In this section, find out all about the effects of smoking on your health. Smoking can affect every part of your body. It can lead to both minor and major health problems. But do you know exactly what happens to your body when you smoke?
What happens when you smoke?
- When you smoke, less oxygen reaches your lungs. Nicotine, the addictive stuff, stimulates your central nervous system, making your heart beat faster and raising your blood pressure. Tar from cigarettes ends up in your lungs.
- Over time, smoking obstructs or narrows the small airways in the lungs and destroys the air sacs there. It clogs arteries and causes blood clots.
This is why smoking tobacco causes so much ill health in Scotland. Every year 13,000 Scots die from smoking-related illnesses. For more statistics on smoking-related illnesses and deaths in Scotland, visit www.tobaccoinscotland.org.uk.
The health benefits of stopping
Quote
"I feel healthier. I taste my food better. I’m not breathless walking up that hill. I’ve got more money which I spend on nice clothes."- Shelagh, Inverclyde
Stopping smoking not only reduces the risk of getting serious smoking-related diseases, it means you're less likely to have other health problems, such as:
- Gum disease and bad breath
- Coughs and shortness of breath
- Colds and flu
- Mouth ulcers
- High blood pressure
- Asthma attacks
In the long-term, breaking the habit reduces the chances of you suffering from:
- Stroke
- Reduced vision
- Mouth and throat cancer
- Heart disease
- Emphysema and bronchitis
- Lung cancer
- Stomach ulcers
- Bladder cancer
- Infertility
- Peripheral vascular disease, which can lead to gangrene and amputation of limbs
Some of the less well-known benefits of stopping smoking are that wounds and surgical incisions should heal more quickly. For women, the good news is that you're less likely to suffer painful periods and osteoporosis (brittle bone disease) once you've quit.
Thinking of starting a family? Men who smoke may suffer from impotence and produce less sperm. Women who smoke take longer to conceive and are more likely to have a miscarriage or stillbirth. Stopping smoking can improve your chances of conceiving.
Improve your health
It doesn't matter how old you are, how much you smoke or how many years you've been a smoker – giving up can halt at least some of the damage. The heart can pump more blood – and oxygen – around the body with less effort.
Quitting particularly reduces the risk of a heart attack in people with other risk factors like being overweight or who have diabetes, high blood pressure or raised blood cholesterol levels.
The Tobacco Information Scotland website provides you with more facts and figures on smoking-related diseases.