What Are The Harmful Health Effects Of Smoking?

July 3, 2008 · 107 views · Filed Under Health Education

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What are the harmful health effects of smoking. Can you stop them, especially if you’ve smoked for a long time? You are probably concerned about the negative effects of smoking on your health, and you should be.Â

Now that you’ve been smoking for a while, you know the horrible truth; it’s just too hard to quit your smoking addiction. How is it affecting your body? You take a long, deep drag and feel that fabulous smoke ooze its way onto every crevice of your lungs. What’s it doing to you?

Most people are unaware of this, but smoking is actually as bad for your cardio-vascular system as it is for your lungs. Common wisdom says that you’ll die of lung cancer or emphysema if you smoke, and that’s certainly a serious risk. You should know however, that your heart and circulatory system will feel the effects of smoking even faster than your lungs.

When you take a puff, the nicotine and over 4,000 other chemicals go to work, speeding up your heart and driving up your blood pressure. The smoke causes your blood vessels surrounding your heart to become sticky, making you a prime candidate for a heart attack.

Stroke is major risk for smokers too. The U.S. Center for Disease Control has found smoking severely reduces blood flow to your arms and legs. In fact, smokers are at risk have limbs amputated due to the circulation problems it created by their smoking!

Poisons in cigarette smoke cause fat levels to build in your blood vessels. The increased fatty deposits lead to atherosclerosis, a very serious condition. Arteries become inflamed and the result can be heart attack or stroke. According to the Surgeon General’s report, smoking contributes to the 43,000 deaths each year from congestive heart failure. That’s more than dies from drunk driving every year! CHF is a condition in which the heart can no longer pump enough blood to adequately supply your body.

When most people think about cigarette related health problems, they first think about cancer of the lungs and throat. Lung cancer causes more cancer deaths that any other cancer. The CDC has determined that smoking is responsible for 90% of all lung cancer deaths. In 2004 157,000 people died from this lung cancer, so a little math reveals that over 140,000 lung cancer fatalities were caused by cigarettes. The Duke, aka John Wayne, was a chronic, 2+ pack a day smoker, and he paid the ultimate price when he died from lung cancer.

This is what the U.S. Surgeon General reports as the worst smoking related health problems in the United States:

Lung Cancer - 123,000 annual smoking related deaths Chronic Lung Disease - 91,000 annual smoking related deaths Coronary Heart Disease - 87,000 annual smoking related deaths Cancer (not lung cancer) - 35,000 annual smoking related deaths Stroke - 17,000 annual smoking related deaths Other Causes - 85,000 annual smoking related deaths

It is easily demonstrated that smoking is a health hazard and a killer. It affects the heart, circulatory system, lungs, brain, and causes cancers in many areas of the body. The good news for smokers is that in as few as 2 weeks some of smoking’s ill health effects have begun to dissipate, and after 15 years the mortality rate of smokers and ex-smoker is virtually identical. This means if you’re a smoker, it’s never too late to quit.

You can discover the secret to quitting smoking and becoming a non-smoker forever. You’ll quit fast, if you know how. See how others have quit, and how you can easily do the same at the quit smoking fast guide.

Who else wants to stop smoking? Well, you can stop smoking quicker and easier than you though possible, if you know the secret. Discover how you can finally make the change you’ve wanted to for so many years. Go to the quit smoking fast guide.

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