Most smokers know that if they gave up cigarettes they would improve their health and reduce their chance of developing lung cancer, but not many know there are other advantages to ditching fags.
Better-looking skin
Though having better skin is not as important as improving your long-term physical health, it may just be the reason you butt out your last cigarette.
Not many people realise that smoking causes dry, lifeless skin that can make you look old before your time.
Founder of SMOKO Mike Cameron explained: “Our face tells a story about who we are, and with our skin often related to or reflecting our internal health, it shouldn’t be a surprise that your smoking habit shows up here too.”
Smokers shouldn’t give up hope though, as they can improve the look of their skin just by quitting. This will boost collagen and elastin in the skin, improve circulation of blood around the body, reduce the production of free radicals, and relieve inflammatory skin conditions. Basically, your skin will look younger and healthier, you’ll have fewer wrinkles and spots, and your eczema or rosacea could clear up.
Reduce the risk of dementia
Did you know that smoking can increase your risk of developing dementia? So simply giving up your bad habit could mean you have better cognitive function for longer.
While quitting smoking is not as good for your memory as never having started in the first place, you can still reduce your risk of dementia.
“Smoking should be considered a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and smoking cessation should be encouraged in order to reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease,” a 2018 study published in the Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology stated.
Better eyesight
Regular smoking is also linked to eye diseases and eyesight deterioration. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed smokers doubled their risk of having macular degeneration, which can cause blurred or reduced vision, and were two to three times more likely to develop cataracts.
If you’re already seeing a blurry spot in your central vision, you need more light for reading or focused tasks, you have trouble recognising faces, or straight lines suddenly appear wavy, this could be a sign that macular degeneration is affecting you.
It is also essential you stop smoking immediately, as this can slow down the deterioration and could help save your eyesight.
Cut down risk of genital warts
Though genital warts develop from human papillomavirus (HPV), which is a sexually transmitted infection, it is believed that smoking increases your chances of getting them.
A study from 2014 found that cigarettes are a contributing factor to genital, and even anal, warts, so if you want to reduce your risk of acquiring these uncomfortable and infectious growths.
Those who think they have them already should go to a sexual health clinic where they will be a cream. For serious cases, they may have to undergo surgery or have the warts frozen. Continuing to smoke while receiving treatment has been shown to make them less effective, so it is important to cut down on, or get rid of, cigarettes at this point if you haven’t already.
If these have put you off your cigarettes but you find it difficult to ditch them, get some disposable vapes as many people find it easier to swap smoking for vaping instead of going cold turkey.
