What Smoking Can Give You

• Cardiovascular Disease
• Coronary Thrombosis - A blood clot in the arteries supplying the heart

Heart Attack

• Cerebral Thrombosis - The vessels to the brain become blocked

Collapse, Stroke, Paralysis

• Hypertension (high blood pressure) - Risk factor for heart attack and stroke
• Kidney Failure
• Blockage of the vascular supply to the legs

Gangrene, Amputation

• Lung Cancer
• Bladder Cancer
• Cancer of the Oesophagus
• Cancer of the Kidneys
• Cancer of the Pancreas
• Cervical Cancer
• Tongue Cancer
• Larynx Cancer
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) - Blocked airflow making breathing more difficult
• Emphysema - breathlessness caused by damage to the air sacs
• Chronic Bronchitis - Coughing with a lot of mucus that continues for at least three months
• Fertility Problems
• Asthma
• Bloodshot and Itchy Eyes
• Macular Degeneration - eventual loss of eyesight
• Cataracts
• Stained Teeth and Gums
• Periodontal Disease - Causes swollen gums, bad breath, and teeth to fall out
• Ulcers
• Pale Skin and Wrinkles - Due to reduced blood supply to skin & lower levels of vitamin A
• Erectile Dysfunction
• Osteoporosis
• Gum Disease
• Buergers Disease - Causes poor circulation in the lower leg causing burning, tingling, and ulcerations
• Hairy Tongue

And the list goes on

www.netdoctor.co.uk/health_advice/facts/smokehealth.htm

quitsmoking.lifetips.com/cat/9872/smoking-related-diseases/index.html

A Few More Facts

The following facts are from hubpages.com/hub/effectsofsmoking

• Every cigarette you consume is equal to six minutes of your life
• Smoking affects the function of the immune system

Smokers are more prone to infections and disease

• Smoking creates plaque deposits in the lining of the blood vessels, causing artherosclerosis

This may lead to cardiovascular diesases like myocardial infraction or heart failure

• If you quit smoking today, then your body will naturally start to heal itself and expel all those dangerous chemicals in your system

It's not too late. Stop now.

Facts about Smoking

The following facts are from www.quit-smoking-stop.com/harmful-smoking-effects

• Every year hundreds of thousands of people around the world die from diseases caused by smoking cigarettes. In other words, smoking kills
• One in two lifetime smokers will die from their habit. Half of these deaths will occur in middle age
• Tobacco smoke contributes to a number of cancers
• The mixture of nicotine and carbon monoxide in each cigarette you smoke temporarily increases your heart rate and blood pressure, straining your heart and blood vessels

This can cause heart attacks and stroke.

• It slows your blood flow, cutting off oxygen to your feet and hands

Some smokers end up having their limbs amputated

• Tar coats your lungs like soot in a chimney and causes cancer

Changing to low-tar cigarettes doesn't help because smokers usually take deeper puffs and hold the smoke in for longer, dragging the tar deeper into their lungs

• Carbon monoxide robs your muscles, brain, and body tissue of oxygen, making your whole body and especially your heart work harder. Over time your airways swell up and let less air into your lungs
• Smoking causes disease and is a slow way to die. The strain of smoking effects on teh body often causes years of suffering

Emphysema is an illness that slowly rots your lungs. People with emphysema often get bronchitis again and again, and suffer lung and heart failure

• Lung cancer from smoking is caused by the tar in tobacco smoke. Men who smoke are ten times more likely to die from lung cancer than non-smokers
• Heart disease and strokes are more common among smokers than non-smokers
• Smoking causes fat deposits to narrow and block blood vessels which leads to heart attack
• Smoking causes around one in five deaths from heart disease
• In younger people, three out of four deaths from heart disease are due to smoking
• Cigarette smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of low birth weight, prematurity, spontaneous abortion, and perinatal mortality in humans

This has been referred to as the fetal tobacco syndrome

Chemical Cocktail

There are over 4,000 chemicals found in cigarettes and other tobacco products, most of them toxins. Here is are descriptions of the big ones.

Nicotine is the main chemical found in tobacco, and yes, it’s addictive. It’s absorbed by inhalation into the lungs or through the skin and muscles lining the inside of the mouth and nose. Nicotine travels very quickly; it reaches the brain within 10 seconds of inhaling the smoke. It can be found in every part of a smoker’s body, even a woman’s breast milk.

Most people have Carbon Monoxide detectors in their home to protect them from Carbon Monoxide Poisoning, but smokers are inhaling it voluntarily. This colorless, odorless, tasteless gas is highly toxic. It binds to hemoglobin in red blood cells, preventing affected cells from carrying a full load of oxygen. Exposure to high levels of Carbon Monoxide for an extended period of time can be lethal.

Carcinogens (cancer causing substances) in tobacco smoke damage important genes that control the growth of cells, causing them to grow abnormally or to reproduce too rapidly. Benzo(a)pyrene is a common carcinogen found in tobacco smoke. This particular toxin binds to cells in the airways and major organs of smokers.