Physical Facts for Teens Who Smoke

• Tobacco-related diseases and illnesses cause over 400,000 premature deaths in the United States alone. That is one out of every six people in the U.S., causing more tobacco-related deaths than AIDS, car accidents, murders, suicide, drug overdoses and fires combined.
• Here’s what else happens to your body when teens use tobacco:
• Blood vessels shrink with nicotine intake, putting added strain on the heart, which could lead to heart disease and heart attacks.
• Smoking can destroy lungs by contaminating them with tar, nicotine, and a ton of harmful chemicals. This reduces oxygen intake needed for muscular activity required for sports and even reduces breathing abilities.
• Smokers have a shortness of breath approximately three times more often than nonsmokers do.
• Tobacco usage increases coughing and amounts of phlegm found in the lungs and throat.
• Using tobacco products puts teens at a greater risk and severity of respiratory illnesses.
• Smoking can lead to the early development of artery disease, which is a potential precursor to heart disease. Heart disease kills approximately 470,000 Americans every year.
• Tobacco users experience slower lung growth and repair. A reduced level of normal lung function is a very high possibility.
• Smoking can eventually lead to male impotence as the chemicals in tobacco products decrease the amount of blood to the penis. These chemicals also reduce sperm density and sperm motility, causing potential permanent infertility.
• Smoking among youth hampers the rate of lung growth and the level of maximum lung function.
• Smoking causes 32 percent of fatal cancers, 21 percent of fatal heart disease and 88 percent of fatal chronic lung disease.
• Smoking causes nearly 90 percent of all lung cancer and throat cancer.
• Smoking hampers the rate of lung growth and the level of maximum lung function.
• In addition to increasing the risk of lung cancer, tobacco use is a risk factor for cancers of the cervix, mouth, larynx, pharynx, esophagus, kidney, pancreas, bladder, stomach, and some forms of leukemia.
• Investigators have found that teenage boys and girls who smoke daily have poorer general health, use more medications, and have significantly more trouble sleeping than those who do not smoke.
• If you smoke and use oral contraceptives your risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease dramatically increases.
• By smoking during their pregnancies, women increase their infant’s risk of low birth weight, premature birth, still birth and possibly Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Furthermore, smoking causes as many as 141,000 spontaneous miscarriages a year.
• Women who smoke greatly increase their risk of heart attack and stroke. Each year approximately 34,000 deaths from ischemic heart disease among women are attributed to smoking. In addition, about 8,000 deaths from stroke among women are attributed to smoking.
• Although cigarette smoking causes heart disease and stroke more commonly in adults, studies show that early signs of the diseases can be found in teens who smoke.
• Smoking at an early age increases the risk of lung cancer and increases the risk for non-smoking related cancers as the person continues to smoke.
• Lung cancer has surpassed breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer deaths among women.
• An estimated 67,600 women die each year from lung cancer. These deaths are mainly due to smoking.
• The rate of American women dying from lung cancer over the last 30 years has increased by 400 percent.
• Lung cancer develops slowly and symptoms can go undetected for 10 to 20 years.
• The five-year survival rate for all stages of lung cancer is 14 percent.
• There are 436,000 smoking–related deaths in the United States each year. More than 140,000 of those deaths will be women.
• On average, people who smoke a pack or more of cigarettes each day lives 7 years less than someone who never smoked.