Risks of Smoking Reasons to Rid Your Life of Tobacco Smoke Now

Think you know all the risks of smoking? Some, like it risking your ability to get pregnant, may surprise you. Read on for more reasons to stop today... Risks of Smoking: Cancer Because cells are tiny, it may take years before you find a lump or your doctor sees a tumor on a scan. DNA damage leads to cancer. DNA is the cell’s “instruction manual.” It controls a cell’s normal growth and function. When DNA is damaged, a cell can begin growing out of control and create a cancer tumor. This happens because poisons in tobacco smoke can destroy or change the cell’s instructions. The next cigarette you smoke might damage your DNA in a way that leads to cancer. Normally, your immune system helps to protect you from cancer. It sends out tumor fighters to attack and kill cancer cells. However, new research shows that the poisons in cigarette smoke weaken the tumor fighters. When this happens, cells keep growing without being stopped. For this reason, smoking can cause cancer and then block your body from fighting it. Breathing tobacco smoke when you already have cancer is especially dangerous. New research shows that tobacco smoke helps tumors grow. It can undo the benefits of chemotherapy. Smoking can cause cancer almost anywhere in your body, including the mouth, nose and throat, larynx, trachea, esophagus, lung, stomach, pancreas, kidney and uterus, bladder, cervix, bone marrow and blood. Doctors have known for years that smoking causes most lung cancers. Nearly nine of 10 men who die from lung cancer smoked. About 3,000 nonsmokers die each year from lung cancer caused by secondhand smoke. Ten years after you quit smoking, your risk of dying from lung cancer drops by half. And there are benefits of quitting at any age. Within 5 years of quitting, your chance of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus and bladder is cut in half. If nobody smoked, 1 of every 3 cancer deaths in the U.S. wouldn’t happen. Learn more in our Cancer Health Center. Risks of Smoking: Dangerous Changes in Blood Chemistry Smoking causes immediate damage to your arteries, including: Aneurysms, which are bulging blood vessels that can burst and cause death Stroke, the sudden death of brain cells caused by blood clots or bleeding Heart attacks, caused by increased heart rate and blood pressure. (Your blood vessels thicken and grow narrower.) When you get a cut, blood cells called platelets stick together to form a clot. This helps stop the cut from bleeding. However, blood clots cause trouble when they form in your body. Chemical changes caused by smoking make blood too sticky. Deadly clots form that can block blood flow to your heart, brain or legs. Breathing tobacco smoke causes other changes in your blood. Your triglyceride level rises, and your “good cholesterol” level falls. The chemicals in tobacco smoke also prevent your body from repairing damaged places in the lining of your arteries. Clots are more likely to form in a damaged artery. Smoking is one cause of dangerous plaque buildup inside your arteries. Plaque is made of cholesterol and scar tissue. It clogs and narrows your arteries, which can trigger chest pain, weakness, heart attack, or stroke. Completely blocked arteries can cause sudden death. When your arteries are narrowed and blocked from smoking, you may have other problems, too. Blockages reduce blood flow in your legs and skin. Tissue slowly dies. You may develop skin ulcers. Eventually, your toes, feet, or legs can be so damaged that they must be amputated. Plaque narrows vessels so less blood can flow through. When a clot forms in one of these narrow places in an artery around the heart, your heart muscle becomes starved for the oxygen it needs. Secondhand tobacco smoke triggers heart attacks. Tobacco smoke hurts anyone who breathes it. When you breathe secondhand smoke, platelets in your blood get sticky and may form clots, just like in a person who smokes. New research shows that even spending time in a smoky room could trigger a heart attack. Smoking is not the only cause of these problems, but it makes them much worse. Risks of Smoking: Public Places A public smoking ban drastically cut heart attacks: The Colorado city of Pueblo banned smoking in workplaces and all public areas in 2003. The number of people hospitalized for heart attacks dropped 41% in three years. Smoking damages your lungs. If you quite smoking even after the age of 65, you can add years to your life. You will breathe better and feel better. Every cigarette you smoke damages your breathing. New research shows that poisons in tobacco smoke harm your body from the moment they enter your mouth. They attack the inner tissue on the way to your lungs. Your body is telling you not to smoke. The first time you smoke, your lungs may feel like they’re burning. You may cough violently. That’s your body telling you it’s being poisoned. Tiny, brush-like cilia line your airways. They sweep out mucus and dirt so your lungs stay clear. Over time, smoking damages and destroys these brushes. You get “smokers’ cough” because your body makes more mucus and the cilia can no longer clear your lungs. Other damage is happening too. When you quit smoking, you’ll cough and wheeze less. You’ll cough up less mucus. After a few smoke-free months, you’ll breathe easier. Tobacco smoke scars your lungs. Your lungs should be elastic like a balloon. They expand when you breathe in and compress when you breathe out. The poisons in tobacco smoke inflame the delicate lining of your lungs. Years of smoking can damage your lungs so much that they no longer stretch and exchange air. Risks of Smoking: Lung Disease Smoking causes chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. There’s no cure. People with COPD slowly die from lack of air. COPD includes the diseases emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Emphysema causes the walls between the air sacs in your lungs to lose their ability to stretch and shrink back. The air sacs become weaker and wider. Air gets trapped in your lungs. You have trouble breathing in oxygen and breathing out carbon dioxide. If you keep smoking, normal breathing may become harder as emphysema develops. With emphysema, lung tissue is destroyed, making it very hard to get enough oxygen. Chronic bronchitis is the swelling of the lining of your bronchial tubes. When this happens, you have less air flow to and from your lungs. You cough up heavy mucus with chronic bronchitis. Pneumonia and respiratory problems are far more common in smokers. For people with asthma, even breathing someone else’s smoke can trigger a severe attack. Your airways become inflamed and tight. It’s hard to breathe. If you quit smoking, you’ll cough less than people who continue to smoke. You’ll be surprised how much easier it is to be active. COPD caused by smoking makes you weak from lack of oxygen. Eventually, you may have to live on oxygen from a tank. For more information, visit our COPD Health Center. Risks of Smoking: Infertility and Pregnancy Complications Smoking reduces a woman’s chance of getting pregnant. Chemicals in smoke interfere with the functioning of the tubes that your eggs travel through to reach the womb. This might decrease fertility or lead to pregnancy complications. Researchers have also found that smoking might damage the DNA in men’s sperm. This DNA damage might decrease fertility, cause birth defects, or lead to miscarriage. Smoking harms reproduction and your children’s health. Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of pregnancy complications, premature delivery, low birth-weight infants, stillbirth and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Premature delivery is when a baby is born too early. Low birth weight is when a baby weighs less than 5-1/2 pounds. Babies born too early or too small are not as healthy. Babies whose mothers smoke are about three times more likely to die from SIDS (crib death). Tobacco smoke damages the tissues of an unborn baby’s growing brain and lungs. When a pregnant woman smokes, there could also be problems with the growth of the placenta (the organ that feeds the baby). Problems with the placenta could lead to miscarriage, premature delivery, or low birth weight. Smoking can even make the placenta detach from the womb too early. If this happens, you will miscarry or deliver your baby prematurely. Tobacco smoke hurts babies and children. Mothers know it is important to quit smoking while they are pregnant, but starting to smoke again after your baby is born is also dangerous. Babies who breathe secondhand smoke are more likely to die from SIDS and have other health problems because their lungs don’t work as well. More than half of all children in the U.S. breathe secondhand smoke at home, in cars, or in public places. More than 300,000 children suffer each year from infections caused by tobacco smoke, including bronchitis, pneumonia and ear infections. They wheeze and cough more often. For children who have asthma, breathing secondhand smoke can trigger an attack. The attack can be severe enough to send a child to the hospital. Sometimes an asthma attack is so severe that a child dies. One in five babies born to mothers who smoke has low birth weight. Low birth weight is a leading cause of infant death. Learn more in our Pregnancy Health Center. Risks of Smoking: Diabetes We now know that poisons in tobacco smoke affect blood sugar. Smoking even increases your chance of having type 2 diabetes. People with diabetes who smoke need more insulin than those who don’t smoke. They are also more likely to have serious health problems from diabetes. Smoking makes diabetes harder to control. New science shows that people with diabetes are especially affected by tobacco smoke. Smokers with diabetes have higher risks for serious complications, including: Heart and kidney disease Amputation Retinopathy (eye disease causing blindness) Peripheral neuropathy (nerve damage). Such damage short circuits your body’s electrical system. It causes numbness, pain, weakness and poor coordination. People with diabetes who smoke are three times more likely to have this nerve damage. You can even recover from surgery faster. The health benefits for people with diabetes who stop smoking begin immediately. Diabetics who quit smoking have better control over their blood sugar levels. For more information, visit our Diabetes Health Center. Risks of Smoking: Your Family’s Health Protect your family from secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke causes immediate harm to nonsmokers who breathe it. If you are a nonsmoker, you can do some important things to protect yourself and your family. Do not allow anyone to smoke anywhere in or near your home. Some of the smoke stays in your house even if you only allow smoking near an open window. Do not allow anyone to smoke in your car, even with the window down. No amount of smoke is safe. Make sure your children’s day care centers and schools are tobacco-free. A tobacco-free campus policy prohibits any tobacco use or advertising on school property by anyone at any time. This includes off-campus school events. If your state still allows smoking in public areas, look for restaurants and other places that do not allow smoking. “No-smoking sections” do not protect you and your family from secondhand smoke. Teach your children to stay away from secondhand smoke. Be a good role model by not smoking. Allowing someone to smoke in only one room does not protect nonsmokers. Smoke from halls and stairs gets inside, too. The new research in this report shows the scientific reasons to quit smoking. But people who quit do it for their own reasons. What are yours? I want more years with my family and friends I want to be around to share birthdays with my kids I want fewer sick days and lost wages I want to be at my daughter’s wedding I want to know my grandkids I want more energy I want to breathe easier I want to enjoy the smell and taste of food I want to be a better role model My pet needs me I am tired of standing outside in the cold I want to spend my money on something besides cigarettes I want to live to enjoy retirement When you’re ready, here are some ways to begin: Talk to your doctor. Consider nicotine replacement therapy or medication. Find a support program. Social support helps when you are trying to quit. Focus on eating right and being active. Don’t get discouraged. Quitting often takes several tries before you succeed. For more information, visit our Smoking Cessation Health Center. Are You Ready to Quit Smoking? By now you should know that smoking increases your risk for heart disease, lung cancer, stroke and more.