Reasons to Quit Smoking – Health Hazards of Smoking

February 20, 2009 by  
Filed under Smoking

It is not unknown to most people that smoking can lead to harmful effects in the health of a smoker. Still, many people are still hooked on it. There is no decline in sight in the population of those who smoke. While smoking may look cool, this does not cover for the detrimental consequences it can put in your health.

If you haven’t start smoking yet, don’t start it. Nicotine, the chemical dominant in smoking tobacco, is more addictive than opium. Once you’re addicted to it, it’s frustratingly hard to quit. Getting in to it is so easy but getting out is almost impossible. The most common reason why people ponder on quitting smoking and getting rid of their nicotine addiction is the concern for their health.

Smoking kills and anyone who smokes is faced with this risk. It does not only leads to death but worse, it can make your life hard as you are on your way to your deathbed. To further show you how bad smoking can be, here are some of the danger smoking poses to your health.

1. Smoking increases the risk of a heart attack. Chemicals found in tobacco promote the narrowing of the blood vessels increasing the likelihood of stroke. The age bracket of people highly at risk of a heart attack is significantly lower among those who smoke. In extreme cases, smoking can influence cell regeneration and division in heart cells causing the heart to warp in shape.

2. Smoking contaminates the lungs making the alveoli less elastic. This leads to emphysema which is a very horrible disease to die to. The tar in tobacco also promotes lung cancer. The tar will make a smoker’s lungs look like coal.

3. Smoking can lead to cancer of the mouth. Some diseases concerning the mouth area are exclusively found in smokers. Halitosis, or more commonly, bad breath, is also more common in smokers. Smokers also easily lose teeth, as if bad breath isn’t enough ego buster.

4. Smoking decreases your immunity to diseases. This makes a smoker more susceptible to sickness especially the communicable ones which spread rather quite easily. This may seem not of a big deal since there are a lot of drugs that can cure those diseases but imagine easily getting the more deadly diseases like tuberculosis and HIV.

5. Smoking in women increases the chance of miscarriage while pregnant. There are also other detrimental effects smoking can give the fetus. Among men, addiction to nicotine leads to a higher risk of impotence. Smokers are also found to have a significantly fewer sperm count than their non-smoking counterparts.

As outlined, there are a lot of dangers posed by a smoking habit. Looking at it, it is easy to see why it is imperative to stop smoking now. Saying that, it also shows that there is some danger ahead of you if you plan to start the habit. Death from cigarette smoking is almost as sure as taxes (…and death) if you start lighting up.