffer from smoking’s effects. The risks of cigarette smoking are undisputed which can manifest itself in so many different ways.
Although everyone has the right to choose, it is vital to think about smoking, why you are doing it, and how it affects your health compared to the pleasure you’re driving from it.
Do you have a smoking addiction? Speak with a doctor now to save yourself from its harmful effects on your health!
