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What happens when you smoke?

What happens when you smoke? Lighting up that cigarette may feel like bliss - but what negative effects does smoking have on your body while you are puffing away?

The smoke hits your eyes, nose and throat

Within a few seconds of your first puff, irritating gases (formaldehyde, ammonia and hydrogen sulphide) start to work on the sensitive membranes of your eyes, nose and throat. If you continue to smoke, these gases will result in a smoker's cough.

You put your lungs under pressure

As you puff away, you erode the natural cleansing process of the lungs. Your respiratory rate starts to increase, making your lungs work harder. The gases from the cigarette harm the tissues of the lungs and the airways. This causes you to cough up more mucous. The excess mucous is a breeding ground for bacteria and viruses, making you susceptible to colds, flu, bronchitis and other respiratory diseases.

Farther down, inside your lungs, the smoke weakens the free-roving scavenger cells that remove foreign particles from the air sacs of the lungs. Continued exposure to smoke affects the protein that keeps the lungs flexible (elastin) predisposing you to emphysema. Smoking is the main cause of chronic obstructive lung disease: it is very rare in non-smokers and at least 80 percent of the deaths from this disease can be attributed to cigarette smoking.¹

Your heart is put under stress

From the moment the smoke reaches your lungs, your heart is forced to work harder. The heartbeat may increase by as much as 30 percent during the first 10 minutes of smoking.²
Many smokers suffer from abnormal heart beats caused by the effect of nicotine and other chemicals.

Your blood pressure increases

While you are smoking, your blood pressure increases, putting more stress on heart and blood vessels. This automatically increases your risk of heart attack and stroke during the time that you are smoking.

Carbon monoxide floods into your system

When you smoke, carbon monoxide - the colourless, odourless, deadly gas present in car exhaust - passes immediately into your bloodstream. Carbon monoxide binds to the oxygen receptor sites (haemoglobin) and "kicks out" the oxygen molecules in your red blood cells.

Haemoglobin - the protein that feeds oxygen to organs and cells - binds itself preferentially to the carbon monoxide and can no longer carry oxygen. This means that less oxygen reaches your brain and vital organs. Your body cells need oxygen for energy so your energy levels are reduced. The oxygen-carrying capacity of a heavy smoker's blood may be reduced by 15 percent.³

The nicotine kicks in

After approximately 10 seconds of lighting up, nicotine has been absorbed from the lungs into the bloodstream and has been transported to the brain. It stimulates the central nervous system, increasing the heart beat rate and blood pressure: raising the heart's oxygen requirement.

The blood vessels in your skin constrict

The smoke constricts blood vessels in your skin, making smokers more susceptible to wrinkling. Cigarette smoke released into the environment also has a drying effect on the skin.⁴ The net result is grey wrinkled skin with heavy lines around the eyes and mouth.

References

1. The UK Smoking Epidemic - Deaths in 1995. Health Education Authority, 1998
2. Cigarettes: What the warning label doesn't tell you. American Council on Science and Health, 1996
3. Royal College of Physicians. Smoking or Health. London, Pitman, 1977.
4. Joffe, I. Cigarette smoking and facial wrinkling. (Letter) Annals of Internal Medicine, 1991; 115: 659.

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