LGBTQ+ people are more likely to smoke than the rest of the population, often starting at a younger age and smoking more heavily. We all know that smoking is dangerous but many people chose to ignore these risks. Stopping smoking can improve your health and reduce the risk of smoking-related illnesses.

These are just some of the different ways that smoking can affect your health. Many of them you can’t see as they affect your internal organs:

Your Lungs and Breathing
Smoking causes serious damage to your lungs which affects your breathing and how active you can be. Smoking makes dealing with everything from coughs and colds to pneumonia and lung cancer harder.

84% of lung cancer deaths are caused by smoking.

Blood Circulation
Poisons in cigarettes enter your blood and make it thicker, increases your blood pressure meaning your heart has to pump harder than normal, reduces the amount of blood that reaches your organs and increases the chances of heart attack or stroke.

Your Heart
Smoking doubles your risk of having a heart attack and you’re twice as likely to die from a heart attack compared to someone who has never smoked. If you quit smoking your risk is reduced by half after only one year, and if you can quit for good after 15 years your risk is similar to a non-smoker.

Your Stomach
Smokers have an increased chance of getting stomach cancer or ulcers, and smoking is a significant risk factor for kidney cancer.

How You Look

If you smoke, your skin will age prematurely making it look a dull and yellow-grey colour. It also increases the likelihood of getting wrinkles.

Bone Health
Smoking affects your bones and can cause them to become weak. Women need to be especially careful, as they are more likely to suffer from brittle bones (osteoporosis) than women who don’t smoke.

Your Brain
Smoking can increase the risk of stroke by at least 50%, and aneurysms (where a blood vessel in the brain bursts), both cause brain damage and can be fatal.

Your Lungs and Breathing
Smoking causes serious damage to your lungs which affects your breathing and how active you can be. Smoking makes dealing with everything from coughs and colds to pneumonia and lung cancer harder. 84% of lung cancer deaths are caused by smoking.

Mouth and Throat
Smoking can cause bad breath, discoloured teeth and gum disease which risks losing your teeth.
93% of oropharyngeal cancers (cancer in part of the throat) are caused by smoking.

Reproductive Health
For women, smoking can reduce fertility making it harder to get pregnant. It also increases your risk of cervical cancer. Smoking while pregnant can lead to miscarriage, premature birth, stillbirth and illness, and it increases the risk of cot death by at least 25%.

In men smoking can make it harder to get an erection, lowers the number and quality of sperm your produce and causes testicular cancer.

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 For info on how to quit smoking visit, www.nhs.uk/smokefree