How Does Cigarette Smoke Affect the Body?

Smoking addiction occurs when nicotine affects your brain to make you feel pleasure energy. The buzz is short-lived which makes you want to smoke cigarettes more and more. Cigarette smoke can potentially ruin every organ. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, you are two to four times at risk for coronary heart disease, men can develop cancer 25 times faster, and women can get lung cancer 25.7 times. It is important to treat nicotine addiction before you destroy your whole body.

Cigarette smoke can affect your bones.

Nicotine can make you less able to form healthy new bone tissue and can break existing bone tissue quickly. Your bone tissue can thin down and can lose your bone density which makes your bones weak and brittle. You will be at a high risk of developing osteoporosis where you experience bone fractures and broken bones will take longer to heal.

Cigarette smoke can affect your heart.

Nicotine raises your blood pressure and causes stress to your heart, weakening it and making it less able to pump blood to other parts of the body. If the heart works too hard from lack of oxygen, you will be at risk for developing atherosclerosis where plaque builds up in the arteries. You can also develop aneurysms where blood vessels burst and cause death. When you inhale nicotine, cells that line the blood vessels react to these chemicals where the heart rate and blood pressure goes up and the blood vessels become thick and narrow.

Cigarette smoke can affect your lungs.

Each puff of nicotine smoke can worsen your breathing and ruin your lungs. You can develop Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease which causes shortness of breath, wheezing, and chest tightness. You can also get emphysema where the walls between your lungs’ air sacs cannot stretch and shrink back. It will destroy the lung tissue which will make it hard to breathe. Chronic Bronchitis can also occur where the swelling of the bronchial tube lining causes less air to and from the lungs. You are also at risk for pneumonia, tuberculosis, and asthma.

Cigarette smoke can affect your DNA.

Seventy out of seven thousand chemicals in cigarettes can cause cancer. Nicotine can cause damage to your DNA which creates a cancer tumor. Smoking can affect not only your lungs but your trachea, stomach, kidney, bladder, liver, pancreas, oral cavity, colon, etc.

Located in downtown Midland, The Springboard Center’s mission is to offer programs and services to treat alcohol and drug addiction treatment using an evidence based curriculum, 12 step programs, diet, nutrition, exercise, emotional, mental and spiritual development for a long recovery. For more information, please call us at 432-620-0255 as we are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.