How does smoking affect your health?

Smoking — cigarettes, pipes, and other tobacco products — causes many health problems. Its negative impact affects not only the smokers themselves, but also those around them. On the other hand, giving up this addiction lowers the risk of serious diseases, such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases. So how does smoking affect your health? In this article, we bring you closer to this point.

How does smoking affect your body?

Most people associate smoking with harmful effects on the lungs. However, it is not the only organ at risk. Smoking tobacco affects the functioning of almost every organ, the whole organism. Burned tobacco does not contain any properties that could positively affect health. Moreover, cigarette smoke penetrates hair, clothes and even furniture, causing them to smell unpleasant. Smokers are also at risk of yellowing their teeth and in some cases increasing their risk of developing various infections. Smoking also impairs your sense of taste and often reduces your appetite.

How does smoking affect your health?

Smoking can cause a number of reactions in the body that, in the long run, can cause, inter alia, organ dysfunction or damage. They can be both temporary and long-term. However, in both cases they significantly reduce the quality of life. Furthermore, smoking can increase the risk of many health conditions. However, many of them pose a direct threat to life.

How exactly does smoking affect your health? Well, cigarette smoke, after getting into the respiratory system, turns into a sticky substance of a dark (almost black) color. This is so-called tar that settles on the inner surface of the lungs, slowly damaging them and disturbing their function. In cigarette smoke, substances such as benzene, acrylamide and acrylonitrile are detected — all of them have carcinogenic properties. Ultimately, smoking can cause diseases such as emphysema and lung cancer, as well as mouth and esophagus cancer.

Diseases caused by smoking

Smoking cigarettes may be associated with the development of the following diseases:

• Neoplasms;
• Heart diseases;
• Increased cholesterol;
• Infertility;
• Complications arising from diabetes
• Congestion and narrowing of the lumen of the veins;
• Premature menopause;
• Sight problems.

Additionally, tobacco addiction may aggravate and accelerate the development of existing diseases (e.g., in the case of diabetes). It is only possible to inhibit these changes when it is thrown. Getting over the habits of addiction is not an easy task. Fortunately, there are several methods to help you quit smoking.

Read more in the article: How to Quit Smoking?

How does smoking affect your lungs?

One of the most common symptoms associated with smokers is a cough that lasts for a long time. This is called a smoker's cough and is a direct result of damage to the lung tissue. Smoking also causes chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), manifested by wheezing, loss of breath, and a feeling of breathlessness. Smokers are much more likely to develop lung cancer. The negative impact affects not only the lungs, but the entire respiratory system — the nasopharynx, esophagus, trachea.

How does smoking affect you emotionally?

Smoking cigarettes is strictly related to the mental health. Many people, especially young people, use cigarettes as an anxiety and a stress-reliever. However, only few of them realize that this is only an apparent effect resulting from the temporary satisfaction of the need resulting from addiction. Nicotine, the substance that is the direct cause of addiction, plays a key role in this matter. When inhaled with cigarette smoke, it reaches the brain, where it releases neurotransmitters responsible for regulating mood. With time, reaching for a cigarette occurs not only in stressful situations, but also becomes a habit that forces you to organize breaks during, for example, work. Side effects affect not only physical health, but also the psyche — many people become irritated and anxious more easily. These emotions may increase when a cigarette break has to be skipped for various reasons.