What are the health risks of smoking?

Smoking is one of the biggest causes of death and illness. You can become ill through direct or passive smoking.

When you smoke you are exposing yourself and those around you to a dangerous cocktail of nicotine, tobacco, tar, carbon monoxide and poisonous chemicals.

Smoking increases the risk of at least 50 medical conditions including dementia and digestive problems. Some conditions may be fatal, and others can cause irreversible, chronic damage to your health. Some conditions that can be caused by smoking are:

• smoker's cough,
• cancers of the lung, mouth, throat, larynx, esophagus, bladder, kidney, pancreas and stomach,
• coronary heart disease,
• stroke, and
• chronic bronchitis and emphysema (lung conditions).

The more you smoke, the greater your risk of becoming ill. Even just one or two cigarettes a day can be enough to cause lung cancer.

In men, smoking can also cause impotence as it limits the blood supply to the penis. It can also affect your fertility, making it difficult for you to have children.

General health

When you smoke, you will find that you are less able to take part in physical activity such as exercise and sex. Even walking up and down stairs may leave you feeling out of breath . Your breathing is affected by smoking, and it makes your overall fitness levels drop. The more you smoke, the worse this will be.

Smoking also causes stress. Stress can lead to high blood pressure, heart attacks, stroke, impotence and a lowered immune system.

About 70% of smokers say they want to give up, but carry on smoking anyway. The constant worry over what smoking does to your health, and the guilty feelings you have every time you sneak a cigarette is not good for you as it heightens your stress levels, and causes you anxiety.

Also, if your partner or family may want you to quit as it can cause arguments and resentment. So, smoking when you actually want to give up could be a double whammy on your health.

Smoking during pregnancy

If you smoke during pregnancy, you put yourself and your unborn baby at risk of health problems. It is best that you don't smoke throughout the entire course of the pregnancy.

The most damage is done if you smoke during the last six months (months 4-9) of your pregnancy . If you quit smoking during the first three months of pregnancy there is less chance that your baby will develop health problems.

Smoking during pregnancy also increases the chances of complications during pregnancy and labor including sickness, miscarriage and bleeding. It can also increase the risk of premature birth and stillbirth.

It can affect your developing baby too. Smoking during pregnancy can damage your baby's airways, which can lead to breathing problems or asthma. It can cause your baby to have a lower birth weight, be weaker and not develop as he or she normally would.

Further information:

Smoking (quitting)

Can passive smoking be harmful?

Why is smoking addictive?

Quitters' cost calculator