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Effects of Smoking on the Body |
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Short-Term Risks:
- Stained teeth
- Bad breath
- Shortness of breath
- Provokes asthma attacks
- Impotence
- Infertility
Long-Term Risks:
- Heart attacks, strokes, abdominal aortic aneurysm
- Lung and other cancers (larynx, oral cavity, pharynx, esophagus, pancreas, kidney, bladder, cervix, stomach, acute myeloid leukemia)
- Respiratory Diseases (chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases [COPD, emphysema], pneumonia, and chronic bronchitis)
- Cataracts
- Peptic ulcer
- Low bone density
- Periodontitis
Environmental Risks:
- Increased risk of lung cancer in spouse/children
- Higher rates of smoking by children of smokers
- Increased risk of asthma
- Middle ear disease and respiratory infections in children of smokers
Other conditions associated with tobacco use:
- Hair loss
- Wrinkling
- Hearing impairment
- Skin cancer
- Osteoporosis
- Gum ulcers
- Worn-down teeth
- Leukoplakia (white, wrinkled area inside mouth)
- Deformed sperm
- Psoriasis
- And many more
Smoking and your life expectancy
The amount of life expectancy lost for each pack of cigarettes smoked is 28 minutes, and the years of life expectancy a typical smoker loses is 25 years.
{"Dying to Quit," 1998 book by Janet Brigham}
Every cigarette a man smokes reduces his life by 11 minutes. Each carton of cigarettes thus represents a day and a half of lost life. Every year a man smokes a pack a day, he shortens his life by almost 2 months.
{University of California, Berkeley Wellness Letter, April 2000}
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