If you smoke, you've likely heard the pleas from friends and family to quit. You probably know that smoking makes heart disease, stroke,cancer, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and other killers more likely. You might even know that smoking is the No. 1 cause of preventable death in the U.S. and worldwide.
But knowing about long-term risks may not be enough to nudge you to quit, especially if you're young. It can be hard to feel truly frightened by illnesses that may strike decades later. And quitting smoking is hard. As many as 75%-80% of smokers say they'd like to quit. But it takes the average smoker five to 10 attempts before successfully quitting.
For some smokers, it's the little things that motivate quitting. Things like the smell it leaves on your clothes, the way people react when they find out you're a smoker, the stains it leaves on your teeth -- everyday aggravations that can add up to a tipping point to kick the habit.
Here are some common daily side effects of smoking that often create the incentive to quit
1. Smelling like smoke:
There's no mistaking the smell of cigarette smoke, and it's not one many people describe favorably.
Steven Schroeder, MD, director of the Smoking Cessation Leadership Center at the University of California at San Francisco, says that smokers are commonly self-conscious about the smell of smoke on their clothes and in their hair. And the smell of their breath is one of particular sensitivity to most smokers.
"Some of the media campaigns have compared kissing a smoker to licking an ashtray," Schroeder says. Enough said.
Smelling like an ashtray isn't the only impact smoking has on the nose. Smokers also experience a dulling of their senses; smell and taste in particular take a hit when you smoke.
Smokers can't appreciate the taste of many foods as intensely as they did before smoking, but it's really the loss of the sense of smell that diminishes the ability to taste, notes Andrew Spielman, DMD, PhD, associate dean for academic affairs and professor of basic science and craniofacial biology at the NYU School of Dentistry. Breathing in the hot fumes of cigarette smoke is toxic to the senses.
3. Premature aging
"One of the chief and significant causes of premature aging of the face is smoking," Fiore says. Skin changes, like leathery skin and deep wrinkling, are more likely in people who are regular smokers. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, smoking leads to biochemical changes in the body that speed the aging process. For example, smoking deprives the living skin tissue of oxygen by causing constriction of the blood vessels. As a result, blood doesn't get to your organs as easily, and that includes the skin.
4. Social pressures
Schroeder cites a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 2008, which looked at the dynamics of smoking in large social networks as a part of the Framingham Heart Study. The study, which took place during the period between 1971 and 2003, examined smoking behavior and the extent to which groups of widely connected people have an affect on quitting. One of the findings was that smokers have increasingly moved to the fringes of social networks. "Smokers have become marginalized," Schroeder says.
5. Finding a mate
Anyone who has perused the dating advertisements in papers, magazines or online, has seen more than his or her fair share of the phrase, "No smokers, please."
6. Impotence
If smoking generally adds a hurdle to finding a new partner, impotence sure doesn't help. Yet smoking increases the chances of impotence dramatically for men by affecting blood vessels, including those that must dilate in order for an erection to occur.
7. Increased infections
You may know about the long-term health risks associated with smoking, but did you realize that smoking also makes you more susceptible to seasonal flus and colds? "People don't realize how much more frequently smokers get viral, bacterial and other infections," Fiore says.
Tiny hairs called cilia that line the respiratory tract, including thetrachea and bronchial tubes, are designed to protect us from infection. "Cilia are constantly waving in a way that grabs bacteria and viruses that get into the trachea and pushes them up and out so we cough them out and swallow them and destroy them with our stomach acids," Fiore explains.
One of the toxic effects of cigarette smoke is that it paralyzes the cilia, thereby destroying this core protective mechanism. That's why smokers have so many more infections. Within a month of quitting, however, your cilia start performing their protective role once again.
8. You're a danger to others
Secondhand smoke is estimated to cause 50,000 deaths every year. It's no wonder: More than 4,500 separate chemicals are found in a puff of tobacco smoke, and more than 40 of those are known carcinogens.
9. Impact on physical activity
Many smokers report a diminished ability over time to comfortably do things as simple as climbing a set of stairs or enjoying sports activities they once easily took part in such as volleyball or jogging.
According to Schroeder, even young athletes in otherwise top physical condition don't perform as well if they smoke because over time, smoking causes the lungs and heart to work harder.
10. Cost
If you're a smoker, it's no surprise that smoking is downright expensive. The price of a pack of cigarettes varies greatly by location, but Fiore says the average cost is about $5 per pack, and in some states it can be as high as $10 per pack, including federal and state taxes.
"Who today has [that kind of money] that they can put aside this way?" Fiore asks. "If you're in a place where it costs $7 for a pack [of cigarettes], you're approaching $3,000 a year. That's putting aside the fact that the average smoker has three extra sick days a year, is 8% less productive, and has $1,600 in extra health care costs per year," he says. "The annual economic costs [of smoking] are over $200 billion nationally."
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