How Does Smoking Hurt You?

Unless you’ve been isolated from all sectors of the civilized world for the last 40 years, you should know the answer to the question “How does smoking hurt you?” From the government to private organizations, the harmful side effects of smoking have been shouted from the highest rooftops practically on a daily basis.

Now granted, the health problems that smoking causes are way to numerous to list in detail in a single article, but let’s take a look at some of the major areas of your body that get ravaged when you continue to smoke.

First of all, let’s begin with what happens each time you light up a cigarette. From the first puff to the last, you expose your body to over 49 known carcinogens. This is on top of the toxins such as formaldehyde and ammonia that you are also treating your body to. But wait, there is even more bad news on how does smoking hurt you.

Shall we deal with the lungs first? Each puff starts to inhibit the lungs natural defenses and your lungs are forced to work harder. The gases that are generated by each cigarette also start to chemically injure the tissue of the lungs along with your airways. Deeper inside your lungs, the smoke damages what are knows as scavenger cells. These have the job of removing the impurities from the lungs air sacs. Smoking also affects the enzyme elastin which helps keep your lungs flexible. This in turns makes you more prone to emphysema.

Want to know what you are coating your lungs with each time you light up? Tar. Did you know that a pack a day smoker will roughly pour about 8 ounces of tar in their lungs on a yearly basis? Are you now getting a better picture on how does smoking hurt you? Good. But let’s reinforce even further shall we?

As a smoker, you make your heart work harder than it has to. Did you know that statistics have shown over 160,000 heart attacks are caused each year by smoking? On top of that sobering statistic, smoking elevates your blood pressure and makes your blood clot more easily which in turn can lead to strokes. Is that worth the risk of lighting up another cigarette?

Still not convinced to give up the smoking habit? Ok. Maybe this next piece of information, especially for you men that may be reading, will finally be the impetus that you need to finally throw away the cigarettes once and for all.

In recent studies, it’s been proven that smoking can be one of the leading factors of male impotence. Yes, you read that right, impotence. Smoking causes a restricted blood flow to the reproductive organs which in turn can cause erection problems.

Now do you think you have some answers on how does smoking hurt you? And we never even mentioned all the different types of cancers that smoking has been linked to. So do yourself and your family a favor. Make a conscious effort to quit smoking. And just so you know, the majority of the damage you have done to your body, will heal in time after you quit.

courtesy http://www.stop-smoking-tips.com/how-does-smoking-hurt-you.html