Quit Smoking Now

Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body. Eighty seven percent of lung cancer deaths are cigarette related. The effects of smoking are also responsible for other various cancers throughout the body, such as throat, mouth, tongue, and skin. Other health problems include, but are not limited to, lung disease, heart and blood vessel disease, stroke, angina, arteriosclerosis, osteoporosis, chronic bronchitis, high blood pressure, impotence, respiratory ailments, and cataracts.

Of the many effects smoking has, according to the American Heart Association, the greatest risk is coronary heart disease. The risk is 2-4 times greater in smokers than in non-smokers. Nicotine from tobacco smoke temporarily increases heart rate and blood pressure, less oxygen-rich blood circulates through the body due to the constriction of the blood vessels. Smoking also leads to stenosis, clumping in the blood vessels, of the heart. All the cardiovascular diseases caused from smoking usually result in heart failure.

Smoking is responsible for one third of cancer deaths in the United States. Countless studies have proved that smoking causes lung cancer, and substantially increases risk of cancer of the larynx, pharynx, oral cavity, esophagus, bladder, kidney, and pancreas and suggests a strong association with cancer of the cervix.

Emphysema, another common effect of smoking, is a lung disease involving damage to the alveoli (air sacs). The pollutants found in tobacco smoke damages these sacs. This damage worsens over time affecting the oxygen supply to the body. Symptoms include shortness of breath, chronic cough, fatigue, and wheezing. Other possible effects are respiratory infections, pulmonary hypertension (abnormally high blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries), anxiety, edema, and death.

COPD, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a lung disease that makes breathing difficult, is a lung inflammation that destroys alveoli (air sacs). Fifteen to twenty percent of smokers will develop COPD. Symptoms usually include, cough, fatigue, shortness of breath that lasts for months or years, and wheezing.

Another way smoking effects the body is it lowers the body’s ability to heal. Studies show that smokers have a lower survival rate after surgery due to the damage of host defenses and reduced immune response. Smokers also have a greater risk of infection and postoperative pneumonia.

Of the more than four thousand harmful chemicals in tobacco, more than fifty are known to cause cancer. Not to mention the arsenic, cyanide, formaldehyde, and ammonia bromide, which is used in toilet cleaners are all included in each cigarette, each with their own effect on the body.