Smoking
Smoking is dangerous to everyone’s health. After all, tobacco products don’t have any safe substances in them. Moreover, inhaling chemicals like nicotine and tar won’t just impact your respiratory system. They affect the entire body. The practice can also damage your veins, leading to various vein-related conditions, such as varicose veins, venous insufficiency, atherosclerosis, and aortic aneurysm.
Beyond the vascular system, smoking can also impact your integumentary system, leading to premature aging. Some of its long-term effects are baggy eyes, deep facial wrinkles, dry skin, furrows, saggy jawlines, and unbalanced skin pigmentation. Smokers also have a much higher risk of developing mouth, larynx, throat, kidney, cervical, liver, and colon cancers. Moreover, tobacco use is a risk factor for developing intestinal disorders, with smokers more likely to have gastritis and stomach ulcers than those who aren’t.
While it isn’t easy to quit smoking, the benefits become immediately apparent when you stop tobacco use. For example, within 12 hours, carbon monoxide and heart rate are normalized. After a year, heart attack risks are minimized, and blood pressure levels go down. Your upper respiratory system also improves. In two to five years, stroke risks are also reduced.
