Why you Should Quit SMOKING

The effects of smoking are serious. It can harm nearly every organ of the body. It causes nearly one of every five deaths in the United States each year.

        It Affects the Bones

Recent studies show a direct relationship between tobacco use and decreased bone density. Smoking is one of many factors—including weight, alcohol consumption, and activity level—that increase your risk for osteoporosis, a condition in which bones weaken and become more likely to fracture.
Significant bone loss has been found in older women and men who smoke. Quitting smoking appears to reduce the risk for low bone mass and fractures. However, it may take several years to lower a former smoker’s risk.

In addition, smoking from an early age puts women at even higher risk for osteoporosis. Smoking lowers the level of the hormone estrogen in your body, which can cause you to go through menopause earlier, boosting your risk for osteoporosis.

       It Affects the Heart and Blood Vessels

The chemicals in tobacco smoke harm your blood cells and damage the function of your heart. This damage increases your risk for:

• Atherosclerosis, a disease in which a waxy substance called plaque builds up in your arteries
• Aneurysms, which are bulging blood vessels that can burst and cause death
• Cardiovascular disease (CVD), which includes:
  • Coronary heart disease (CHD), narrow or blocked arteries around the heart
  • Heart attack and damage to your arteries
  • Heart-related chest pain
  • High blood pressure
• Coronary Heart disease, where platelets—components in the blood—stick together along with proteins for form clots which can then get stuck in the plaque in the walls of arteries and cause heart attacks
• Peripheral arterial disease (PAD), a condition in which plaque builds up in the arteries that carry blood to the head, organs, and limbs
• Stroke, which is sudden death of brain cells caused by blood clots or bleeding

Breathing tobacco smoke can even change your blood chemistry and damage your blood vessels. As you inhale smoke, cells that line your body’s blood vessels react to its chemicals. Your heart rate and blood pressure go up and your blood vessels thicken and narrow.

         It Affects the lungs

Every cigarette you smoke damages your breathing and scars your lungs. Smoking causes:

• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a disease that gets worse over time and causes wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and other symptoms
• Emphysema, a condition in which the walls between the air sacs in your lungs lose their ability to stretch and shrink back. Your lung tissue is destroyed, making it difficult or impossible to breathe.
• Chronic bronchitis, which causes swelling of the lining of your bronchial tubes. When this happens, less air flows to and from your lungs.
• Pneumonia
• Asthma
• Tuberculosis 

People with asthma can suffer severe attacks when around cigarette smoke.

         It Affects Vision

Smoking is as bad for your eyes as it is for the rest of your body. Research has linked smoking to an increased risk of developing age-related macular degeneration, cataract, and optic nerve damage, all of which can lead to blindness.

          It Causes Cancer

Tobacco smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals. About 70 of them are known to cause cancer. Smoking cigarettes is the number-one risk factor for lung cancer. But, smoking can affect your entire body, and is known to cause cancer in the:

• Lungs
• Trachea
• Bronchus
• Esophagus
• Oral Cavity
• Lip
• Nasopharynx
• Nasal Cavity
• Larynx
• Stomach
• Bladder
• Pancreas
• Kidney
• Liver
• Uterine Cervix
• Colon
• Rectum

 In addition, smoking is known to cause leukemia.