Every puff exposes smokers to gases that irritate the eyes, nose, throat, and gums. Continued smoking spurs a thickening of the throat lining, eventually leading to throat cancer. Smokers are also at increased risk of gum disease and tooth loss. As in the throat, the body thickens the bronchial lining, trying to protect it from smoke. The process eventually causes lung cancer.
Smoking progressively impairs the lungs' ability to oxygenate the blood, leading to emphysema.
Heart Smoking increases the heart rate by 10 to 25 beats per minute, or up to 36,000 beats a day. Because the smoker's heart cannot fully circulate blood, smoking also contributes to congestive heart failure. Every cigarette costs smokers 5 to 20 minutes of life. Every day, more than 1,000 Americans die from smoking-related diseases, the equivalent of three jumbo jet crashes with no survivors. Smoking kills 17 times more people each year than are victims of homicide and 50 times more than die from illegal drugs.