The harmful effects of cigarettes are plentiful. Take a pick at any organ in the body and smoking will undoubtedly threaten it. It ranges from your looks all the way down to your feet.

Immediate effects:

• Nicotine hits the brain in about 10 seconds and releases dopamine, which makes you feel good but is short lasting.
• It induces nausea and vomiting.
• Tobacco causes diarrhoea
• It causes smelly breath
• Cigarettes contain carbon monoxide which lowers oxygen levels, compromising peripheral tissue like your toes
• Blood pressure and heart rate increases, causing your body to work harder
• Tobacco increases back pain and muscle aches
• Smoking is very expensive, costing $100s to $1000s a year

• Teeth and fingernails stain a yellow-brown colour
• Smoking increases skin wrinking and aging
• Smoking also effects hair growth, and promotes hair loss
• Tar in cigarettes clogs up your lungs
• Respiratory infection, bronchitis and emphysema are more likely.
• Worsens pre-existing asthma in smokers and in the children around them

• Tobacco smoke also increases your risk of cancer; particularly lung (10 folds) and bladder cancer.
• Lung carcinomas are not the only thing. Your lips, gums and throat can also get cancer
• Cigarette smoke causes heart attacks and strokes
• Cigarettes also make you more prone to clots that can kill you.
• Smoking decreases your body’s ability to heal
• Smoking cuts off oxygen to the limbs causing peripheral vascular disease, ulcers and tissue necrosis that eventually leads to leg amputations
• Causes impotence and low sperm count in men and lowers fertility in women
• Big cause of cervical cancer in women.