Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

What is COPD?

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, refers to a group of diseases that cause
airflow blockage and breathing-related problems. It includes emphysema and chronic
bronchitis. COPD makes breathing difficult for the 16 million Americans who have this disease.
Millions more people suffer from COPD, but have not been diagnosed and are not being
treated. Although there is no cure for COPD, it can be treated. Smoking is the leading cause of
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Smoking is also a trigger for COPD flare-
ups. Smoking damages the air sacs, airways, and the lining of your lungs. Injured lungs have
trouble moving enough air in and out, so it's hard to breathe.

Smoking increases the formation of plaque in blood vessels. Coronary Heart Diseaseoccurs
when arteries that carry blood to the heart muscle are narrowed by plaque or blocked by clots.
Chemicals in cigarette smoke cause the blood to thicken and form clots inside veins and arteries

Tobacco use causes many types of cancer, including cancer of the lung, larynx (voice box),
mouth, esophagus, throat, bladder, kidney, liver, stomach, pancreas, colon and rectum, and
cervix, as well as acute myeloid leukemia. Tobacco smoke is a toxic mix of more than 7,000
chemicals. Many are poisons. At least 70 are known to cause cancer in people or animals.
People who smoke cigarettes are 15 to 30 times more likely to get lung cancer or die from lung
cancer than people who do not smoke. Chemicals from cigarettes damage DNA. Cigarette
chemicals make it harder for cells to repair any DNA damage. They also damage the parts of
DNA that protect us from cancer. It's the build-up of DNA damage in the same cell over time
that leads to cancer.

People who smoke normally obtain what is commonly known as smoker's breath, which is a
stale scent that is created by the cigarette smoke that is still lingering in your throat and lungs.
Smoking also leaves chemical compounds in your mouth that can mix with your saliva and
cause bad breath.

The absorption of nicotine, both into the lungs and through the skin, also affects the sweat
glands. Nicotine makes you sweat more, and taints the way your sweat smells. If you sweat
profusely, your skin will start to smell like rancid smoke. Cigarette smoke coats the inside of
your mouth, gums, teeth, and tongue

When you smoke, the cells that produce mucus in your lungs and airways grow in size and
number. As a result, the amount of mucus increases and thickens. Your lungs cannot effectively
clean out this excess mucus. So, the mucus stays in your airways, clogs them, and makes you
cough.

Smoking releases nicotine to the brain and suppresses a person's capability to taste flavours.
The reduced oxygen supply from inhaling tobacco smoke contributes to the lowering of flavour
in the mouth. When a person stops smoking, they regain their taste buds and can savour foods
better

Central nervous system. One of the ingredients in tobacco is a mood-altering drug called
nicotine. Nicotine reaches your brain in mere seconds and makes you feel more energized for
a while. But as that effect wears off, you feel tired and crave more.

In many people, nicotine from cigarettes stimulates receptors in the brain to release
dopamine, triggering a pleasure response. Over time, the number of nicotine receptors
increases and changes your brain's anatomy.

The Short and Long Term Effects of Smoking on Your Body

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Smoking is bad for your health. You know that already. But you may not know all the short-
term and long term effects of smoking on your body.
So why is smoking bad for you?

Some of the effects of smoking are obvious: bad breath, coughing, dulling of your senses of
taste and smell. Others show up with time: yellowed teeth, shortness of breath, dull skin and
wrinkles.

But a lot of the damage can’t be seen or felt easily. Or it may not be obvious that it’s caused by
your smoking habit.

For instance, we all know that smoking is harmful to our lungs. But did you know that it’s
harmful to other parts of your body, too? Heart, blood vessels, skin, bones, brain, eyes, immune
system, mouth and throat–all suffer from smoking. In fact, smoking harms almost every part of
your body!

Effects of Smoking on Your Body and Health

Short-Term Effects of Smoking

The short-term effects of tobacco include:

Bad breath

Momentary stimulation followed by state of withdrawal and reduced brain activity

Fatigue and dizziness

Dulling the senses of taste and smell

Coughing

Shortness of breath

Increased blood pressure

Increased heart rate

Decreased blood flow

Nausea

Headaches

Long-Term Effects of Smoking

There have been a lot of studies of smokers’ health and scientists have discovered a wide range
of diseases and harmful long-term effects of tobacco on our bodies.

body organs

Below is a list of all the diseases caused by smoking:

Reduces life expectancy

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), cigarette smoking causes over 480,000
deaths a year in the U.S.

You’re probably not surprised that heavy smokers have a shorter life expectancy. But it’s not
just heavy smokers who are at risk. People who smoke only 4 or fewer cigarettes a day can
experience the negative effects of smoking and they still have a greater risk of premature death
than nonsmokers!

Asthma

If you have asthma, smoking can trigger an attack or make it worse.

smoker coughing

Tuberculosis

If you’ve had tuberculosis, smoking doubles your chance of a recurrence.

Respiratory and lung problems like COPD and emphysema

You can get lung disease from smoking. With time, you can develop chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease (COPD) or emphysema that makes it hard, and painful, to breathe.

Heart Disease

Heart disease is often related to smoking. In fact, smokers are four times more likely to develop
heart disease than nonsmokers.

Stroke

Strokes can occur, too. The risk of stroke is doubled for smokers.

Vascular Dementia

Vascular dementia is a risk. If Alzheimer’s disease develops, it progresses more quickly in

smokers than in nonsmokers.

Rheumatoid arthritis can develop

Crohn’s disease. Smokers are more likely to develop Crohn’s disease.

Diabetes

Diabetes is much more common in smokers than in nonsmokers, and it’s harder to control.
Some people with diabetes develop an eye disorder called diabetic retinopathy, which can lead
to loss of vision.

Cancer

Cancer is one of the most feared smoking effects. Below are some of the body areas where
smoking-related cancers can occur:
Lung cancer

Bladder cancer

Blood cancer (in the form of leukemia)

Cervix cancer

Colon and rectum cancer

Esophagus cancer

Breast Cancer

Kidney cancer

Larynx cancer

Liver cancer

Pancreas cancer

Stomach cancer

Throat and tongue v

Tonsils cancer

Trachea cancer

Eye Problems

Smoking can cause other eye problems, too. Cataracts, macular degeneration, dry eye and
glaucoma are a few of them.

Weaker immune system

A body with a weak immune system leads to slower healing wounds and increases likelihood of
infection and illness.

Erectile dysfunction
Obstructed blood flow due to smoking can also cause erectile dysfunction and impotence.

Other side effects of smoking cigarettes include:

Fertility problems

Increased risk of miscarriage

Early menopause

Menstrual problems

Complete loss of sense of smell and taste

Yellow teeth, tooth decay and bad breath

Stomach ulcers

Grey appearance

Early wrinkles

Back pain

increased susceptibility to infection

smoking health risks graph

What Does Smoking Do to Your Body? A Closer Look to the Most Common Long Term Effects of
Smoking

Cancer

There are a lot of chemicals in cigarettes, and some of them combine to form harmful chemical
compounds. You inhale those compounds when you smoke, and the people around you
breathe them in when they breathe in your smoke.

Some of those compounds are known to cause cancer. You probably know that smoking can
cause lung cancer. It can cause a lot of other cancers too, such as blood, throat, stomach,
bladder, colon, kidney, breast and pancreatic cancer.
And smokers who develop cancer are more likely to die from it than nonsmokers.

What Does Smoking Do to Your Lungs?

The smoke you inhale irritates and inflames your lungs. The cells in your air passages make
more mucus in response. Smoke also damages the small hairs, called cilia, that line the airways.
The cilia act to move mucus upwards, towards the throat, so you can cough it up or spit it out.

But when you’re a smoker, there’s more mucus, and it’s thicker than usual. The cilia are
damaged, and they move more slowly than usual. That’s not a good combination.

What smoking does to your lungs is that it makes it very hard to rid your lungs of mucus. Not
only does that make you cough, it also makes it more likely that you’ll come down with a
respiratory infection.

And it’s more difficult to get enough oxygen. There are clusters of small air sacs called alveoli in
your lungs. Oxygen passes into the alveoli, and carbon dioxide passes out.

The alveoli inflate and deflate as you breathe in and out. But in smokers lungs, the alveoli
become less flexible. Some rupture. It becomes more difficult to exchange oxygen and carbon
dioxide.

This is how smokers lungs look like in comparison to non-smokers lungs

smokers vs nonsmokers lungs

Circulation
One of the most common health effects of smoking is that it damages the very small blood
vessels in your lungs. They’re called capillaries. Each of the alveoli is surrounded by capillaries.

Oxygen and carbon dioxide pass through the walls of the alveoli, and then through the walls of
the capillaries and into the bloodstream.

When you’re a chronic smoker, the walls of the capillaries become thicker, making it much
harder for oxygen to pass through them and into your bloodstream.

The walls of other blood vessels become thicker, too. That makes them narrower, and it makes
it more difficult for your heart to pump blood through them.

Peripheral arterial disease–PAD–can develop, due to the reduced blood flood to the legs and
arms.

How does smoking affect your heart?

If you’re a smoker, your heart doesn’t get as much oxygen as it needs. It has to pump harder
and faster to supply blood through your narrowed blood vessels. As a result, your blood
pressure goes up.

The tar in cigarettes can cause plaque to build up in your blood vessels. Blood flow is restricted,
your blood becomes thicker and blood clots can develop. You can have a heart attack or a
stroke.

You can also develop an aortic aneurysm. It’s a bulge in the abdominal portion of the large
artery carrying blood from your heart. If the aneurysm ruptures, it’s likely to be fatal.

Effects of Smoking on Your Skin

Smoking tobacco affects your skin, too. The decrease in blood flow means that your skin isn’t
receiving as much oxygen and as many nutrients as it needs to stay healthy. It can begin to look
gray and dull.

Some of the chemicals in cigarette smoke damage collagen and elastin. They’re important for
your skin’s strength and elasticity. When they’re damaged, your skin begins to sag and wrinkles
become deeper.

Vertical wrinkles form around your mouth. That’s partly because of the collagen and elastin
loss, but it’s also because of that pucker you do when you hold a cigarette between your lips.

And squinting to keep smoke out of your eyes encourages formation of crow’s feet–those
wrinkles around the outer side of the eyes.

woman wrinkles face

Bones

Your bones also suffer when you smoke. You’re more likely to develop osteoporosis–a decrease
in bone density. If you do, your bones become weaker and break more easily. And they heal
more slowly after a fracture.

How Smoking Cigarettes Affects the Brain

Smoking damages your brain, too. Amongst the dangers of smoking is that the cerebral cortex
becomes thinner in smokers. The cerebral cortex is the part of the brain essential for memory
and learning.

So the changes that normally come with aging seem to develop earlier in smokers.

Eyes
Even your eyes can be damaged by smoking. Smokers have a greater chance of developing
cataracts–clouding of the lens of the eye–than nonsmokers.

Smokers who develop diabetes can develop an eye disorder called diabetic retinopathy. The
small blood vessels in the retina of the eye become damaged or blocked, affecting vision.

And diabetes or high blood blood pressure–both common in heavy smokers–mean that you’re
more likely to develop glaucoma. It’s an increased pressure within the eye that can lead to loss
of vision.

Age-related macular degeneration is a risk, too. It’s a eye disease that starts with blurring in the
center of the field of vision. It worsens with time, limiting vision even further. And it’s a risk
even for people who breathe in your secondhand smoke!

Immune System

Smoking causes inflammation throughout the body. It weakens the immune system, and it
becomes harder to fight off infections and diseases. So smoking poses even more health risks
by weakening your immune system.

Mouth and Throat

The effects of smoking on your mouth and throat are numerous. You’ve probably noticed that
people who have been smoking for a long time often have discolored teeth. Most of the times,
they also have gum disease.

Your gums can become swollen and sensitive and bleed easily. Your teeth can become loose,
too. And if you have any dental procedures–oral surgery or a tooth extraction, for example–
healing can be slower and more difficult.
If you smoke, or use tobacco in any other form, you have a high risk of developing oral cancers.
Cigarette, cigar or pipe smoking can lead to cancer of the mouth or throat, while chewing
tobacco can lead to cancer of the lips, gums or cheeks.

Effects of Smoking on Pregnancy

If you smoke, you may have trouble becoming pregnant. And if your partner smokes, he may
have problems with erectile dysfunction. If he’s a heavy smoker, he may have a low sperm
count and low sperm motility. So both men and women who are smokers may have reduced
fertility.

If you’re pregnant, or thinking about becoming pregnant, it’s important to know that smoking
can harm your baby. And that harm starts while it’s still in the womb.

pregnant woman family

The chemical you inhale in cigarette smoke can pass through the placenta and umbilical cord to
your baby. And the amount of oxygen your baby gets–and needs–can be reduced if you smoke.

Your baby’s lungs and brain may not form properly. A cleft palate and other defects of the
mouth or lips could develop.

Smoking during pregnancy makes it more likely that your baby will be born preterm, and that
he or she will have a low birth weight. Preterm and low birth weight babies can have a wide
variety of medical and developmental difficulties, both in infancy and later in life.

There’s also a risk of sudden infant death syndrome–SIDS. And that risk is increased if your baby
breathes in secondhand smoke, either from you or from someone else.

Secondhand smoke is dangerous for your baby in other ways, too. He or she can develop
asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia or ear infections.
How Your Health Improves After You Quit Smoking

Discovering all the harmful consequences of smopking may seem really discouraging. There’s
some good news, though.

If you quit smoking, your health will improve. And those improvements will begin very quickly.

fit elder couple

Your health starts improving as soon as 20 minutes after you stop smoking.

Your elevated pulse rate and blood pressure will return to normal. The tissues in your body will
start to receive more oxygen.

You’ll start to feel the difference in your ability to breathe more easily. With time, even your
risk of cancer will decrease.

What happens when you stop smoking.

The risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer and lung diseases declines after quitting smoking.

Most doctors will tell you that quitting smoking is the single most important action you can take
to improve your health. Isn’t it time for you to quit?