Smoking causes five million deaths a year worldwide. This makes tobacco responsible for 1 in 10 deaths. The World Health Organization says smoking is the world's second biggest killer. If you smoke, you could contract several killer diseases, including heart disease, stroke, cancer, lung disease and diabetes. As you smoke, you inhale tar, which causes cancer, nicotine, the addictive substance that increases your cholesterol, and carbon monoxide, which robs your body of oxygen.
Cancer
Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 compounds, of which 400 are toxic and around 80 can give you cancer by damaging your DNA. They include rat poison and pesticides. Smoking causes nine in ten cases of lung cancer, which has one of the lowest survival rates of all cancers, explains Cancer Research UK. The longer you smoke and the more frequently you smoke, the more likely you are to contract lung cancer. As cancer spreads across the lungs, you will not have enough healthy lung tissue to give you the oxygen you need to stay alive. Smoking can also lead to cancer of the mouth, throat, nose, esophagus, kidney, liver, bladder, stomach, pancreas, larynx and cervix. Many of these cancers prove fatal. If cancer is in your bones, you release too much calcium and eventually die. Cancer stops your liver balancing your body's chemicals, which can kill you.
Lung Disease
Carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and small solid pieces of tar enter your lungs when you smoke, damaging cells in the airways of your lungs. Cells may then grow uncontrolably. Although your body sends more cells to protect them, they too will be killed by more smoke. Substances released by the mass of dead cells may damage your lungs irreparably. Fatal lung diseases caused by smoking include emphysema and tuberculosis. Two-thirds of people with tuberculosis die within five years.
Heart Disease
Smoking allows fatty matter to clog up your arteries so there is less space for blood to pass. Carbon monoxide in smoke lowers the oxygen in your blood, and the adrenaline released by nicotine overworks your heart. This leads to coronary heart disease or heart attack. According to the U.S. National Cancer Institute, smokers are up to six times more likely to suffer a heart attack than non-smokers. During a heart attack, your cells may be permanently injured and you may die. With coronary heart disease, your heart muscles could weaken and eventually stop.
Stroke
According to the Stoke Association, smoking doubles your risk of stroke. Smoking causes atherosclerosis and your blood clots. During a stroke, there is a lack of blood going to the brain, and this causes brain tissue to die. If a blood vessel is damaged by smoking and bursts, the bleeding can cause a stroke, and this can be fatal because your body cannot control the bleeding.
Other Deaths
Some people have died from nicotine poisoning. Pregnant women who smoke have a greater risk of seeing their baby die of sudden instant death syndrome. Around 40 percent of deaths caused by house fire are a result of cigarettes.
Reasons to Quit
The sooner you quit smoking, the less likely you are to die from it. If you quit by age 30, you are 90 percent less likely to die from smoking. If you quit by age 50, you halve the risk of dying prematurely.
