Effects of smoking
Your health expert: Angana Nankani, Bupa Clinics GP
Content editor review by Dr Kristina Routh, October 2020
Next review due October 2023
Smoking is the most common cause of preventable disease in the UK. Nearly 78,000 people die each year in the UK from smoking-related causes. Many more live in poor health because of smoking.
Here we give you the facts about the harm smoking does to your body. The good news is that you can really improve your health by giving up, so we’ve also got advice on how to quit.
How smoking affects your body
How smoking damages the body | risks of smoking - Watch in 2 minutes 43
Have you ever wondered how smoking affects your body? This video explores how smoking cigarettes damages your heart, lungs and circulatory system.
This animation will show the effects of smoking on the body.
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the animation.
This animation contains sound.
When you inhale smoke, it travels down your trachea and bronchi to your lungs.
The bronchi branch narrow into tubes (called bronchioles).
The bronchioles continue to branch and end with tiny air sacs (called alveoli).
When you smoke, over time, tar settles in your lungs and damages your alveoli.
This makes your alveoli less stretchy, making it harder for your lungs to take in the oxygen
you need.
This can make you short of breath and feel tired.
Smoking for a long time can lead to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
This term describes long-term conditions that affect the lungs, such as chronic bronchitis
and emphysema, which cause breathing difficulties.
Smoking can also have an effect on your heart.
Carbon monoxide found in cigarette smoke binds to haemoglobin (a substance found in red blood
cells that carries oxygen around your body).
This prevents your cells from carrying a full load of oxygen around your body, making it
harder to breathe and putting stress on your heart.
Smoking damages your blood vessels, which affects how well your blood, and therefore
oxygen, flows around your body.
This makes your heart work harder and faster.
Over the years, smoking causes fat deposits in your blood to build up on the walls of
your arteries.
This forms a plaque, which narrows and blocks blood vessels.
This can lead to heart disease, stroke and even a heart attack.
If you smoke, you're more likely to store fat around your waist rather than around your
hips.
This is linked to a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart
disease.
Smoking affects your appearance.
It can prematurely age your skin by between
Smoking stains your fingers and teeth.
It also affects your sense of taste and smell.
Smoking can also cause many types of cancer, including throat, mouth, lung, stomach, kidney
and bladder.
Lung cancer is the cancer most commonly associated with smoking.
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Smoking and life expectancy
On average, smoking reduces your life expectancy by 10 years. After you reach 40, each additional year you smoke reduces your life expectancy by another three months.
Although smoking increases your risk of many serious illnesses, most of the deaths caused by smoking are due to three main conditions. These are lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cardiovascular (heart and circulation) disease.
Smoking and cancer
Cigarette smoke contains more than 5,000 chemical compounds and of these, over 60 are known to cause cancer. Smoking is by far the greatest avoidable risk for developing many types of cancer, and it causes one in four cancer deaths. And hand-rolled cigarettes are just as harmful as ready-made cigarettes.
If you smoke, you increase your risk of getting at least 15 different types of cancer, including:
- throat and mouth cancer
- lung cancer
- stomach cancer
- pancreatic cancer
- kidney cancer
- cervical cancer
Smoking is also linked to some types of leukaemia (cancer of the white blood cells).
Smoking and your heart and circulation
Smoking can cause serious problems with your heart and blood circulation. It damages your blood vessels, puts up your blood pressure and heart rate and makes your blood more likely to clot. If you smoke, you increase your risk of getting heart disease and having a heart attack. You’re also more likely to have a stroke and develop peripheral arterial disease (where the arteries to your legs become narrowed, so restricting blood flow).
There is no safe level of smoking. Even one cigarette a day greatly increases your risk of getting problems with your heart or circulation. Here are some examples of the risks.
- If you smoke 20 or more cigarettes a day, your risk of having a stroke can be up to six times that of a non-smoker. The more you smoke, the more likely you are to have a stroke.
- If you’re under 50 and smoke, you may be five times more likely to have a heart attack than a non-smoker.
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Smoking and your lungs and breathing
If you’re regularly breathing in smoke, your airways and lungs will get damaged. The smoke irritates and inflames your airways. It can become harder for you to get air in to and out of your lungs and you can develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Most people who get COPD are long-term smokers.
The damage to your airways from smoking makes you more at risk of getting an infection like pneumonia. And if you have asthma, smoking may make your symptoms more severe, or last longer.
If you smoke, you may feel that your breathing is OK, but your lungs may be damaged even before you have any symptoms.
Smoking and your appearance
As well as being harmful, smoking can affect your appearance. Many smokers say that the effect on their appearance was one of the things that made them decide to quit smoking.
Smoking, wrinkles and ageing
Smoking affects the structure of your skin, making you more likely to get wrinkles. Smokers in their 40s may have as many wrinkles as non-smokers in their 60s. These may be especially noticeable around your eyes and mouth. Your skin may become pale and grey, and you may develop what’s known as a ‘smoker’s face’.
Other effects of smoking on the way you appear
These include:
- being more likely to get acne, with slower healing of skin blemishes or wounds
- bad breath and stained teeth and gums
- damage to your gums leading to loss of teeth
- irritation of your eyes making them appear bloodshot
- staining of your fingers, so they become discoloured and yellow
- earlier greying of your hair
Smoking and your fertility
Smoking can cause infertility in both men and women. Breathing in second-hand smoke from smokers around you is also likely to affect your chance of conceiving.
Men who smoke are more likely to have damaged sperm, which are less able to fertilise an egg. Men are also at a greater risk of erectile dysfunction if they smoke.
Women who smoke take longer to get pregnant than non-smokers. And they may go through the menopause earlier than women who don’t smoke.
Smoking can also affect the success of fertility treatment such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
Smoking and your recovery from operations
Smoking increases the risks of general anaesthesia, as well as the risks specific to the operation you have. If you smoke, you may be up to six times more likely to get breathing problems during an operation.
If you smoke, your body will take longer to heal after an operation. Your surgical wounds won’t heal as quickly. Your risk of getting complications is higher too. This means a longer recovery period with more time in hospital and off work.
This is why you’ll be strongly advised to give up smoking before you have any planned surgical procedure. You may need to give up at least six weeks before your operation to get the most benefit.
Why smoking is bad for people around you
When you smoke, anyone near you will be breathing in the smoke you exhale, and the smoke from the end of your cigarette. This is called second-hand smoking or passive smoking. This is harmful for them. Second-hand smoking can cause the same range of illnesses that affect those who actively smoke.
Short-term effects of second-hand smoke
Being exposed to second-hand smoke is very unpleasant. Not only does the smell linger on your clothes and hair, it can give you a headache, cough or sore throat. It can also irritate your eyes and make you feel sick or dizzy. If you have asthma, being in a smoky place may make your symptoms worse.
Long-term effects of second-hand smoke
If you're regularly exposed to second-hand smoke, your risk of developing smoking-related diseases such as heart disease and lung cancer increases. Not only that, you may be more likely to develop conditions that affect your breathing, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Second-hand smoking in pregnancy
If you’re exposed to second-hand smoke while you’re pregnant, your baby may not develop properly and may have a low birth weight. This could potentially put your baby at risk. There is also a higher risk of your baby being born early or being stillborn. For more information, see our section: Why smoking is harmful if you’re pregnant.
Second-hand smoking and children
Second-hand smoke is particularly harmful for babies and children. If young children are exposed to second-hand smoke, they’re more likely to get:
- chest infections like bronchitis and pneumonia
- glue ear or a middle ear infection
- asthma – with more severe attacks in smoky places
- meningitis
- cot death (sudden infant death syndrome, SIDS)
Children who grow up with parents or siblings who smoke are more likely to become smokers themselves.
Why smoking is harmful if you're pregnant
Smoking during pregnancy can cause problems with the pregnancy and harm your baby. Smoking reduces the amount of oxygen your baby gets, and causes harmful chemicals to pass through the placenta to them. If you smoke while you’re pregnant, there is an increased risk of:
- miscarriage
- ectopic pregnancy
- placental abruption – when the placenta comes away from the wall of your womb, which can be fatal to your baby
- having a stillborn baby
- your baby being born to early (prematurely)
- your baby having a low birth weight, which may lead to more health problems
- abnormalities of your baby’s development such as a cleft lip or palate
Problems after your baby is born
The risk of cot death or sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is higher if you or your partner smokes, particularly if you share a bed with your baby at night. Your baby may also be more likely to have colic if you smoke. And they may be more likely to get health problems in later life including serious respiratory conditions like asthma. Smoking while you're pregnant may also affect how well your child goes on to do at school.
The more you smoke, the greater the risk of problems for your baby. There’s no safe level of smoking, so your medical team will encourage you and your partner to give up smoking completely if possible.
How to stop smoking
If you’ve decided you want to stop smoking – good for you! It’s probably the best thing you can do to improve your own health, and the health of those around you. Stopping smoking isn’t easy, but you’re not alone and there are plenty of resources available to help.
A good way to stop smoking is to contact the free, NHS stop smoking service. You’ll have a one-to-one appointment with an expert advisor, and there may be group support and drop-in sessions in many areas. You can contact the service directly. For contact details of this and other sources of support, see our section: Other helpful websites. Your pharmacist can also give you advice about ways to stop smoking.
There are medicines which can help you to stop smoking. These include nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) or varenicline (Champix®) or bupropion (Zyban®). You usually get these through the stop smoking service. Always carefully read the information that comes with your medicine and if you have any queries, ask your pharmacist.
You may choose to use e-cigarettes (‘vaping’) to help you quit smoking. Neither the stop smoking service nor your GP can prescribe e-cigarettes for you. But they can talk to you about the risks and benefits of using them, and support you in your efforts to stop smoking.
It can be a huge challenge to give up smoking, but with the right treatment and support you’re much more likely to do it. You’re most likely to be successful with a combination of medicines and psychological support.
If you have a lapse, don't give up – try again. And again, if necessary. Stopping smoking involves changing your lifestyle and habits, and getting rid of an addiction you may have had for years. Most smokers have several attempts to give up before they finally succeed.
Smoking and cravings
Smoking and cravings | Watch in 2:51 minutes
Learn about the link between smoking and cravings in this short video.
Laura Davies, Bupa Health Adviser:
Quitting smoking isn’t an easy thing to do.
Nicotine is a physically addictive substance, but often the habits that we associate with smoking makes it psychologically difficult to quit too.
We often associate smoking with other habits in our day-to-day routine, like having a morning coffee, going out for a chat with your friends, or heading down the pub for a drink.
By focusing on and establishing the habits which are triggers to us, we can also help to cut the cravings. A few scientifically proven methods should help you to cut those cravings down.
10 top tips for coping with cravings
- Firstly, you want to focus on one specific quitting method such as nicotine replacement therapy. Using this alongside willpower is much stronger than willpower alone.
- Setting a date can be an ideal way to have a goal to focus towards.
- Ask friends and family for support. They can provide moral support and remind you why you’re in this to begin with.
- Identify your specific triggers, such as stress or drinking, and try to avoid these where possible.
- By avoiding the places you associate with smoking, you can also help to avoid the smoking itself.
- Remove facilitators to smoking from your environment, such as ashtrays, lighters, and cigarettes. If you don’t have them in your house you simply wont be able to smoke unless you go out purposefully to buy those things.
- A good way to overcome urges is to have a few five minute activities you can do to distract yourself. Such as going for a brisk walk or run, you could start baking or reading. The key thing you want to avoid is just sitting and waiting for the craving to pass.
- Write reminders in your phone, in your office, and at home as to why you want to quit. Focus on the financial benefits and the health benefits. You could even set up a savings fund and put the money you would have spent on smoking towards something you’ve wanted. Something that might be particularly useful is focusing on the health benefits, and how much longer you will be able to live a healthier life.
- Tracking your habits will be really useful too. You could do this on your computer, in a notebook or download an app which helps you to log cravings and how you’re feeling each day along with tracking progress so you know how far you’ve come.
- The key thing to remember is that everyone slips up every now and again. Practise some self-compassion with yourself if you do slip up and focus on the progress that you have made so far. One cigarette won’t reverse all that progress. You just want to focus on the end goal of quitting.
The benefits of stopping smoking
The good news is that it’s never too late to stop smoking and, when you do, the benefits to your health start immediately.
When you stop smoking:
- within just 20 minutes, your pulse and blood pressure reduce
- within eight hours, your oxygen levels return to normal and the amount of carbon monoxide in your blood will be reduced by half
- within two days, your sense of taste improves
- within one month, your complexion may improve and wrinkles reduce
- within three to nine months, your lung function can improve
- after one year, your extra risk of heart attack is half what it was when you smoked
- after 10 years, your risk of lung cancer will be half that of someone who smokes
- after 15 years, your risk of a heart attack is the same as somebody who has never smoked
And as well as all these health benefits, quitting smoking is good for your finances. There are plenty of online calculators and apps where you can find out how much you will save – for more details, see our section: Other helpful websites. You might even be able to treat yourself to a holiday with the money you save – a fitting reward for your efforts!
Discover how your body changes when you stop smoking
How your body changes when you stop smoking| Watch in 1:54 minutes
When you stop smoking your body changes in a number of ways. Find out more in this short video.
What happens to your body when you stop smoking?
Just 20 minutes after you have your last cigarette, your pulse and blood pressure will start to reduce.
Within around eight hours, the amount of oxygen in your blood returns to normal.
In the same amount of time, the amount of carbon monoxide in your blood will be reduced by half.
By the second day, it will be gone completely.
After about two days, your sense of taste will start to get better.
As early as two weeks after you stop, your circulation starts to improve.
After one month, your complexion may improve and any wrinkles might be reduced.
You might notice you cough less and that your breathing improves.
Between three and nine months after quitting, your lung function can increase by up to 10%.
By the end of the first year, your risk of a heart attack will drop by half.
After ten years of not smoking, your risk of lung cancer goes down to half that of a smoker.
Your risk of getting other cancers like mouth, throat, oesophageal, bladder and pancreatic cancer also all decrease.
After 15 years of not smoking, your risk of having a heart attack is the same as someone who never smoked.
And it's not just your physical health that can benefit, stopping smoking may also improve your mental health.
Giving up smoking is associated with having a more positive mood, as well as feeling less stressed and less anxious.
Is vaping harmful?
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