"Smoking cessation represents the single most important step that smokers can take to enhance the length and quality of their lives." This is a quote from the U.S. Surgeon General when referring to the benefits of quitting smoking. The reasons for quitting are innumerable, as are the adverse health effects of this addiction.
Cancer
Cancer is perhaps the greatest reason why smoking is bad for you. The Netdoctor website states that smokers are more likely than non-smokers to develop cancer, with the most common being lung, mouth and throat cancers. The American Cancer Society (ACS) states that lung cancer accounts for 90 percent of lung cancer deaths, passing breast cancer as the leading cause of death among women.
Aside from lung, mouth and throat cancer, smoking increases your risk of other cancers too. These include larynx (voice box), nose and sinus cancer, and lip cancer. Esophageal, cervical, pancreatic and bladder cancer are also a possibility, along with stomach and kidney cancer.
Impotence
Smoking increases the risk of erectile dysfunction by 50 percent for men in their 30s and 40s. This may explain why some couples experience fertility problems.
Men cannot develop an erection unless blood is able to flow freely to the penis; this means the blood vessels must be healthy and in good condition. Smoking damages these blood vessels, as the nicotine in cigarettes causes the arteries leading to the penis to become narrow. The more narrow the arteries, the harder it is for blood to reach the penis and cause an erection. Netdoctor states that this narrowing occurs over time, so if you do not have erection problems now, you may have them later. Also, erection problems due to a narrowing of the arteries may indicate narrow arteries elsewhere in the body.
Lung Diseases
Aside from lung cancer, smoking can cause lung diseases such as chronic bronchitis or emphysema, both of which are known as COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder), according to the American Cancer Society. COPD is an ongoing--or chronic--illness that worsens over time. It can be extremely debilitating, inhibiting a person's ability to perform even the smallest of tasks due to her inability to breathe. As the disease progresses, the patient may become reliant on an oxygen tank or machine, and in some cases, she may lose her life as a result.
Pneumonia is another lung disease that results from smoking, and if the patient continues to smoke, her bouts of pneumonia may become more severe and occur more frequently. Pneumonia--just like COPD--can be debilitating and fatal.
Smoking Affects Others
Also known as passive smoking, secondhand smoke has serious repercussions on those who breathe it in. Netdoctor states that the stream of smoke coming off a cigarette between puffs carries a higher risk for non-smokers than the smoke inhaled by those smoking the cigarette.
Not only do children who live in a home where one or both parents smoke have twice the risk of developing asthma or asthmatic bronchitis, they are also more prone to developing allergies. In addition, infants under the age of two years old are at a greater risk for respiratory infections and SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome).
