The health problems associated with cigarette smoking are caused by physical damage from ingesting heated plant material, carcinogens and toxins. Smoking affects the entire body and causes serious lifelong or life-threatening diseases. According to data from the U.S. Surgeon General, the life spans of men and women smokers are reduced by an average of 13.9 years. Besides causing destructive cancers, tobacco use hastens the aging process, bringing on prematurely wrinkled skin, cardiovascular disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Addiction
Tobacco dependence, or addiction to the nicotine in cigarettes, is a disease that affects the mind and body. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that nicotine is as addictive as cocaine and heroin.
In addition to the anxiety caused by needing to access a continual tobacco supply and a place to smoke, smokers may be unable to quit. Nicotine withdrawal symptoms, such as headaches and cravings, are uncomfortable and may cause smokers to have difficulty giving up the habit.
Coronary Heart Disease
Nicotine changes heart rate and blood pressure and damages the blood vessels. The American Heart Association notes that tobacco use gradually decreases blood circulation through atherosclerosis, or blocked arteries. This paves the way for health problems ranging from strokes to heart attacks and aneurysms caused by blood clots. Because heart disease is the leading cause of death nationwide, the AHA calls cigarette smoking the greatest preventable factor in early deaths in this country.
Cancer
The health problems caused by cancer also cut lives short. Tobacco use is known to cause lung cancer and is responsible for 85 percent of all U.S. lung cancer deaths annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Because cigarette smoke is diffused throughout the body via the bloodstream, most other organs are vulnerable to cancer.
Cigarette smoking also causes cancers of the mouth, larynx, throat, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, kidney and bladder. Reproductive organs are at risk, too; the uterus and cervix are proven cancer targets, and the prostate and breasts are potential ones, pending further CDC research.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Tobacco use has long been associated with death by emphysema and with the chronic "smoker's cough" of bronchitis. Emphysema and chronic bronchitis are the two forms of COPD, characterized by damage to lung tissue and airway obstruction of the larger bronchi. The American Lung Association points out that smoking causes approximately 85 percent of all fatalities from COPD in the U.S. each year.
