My Body - risks from smoking

Reminding yourself of the damage your body experiences when you smoke will give you extra motivation to quit and stay smokefree.

Your Body While Smoking

We all know smoking increases the risk of developing serious disease and health problems. All the major organs of your body are put under increased pressure by your habit and smokers are more likely than non-smokers to develop a wide range of short and long term health problems.

Find out how your health improves after you quit smoking by using our timeline tool.

Next steps

Stop putting your body at risk - contact your free local NHS service now.

If you prefer post, email and text messages try our Together Programme. A free programme to help you quit successfully.

mouth and throat lungs heart skin and bones circulation stomach reproduction and fertility

Rollover the body to remind yourself of the damage smoking causes...

  • Mouth and Throat

    Smoking causes unattractive problems like bad breath and stained teeth. It can also cause gum disease and damage to your sense of taste.

    The most serious damage smoking causes in this area is an increased risk of cancer in your lips, tongue, throat, voicebox and oesophagus(gullet).

  • Skin

    Smoking reduces the anmount of oxygen to the skin. This means that skin ages more quickly and looks grey and dull. The toxins in your body also cause cellulite.

    Bones

    Smoking can cause bones to get weak and brittle.

    Women need to be especially careful as you are 5 - 10% more likely to suffer from osteoporosis than non-smokers

  • Lungs

    Your lungs can be very badly affected by smoking. Coughs, colds, wheezing and asthma are just the start.

    Smoking can cause fatal diseases such as pneumonia, emphysema, pleurisy(a form of severe chest infection) and lung cancer. In fact 83% of deaths from lung cancer, bronchitis and emphysema are related to smoking.

  • Heart

    The health risks that smoking causes to your heart are very dangerous.

    Because your veins and arteries become blocked and narrow your are at a greatly increased risk of heart attacks, strokes and aneurysms. Aneurysms are blockages which can burst or completely block up. This often leads to amputation or death.

    Smokers are more than twice as likely as non-smokers to die from heart disease.

  • Circulation

    Smoking causes your veins and arteries to get narrower, harder and coated with fatty deposits. This can cause problems like:

    • Low fitness, cold skin, cold hands and feet , ulcers.
    • Ganggreene, which leads to about 2000 amputations a year in the UK
    • Cramps, pains and blockages in your veins which can cause strokes and heart attacks.

  • stomach

    The damage to your stomach area can affect your vital organs. You have an increased chance of getting stomach cancer or ulcers. You are also at risk of developing cancers in your kidneys, pancreas and bladder.

  • Reproduction and Fertility

    You may have seen the recent TV adverts that show how smoking can increase impotence. But it can also damage sperm reduce sperm count and cause testicular cancer

    For women, smoking can make you less fertile and increase the risk of having a miscarriage, a low birth weight baby or cot death. Smoking also increases your risk of cancer of the cervix.