Penile Disfunction
Your penis can be shorter and not work correctly if you smoke:
- Smoking can reduce the length of your erect penis. Smoking damages blood vessels reducing blood flow to the penis. Reduced blood flow leads to increased collagen formation and a reduced level of elastin in the penis. Elastin is the tissue that lets you penis expand to its full length.
- Smoking can also effect your ability to get it up, and keep it up. Smoking damages the blood vessels leading to the penis reducing the bloodflow that pumps into the penis to make it erect. Also, nicotine in the brain can cause penile tissue to spasm, further reducing blood to your penis. Lastly, the valve that traps the blood in your penis can be impaired if you have nicotine in the blood stream - letting the blood leak out and making your erection softer.
- Smoking also damages your sperm. It can reduce the number of sperm you produce, the sperm may be an abnormal shape and they will not be able to swim as far.
Stop smoking today
Heart Disease
Smoking increases the likelyhood that you will have heart disease:
- People who smoke a pack of cigarettes a day have more than twice the risk of heart attack than non-smokers.
- Women who smoke and also take birth control pills increase several times their risk of heart attack, stroke and peripheral vascular disease.
- Cigarette smoking increases the risk of coronary heart disease by itself. When it acts with other factors, like a poor diet, it greatly increases risk.
- Smoking increases blood pressure, decreases exercise tolerance and increases the tendency for blood to clot. Smoking also increases the risk of recurrent coronary heart disease after bypass surgery.
- Studies show that cigarette smoking is an important risk factor for stroke. Inhaling cigarette smoke produces several effects that damage the cerebrovascular system.
- 105,000 people in the UK die from coronary heart disease each year.
Stop smoking and lower your chances of dying of heart disease
Lung Cancer
Lung cancer is the 2nd most common cancer in the United Kingdom.
- The more you smoke, the more likely you are to get lung cancer but it is the length of time you have been a smoker that is most important
- Men who smoke one pack a day increase their risk 10 times compared with non-smokers.
- The more you smoke and the longer you smoke, the greater your risk.
- If you stop smoking however, the risk of lung cancer decreases. Year on year, abnormal cells are replaced by normal cells. After ten years, the risk drops to a level that is one-third to one-half of the risk for people who continue to smoke.
- Lung cancer normally takes many years to develop. Incidence tends to peaks between the ages of 55 and 65 years.
Quit smoking and save your life
Tooth Decay
Smoking can rot your gums and teeth:
- Saliva cleans the mouth and teeth and protects them from decay. Smoking reduces the flow of saliva reducing this protection.
- Smoking damages the flow of blood to the gums and teeth. If the teeth do not get enough nutrients, they will die and drop out.
- Smoking drastically reduces the amount of vitamin C in the body. Vitamin C is needed to keep your gums healthy.
- Smoking raises the temperature of the mouth damaging oral cells.
- The cancer causing chemicals in smoke can give you oral cancer. Smokers are 18 times more likely to develop oral cancer than non-smokers.
- Buy tooth whitening products here
Skin Wrinkles
You can age yourself 20 years by smoking:
- By age 40, the facial wrinkles of smokers are similar to those of 60 year old non-smokers. Eventually smoker's faces may appear wrinkled, gaunt, and may be affected by a slightly yellow tinge.
- Smoking causes narrowing of the blood vessels in the outermost layers of your skin. This impairs blood flow to your skin, depleting it of oxygen and important nutrients, such as vitamin A, vitamin E and vitamin C.
- Smoking damages collagen and elastin - fibres that give your skin its strength and elasticity. As a result, skin begins to sag and wrinkle prematurely.
- Repeated exposure to the heat from burning cigarettes and the facial expressions you make when smoking - such as pursing your lips when inhaling and squinting your eyes to keep out smoke - may contribute to wrinkles.
- Buy vitamin supplements for your skin
- Buy skin repair creams
Vitamin Reduction
Smoking drastically reduces the levels of some key vitamins in your body:
- Vitamin C: Smoking drastically reduces you levels of vitamin C. Vitamin C is one of the body's main antioxidants. A smoker needs to increase their vitamin C intake to around 2000mg a day. Buy vitamin C here
- Vitamin D: This vitamin helps you use calcium to strengthen your bones. Smoking reduces levels of vitamin D, hence calcium use. Smokers will have a lower bone density and might more easily break a bone.
- Vitamin E: Vitamin E is another antioxidant. Smoking reduces levels of vitamin E in your body. When vitamin E levels are low, the tissues of the lungs become vulnerable to attacks from toxin and cancer causing free radicals. Buy vitamin E here
Find out how much smoking has damaged your wallet so far
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