How Smoking Affects Your Health

To learn how smoking affects your health, you can start with reading the health warnings on your cigarette package. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cigarette smoking accounts for nearly 1 of every 5 deaths in the United States. These are some of the dangers in how smoking affects your health.

How Smoking Affects Your Health: Increased Health Risks
A CDC fact sheet on the health effects of smoking makes the dangers clear. Compared with nonsmokers, people who smoke increase their risk of coronary heart disease by 2 to 4 times; their risk of stroke by 2 to 4 times; and their chances of dying from chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and other chronic obstructive lung diseases by 12 to 13 times. Women are 13 times more likely to develop lung cancer, and that figure increases to 23 times for men.

How Smoking Affects Your Health: Heart Attack and Stroke
Smoking causes coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death in the U.S. Tobacco causes reduced circulation which can cause a heart attack. It also increases the risk of having a stroke.

How Smoking Affects Your Health:
Cancer In addition to lung cancer, smoking causes many more forms of cancer including leukemia, and cancers of the kidneys, pancreas, bladder, stomach, liver, cervix, uterus, throat, and mouth.

How Smoking Affects Your Health:
Other Effects Smoking harms almost every part of the body. Additional effects include reproductive health issues including infertility, preterm delivery, stillbirth, low birth weight, and sudden infant death syndrome. For men, there are studies indicating an increased risk of impotence. For women, it contributes to lower bone density and an increased risk of hip fractures. For both men and women, studies show that smoking is harmful to the brain and contributes to mental decline. The skin is another organ harmed by smoking. Smoking causes premature wrinkles and sagging due to reduced circulation and thousands of toxic chemicals.