General Effects of Smoking on the Body

For most it is not surprising to hear that smoking harms your body in many different ways. Not only does smoking damage the immune system it increases the risk of infections. Generally, smokers tend to be less healthy than non-smokers.

Compared to non-smokers illnesses tend to last longer for smokers and because of this more time is missed at work. If hospitalized due to an illness smokers tend to require longer stays.

Smokers have a greater risk of complications and have a lower survival rate after surgery because of damage to the body’s defenses. They are at increased risk of infections, pneumonia, and other respiratory complications.

At times we all know what it feels like to be growing old. Sometimes our muscles and bones remind us vividly how we are aging. Compared to non-smokers, smoker's bone density tends to be lower.

Although arteriosclerosis is more commonly thought of as a heart disease, it can affect arteries anywhere in the body, including those in the legs and brain. Healthy arteries are strong, flexible and elastic, and the inner walls are smooth, allowing blood to flow freely through them to nourish tissues and organs.

Smoking causes many types of cancer, especially lung cancer, which is the second leading cause of death among Americans. It is responsible for one of every four deaths in the United States. Each year more than half a million Americans, more than 1,500 people a day, die of cancer.

Lung cancer was one of the first diseases linked to smoking. In 1964, the first Surgeon General’s report on smoking and health concluded that smoking causes lung cancer. In later years, the list of diseases linked to smoking has grown.