Whether you use cigarettes, pipes, hookahs, or cigars, smoking has been proven to be harmful. While smoking has economic side–effects like increased expenses and higher premiums for health insurance, it is mainly detrimental to your health. This article will help you understand the connection between smoking and health.

Smoking can impact different areas of your body, leaving short and long–lasting effects. Given below are the various health effects of smoking:

1. Central nervous system:

   Smoking tobacco can be dangerous to your central nervous system since it contains a mood–altering drug called nicotine. Nicotine can reach your brain to make you feel energized for a short span. However, once that effect wears off, you feel tired and start wanting another fix, leading to habit formation. If you try to quit, withdrawal can affect your cognitive functioning, making you feel anxious, depressed, irritated, etc.

2. Respiratory tract:

   As far as your respiratory system is concerned, you are breathing in substances that can harm your lungs when you inhale smoke. Over time, lung damage caused due to smoking can lead to more infections and expose you to a higher risk of developing chronic illnesses, including lung cancer. Even the withdrawal process can cause temporary congestion and discomfort in your respiratory tract. Second–hand smoke can also cause children around you to develop conditions like coughing, wheezing, asthma, pneumonia, and bronchitis.

3. Cardiovascular Health:

   Smoking can be harmful to your entire cardiovascular system, with nicotine causing your blood vessels to get tight and restrict blood flow. Over time, this narrowing and associated damage can cause peripheral artery disease. It also increases your blood pressure and blood clots, and weakens vessel walls, increasing your risk of getting a stroke. If you have already undergone bypass surgery, suffered from a heart attack, or had a stent put in, smoking can lead you to develop worsened heart diseases.

4. Digestive system:

   Smoking also increases the chances of you developing mouth, throat, larynx, and oesophagus cancer. Even if you do not inhale the smoke, it can still lead to you developing mouth cancer. Smoking can also increase the risk of you getting pancreatic cancer and developing insulin resistance. Insulin resistance can lead to you developing type 2 diabetes and associated complications.

5. Skin, hair, and nails:

   The more visible disadvantages of smoking are the effects it has on your skin, changing its structure. Studies have shown that smoking can increase the risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma, also known as skin cancer. Smoking can also increase the likelihood of you contracting fungal nail infections. Plus, nicotine also causes hair loss, balding, and greying.

Now that you are more aware of the health risks and impact of smoking, make sure to choose wisely for your own and others’ well–being.

While looking after your health, don’t forget to keep a health insurance policy for yourself and your loved ones. We never know when sickness can strike and it is prudent to stay prepared for any eventuality.