Even if you are cautious of what you eat and exercise regularly, smoking is one of the leading causes of health problems today, and so we felt it was appropriate for today’s gust blogger Jennifer Smith, to give you the ins and outs of smoking’s effects on the body. Take it away Jennifer!

 

Smoking is by far one of the worst habits a person can have. It’s surprising that people still continue to smoke on a regular basis, even though smoking is one of the largest causes of death, something which could be prevented if a person just went ahead and stopped. More than 80,000 people die in a single year due to smoking, a shocking statistic. 

 

Experts believe that one of the main reasons people continue to smoke is because they don’t understand the effects it can have on the human body. This blog will explain how smoking affects the different parts of the body, and you may be surprised at just how bad the effects can are.

 

Brain

 

An organ in the human body that is like no other, the brain is a complex network of billions of neurons that together, makes you who you are. All of our senses are dictated by the brain which means that even minute damage can cause plenty of serious issues.

 

A person that smokes is more likely to have a stroke, with chances rising by up to 50%. A lot of people worry about having a stroke, and rightly so. If a person was to have a stroke, there’s a good chance of death, as well as serious brain damage occurring. A smoker has double the chance of dying if they end up having a stroke when compared to someone that doesn’t.

 

You’re more likely to suffer from a brain aneurysm if you’re a smoker. A brain aneurysm is where a blood vessel bulges thanks to weakness in your blood vessel wall. One of the dangerous things about this is that they can burst, causing a subarachnoid haemorrhage. 

 

Even if someone has been smoking for a long time, if they were to stop in two years time the risk of having a stroke is halved. Once five years has gone by without a person smoking then the chance of having a stroke is the same as someone who doesn’t smoke. 

 

Heart

 

Another vital organ that ensures that we exist, the heart makes sure to distribute oxygen and nutrients in our bloodstream to our vital body cells, ensuring that they don’t die. If your heart was to fail, then your brain would stop functioning and eventually you’d simply die. 

 

It may be a shocking fact but smoking doubles the chance that a person will have a heart attack. A person is also twice as likely to be afflicted with coronary heart disease, and there’s a good chance you would die from this. Another fact that is shocking is that carbon monoxide produced from cigarette smoke creates excess strain on a person’s heart, making more of a chance of blood clots. 

 

Reproduction and fertility organs

 

If a male is a smoker, it can end up causing impotence. This is because the blood vessel that provides blood for the penis is damaged, harming the actual sperm, lowering how much can be produced, and it can also cause testicular cancer. Around 120,000 men that are in their twenties and young thirties have become impotent due to smoking.

 

For a woman that smokes, her fertility will be reduced by a scary amount. It has recently been discovered that someone who smokes is three times more likely to take over a year to actually conceive.

 

Another danger for women that smoke is the chance of cervical cancer can increase to dangerous levels. A smoker that contracts HPV infection will find that they have a much tougher task of getting rid of it, and it can end up developing into a cancer. 

 

Without a doubt, one of the most dangerous things a woman can do is smoke while pregnant. There’s a multitude of situations that can arise, including premature birth, miscarriage, stillbirth, illness, and the chances of cot death increases to 25%.

 

Stomach

 

If a person is to smoke, there’s a higher chance they will develop a stomach ulcer or even cancer. Simply by smoking the muscles in the stomach that control your gullet can weaken. This can cause acid to travel in the wrong direction back up to your gullet, causing great discomfort.

 

Kidney cancer is more likely to occur if a person smokes, the more they smoke, the greater the risk is. Research has proven that a person who smokes at least ten cigarettes a day is more than one and a half times more likely to get this form of cancer, with the chances doubling if they smoke twenty.

 

Circulation system 

 

If a car has oil that isn’t of sufficient quality, it can easily start to develop problems. This is very much like a human being and their blood. When a person smokes, all of the toxins produced in the cigarette smoke ends up entering their blood stream. This creates a number of issues.

 

Your blood will become much thicker, which has a knock on effect of increased chance of clots. It’ll also increase the pressure of a person’s blood and how fast their heart rate is, resulting in the heart working harder than it actually needs to. Arteries will start to narrow, drastically reducing the amount of oxygen rich blood that circulates around your vital organs.

 

All of these issues work together, making it more likely that a person will have a heart attack or even a stroke. 

 

Bones

 

This is one of the facts that a lot of people aren’t aware of, but a person’s bones can be affected quite badly if they smoke on a regular basis. You can find that they become brittle and weak, which means if you fall, you’re much more likely to injure yourself.

 

For women, because of the way they’re built, they are more likely to suffer from brittle bones, which is why smoking can be a real problem.

 

 

Smoking, is it worth it?

 

After reading about all the issues that can affect a person if they smoke, it all boils down to a single question, is smoking even worth it? Sure, you may get a tobacco buzz, but with all of the issues that cause serious problems when it comes to your health, there’s really no point at all. 

 

If you still want to smoke despite these issues, think of the people around you. Second hand smoke can mean that another person that has never smoked in their life can suffer from these issues from your smoke. Be aware of who’s around you, and try to stay out of the way.