What’s All the Fuss About?
We’re sure you already know that smoking is really bad for you. Horrible in fact. Smoking can affect everything from your ability to breathe well to your ability to digest food properly. It irritates allergies and asthma, and increases your likelihood of catching colds and other viruses. Smoking increases the risk of heart attacks and can cause problems with sleep. It causes headaches and can even affect your memoir and ability to concentrate. In general, it keeps the body from healing itself the way it is designed to.
Second-Hand Smoke
Smoking also causes major problems for the people around you. This is an especially big problem if you are around children. Second-hand smoke increases the number of ear infections and respiratory infections in children. It increases their chances of getting asthma and can even increase the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Even the small amount of tobacco left on your clothes, hair and skin puts other people at risk.
The Good News
The good news is that many of the health problems caused by smoking can begin to reverse themselves right away. When you stop smoking, your body will immediately start to heal and your heart and lungs will improve within days. Some researchers even think that within a few years you will be almost as healthy as people who never smoked.