How does smoking affect your body?

• There are both short term or long term effects.
• The chemicals released by the cigarette smoke will damage various organs in the body.

What are the short term effects?

	Brain	Increase in carbon monoxide and reduced oxygen may lead to sub-optimal brain functioning.
	Ears	Reduced blood flow causing deafness.
	Eyes	Watery, sore eyes which may impair vision.
	Mouth	Unpleasant sense of taste and sensation in lips, tongue, and throat. Bad breath and mouth infections. Yellowness of teeth.
	Nose	Reduced sense of smell.
	Skin	Decreased skin temperature Early wrinkles on the face. Loses elasticity  becomes more saggy
	Lungs	Difficulty in breathing and reduced athletic performance.

What are the long term effects? Cancers (e.g. of the Lung, Breast, Mouth-throat and Intestine). Heart diseases. Strokes Lung diseases (e.g. asthma, bronchitis), emphysema COPD. Mouth and gum diseases. Ulcer (stomach, peptic). Osteoporosis (bone thinning). Infertility (unable to produce babies). Low sex drive. Impotence.

Why else is cigarette smoke bad?

Cigarette smoke also damages our environment.

• Cigarette butts pollute the environment e.g. pollute waterways, causing breeding of insects such as mosquitoes.
• It causes air pollution.
• Passive smoking (i.e. inhaling smoke from the environment when someone else is smoking) is also a risk factor for asthma especially in children.
• It is responsible for 25% of fire accidents.