According to PhysLink.com, when you inhale a cigarette the temperature in the middle of the tip of a cigarette goes from 1100 F. to 1300 degrees F. The tip or combustion zone of a cigarette or cigar produces carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Further back where it is a bit cooler you have the pyrolysis/distillation zone. The distillation zone is where the 5000 or so chemicals are produced and unleashed. As the super saturated vapor cools it is transformed into aerosol particles that form the smoke. Some of the smoke goes directly into your lungs the rest is dispersed as second hand smoke. The smoke that goes into your lungs and into your blood stream causes one set of problems, the smoke that surrounds your lips and wafts across your eyes and complexion causes other problems.

The problem with using disease as a scare tactic or motivator to quit smoking is people don't think that way. They don't walk around all day worrying about all the awful things that can happen. The cause and effect between smoking and disease is too far removed. The ravages of smoking build up, bit-by-bit, day-by-day, cigarette-by-cigarette, until the cumulative affect hits its mark. Almost all smoking related diseases are non-reversible. You may be able to arrest of stop the damage in some cases but often the results of smoking have done irreparable harm to your heart, throat, lungs, eyes, complexion, arteries and circulation. Many people think of cancer when they think of smoking related disease, the degenerative diseases associated with smoking take a subtle toll reducing mobility and quality of life.

Smoking is a time bomb with a variable length fuse; some smokers will live to be 100, while others will perish at 40. Smoking cigarettes is a game of Russian roulette, quicksand, landmines and trip wires because; you never know which cigarette or how many it is going to take to become ill. No one should smoke, but especially those who are predisposed by heredity, or preexisting conditions such as diabetes, circulatory problems, heart disease or elevated cholesterol. The risk factors associated with smoking have been known for years and have been reported by the U.S Surgeon General and others.

Smoking Related Disease and Risk Factors

Smoking harms nearly every major organ of the body, often in profound ways, causing many diseases and significantly diminishing the health of smokers in general. Toxins in cigarette smoke go everywhere the blood flows (1)

Cancer

Smoking causes the vast majority of lung cancers, along with cancers of the mouth, throat, larynx, esophagus, pancreas, kidney, bladder, stomach, and acute myeloid leukemia (1)

Cardiovascular Disease

Smoking is one of the major independent causes of coronary disease. Smoking causes atherosclerosis, strokes, and abdominal aortic aneurysm. It accelerates the progressive hardening and narrowing of the arteries. Cigarette smoke damages the cells lining the blood vessels and heart (1)

Respiratory Disease

More than 90% of emphysema deaths are caused by smoking. Smokers have more upper and lower respiratory tract infections and other respiratory diseases than nonsmokers.

When mothers smoke during pregnancy, it damages their infants' developing lungs (1)

Reproductive Problems

Smoking harms every phase of reproduction

Smoking increases the risk of complications during pregnancy, it raises the risk of premature birth, low birth weight infants, stillbirth, and infant mortality

Infants exposed to secondhand smoke after birth have double the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS (1)

Eye Disease

Smoking is already a known risk factor for age-related macular degeneration, cataract and thyroid eye disease. Now, the first study to specifically examine the impact of smoking on uveitis-inflammation of the eye's middle layer of tissue-indicates that tobacco smoke likely plays a role in this serious eye disease, as well. (2)

The Good News About Quitting and Reducing Risk:

In case you are thinking what's the use you have smoked for too long, don't give up, according to the American Cancer Society:

When smokers quit -- What are the benefits over time?

20 minutes after quitting: Your heart rate and blood pressure drops.

(Mahmud A, Feely J. Effect of Smoking on Arterial Stiffness and Pulse Pressure Amplification. Hypertension. 2003;41:183.)

12 hours after quitting: The carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal.

(U.S. Surgeon General's Report, 1988, p. 202)

2 weeks to 3 months after quitting: Your circulation improves and your lung function increases.

(U.S. Surgeon General's Report, 1990, pp. 193, 194, 196, 285, 323)

1 to 9 months after quitting: Coughing and shortness of breath decrease; cilia (tiny hair-like structures that move mucus out of the lungs) regain normal function in the lungs, increasing the ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs, and reduce the risk of infection.

(U.S. Surgeon General's Report, 1990, pp. 285-287, 304)

1 year after quitting: The excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker's.

(U.S. Surgeon General's Report, 1990, p. vi)

5 years after quitting: Your stroke risk is reduced to that of a non-smoker 5 to 15 years after quitting.

(U.S. Surgeon General's Report, 1990, p. vi)

10 years after quitting: The lung cancer death rate is about half that of a person who continues smoking. The risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, cervix, and pancreas decrease, too.

(U.S. Surgeon General's Report, 1990, pp. vi, 131, 148, 152, 155, 164, 166)

15 years after quitting: The risk of coronary heart disease is the same as a non-smoker's.

(U.S. Surgeon General's Report, 1990, p. vi)

(1) The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General, 2004

(2) American Academy of Opthalmology  (2010, March 18)

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About the Author:
Joseph A. Gaetan Cht, Clt is a certified Master Practitioner of NLP and a certified Words that Change Minds consultant who has spent the last 10 years helping people to quit smoking. Mr Gaetan received formal smoking cessation specific training from reputable organizations in the United States, Canada and the U.K. As a hands on smoking cessation specialist Mr Gaetan has helped thousands of people through the process of quitting and staying quit. Losing two of his family members to the battle against lung cancer propelled Mr. Gaetan to develop an ethical and efficacious program aimed at helping people beat their nicotine dependency.
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