Smoking cigarettes adversely affects your health in a myriad of ways, but you may not directly attribute problems in fitness to your bad habits. When you smoke, you may experience a diminished capacity to work out and manage your weight. Even if you're an avid exerciser and consider yourself fairly healthy, smoking cigarettes holds you back and leaves your body damaged and unhealthy. In order to see a positive change in your level of health and fitness, quit smoking immediately.
Respiratory Health
When you smoke, you kill the small hairs that line your esophagus and lungs, known as cilia. Cilia work to catch dirt and particles that could affect your lungs. Without the cilia, your unprotected lungs can become dirty and sick. As your lungs are left unprotected, you're placed at a higher risk for coughs and lung infections that could inhibit your ability to breathe effectively. When you exercise, you may notice that you become short of breath faster with lessened lung capacity.
Cardiovascular Health
Your heart is deeply affected by the bad habit of cigarette smoking. When you smoke, you put yourself at risk for peripheral vascular disease, a condition that narrows the blood vessels that carry blood throughout your body. Your heart becomes weakened and you place yourself at a higher risk for a heart attack, heart disease and a stroke. When your heart is weak, you may find it more difficult to exercise, or experience adverse side effects like dizziness and shortness of breath while you exercise.
Cancer
Smoking cigarettes is responsible for increasing your risk of a wide variety of cancers, including lung cancer, cervical cancer, pancreatic cancer and esophageal cancer. When you are diagnosed with cancer, you'll likely need to scale back your level of physical fitness as your cancer treatments will take precedence in your life. They can lead to fatigue and nausea, limiting your ability to stay fit. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that smoking is responsible for 90 percent of all cancer deaths in men and 80 percent of cancer deaths in women.
Diet and Nutrition
Smoking may alter your level of diet and nutrition, which can result in poor health. Often cigarettes are used as an appetite suppressant. While it's true that smoking can reduce your appetite, cigarettes are not an effective nor health diet aid. In using cigarettes to curb your appetite, you may not be getting the nutrition you need. The significant drawbacks of smoking are not worth the small reduction in appetite that you'll experience.
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