Thanks to research that has uncovered the many harms of smoking, cigarette advertisements aren't as common and smoking is banned in most public places, according to the Nemours Foundation. Despite that, many people still decide to light up for a variety of reasons. One of the most common reasons people continue to smoke is because trying just a couple of cigarettes can lead to a lifetime of addiction. In fact, about nine out of 10 tobacco users started using tobacco before age 18 and most never thought they would become addicted, according the Nemours Foundation.
Harmful Ingredients
Tobacco smoke contains about 4,000 chemicals, at least 250 of which are known to be harmful to the body, according to the National Cancer Institute. Some of these toxic chemicals are: hydrogen cyanide, which has been used in chemical weapons; carbon monoxide, which is found in car exhaust; ammonia, which is in household cleaners; formaldehyde, which is used to embalm the human body; and nicotine, which is the drug that makes smoking cigarettes addictive.
Immediate Harms
Smoking immediately causes inconveniences such as bad breath, foul-smelling clothes and skin and stained fingers and teeth, but it also leads to immediate ill health effects. Smokers are prone to coughs, sore throats, colds, reduced athletic performance and breathing problems, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. Smoking during pregnancy increases risk of delivering before term, low birth weight, stillbirth and sudden infant death syndrome, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Long-Term Health Effects
Smoking cigarettes is a leading cause of cancer, contributing to cancers of the lung, esophagus, voice box, mouth, throat, stomach, pancreas, bladder, kidney and cervix, according to the National Cancer Institute. It can also lead to acute myeloid leukemia, lung disease, heart disease, stroke, hip fractures and cataracts, says the National Cancer Institute.
Death
Tobacco use causes more deaths each year than motor vehicle injuries, alcohol use, illegal drug use, murders, HIV and suicides combined, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cigarette smoking leads to health effects that cause about 443,000 deaths, or about one out of five deaths, each year in the United States.
Immediate and Long-Term Benefits of Quitting
As soon as a person quits smoking, his heart rate and blood pressure immediately begin to return to normal levels, according to the National Cancer Institute. Carbon monoxide levels in the blood begin to decline within hours, which then improves the blood's ability to carry oxygen throughout the body. Within weeks, people who quit will have better circulation and experience less coughing, wheezing and phlegm production. In the long-term, people who quit smoking--regardless of age---are less likely to have cancer and health problems such as lung and heart disease, according to the National Cancer Institute.
