As well as affecting your general health, quitting smoking can make a big difference to the way you look. Did you know that stopping smoking can benefit your skin? For a start, you’ll be getting rid of the yellow tar stains from your fingers and the smell of stale smoke from your hair. This will make a difference to how you look and how you feel.
Quote
"Folks say I’m looking a lot better. I’m not huffing and blowing."
- Arthur, Aberdeen
Benefits to your skin
The benefits of stopping smoking to your appearance can be gained at any point in life, although, obviously, the earlier you think about stopping smoking, the greater the effect on your looks.
The myth that gets many teenagers to take up the habit in the first place – that smoking makes you look older – is sadly true when it comes to your skin.
Smoking reduces the amount of blood flowing to the skin and dries it out. Over time, this means it loses elasticity and gets more wrinkled.
Stopping smoking can have positive effects on your skin. You will improve your skin tone and colour. You're less likely to get wrinkles round your eyes and mouth from squinting when smoke gets in your eyes, and puckering up when you draw on a cigarette.
Quitting smoking lowers your chances of developing psoriasis, a chronic skin condition that can be extremely uncomfortable and disfiguring.
Benefits to your body
Quitting smoking has a good effect on your entire body.
Many smokers believe their habit help keeps their weight down. This is true to some extent. But did you know that smoking affects the shape of your body?
Smoking causes changes in the glands that secrete hormones so smokers store more body fat around their waist and upper torso than their hips. This means smokers are likely to have a higher waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) than non-smokers. A high WHR is associated with a greater risk of developing:
- Diabetes
- Heart disease
- High blood pressure
- Gallbladder problems
- Cancer of the womb and breast in women
Quitting means your body can get back to normal and recover from the effects of smoking.
Benefits to your teeth
It's not just the look of your teeth that can be affected by smoking. Smoking makes it harder for saliva to remove germs in your mouth so you have more chance of getting gum disease, which can lead to premature tooth loss and bad breath. Stopping smoking means whiter teeth and a reduced risk of losing them – with fewer trips to the dentist too, with any luck.