Why Smoking Is Bad For Your Health

There are numerous reasons why smoking is bad for your health. Before you even put that cigarette to your lips the smoke from lighting it is harmful to you. The damage that is being done occurs through out the process of smoking and continues on long after that cigarette goes out. One of the real issues with smoking information is the over saturation. It is difficult to find the balance between getting the information out there, and numbing people to the message by repeating it so often. We think that it is better to err on the side of information. It is knowing the deadly effects of smoking that will likely discourage smokers from continuing to smoke. Hopefully it will keep non-smokers from even starting.

The Risks of Smoking

Many people are aware of the risks like lung cancer and emphysema. Unfortunately people will often play a game of Russian roulette with this risk. The fact that these conditions don't generally develop until many years of smoking have passed makes young smokers willing to gamble. It isn't a smart risk, especially with emphysema. It isn't until the third and especially the fourth stage of emphysema that it ruins your life and your health. But the second and even the first stage have symptoms that are harmful.

You may get lucky and never reach the point where you develop any stage of emphysema. There are other risks right from the beginning. From the first puff of smoke you inhale you are taking numerous deadly chemicals into your body.

Nicotine: This is the chemical you are smoking tobacco to get, but it is still a poison.
Arsenic: This is the chemical in rat poison
Methane: One of the chemicals in rocket fuel
Ammonia: Used to clean windows
Cadmium: One of the chemicals that force batteries to warn you against opening them
Carbon Monoxide: This is the waste that your body tries to breathe out
Formaldehyde: Used to keep human tissue supple in jars; has the opposite effect on your lungs
Butane: Flammable liquid in lighters
Hydrogen Cyanide: The gas released in "The Gas Chamber"

Do these sound like the products that you want to ingest 10-20 times a day. You draw these chemicals, and many more, into your lungs with every puff. It then travels to all part of your body through your blood stream.

Other Harm Smoking Causes

Smoking has other immediate effects on your body. The heat of the smoke paralyzes the cilia on the lining of your throat. Without being able to move, these fine little hairs are unable to filter dust, pollen, and air pollution. This leads to smokers getting small coughs and colds more often than non-smokers. Once they have these health issues they tend to hang on longer than they do with people who don't smoke. Every bit of your bodies resources that go to these extended struggles for health are resources that can't be used for more serious illness.

There are other numerous health issues that develop from smoking. Skin wrinkles faster and with more definition. Teeth turn to yellow and then to brown with repeated smoking. Smokers also suffer from three times as many cavities as non-smokers. These effects take different length of time to develop. They all begin with the first cigarette.