The damaging health effects of tobacco use include heart and lung diseases and a host of cancers and reproductive problems. Social and economic forces also make smoking cigarettes risky. In the process of trying to feel good, cigarette smokers endanger their health, happiness and prosperity. Smokers may consider this trade-off a personal choice, but the incidence of public health laws that restrict smoking is growing. In truth, smoking carries consequences beyond the personal realm to harm the nonsmoking public, including children, adults, employers and taxpayers.
Physical Addiction
The first consequence of tobacco use can occur soon after you smoke cigarettes for the first time. The Nemours Foundation reports that a new smoker can become addicted to nicotine, the psychoactive element in tobacco, within days. Physical addiction makes it difficult for smokers to quit or to prevent the biological and emotional health effects that accumulate over time.
Heart Function
Smoking cigarettes increases blood pressure and heart rate several seconds after inhaling. Habitual smoking gradually increases an individual's risk for cardiovascular damage and potentially life-threatening events, including an abdominal aortic aneurysm and heart attack. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that reduced blood circulation can lead to vascular degeneration, tissue loss and gangrene.
Breathing
Poor blood circulation is compounded by restricted oxygen levels in the blood of smokers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke prevents red blood cells from carrying the normal amount of oxygen throughout the body. Smokers may experience a drop in physical endurance as cardiopulmonary function is compromised. The development of sleep apnea can create nighttime breathing problems.
Chronic Disease
Carbon monoxide and other smoke compounds damage the lungs, and long-term tobacco use may result in emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the risk for lung cancer grows steadily with continual exposure to smoke, whether exposure is active or secondhand. Additional long-range health effects include the development of cancers of the pancreas, bladder, kidney, stomach, esophagus, cervix, uterus and mouth. Smoking also causes osteoporosis.
Economics
Personal and household economics suffer with tobacco use. The American Lung Association notes that if a pack of cigarettes costs $5, the yearly bill for a pack-a-day habit will be $1,825. That doesn't count the medical bills and time lost from work, which cost consumers and employers $193 billion annually, as of 2004, according to the CDC's estimates.
Personal Appeal
The health effects of smoking cigarettes can make smokers less attractive or desirable to others. The American Lung Association counts bad breath, snoring and wrinkled or yellowed skin as detriments to smokers' personal appeal. Employers may be put off by appearance or by reduced work productivity due to increased respiratory illness or smoking breaks. The risks to child conception and development can make smokers less desirable as mates.
