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40 Things You Didn’t Know About Smoking
- Smoking kills half of all smokers worldwide
- Smokers are at increased risk of back pain
- Smoking accelerates aging
- One person every five minutes dies because of smoking in the UK
- Smokers suffer from skin problems. Most smokers have paler, dryer skin, with more wrinkles due to a reduced blood supply that allows the skin to lose its elasticity
- Smoking depletes the body of vitamin C by 30%
- Smoking damages the gut
- Nicotine increases cholesterol in the blood
- Smoking damages your teeth and gums and causes mouth ulcers
- Smoking doubles the risk of dementia
- Smoking causes cataracts to form in the eyes
- There are 6000 chemicals in tobacco including cyanide, butane, ammonia and carbon monoxide
- Smoking makes you six times more likely to suffer a stroke
- Smoking during pregnancy kills 5000 foetuses a year, increases the risk of intellectual impairment, produces small, underweight babies that are more prone to allergies and brain damage. It also trebles the risk of cot death after birth.
- Smoking causes early menopause in women
- Every system in the body is affected by smoking, including the heart and vascular system
- Smoking weakens the immune system
- Smoking increases the risk of diabetes
- Smoking reduces exercise tolerance
- Smoking increases the risk of pneumonia
- 87% of smokers deaths are due to lung cancer
- Smoking doubles infertility in women
- Smoking weakens bones by de-mineralising them
- Smoking also hits your pocket. If you smoke twenty cigarettes a day of the cheapest brand you will spend at least £1500 every year
- Nicotine is more addictive than heroin and alcohol and is delivered to the nervous system within seven seconds for a quick fix
- Smoking increases the risk of anxiety and depressive disorders developing
- Smoking depletes antioxidants within the body
- Smoking raises blood pressure - a risk factor for heart attacks and strokes
- Giving up smoking reduces the risk of heart disease and strokes within 2- 4 years
- Smoking damages sperm and increases erectile dysfunction by 50% in men aged 30 – 40 years
- Smoking increases age related hearing loss
- Smoking causes bad breath and gum disease, which can lead to teeth falling out
- 15% of childhood cancers have been attributed to the mother smoking during pregnancy
- Smoking causes Coronary Heart Disease
- Overall risk of mortality returns to normal after 10-15 years of non smoking
- Smoking can cause fatigue and headaches
- Smoking causes 80% of Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) cases. An umbrella term for a number of conditions were breathlessness gradually increases leading to death
- Smoking decreases your sense of smell and taste
- Smoking reduces life expectancy by 7-8 years
- Smoking kills around 114,000 people in the UK each year
All this research is backed up by legitimate evidence that can be found in this book:
Porter S (2003) Tidy’s Physiotherapy, Butterworth and Heinemann 13th edition London
Dear Postee,
Just wanted to point out that number 12 is not actually true in all brands. This does not mean smoking is safer with these brands, however… I believe that if you’re going to post facts, those facts should be as close to fact as possible.
“12: There are 6000 chemicals in tobacco including cyanide, butane, ammonia and carbon monoxide”
This is false in part, because many brands do NOT include butane, cyanide, and roughly 500 other common chemicals found in many mainstream brands throughout the world. Also, here in the USA, much of the chemicals found in tobacco products in other countries are being removed from our tobacco because of laws being passed state-to-state about things such as the duration of a tobacco’s burn time when unattended. This is to combat smoking related fires, and health issues with lingering smoke and tar staining.
My only other point to make here is that smoking related deaths do combine to show huge numbers of deaths, however… there is solid proof that some people are MORE predisposed to health issues related to smoking than others. Some people do not face half of these risks listed here, because they are not prone to these sorts of health issues genetically. You can’t stand on an apple crate and declare all people suffer these health issues, you have to be honest, and say “some people face ’some’ of these issues;” or “everyone who smokes face many of these health issues, but not all do.”
I’m sure I could go on for days about this. For the record, I’m a non-smoker, but i feel all people deserve to see the truth and not just scary propaganda.
- Truth
Comment by TruthFactFinder — August 14, 2007 @ 3:22 pm
and this is why I have quit smoking.
Comment by jrhather — August 15, 2007 @ 12:49 am
41. Smoking makes you smell like shit.
Comment by Jim Bo — August 15, 2007 @ 3:16 am
well, it’s good that they put the benefits there as well
Comment by Korial — August 15, 2007 @ 8:02 am
Thank you for a well-balanced point. Relating to point 12, there is obviously not 6000 chemicals in every brand of cigarette, it is just an average reading taken across the market. The reference is from a book published in 2003 and therefore is safe to assume tobacco companies have made changes to their products due to recent health concerns.
Once again thank you for an informative comment that will be useful to our readers.
Comment by Phil — August 15, 2007 @ 4:04 pm
21. 87% of smokers deaths are due to lung cancer
This seems like its saying that of all the people who smoke in the world, 87% will actually die of lung cancer, which I think is misleading. Its more likely that it means that of all the deaths directly attributable to smoking, 87% are caused by lung cancer and 13% by the other smoking diseases (eg emphysema), which isn’t nearly as strong a point as the first interpretation would give.
Comment by paul — August 15, 2007 @ 5:41 pm
You people can try to pinpoint a specific thing said in the article and argue it however whoever put this article together is trying to do smokers good and help them quit. Its not about “Scary propaganda” as reply number one said. Even if it was “scary propaganda” is it so bad that someone quit smoking and extend there life by a decade? I think not. - By the way this was a great article.
Comment by ThaMann — August 23, 2007 @ 8:05 pm
Hi,
I would like to say that you have made alot of good reasons why smoking isn’t good for everyone!
I was asked by my principle to research what smoking can do to you. And thanks to your article I am going to quit smoking.
Comment by Sylvia-Aaron — October 3, 2007 @ 5:19 pm
Hi Syliva, I’m glad we could help
Comment by Phil — October 13, 2007 @ 2:47 am
[…] As an ex-smoker myself I was even surprised at some of these fact from Coopers Guns […]
Pingback by Healthscape » Blog Archive » 40 Things You Didn’t Know About Smoking — October 24, 2007 @ 8:53 am
The Smoker’s Vow
To be said just before taking your first puff or after
having quit for any appreciable period of time
With this puff I enslave myself
to a lifetime of addiction.
While I can’t promise to always love you,
I do promise to obey every craving and
support my addiction to you
no matter how expensive you become.
I will let no husband or wife,
no family member or friend,
no doctor or any other health professional,
no employer or government policy,
no burns or no stench,
no cough or raspy voice,
no cancer or emphysema,
no heart attack or stroke,
no threat of loss of life or limbs,
come between us.
I will smoke you forever
from this day forth,
for better or worse,
whether richer or poorer,
in sickness and in health,
till death do us part!
“You may now light the cigarette.â€
“I now pronounce you a full-fledged smoker
Comment by Xxtreme70 — December 2, 2007 @ 7:57 pm
I was looking for this page, i am gonna print this out and give it to my friends they all smoke, and as hard as it is to quit having something like this will give them something to think about. You should all do the same for your friends they’ll live longer, healthier and save money. smoking is nothing but a stupid habit/temptation and nothing good comes from it.
Comment by Greg. s — January 9, 2008 @ 2:44 am
Hey, I actually just quit smoking 4 months ago, decided to replace my habit with a bodybuilding habit. So I find it ironic that I’m finding this post on a bodybuilding site. But this further drives the point home that I should stay off cigarettes. Honestly, since I’ve started intense training, I can’t imagine accomplishing what I’ve accomplished if I were still smoking. Hell, my cardio sucks as it is (probably cause my lungs still look like the inside of a coal chamber), I couldn’t imagine how much worse it would be if I were still a slave to the damn things. Anyway, great post. I’ll add this link to my motivation efforts.
Comment by Chris — February 8, 2008 @ 6:09 pm