Maybe you know the risks to your health. You’ve probably heard it all before – smoking can cause:

• Heart attack.
• Bronchitis.
• Gangrene.
• Miscarriage and premature birth.
• Stroke.
• Pleurisy.
• Cancer.
• Sterility.
• Emphysema.
• Gum Disease.
• Impotence.
• Stillbirth.
• SIDS – sudden infant death syndrome.

Apart from the health risks for a smoker, like cancer and heart disease, your smoking lungs can’t get the oxygen they need for your body to work properly. Your heart has to work harder to try to get oxygen round your body.

• You don’t feel very fit.
• You cough.
• You’re short of breath.
• You don’t have much energy.
• You’re not looking so good.

Most smokers don’t want to think about the health risks. Perhaps you don’t believe the effect smoking has on health, but it’s true. Illnesses in smokers have been studied. Smokers account for most of the deaths and illnesses listed above.

See research about the health effects of smoking.