What Happens When You Smoke?
Smoking
is a three-fold addiction of the body, mind, and lifestyle.
Your body becomes addicted to the effects of the nicotine. Your mind uses
the drug to cut stress, boost energy, and relax. And your lifestyle is driven by the habit—for
example, you enjoy smoking when you watch TV, sit in your favorite chair, or reward yourself for
a job-well-done. You may also make decisions based on smoking—for example, you may go out of your
way to eat in restaurants with smoking sections or shop at stores that sell your favorite brand
of cigarettes.
Unfortunately, the short-term benefits of smoking are outweighed by the short-term costs:
- Smokers don’t have the physical energy or stamina needed to lead the active lives that they desire or deserve.
- Even light smokers end up spending thousands of extra dollars every year purchasing cigarettes and paying for increased health care and medication use.
Smokers are also at higher risk for:
- Lower quality of life, increased depression, and increased anxiety.
- Shortened life: Smokers usually die 13-15 years too early.
- Lung Disease: Chronic bronchitis and emphysema have been linked with smoking.
- Cancer: Cancers of the lung, mouth, upper respiratory system, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, cervix, kidney, ureter, and bladder have also been linked with smoking.
- Heart disease and stroke.
- Sexual Impotence and Infertility.
- Cataracts, skin wrinkling, and skin discoloration.
- Increased use of other drugs and alcohol.
- Complicated Pregnancy: Smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke increases the risk of miscarriage, pre-term delivery, stillbirth, and infant death, and low birth weight.
- Unhealthy Families: Second-hand smoke can cause breathing problems (e.g., asthma) and heart disease in non-smokers. Spouses, children, and other people exposed to second-hand smoke get colds, the flu, ear infections, and lung infections a lot more easily than people who aren’t around second-hand smoke.