| Cancer | | | | |
| Smokers are much more likely to develop some form | | | | Heart Disease |
| of cancer than non-smokers. Ninety percent of lung | | | | Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of |
| cancer cases are caused by smoking. Smoking | | | | death and illness in the UK. If you smoke, you have a |
| tobacco cigarettes can cause all sorts of cancers | | | | higher risk of developing a blood clot leading to a heart |
| including mouth, stomach, oesophageal, bladder, kidney | | | | attack. In fact, the majority of people who have a |
| and pancreas cancer. At least half of smokers are | | | | heart attack before the age of 50 are smokers. |
| eventually killed by their habit! | | | | Smoking damages the lining of your arteries, leading to |
| Lower Life Expectancy | | | | a build up of fatty material and a reduced blood flow. |
| Prepare to be shocked by this one. Smokers have | | | | The carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke reduces the |
| an average life expectancy 10 years lower than | | | | amount of oxygen that the blood can carry to your |
| non-smokers. 10 years! Life is short enough as it | | | | heart and body. |
| is. If this doesn’t make you seriously think twice, | | | | |
| thrice and ten times about quitting smoking, we need to | | | | Bronchitis |
| talk! | | | | Smoking causes Bronchitis. Bronchitis is an |
| Emphysema | | | | inflammation, or irritation of the air passages in the |
| Emphysema is a chronic irreversible lung disease, | | | | lungs. These airways are called the bronchial tubes, or |
| primarily caused by tobacco smoking, which gradually | | | | the bronchi. When these bronchial tubes are irritated by |
| destroys the lungs and is one of the most common | | | | chemicals released from tobacco smoke, thick mucus |
| causes of death from respiratory disease. In | | | | is formed in them. The mucus clogs up the air |
| emphysema, the alveoli (air sacs) in the lungs become | | | | passages and obstructs the passage of air into the |
| over-stretched, destroying the elasticity of fibers that | | | | lungs. This causes bronchitis and can lead to chronic |
| open and close the air sacs during breathing. This | | | | bronchitis. Symptoms of bronchitis include chronic |
| results in the smoker having difficulty breathing | | | | coughing, breathlessness and tightness and pain in the |
| normally, shortness of breath, difficulty exhaling and | | | | chest. |
| wheezing. | | | | |