Damage caused due to smoking

by | Nov 15, 2015 | Smoking | 0 comments

Your body is your treasure, why lose it by smoking. Sometimes the damage caused due to smoking is irreparable, so it’s better to quit it as early as possible and lead a healthy lifestyle.

Every organ of our body is somehow harmed by tobacco smoking and probably its impact is too severe to treat. According to the American Lung Association, about 600 ingredients are present in cigarettes and when they burn, they emanate more than seven thousand chemicals that pose severe health risks. Whether you smoke the cigarette, pipe or cigar; every form of smoking damages your body. Research studies have also found that the mortality rate of smokers is three times higher against the non-smokers.

Let’s understand how the toxins and tar generated by tobacco smoking can harm different systems of the body.

smoking can harm different systems of the body

Effects on nervous system:

Nicotine, one of the harmful ingredients found in tobacco, is very dangerous to the nervous system. It stimulates the nervous system for a moment and then it corrodes its natural capacity. The eye vision is badly hampered by the smoking as it increases the risks of cataracts and macular degeneration. Moreover, nicotine lowers the effects of stress hormone (corticosterone), so you feel more stressed and strained while your sense of taste and smell is also affected by the tobacco smoke.

Overall, our cognitive functioning is severely impaired apart from the other damages caused due to smoking; that’s why you feel more spikes of depression, anxiety, headache and irritation.

Effects on respiratory system:

Smoking can make your feel shortness of breath and choke your airways. It irritates the larynx and trachea, inviting breathlessness and swelling of the bronchial tubes. The excess generation of mucus in the lung passages, coughing, wheezing and lung infection are very common that smokers experience. Smoking damages your body and respiratory system is the most affected part of the build-up of poisonous substances severely impairs your lungs, resulting breathlessness.

Also Read: Smoking and Asthma

Effects on heart:

Smoking affects the function of the heart as well as blood circulation, posing serious health risks of heart attack, coronary heart conditions, peripheral vascular problem, stroke and cerebrovascular disease (swelling in the arteries) that hamper the circulation of blood to the brain. Those who are at high risk of heart attack should strictly avoid tobacco to resist the coronary arteries’ damage caused due to smoking. By giving up smoking, you can not only enhance the life of the heart, but also avoid the other possible health risks.

Smoking affects the immune system:

The capacity of an immune system is weakened by the smoking, making you vulnerable to different health problems like influenza, diarrhea, pneumonia, etc. The amount of protective antioxidants in the body is also lowered in the face of tobacco smoke. It means smokers are likely to be a victim of fatigue, rheumatoid arthritis and various sclerosis. Also, add weakness and brittleness in bones that smokers probably witness in their older ages.

Effects fertility and erectile dysfunction:

Smoking hampers your reproduction capacity and sex health to a great extent. Toxins found in cigarette smoke can lower the strength of sperm that can encourage the risks of impotence or infertility. Moreover, smoking can damage sperm health, and it could be a cause of testicular cancer. You won’t like to be a victim of erectile dysfunction, but smoking can be a leading cause for that. In women, smoking can decrease the capacity to conceive and increase the risk of cervical cancer. Smoking during pregnancy puts both the lives at higher health risks; it increases the chances of premature birth, miscarriage, stillbirth or birth with a lifelong disease. So smoking not only damages your body, but it can be unhealthy to the future generations.

Smoking invites skin disease:

Don’t be surprised if a smoker looks older than his or her actual age. You would have seen many chain smokers who seem to be in their 50s while they are well within their 40s. It happens because of the skin problem as smoking can reduce the amount of oxygen and water that your skin requires. The skin damage caused due to smoking makes it more dull and gray while the facial wrinkles, particularly around the mouth and eyes, give you a gaunt look. The deterioration of skin’s beauty is very common in smokers, so don’t wonder if they look older than their actual age.

Mouth and throat cancer:

Without the mention of mouth and throat cancer, the discussion of smoking’s damages will remain incomplete. Smoking causes gum disease and damages your taste buds. The risks of cancer in the throat (oropharyngeal cancers), lips, voice box and gullet are enhanced by the tobacco smoke. The cases of neck cancer and lung cancer are very high among smokers that could be impossible to treat. Overall, smoking damages your body and, in a way, dents your life completely.

Conclusion:

Tobacco smoking has become one of the leading causes of concern affecting a huge chunk of the population all over the world. Despite many studies taking the health problems and damages caused due to smoking, the number of deaths and cancer patients is increasing year-after-year. Smoking is not something that you cannot relinquish, but many people have made it as a part of their lifestyle; that’s very serious. Understand its negativity and try to shift your life in a healthy way. That’s the only solution to avoid those serious health conditions.

 

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Amelia Smith

Nutritionist, herbalist, health and medicine writer and yoga enthusiast, Amelia Smith, is a professional in the health, nutrition and diet industry.

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