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Health effects of smokingEvery cigarette is doing you damageTobacco is responsible for around 82% of all drug related deaths compared with around 16% for alcohol and only 2% for illicit drugs. Smoking is a major cause of heart disease and is associated with more than 30% of all cancers including:
Smokers are 10 times more likely to die of lung cancer than
non-smokers. Other conditions such as colds, gastric ulcers,
chronic bronchitis, blindness, asthma and emphysema have
also been linked to smoking.
What smoking can do to your body  Over time, smoking narrows the blood
vessels to your heart and brain. This dramatically increases
your risk of heart attack and stroke.
Narrowing of the blood vessels to the
penis can cause impotence.
Narrowing of the blood vessels to the
skin causes premature ageing.
Poor circulation increases your risk
of gangrene.
You have an increased risk of developing
peptic ulcers.
Your risk of developing a variety of
cancers of the mouth, throat, lungs, kidneys, liver, penis,
stomach and bladder is dramatically increased.
Emphysema is a disease of the lung
tissue. It becomes progressively worse with time and cannot
be treated. As a result, emphysema is known as “lung
rot”. Research reveals that 99.7% of long-term smokers
of more than a packet of cigarettes a day suffer from the
breathlessness and pain of emphysema.
Chronic bronchitis causes excess mucus
to build up in the bronchial tubes – the network
of small air passages in the lungs. This is a direct result
of the irritation caused by tobacco smoke. The effects
of chronic bronchitis are made worse by the damaged cleaning
mechanism of a smoker’s lungs. This results in coughing
and blocking of the airways.
Existing lung conditions, such as asthma,
are made worse by smoking. The effects of emphysema and
chronic bronchitis can be much worse for people who suffer
from an existing lung condition.
Smoking has recently been linked to
an eye condition known as macular degeneration – a
common cause of blindness. |
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