People who smoke are well aware of the damage that smoking is doing to their health.
So why do they still continue to do it? There can be many reasons but the main reason is that smoking is highly addictive.
This addiction is caused by a dependence on the drug nicotine.
When nicotine enters the body it makes an immediate effect.
This begins by a rise in your heart rate and blood pressure and the arteries begin to constrict.
Carbon monoxide reduces the amount of oxygen in the blood which puts pressure on the heart.
Smoking can also affect the way the body can handle fat effectively by lowering the body's good cholesterol and increasing the bad cholesterol.
The longer a person smokes the more addicted they become and the harder it is to give up.
However, if a smoker continues they are at a very high risk of getting serious diseases such as heart disease and cancer.
Many people are giving up smoking everyday and they are enjoying the benefits that quitting smoking can bring.
People who have quit smoking and have not smoked after one year from giving up can reduce their risk of cardiac arrest by as much as 50 %.
If they continue to stop smoking for over 15 years they will have the same risk of a non-smoker.
By quitting smokers can literally add years to their lives.
For example, men who are aged between 35 and 40 can add on an average of another 5 years when they give up.
For women within the same age group they can add 3 years to their life expectancy.
Even long term smokers who are middle aged and older can still benefit from giving up.
For example, between the ages of 65 and 70 they can add more years to their lives by giving up the smoking habit.
There are more ways that you can give up smoking.
There are many nicotine therapy products that you can buy that can help you kick the habit and remove your dependence on nicotine.
These products come in a variety of forms such as nicotine patches, chewing gum and nasal sprays.