The most important aspect of life that smoking affects is how and when a person will die. The U.S. Surgeon General reports that smokers live an average of 13.8 fewer years than the general population. Causes of death include debilitating diseases that can end life suddenly or unpleasantly, such as heart attack or emphysema. Tobacco users also suffer from health problems and habits that make them less attractive to employers, social acquaintances and potential mates.
Personal Health
According to the Centers for Disease Control, cigarette smoking causes lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, or COPD, and atherosclerosis, which leads to coronary heart disease and stroke. All of these can be fatal. Health problems such as gum disease and tooth loss, infertility, bone fractures and poor surgical recovery are more likely with tobacco use.
Personal Freedom
The psychological component of nicotine addiction has consequences that result in a loss of personal freedom. The American Lung Association notes that cigarette smoking is legally restricted in many public areas. Continually seeking a place to smoke curtails tobacco users' free time and freedom of movement. Addiction compels smokers to make their habits the priority in their lives.
Personal Finances
The American Lung Association also reports that addiction creates the need to buy tobacco products on a continual basis, putting a dent in household finances. At about $5 to $10 per pack per day in 2010, cigarette smoking can cost individuals and their families between $1,800 and $3,600 annually. Higher personal insurance rates and time lost from work due to more frequent health problems drive those figures upward.
Personal Appearance
The American Cancer Society lists a number of ways in which smoking causes physical appearance and presentation to decline. Smokers may suffer from yellowed teeth, fingers and fingernails. Skin may wrinkle prematurely. Bad breath and the odor of stale tobacco further affect the personal appeal of smokers.
Personal Relationships
Many of the effects of smoking influence the quality of smokers' personal relationships. Nonsmoking family, friends, coworkers, business contacts and even strangers may hesitate to interact with smokers for aesthetic or health reasons. The American Cancer Society notes that this limits the social and dating pool for about 20 percent of the adult U.S. population.
Public Health
Tobacco users put the health of other people in danger. According to the CDC, cigarette smoke contains pollutants that affect the respiratory and cardiovascular health of nonsmokers who inhale it.
Carcinogens can be transmitted via smoke, through a fetal placenta and from particulate that is distributed from smokers' bodies to their home or work environments. There, toxins can be absorbed through the skin or ingested as dust.
