The health problems associated with cigarette use begin right away, with exposure to nicotine and many other dangerous compounds in tobacco smoke. According to the Nemours Foundation, 90 percent of adult users started smoking tobacco as children.
This means that most smokers experience the short-term health effects of smoking in adolescence and early adulthood. With fewer than 1 in 10 smokers able to quit in their lifetimes, the majority of short-term symptoms will evolve into long-term threats.
Addiction
In just one or two tries at cigarette use, the Nemours Foundation reports, a smoker can become addicted to nicotine. Nicotine is a highly toxic carcinogen in tobacco that is absorbed by the lungs and carried throughout the body in the bloodstream. It raises heart rate and blood pressure and shifts breathing patterns, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
The ill effects of nicotine and other chemicals in smoke begin to add up to higher cancer risks for people who continue smoking tobacco. These body changes won't show symptoms in the short term, but the addictive properties of nicotine make cancer or another serious disease a likely outcome for most smokers.
Respiratory Inflammation
Cigarette use causes short term damage of the airways and lungs, resulting in minor health problems that progressively increase. The Nemours Foundation lists short-term respiratory symptoms from smoking tobacco as hoarseness, bad breath, sore throat, cough and wheezing. This type of breathing obstruction makes any existing asthma symptoms worse and can even provoke a life-threatening asthma episode.
Respiratory Infection
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) note that young and adult smokers acquire more infectious illnesses of the respiratory system than nonsmokers. These may manifest as minor colds and flus or as more serious health problems, such as acute bronchitis and pneumonia.
Reduced Fitness
Smoking tobacco produces carbon monoxide, which affects the amount of oxygen that red blood cells can carry. Breathing obstructions, changes in heart rate and lower blood oxygen levels reduce exercise tolerance. The CDC reports that adolescents who smoke are not as physically fit as nonsmokers. The Nemours Foundation points out that this affects athletic performance.
Chronic Bronchitis
Chronic bronchitis, a preliminary form of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), can evolve in teenage and adult cigarette users in the short term. Health problems from bronchitis include frequent throat clearing and coughing of phlegm, in the body's attempt to clear away mucus that obstructs the damaged bronchi. According to the Mayo Clinic, this unpleasant "smoker's cough" can persist for years.
