Most people start smoking cigarettes when they are too young to fully understand the consequences associated with long term tobacco usage.
As adults, however, the harmful smoking effects are much harder to ignore.
What you have going for you is that you can quit smoking today and start healing your body.
It isn't easy, but with knowledge and discipline, you can overcome this addiction.
But if you are still looking for motivation, let's review three harmful smoking effects that result from cigarette smoking.
1.
Cancer.
The big C-word.
We all know that cigarette smoking increases the risk of lung cancer.
But did you know that smoking effects the entire body, and because of that, individuals who smoke raise their chances of getting other types of cancers including cancers of the mouth, larynx, esophagus, bladder, pancreas, cervix, kidney, stomach and some types of leukemia.
2.
Respiratory ailments.
The respiratory system is obviously the most effected body system because of its direct and immediate contact with cigarette smoke.
The body does its best to filter out the chemicals inhaled (which it sees as poisons), but the amount and toxicity of these powerful chemicals really take a toll on this critical system.
As a result, cigarette smokers have higher incidences of asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, pneumonia and other respiratory diseases.
3.
Death.
There no getting around this fact.
People who smoke cigarettes live much less than people who don't (men lost 13.
2 years of life, while women lost 14.
5 years of life according to the Center of Disease Control).
That's a lot of living being smoked away.
In fact, nearly 1 in 5 deaths in the United States is a result of cigarette smoking.
The good news is that the human body is very resilient and can heal itself over time.
If you can quit smoking, your body will work on repairing itself.
Instead of worrying about these severe harmful smoking effects (namely cancer, respiratory diseases and death), you can be planning for the future that you will now have.