15 CONSEQUENCES OF SMOKING FOR PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH - ARTE - 2025

Some of the most serious health consequences of smoking are oral problems, loss of bone density, respiratory diseases, sexual dysfunctions, among many others.

Cigarettes have terrible effects on human health. Although they have been sold around the world as objects that relax the body and cause pleasure, few people are aware of the danger they run when consuming them.

Source: lifeder.com

Main health effects of smoking

Anxiety

Smoking has long been believed to act as a relaxant or tranquilizer that relieves anxiety and stress. But recently a study conducted at the University of London has disproved this popular belief. They claim that ingesting tobacco increases the risk of depression and anxiety by up to 70%.

Although many smokers experience the sensation of relaxation or feel that cigarettes reduce their stress, this is simply temporary, because then the sensation is replaced by cravings or withdrawal symptoms.

Fortunately, this study revealed that people who had been smoke-free for about a year had similar anxiety and depression profiles to those who had never smoked. Therefore, putting away cigarettes means improving physical and mental health.

Mouth problems

Yellowing and the appearance of tartar on the surface of the teeth are among the worst aesthetic consequences of nicotine and cigarette tar. In addition, there are the white spots with small red dots that appear along the palate and the mucous areas of the mouth.

At a medical level there are cavities and bad breath caused by the little salivary flow caused by tobacco. But, the most complicated disease is the so-called periodontal. This causes progressive and chronic tooth loss.

This is because the gum receives less oxygen and blood as tobacco use increases. All this reduces the defense mechanisms against bacteria that affect the oral tissues. In fact, it destroys the oral bones and ligaments that support the teeth.

Type 2 diabetes

As crazy as it sounds, tobacco use increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, a disease that is common in people over 40 years of age.

Doctors say that smokers with this type of diabetes have greater problems controlling their disease with insulin dosing. Unfortunately, this causes terrible sores that can only be treated by operations; and in many cases toes or parts of the foot must be removed.

On the other hand, kidney complications and leg infections are more common in diabetics who use cigarettes. But there is more, as some people have peripheral neuropathy, a disease that damages the nerves in the arm and legs. This causes numbness in the limbs and pain from poor coordination.

Erectile dysfunction

The cardiovascular system and blood circulation are determining factors in a man's erection. Unfortunately, there are people who are affected at the time of intimacy, because they consume tobacco. In fact, it has been determined that one third of the population suffering from erectile dysfunction smokes cigarettes.

Regardless of age, it has been proven that men who eat a box of cigarettes a day will have at least one erectile problem after one year. This is because they had a long exposure to the harmful effects.

After all, nicotine closes the ducts in the arteries and prevents the red fluid from moving through the blood vessels. Fortunately, it has been shown that men who quit smoking regain their intimate life and return to normal performance.

Premature skin wrinkles

The use of tobacco reduces the natural elasticity of the skin. Furthermore, it decreases the production of collagen and vitamin A in the body. But, the worst of the matter is that this prevents the correct healing of tears and folds on the tissues that are known as wrinkles.

In fact, smokers have deeper, narrower wrinkles with strong contours. However, this not all. Consuming cigarettes results in yellow spots on the fingers and facial hair of men.

To all this, we must add the bad body odor that tobacco produces and the increase in dehydration of the body. The latter makes the skin appear rough and brittle. Some people even have a very pale color or close to the yellowish greyish color that anemia produces.

Fertility problems

The use of tobacco negatively influences those couples who want to have a child. In fact, doctors have found that smoking reduces the chances of pregnancy by at least 50%.

If a woman smokes from an early age, it reduces her egg production and hinders her body's ability to develop a baby in her womb. Even the cigarette smoke that other people consume can affect a woman at the hormonal level and decrease her egg reserve.

In the case of men, something similar happens, because tobacco alters their hormones and affects the quantity and quality of their sperm. The consequences go to the point of affecting the mobility and variety that the sperm will have at the genetic level.

Difficulty healing

One of the most notorious problems in cigarette users is the difficulty they have to heal their wounds, since they do it slower than other people. For this reason, doctors have begun to recommend that you do not smoke a week before and after undergoing a surgical procedure.

This is due to the nicotine in tobacco, since it reduces the oxygenation of the blood vessels that are distributed throughout all the organs and tissues of the human body. Furthermore, the carbon monoxide in smoke reacts negatively with the oxygen in the blood from an open wound.

In addition, specialists point out that people who consume a pack of cigarettes a day are more likely to suffer necrosis in a wound than those who do not smoke or have given up this habit more than a year ago.

Loss of bone density

The effects that tobacco has on the bone system are truly devastating. It has been shown to cause the loss of calcium through urine. And, no matter how old the smoker is, the density and shape of their bones will be affected.

In the case of women, smoking starts the hormonal process called menopause, around the age of 35, long before the correct time for your body. Unfortunately, this hormonal process is characterized by loss of bone mass. Therefore, spine, wrist, and hip fractures are common.

The worst thing about it is that smokers who have suffered a fracture have greater complications in their healing process or worse clinical outcomes. For example, these people are often affected by bony calluses on their bones, and others end up suffering from osteoporosis.

Respiratory infections

Smoking cigarettes predisposes people to infections and inflammations in the respiratory tract. In general, these conditions significantly limit people's quality of life.

Its most characteristic symptoms are coughs, colds and little tolerance to exercise. As for chronic diseases, it is common for smokers to suffer from pharyngitis, sinusitis and pneumonia. The main cause of these respiratory complications appears to be tar from smoke.

However, the most worrisome are lung pain and chronic bronchitis. The pulmonary obstruction is the most dangerous, because it inflames this organ and destroys the alveoli that convert oxygen into carbon dioxide.

Stomach diseases

Every time a person smokes a cigarette, half of that smoke goes into the lungs. The rest goes to the most sensitive organs; for example, the stomach. This, added to other toxic components that move through the digestive system thanks to saliva, alters the proper functioning of the human body.

Doctors have discovered that nicotine increases the production of stomach acids. However, that is not the only negative consequence, as smoking causes the muscle at the end of the esophagus to not close properly.

This causes the stomach contents to back up into the esophagus and irritate it. All these complications bring diseases like gastritis and ulcers. But irritation and inflammation of the stomach and intestine are by far the most common.

Loss of smell and taste

It turns out that the sense of taste is related to the smells that are perceived when eating. For example, when a child eats something they don't like, they cover their nose. Unfortunately, there are toxic substances in tobacco that cause a deterioration of the senses in smokers, specifically smell and taste.

Although the cells that are on the tongue regenerate every 10 days, if a person increases the dose of cigarettes they smoke, over time they will lose the ability to taste food.

Probably the only way to end this problem is to put the vice aside. In this way, the new cells are healthy and will not be weakened by toxins. And, over time, people will recover the intensity with which they perceived flavors and smells.

Rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease that causes pain, stiffness, inflammation, and loss of the joints. Unfortunately, you can have a lot of medical complications. Which range from the abnormal growth of lumps in the arteries and veins, to infections and tumors.

Unfortunately, one third of all rheumatoid arthritis cases are related to tobacco use. In fact, half of the patients who inherit this disease have parents who were or are smokers.

It has been confirmed that half of the people who smoke cigarettes and suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, do not respond favorably to treatments at the beginning of the disease, but that is not all. Medicines with biological agents, which are more powerful, tend to fail with them.

Cardiovascular accidents

Medicine has proven that cigarettes have negative consequences for the heart. Specifically, it thickens the blood, as smoking increases the accumulation of bad fats and other negative substances. Also, it fills all the blood vessels to the brain with clots.

Probably the most dangerous diseases are heart attacks caused by obstructions to the blood supply. Then there are strokes that damage parts of the brain. The latter can cause disabilities such as paralysis and difficulty speaking. In the worst cases it can take the lives of the people it affects.

Unfortunately, even secondhand smoke damages veins and arteries, which can lead to heart attacks or strokes.

Blindness

Smoking can cause serious problems to the human body, because it damages almost all the organs. Among the most affected are the eyes. For example, smoking slowly destroys sharp, central vision, making it difficult to read and view fine details.

Although this medical complication is often associated with old age, the most surprising thing is that it also affects young smokers. In addition, cigarette smoking causes dry eyes and diabetic retinopathy, a disease that damages the blood vessels of the retina.

Smoking forms crystallizations in the retina, better known as cataracts, which lead to blindness if they are not operated on in time. To top it all, it has been calculated that more than 50% of tobacco users have cataracts or have had cataract surgery before reaching their 80th birthday.

Cancer

Cancer affects more people in the world every day. In fact, there are more than 100 types. Unfortunately, many people are unaware of the close relationship that this deadly disease has with tobacco use.

Smoking causes cancer and prevents the human body from fighting it properly. This is due to the different toxic substances in smoke, which weaken the immune system. And this results in malignant cells multiplying uncontrollably and without anyone stopping them.

Also, for years, doctors have confirmed that every nine out of ten people with lung cancer are or were active consumers of the tobacco shop. It doesn't really matter if they cut down after a while, the risk of cancer increases with every cigarette.