Effects of smoking

Effects of Smoking

• raises a person's blood pressure and heart rate.
• Decreases a person's blood flow to body extremities like the fingers and toes.
• The brain and the nervous system is stimulated for a short time and then reduced.
• Dizziness.
• Nausea.
• Watery eyes.
• Hyperacidity.
• Weakened sense of taste and smell.
• Loss of appetite.

Other effects of smoking:

• Shortness of breath.
• Chronic coughing.
• Reduced overall fitness.
• Yellowish stain on the smoker's fingers and teeth.
• Smokers experience more coughs and colds as compared to non-smokers.
• Difficulty recovering from minor illnesses.
• Impotence for men, infertility for women.
• Facial wrinkles appear at an early age, making them look older than non-smokers of the same age.

Because they experience these different side effects of smoking, they have a higher risk of developing diseases like:

• respiratory tract infections (like pneumonia and chronic bronchitis)
• emphysema (collapse of the small airways in the lungs)
• heart attack and other coronary diseases
• different kinds of cancers (lungs, throat, mouth, bladder, kidney, pancreas, cervix, and stomach)
• stomach ulcers
• peripheral vascular disease due to a decreased blood flow to the legs

Once a person becomes addicted to cigarettes, they may find themselves experiencing different withdrawal symptoms when they decide to stop. These withdrawal symptoms and effects of smoking include:

• increased nervousness and tension
• agitation
• loss of concentration
• change in sleep patterns
• headaches
• coughs
• strong cravings

For pregnant women, it is important to know that the growing child in their womb may suffer if they continue smoking. The effects of smoking to a growing fetus include: low birth weight, premature birth, or stillbirth. Even those who do not smoke are at risk of incurring diseases. Second hand smoke may cause lung cancer or heart problems to those who passively inhale smoke exhaled by smokers.

Smoking may make a person look cool or macho, but you should consider more than just how it would make you look. Keep in mind that the effects of smoking has harmful shortcomings that can end up reducing your lifespan. Before you light up your next cigarette, think of the various harmful effects of smoking and if you'd want that to happen to you.