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Smoking - health risks

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Smoking - health risks (Contd)

Reviewed by Dr Gavin Petrie, consultant chest physician

Quitting can help

Lung damage from COPD is permanent, but giving up smoking at any stage reduces the rate of decline in lung capacity.

Other risks caused by smoking

Did you know? A single cigarette can reduce the blood supply to your skin for over an hour.

Smoking and impotence

For men in their 30s and 40s, smoking increases the risk of erectile dysfunction (ED) by about 50 per cent.

Did you know? The British Medical Association estimates that up to 120,000 men have ED because of smoking.

Smoking and others

There are many health-related reasons to give up cigarettes - not just for smokers, but to protect those around you.

Babies born to mothers who smoke during pregnancy are twice as likely to be born prematurely and with a low birth weight.

Passive smoking The 'side-stream' smoke that comes off a cigarette between puffs carries a higher risk than directly inhaled smoke.

Children who grow up in a home where one or both of their parents smoke have twice the risk of getting asthma and asthmatic bronchitis. They also have a higher risk of developing allergies.

Infants under two years old are more prone to severe respiratory infections and cot death.

For adults, passive smoking seems to increase the risk of lung cancer, but the evidence for an increased risk of heart disease is not yet conclusive.

Thinking about quitting?

As well as reducing your risk of getting a smoking-related illness, there are other benefits to quitting smoking.

General health improves - tiredness and headaches can be linked to smoking.

Your sense of taste and smell improve.

Your heart will be less strained and work more efficiently.

Stopping smoking is the single biggest thing you can do to improve your health, but it's a difficult task.

Smokers who are trying to kick their habit may be disappointed to find there's no single quit method that guarantees success.

The weight of evidence suggests that smokers should set a date to stop, and do their best to quit completely from this point.

On average it takes four to five attempts to give up, and there are a number of things that can help willpower:

nicotine replacement treatment (NRT) in the form of gum, skin patches or nasal spray

Zyban (bupropion) is a medicine that's licensed to help smoking cessation

behaviour modification programmes

alternative therapies such as acupuncture and hypnosis.

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