How Smoking Burns Your Health

 

Smoking cigarettes and other tobacco products can be extremely harmful to your health. According to the CDC, smoking causes nearly 1 in every 5 deaths in the United States each year. Here’s a list of the harmful effects of smoking.

Smoking and Heart Disease

Smoking can be extremely dangerous for your heart. Along with causing strokes and coronary heart disease, smoking cigarettes can also damage your blood vessels, making your blood pressure go up.

Smoking and Stroke Risk

Smoking cigarettes can harm your blood cells and damage the normal functions of your heart. Research has also shown that smoking is linked to a greater risk of a stroke caused by blood clots.

Smoking and Lung Cancer

Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals and about 250 of them can be directly linked to cancer. Smoking is the number one risk for developing lung cancer. Talk to your doctor about safe ways to quit smoking.

Smoking and Throat Cancer

People who smoke cigarettes or use tobacco are at risk of developing throat cancer, which is cancer of the vocal cords, voice box or other areas of the throat. Talk to your doctor about the best way to quit smoking.

Smoking and Lung Disease

Smoking causes diseases in your lungs by damaging airways and the tiny air sacs found in your lungs. Lung diseases that result from smoking include COPD, emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Talk to your doctor about smoking and your lung health.

Smoking and Pregnancy

Smoking can make it more difficult for a woman to become pregnant and can affect the baby’s health during pregnancy and after birth. If you’re pregnant, you shouldn’t be smoking. Talk to your doctors about the reasons why.

Smoking and Your Bones

Medical research has shown that there is a direct relationship between cigarette use and decreased bone density. Smoking also can increase the risk of osteoporosis, which causes the bones to weaken, making them more vulnerable to fractures.

Smoking and Your Vision

While this risk is less well known, smoking can also cause health problems concerning the eyes. Research has linked tobacco use with developing age-related macular degeneration (DARM), cataracts and optic nerve damage. All of these conditions can lead to blindness.

Smoking and the Flu

A study from Yale School of Medicine showed evidence that the cold and flu virus present harsher symptoms in those who smoke cigarettes than in non-smokers. This study also showed that viruses and cigarette smoke can interact, causing more damage to the lungs and other organs in your body.

Smoking and Rheumatoid Arthritis

Research has shown that a history of smoking is linked to a 1.3- to 2.4-fold increased risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. Tell your doctor if you’re concerned about the health risks of smoking.

Smoking and Sexual Health

According to a recent study, men who stopped smoking improved on lab measurements of sexual health more than those who continued to smoke. This study also showed a possible link between nicotine, which is found in cigarettes, and erectile dysfunction.


Inside Your Cigarette

Cigarettes contain more than 4,000 chemicals, many of which are harmful to human health. Do some research to find out exactly what you’re putting into your body by smoking cigarettes — the results may surprise you.

Secondhand Smoke Risks

When people think about the health risks of smoking, they usually think about the risks to the smoker, but, secondhand smoke is also dangerous. According to the American Heart Association, secondhand smoke causes about 46,000 heart disease deaths and 3,400 lung cancer deaths in the US every year.

What Happens When You Quit

Quitting smoking not only makes your heart, lungs, and entire body healthier, but it also can save you money because you no longer need to purchase expensive packs of cigarettes regularly. Remember, you can be one of the millions of people who quit smoking every year!

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