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A Breakdown of How Smoking Affects Your Body
In modern times it’s common knowledge just how bad smoking is for you. Smoking is one of the biggest causes of death that could be prevented, with more than 80,000 people dying on a yearly basis due to smoking related issues. One of the reasons this keeps happening is that people don’t know how smoking affects their health.
We will focus on the different parts of the body that smoking affects, and you just might be surprised at how bad it really is. You may find that it’s the deciding factor that makes you quit forever.
Heart
Without a doubt, the heart is an important, if not the most important part of the human body. If it was to fail there would be no way to distribute oxygen and nutrients to your body’s cells and they would simply die off. Also, your brain wouldn’t function, and within minutes you’d die.
Smoking doubles the chance of having a heart attack, and just as bad is the fact you are twice as likely to die from coronary heart disease. The carbon monoxide from the smoke and nicotine puts strain on your heart, increasing the likelihood of blood clots.
If there were ever a fact that should stop you from smoking it would be this, after a full year of not smoking the risk of suffering from these diseases is halved. A person that stops smoking for 15 years would have the same risk as a person who has never smoked.
Brain
Another part of your body that is of vital importance is the brain. What makes it different from other organs in your body is that it can’t be replaced if it fails. Your brain is what makes you who you are. Even the smallest bit of damage can have the most serious repercussions.
If you smoke, the chance of you having a stroke increases by 50%. Strokes are a terrifying thing, and they normally result in death or brain damage. A person that smokes has double the chance of dying if they have a stroke compared to someone who doesn’t smoke.
Brain aneurysms are more likely to occur if you’re a smoker. A brain aneurysm is when a blood vessel bulges, all caused by a weakness found in the blood vessel wall. There’s a good chance the aneurysm will burst or rupture, which can cause a special, and altogether worse type of stroke.
If a person was to stop smoking, within only two years the risk of having a stroke is reduced to half, and after five years it’s the same as a person that doesn’t smoke.
Mouth and Throat
One thing that everybody has in common is the desire to look their best. It’s only natural, and it can go a long way when it comes to work and relationships. If you smoke, major problems will most likely develop, such as stained teeth and terrible breath. Gum disease is also likely to occur, which damages the way you taste when eating or drinking.
One major issue that can happen in your mouth and throat is an increased chance of cancer in your gullet, voice box, throat, lips and tongue. This may come as a surprise, but over 93% of cancers in the throat are actually caused by smoking.
Even if you’ve been smoking for a number of years, if you simply stop, you’ll reduce the risk of developing these cancers by a fair bit. If you don’t smoke for at least twenty years, these risks are the same as a person that doesn’t smoke.
Reproduction
For males, smoking can result in impotence. The blood vessels that supply blood to the penis get damaged, harming sperm, lowering sperm count and even causing testicular cancer. A harrowing fact is that 120,000 men that live in the UK and who are between the ages of 20 and 30 are impotent due to smoking.
In women, smoking affects fertility, reducing it significantly. A study discovered that a smoker was three times more likely to take more than a year to conceive.
If a woman was to carry on smoking, the risk of cervical cancer increases significantly. There’s also less chance of getting rid of an HPV infection, which can end up developing into cancer.
We can’t exaggerate how important it is that a woman shouldn’t smoke if she’s pregnant. It can end up leading to stillbirth, premature birth, miscarriage, illness, and if that isn’t enough it also increases cot (crib) death chances by 25%.
Skin
When you smoke, you reduce how much oxygen reaches your skin. Your skin will age much faster and it can display a grey tint. As it affects toxins as well, cellulite can begin to occur.
Smoking can age your skin prematurely by anywhere between ten and twenty years, as well as making it three times more likely to have facial wrinkling. This is often seen around the mouth and eyes. Smoking also gives you hollow cheeks and a yellow/grey complexion that can result in looking gaunt and sickly.
If you stop smoking now, you can stop any further deterioration of your skin that has occurred through smoking.
Bones
A fact that a lot of people are unaware of is smoking can end up causing your bones to become weak and brittle. A woman needs to be very careful, as the chance of brittle bones is much higher than that of a nonsmoker.
Osteoporosis is also something that is more likely to affect you if you smoke. Osteoporosis is when your bones become weaker and fragile, making them more susceptible to breaking. Giving up smoking is a good way to reduce your chances of ever suffering from osteoporosis.
Look after your body; stop smoking
A human body is very much like a car engine. If it isn’t looked after, then it is likely to fail. Smoking is a terrible habit, and is a difficult habit to break. It can lead to all of the terrible diseases can conditions mentioned above, and more. There is hope. Even if you’ve tried to quit and failed a hundred times before, you should never give up trying. With new, infinitely safer alternatives at your disposal there is no longer any reason to continue this dangerous habit. You have undoubtedly heard much, if not all, of this before. Why not take this opportunity, today, to give it one more shot? You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.
Jennifer Smith
This informative article was written exclusively for Spinfuel eMagazine by Guest Contributor Jennifer Smith of TABlites, a Manchester, UK based company that offer a real alternative to smoking a cigarette. Spinfuel eMagazine makes no claim or recommendation of any product we have not reviewed.
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