What does smoking do to us?
Illness and Disease
The damage done to the human body by
smoking can be truly devastating. The links between smoking and cancer, lung disease and heart disease are well known. Smoking is implicated in 80% of all deaths caused by lung cancer, bronchitis, and emphysema, and in a further 30% of all cancer deaths in particular cancers of the mouth, lip, throat, cervix, pancreas, kidney, liver, stomach and bladder. There is also a link between smoking and
leukaemia. Smoking has a profound effect upon the circulation. At best this leads to the characteristic grey complexion and prematurely aged appearance of heavy smokers, and at worst to 2000 amputations a year. There are also links between smoking and
diabetes and mental illness.
Appearance
It's official - smoking seriously damages your looks. Smoking causes premature aging of the skin, both by depriving it of oxygen and reducing the production of
collagen, its support system. The eyes' natural attempts to protect themselves by squinting and the action of drawing on a
cigarette leads to crows feet and the characteristic vertical lines around the mouths of smokers. Smoking is also linked to the disfiguring skin condition
psoriasis. Smoking not only causes brown staining to teeth but their complete loss! It compromises the blood circulation to the gums leading to disease, which in turn is a major cause of tooth loss.
Sex Life
The
circulatory problems that afflict smokers leave no part of the body untouched! Over a third of male smokers report difficulties in getting an erection. An estimated 120,000 British males are impotent because they smoke. Smoking is also linked to a number of other male sexual problems, for example reduced volume of ejaculate, lowered sperm counts, abnormal sperm and impaired
sperm mobility.
Passive Smoking
For many the effects of
passive smoking are merely irritating and certainly the dangers are nowhere near as great as those of 'active' smoking. However, passive smoking can cause lung cancer and heart disease in non-smokers and respiratory disease, cot death, middle ear disease and asthmatic attacks in children.
Pregnancy
It is by now well known that smoking during pregnancy harms the unborn children of smokers. Smokers are
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