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How Smoking Affects Your Body
Cigarette smoke contains over 7,000 harmful chemicals. Many of those chemicals cause cancer. Once a cigarette is smoked, that smoke enters the lungs and the chemicals begin travelling through the body to other organs and will cause serious damage. Those damages can include:
Mouth and teeth |
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Causes bad breath and teeth to turn yellow. Also, causes mouth cancer and gum disease which can lead to tooth loss. |
Lungs |
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Causes lung cancer, coughing, bronchitis, and emphysema. |
Brain |
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Nicotine is a drug found in tobacco that changes the chemistry in your brain and is very addictive. Once someone starts smoking, nicotine makes it hard to quit. |
Eyes and Ears |
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Studies have linked eye problems resulting in blindness to smoking and also hearing loss. |
Skin and Hair |
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Smoking causes skin to become wrinkly and makes you look older than you are. It has also been linked to hair loss. |
Muscles and Joints |
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Smoking stops oxygen from getting to muscles, causing weakness. It also increases the risk of developing arthritis. |
Heart |
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Nicotine found in cigarettes and other tobacco products narrows the blood vessels. Your heart will then have to work harder and an increase in blood pressure occurs. Smoking also blocks arteries causing heart attacks and strokes. |
Benefits of Quitting Smoking
Once someone stops smoking, the healing process of the body begins. The benefits that take place immediately and over time include:
20 MINUTES
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Your heart rate and blood pressure begin to drop and circulation may start to improve. |
12 HOURS
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Your body cleanses itself of excess carbon monoxide, a harmful toxin found in cigarette smoke, and the body’s oxygen levels increase. |
2 WEEKS
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Your risk of having a heart attack begins to decrease and the function of your lungs begin to improve. Exercise and physical activity become easier to complete. |
1-9 MONTHS
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Lungs continue to heal decreasing frequency of lung infections and you may start to notice less coughing and shortness of breath. |
1 YEAR
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Risk of coronary heart disease decreases by half. The risk will continue to drop past the 1-year mark. |
5 YEARS
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The body has healed itself enough for the arteries and blood vessels to widen again, decreasing the likelihood of developing clots and having a stroke. |
10 YEARS
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The risk of dying from lung cancer is about half that of a smoker’s. Risk of developing, mouth, throat, or pancreatic cancer is also reduced. |
15 YEARS
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The likelihood of developing coronary heart disease is now that of a non-smoker. Chances of developing pancreatic cancer has now been reduced to that of a non-smoker as well. |
*Information taken from http://www.lung.org/stop-smoking/i-want-to-quit/benefits-of-quitting.html
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