Smoking, what it does to your body...

From bone loss to impotence, tobacco is bad for your body.
Lung cancer and heart disease are known to be the lethal results of smoking. But research is also proving that, well before serious disease strikes, tobacco is regularly compromising your health in ways you might not imagine.

Increased bone loss, higher injury rates, longer times for wounds to heal, even impotence have all been traced to the effects of nicotine on the body.

"I thought, 'Why haven't we figured this out before?' " Oregon orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Miguel Schmitz says, after finding that leg fractures took 70 percent longer to heal in smokers than in non-smokers.

In his study of 60 patients with fractures, Oregon orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Miguel Schmitz, found the average time for clinical healing for smokers was 276 days compared to 152 days for non-smokers. That's a difference he calls remarkable.

Starving for oxygen
The decrease in blood flowing through the body means there is less oxygen going to its tissues, and oxygen is key for maintaining body health. Worsening the situation is the carbon monoxide that is inhaled from burning cigarette papers.
The carbon monoxide replaces oxygen that's supposed to be plentiful in red blood cells. Tissues don't get enough oxygen as they would ordinarily and muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones are all weakened over time.
And that time may be shorter that you think.

Injuries
Dr. John W. Gardner found that of approximately 2,000 male and female recruits, smokers were 1.5 times more likely to be injured during the eight-week basic training than non-smokers. Smokers suffered more than double the number of ankle sprains and muscle stresses than non-smokers.

Bone loss
Untimely bone loss seems to be another consequence of cigarette smoking.
Non-smoking women at age 65 have an average bone loss of 33.5 percent, while women of the same age who have smoked for five years or more suffer a loss of bone density at a rate from 40 percent to 60 percent.
In addition, a study found in a three-year review that older men and women smokers were losing three-quarters of a percent more bone mass per year than non-smokers.
This is significant, because loss of bone mass increases with each year of smoking. A 10 percent change in bone mass is enough to double the fracture risk.

The threat of impotence
Even sexual satisfaction apparently can be compromised by nicotine use. A recent study found that a group of more than 500 male smokers between the ages of 40 and 70 had a 24 percent rate of impotence, compared to 14 percent for non-smokers. In smokers also exposed to passive smoke, the impotence rate rose to 33 percent.

The penis needs about an eight-fold increase in blood to become engorged for an erection, which is the equivalent of the amount of blood used in heavy exercise. So when the arteries are constricted because of nicotine in the blood, it is suggested that "the blood can't flow fast enough to build up."

Smoking is the major cause of coronary heart disease
Smoking is a major cause of atherosclerosis - a buildup of fatty substances in the arteries. Atherosclerosis occurs when the normal lining of the arteries deteriorates, the walls of the arteries thicken and deposits of fat and plaque block the flow of blood through the arteries. In coronary artery disease, the arteries that supply blood to the heart become severely narrowed, decreasing the supply of oxygen-rich blood to the heart, especially during times of increased activity. Extra strain on the heart may result in chest pain (angina pectoris) and other symptoms. When one or more of the coronary arteries are completely blocked, a heart attack (injury to the heart muscle) may occur.

In peripheral artery disease, atherosclerosis affects the arteries that carry blood to the arms and legs. As a result, the patient may experience painful cramping of the leg muscles when walking (a condition called intermittent claudication). Peripheral artery disease also increases the risk of stroke.