A rather popular and completely legal vice, cigarettes are considered one of the worst offenders when it comes to health problems. The effects of smoking can be hazardous to all the organs in the body. The current statistics show that one of the main causes of death around the globe can be attributed to smoking.
Although the public generally understands the negative effects of smoking, the overall lack of transparent information on how unhealthy smoking really is scarce. There are several helpful ways that guide a smoker on how to stop smoking? And if you are a habitual smoker, then you might want to consider outside helps to overcome this highly addictive vice.
Short-term effects
Almost immediately after a person starts smoking, they will notice some changes to their overall outlook. Your fingers will turn yellow, your breath, hair, and clothes will constantly smell of smoke, and your teeth will stain. Other symptoms, like a hacking cough and allergies, will appear soon after one starts smoking. These effects might not seem bad at first, but they are just the beginning. Following that is the decrease in athletic ability as your lung capacity will significantly reduce, and your blood pressure will increase. This will drop the overall quality of life.
Long-term effects
Over time, the problems will become much worse; staining of the teeth and fingers will worsen. Cravings for cigarettes will increase dramatically, and being around smokers will only increase them. If you haven’t had a cigarette in a while, your fingers will shake, and you’ll get irritated easily, making what was once an enjoyable habit a necessity.
Due to scar tissue build-up in the long and throat, your breathing will get ragged, and your entire respiratory system might shut down. If that does not result in death, it might lead to necessary surgeries and even mechanical apparatus just to help sustain your breathing.
Smoking causes Cancer
Four out of five cases of lung cancer can be directly linked to smoking. Also, 13 other types of cancer are at high risk due to smoking; they include cancer of the mouth and upper throat cancer, bowel cancer, pancreas cancer, and others.
Effects on the Circulatory System
Cigarettes inflict direct damage to the heart and blood cells, which can lead to a whole host of health issues.
- Aneurysms – An expanded and weakened area in an artery, which if ruptures, can cause internal bleeding, strokes, and death.
- Atherosclerosis – A build-up of fats in arteries that block blood flow, causing the rupture of an artery, and resultant death.
- Coronary heart disease – Damaging and weakening of major arteries of the heart.
- Elevated blood pressure – This may cause health complications, heart disease, and may even lead to a stroke.
There are many other areas that smoking has a direct effect on. Systems such as the respiratory, immune, musculoskeletal one, can be devastated by smoking. It can even affect your senses such as vision and smell and have an extremely adverse effect on the sexual organs. For such an easily obtained vice – smoking, several health problems arise.