It can be easier to understand the dangers of smoking by looking at a cigarette from the inside out. Every cigarette has 559 ingredients and 4,000 chemicals, 69 of which can cause cancer, reports the Tri-County Cessation Center. In addition, cigarettes emit 43 of these cancer-causing chemicals in mainstream and sidestream smoke. These chemicals affect your body in one way or another every time you light up. Tiredness or fatigue is one effect you can easily eliminate by breaking the smoking habit.
Causes
The cells in your body and brain rely on oxygen, transported via red blood cells, for energy. The main cause of smoking-related fatigue is reduced blood oxygen, a consequence brought on by factors relating to short- and long-term effects of smoking. In the short term, narrowing of air passages and carbon monoxide buildup are the biggest contributors of fatigue. In the long term, the effect smoking has on your lungs and on your breathing capacity leads to feelings of tiredness.
Time Frame
Cigarette smoke changes your breathing pattern and can begin to affect blood oxygen almost immediately. This is because it causes air passages to narrow by two to three times their normal size. Depending on how often you smoke, carbon monoxide begins to accumulate and take effect within a few weeks as carbon monoxide levels in your blood reach four to 15 times that of a nonsmoker. Time further compromises air passages as mucous membranes in your airways become permanently swollen and tar coats your lungs, preventing oxygen from absorbing into your bloodstream.
Short-Term Effects
The carbon monoxide from inhaled cigarette smoke goes to work on red blood cells within seconds of reaching your bloodstream. It affects blood oxygen levels by changing the structure of hemoglobin so it can no longer carry oxygen. To accomplish this, carbon monoxide attaches to oxygen receptor sites on the red blood cell, changing it from hemoglobin to a molecule called carboxyhemoglobin. The greater the buildup of carboxyhemoglobin, the less hemoglobin your blood contains.
Long-Term Effects
Reduced oxygen intake due to chronically swollen air passages, increasingly high levels of carboxyhemoglobin and the reduced ability of your blood to absorb oxygen because of tar buildup on your lungs, leads to chronic oxygen deprivation. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, also called COPD, is a common long-term effect relating to lung damage that in itself causes fatigue. In addition, long-term smoking also increases your risk of becoming anemic due to iron deficiency, further exacerbating tiredness and fatigue.
Prevention/Solution
Unless you develop COPD, you can reduce some of the tiredness associated with smoking within three months of quitting, according to the American Cancer Association. Within the first 12 hours, carbon monoxide levels become normal and within two weeks to three months, lung function gradually increases.
References
- Tri-County Cessation Center: Cigarette Ingredients
- Non Smokers' Movement of Australia: Fact Sheet -- Smoking and Fitness
- Smoking Cessation: Clearing the Air on the Hard Facts about What Smoking Does to Your Body
- University of Minnesota School of Public Health: Iron Deficiency Anemia
- National Sleep Foundation: COPD and Difficulty Breathing
- American Cancer Society: Guide to Quitting Smoking -- When Smokers' Quit -- What are the Benefits Over Time?
