HEART DISEASE
The American Heart Association lists smoking as one of the six major independent risk factors for coronary heart disease, the others being diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, and obesity.
DEGENERATIVE DISC DISEASE
Researchers who followed 1337 doctors who graduated from John Hopkins University between 1948 and 1964, found out that smokers, as well […]

SLOWER WOUND HEALING
A review of the existing studies on the relationship between smoking and wound healing done by the University Medical Center Utrecht show that, should smokers experience a bone fracture, they will need a significantly longer time to heal than non-smokers.
If surgery involving a network of blood vessels in which the blood vessels […]

HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
Drinking coffee increases both diastolic and systolic blood pressure. These effects can sometimes last until the next day (Caffeine consumption and blood pressure: an epidemiological study. International Journal of Epidemiology. 17(1):90-7). Such a situation could be especially harmful for those who suffer from hypertension. High blood pressure is also a contributing factor in […]

MEMORY PROBLEMS
Excessive cortisol secretion, which is caused by coffee drinking, is linked to neural degeneration and interference with memory formation (Extra-adrenal production of corticosteroids. Clinical Experiments in Pharmacological Physiology, 30(7):437-45).
HIGH CHOLESTEROL
Coffee drinking raises serum cholesterol levels, which of course are linked to heart disease (The Tromsø heart study. Does coffee raise serum cholesterol? New England […]

Avoidance of High Risk Behaviors and Substances
It should go without saying that drinking alcohol (other than a glass of red wine now and then — by the way, the health benefits of red wine are due to the antioxidant effects of the flavonoids present in the seeds and skin of grapes, not the alcohol itself), […]

HELPFUL TIPS FOR QUITTING SMOKING
Whatever method you decide on, there are a number of tips that may help:
1. Schedule a specific day to start quitting and tell your friends. That will make it harder for you to back out.
2. Make a list of all the reasons you want to quit and review them when things […]

HYPNOTHERAPY
Some people have found that hypnotherapy is useful in quitting smoking. The idea is that, while in a hypnotic state, you can program your subconscious through suggestion to counter the social triggers that can cause you to crave nicotine. One possible suggestion would be “When I get up in the morning, I will have no […]

NICOTINE REPLACEMENT THERAPY
One way to deal with the physical aspect of withdrawal is through the use of some form of nicotine replacement therapy, such as a nicotine patch.

The way this works is by steadily decreasing the amount of nicotine that goes into your bloodstream, so the withdrawal symptoms are minimized.
I’ve included a number of smoking […]

STROKE
In a study of 83,533 men and 86,336 women, 40 years and older, from 17 provinces in mainland China, participants who smoked a pack or more per day were 51 percent more likely to suffer a stroke than non-smokers (American Heart Association (2008, March 10). Smoking Is Major Risk Factor For Stroke In China, Study […]

OTHER AGING MECHANISMS
As if that weren’t enough, nicotine and the other toxic substances found in cigarettes cause cell damage, which leads to many conditions which can cause premature aging and shorten life expectancy, such as cancer, high cholesterol, osteoporosis, heart problems, circulatory problems, and respiratory disorders.
Finally, smoking leaches nutrients from the body, especially vitamin C, […]