I am sure everyone here knows at least one person who smokes cigarettes or knows someone who has been affected by cigarette smoking. There are many disadvantages of smoking that can decrease your life span and hurt your overall health. The benefits of smoking cessation start to take effect within just hours of quitting smoking.

According to polls by the American heart association, about 23.5% of men in the US smoke cigarettes and 18.1% of women in the US smoke.  All together that is about 20% of the general population so if you look around it is estimated about 1 in 5 people smoke. This is a large amount of people considering all of the disadvantages of smoking.

Cigarette smoking is directly responsible for 90% of lung cancer cases throughout the world. If you quit smoking you decrease your chance of lung cancer drastically and this is just one of the benefits of smoking cessation.

There are over 4,000 known chemicals in a single cigarette. 60 of these substances are a known causative agent for cancer. One substance in a cigarette that is responsible for the addictive nature of cigarette smoking is nicotine. Cigarette smoking can turn into a physical habit along with being mentally addicting. Nicotine is addicting because you brain becomes used to inhaling the substance. Once you inhale it, your brain wants it more often and in bigger amounts. This is what causes the feelings of withdrawal when trying to quit cigarette. Your body is so used to the nicotine and cigarette smoking habits that when you go without it your body reacts through withdrawal symptoms.

Disadvantages of smoking:

1. Decreased lung capacity
2. Increased risk of many health conditions just to name a few big ones
   1. Heart disease
   2. Coronary Artery Disease
   3. Lung Cancer
   4. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
   5. Emphysema
   6. Spending money
   7. Trouble breathing, shortness of breath
   8. Decreased immune system response
   9. Decreased oxygen to tissues throughout the body

No related posts.