Who is smoking

This makes your heart beat faster and your blood pressure go up. Clots can also form. Smoking and Respiratory Disease. Smoking and Cancer. Smoking and Other Health Risks. They are also at greater risk for broken bones. Smoking affects the health of your teeth and gums and can cause tooth loss. It can also cause age-related macular degeneration AMD. AMD is damage to a small spot near the center of the retina, the part of the eye needed for central vision.

Quitting and Reduced Risks. Quitting smoking cuts cardiovascular risks. Just 1 year after quitting smoking, your risk for a heart attack drops sharply. Department of Health and Human Services. Atlanta: U. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 08 ; Actual Causes of Death in the United States. Rockville MD : U. A Report of the Surgeon General external icon. For Further Information.

Fact Sheets. What's this. Related CDC Sites. Social Media. Women who smoke while pregnant have a greater chance of certain pregnancy problems. Their babies are also at higher risk of dying of sudden infant death syndrome SIDS. Smoking also causes addiction to nicotine, a stimulant drug that is in tobacco. Nicotine addiction makes it much harder for people to quit smoking. Your smoke is also bad for other people - they breathe in your smoke secondhand and can get many of the same problems as smokers do.

This includes heart disease and lung cancer. Children exposed to secondhand smoke have a higher risk of ear infections , colds , pneumonia , bronchitis, and more severe asthma. Mothers who breathe secondhand smoke while pregnant are more likely to have preterm labor and babies with low birth weight.

Besides cigarettes, there are several other forms of tobacco. Some people smoke tobacco in cigars and water pipes hookahs. These forms of tobacco also contain harmful chemicals and nicotine. Some cigars contain as much tobacco as an entire pack of cigarettes.

E-cigarettes often look like cigarettes, but they work differently. They are battery-operated smoking devices. Using an e-cigarette is called vaping. Not much is known about the health risks of using them.

We do know they contain nicotine, the same addictive substance in tobacco cigarettes. E-cigarettes also expose non-smokers to secondhand aerosols rather than secondhand smoke , which contain harmful chemicals.

Smokeless tobacco , such as chewing tobacco and snuff, is also bad for your health. Smokeless tobacco can cause certain cancers, including oral cancer. It also increases your risk of getting heart disease, gum disease , and oral lesions.

Remember, there is no safe level of tobacco use. Smoking even just one cigarette per day over a lifetime can cause smoking-related cancers and premature death. Quitting smoking can reduce your risk of health problems. The earlier you quit, the greater the benefit.

Some immediate benefits of quitting include. The information on this site should not be used as a substitute for professional medical care or advice.