Home > News

Whether it’s one after dinner or a pack a day, smoking is a harmful habit. So, before you go on smoke break, take some time to read what exactly that cigarette will do to your body.

A deadly chain reaction

Cigarette smoke is made up of over 4000 chemicals including 60 that are known to cause cancer. The burning of the tobacco produces carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide. Carbon monoxide is a poisonous chemical found in car exhaust fumes. It decreases the amount of oxygen in the blood, which deprives all organs of oxygen too.

Nicotine is the addictive component of tobacco. It is absorbed into the blood and causes an increase in heart rate, blood pressure and an adrenalin rush.

Tar is another harmful component in cigarettes. When inhaled, it sticks to the tiny hairs on the lungs (called cilia) whose job it is to protect the lungs from dirt and infection. Tar also coats the walls of the respiratory system and causes the airways to narrow.

In the long-term cigarette smoke leads to chronically inflamed airways, a burdened heart, and reduced blood flow and reduced fitness. Thereafter heart attacks, strokes and cancer follow.

Where there’s smoke there’s phlegm

When you smoke your body’s first reaction is to produce fluid to dilute the irritation as if to wash it away. In time this leads to the build-up of phlegm that is noticeable when waking up. The body also tries to get rid of the irritating gasses by triggering what is known as a ‘smoker’s cough’.

Because of the irritation some cells within the airways turn into a cancer type cell, especially in the throat. Within six months of heavy smoking constant irritation results in the development of lung disease.

It’s in your blood

Nicotine increases blood pressure by 10-15 %. From the moment the smoke reaches your lungs your pulse increases by 10 to 25 times, this causes the heart to work harder. The heart is the pump that distributes blood that picks up oxygen as it passes through the lungs and sends this blood all over the body. Smoking reduces the successful transfer of oxygen to the blood.

A smoker’s blood typically contains 4 to 15 times as much carbon monoxide as that of a
non-smoker. When you breathe in a lung-full of cigarette smoke, the carbon monoxide passes immediately into your blood and inside the red blood cells, this reduces the amount of oxygen that is carried from the lungs to the brain and other organs. After a few weeks of smoking the number of red cells in the blood increases to make up for the loss in oxygen transport.

Never too late to breathe easy

Quitting can repair the effect of cigarettes, especially if there is no permanent damage such as asthma or heart disease.

Within 30 minutes of quitting smoking, your pulse rate slows down and blood pressure drops toward normal. In a few hours the level of carbon monoxide in your blood drops. After two days, nerve endings begin to recover and your sense of smell and taste begin to return. Within 72 hours, lung volume increases.

Two to three years after quitting, the risk of a heart attack is significantly reduced and after 10 years, the risk of developing cancer is about the same as for non-smokers.

Just take it one breath at a time.

Puff on these facts

•    Smokers have twice the risk of dying before age 65

•    Smokers lose ±60% of their lung efficiency over time

•    A pack a day will deposit about a cup full of tar in your lungs each year

•    Smokers spend twice as much time in ICU than non-smokers