Smoking is one the biggest habits that people do everyday. Therefore, the health effects of smoking are also quite large. Smoking causes the body’s general health to decline and effects almost all of the body’s vital organs. However, the most affected parts of the body include the heart, lungs, and throat.

Heart

Two main health effects of smoking occur in the heart. The first is the increased rate of the heartbeat and the second is a drastic rise in blood pressure. Both of these effects are caused by the nicotine in the cigarette from smoking. The results from both of these cause the heart to work harder. Also, carbon monoxide from the cigarettes takes away the oxygen from the body’s blood. Therefore, this also causes the heart to work harder to provide oxygen for the rest of the body.

The health effects of smoking on the heart are severe, but the major effect caused by smoking is a heart attack with prolonged cigarette smoking. This is caused by the increase of blood cholesterol and by the increase of fibrinogen levels which cause blood clots in the heart. The quicker the blood clots the higher the risk of a heart attack.

With these strains on the heart from the health effects of smoking can also cause a stroke, aneurysm, peripheral vascular disease (PVD) and coronary heart disease (CHD). Theses health problems occur after many years of smoking.

Lungs

The health effects of smoking can damage the cells in the airways of the lungs. The tar in cigarettes is the reason for this causing the substances from being swept away with the cilia. With this type of damage, cells are produced that grow in an abnormal fashion, which produces lung cancer. Healthy cells try to fight off the abnormal cells but are attacked and destroyed by cigarette smoke.

Throat

The health effects of smoking can also lead to cancer in the throat. People who get oral or throat cancer are most always smokers. Smoking has led to 90% of people with oral or throat cancer. The more cigarettes smoked, the greater the risk of this type of cancer.

Other Health Problems

Other health effects of smoking include eye damage, blood supply to the brain, digestive problems, liver and pancreas cancer, skin and hair issues, and bone and muscle problems. Health effects of smoking are far more severe on that of a younger smoker than an older smoker.

The younger smoke has been exposed to 4000 chemicals at an early age, therefore increasing the chances of health problems in later years. Smoking will reduce the life span of a person up to an entire decade.