The effects of smoking on bodily systems.

As described in earlier posts smoking has a significant effect on several body systems. The major systems that are affected by smoking are the respiratory systems and cardiovascular systems.
It affects the respiratory system by coating the lungs with tar causing cells to mutate into cancerous cells resulting in lung cancer.
It can make the respiratory tract (bronchi) prone to infection(bronchitis) and cause emphysema.
Smoking increases the risk of heart disease as smoking causes plaque to build up in the arteries leading to atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries. This in turn raises blood pressure increasing the risk of heart attack and strokes. Also smokers suffer from poor circulation due to blocked arteries and in extreme circumstances can lead to amputation of limbs.
Smoking can reduce the efficiency of the immune system and make us more susceptible to other illnesses.

Smoking can be attributed to a whole number of problems with body systems and cause them to break down and not function properly. The campaign to get people to quit is well intentioned and could save the NHS millions in smoking related diseases, however smoking is a hard habit to break and it will be some time before smoking is eliminated entirely.