You’ve always heard people talking about the negative sides of smoking, and you already know about all the physical damages it can bring to your body. However, smoking and nicotine (a chemical found in cigarettes), have negative side effects not only on your physique but also on your brain and nervous system. Therefore, read this article to get to know the negative ways smoking is affecting your brain, and start by avoiding this bad habit.
1. IT CAN LEAD TO MENTAL WEAKENING (ALSO KNOWN AS COGNITIVE DECLINE)
Cognitive decline is a degeneration process that usually happens when you get older. It can make you forget more and/or become slower into recalling events or thinking about something, than when you are younger. However, smokers experience a faster cognitive decline which starts earlier for them.
A study has found that men are prone to more severe cognitive decline than women. Data showed that male smokers experience a faster decline than nonsmokers and female smokers. Time to reconsider smoking?
2. SMOKING PUTS YOU AT A HIGHER RISK OF DEMENTIA
Dementia is a brain disease where the person attained by it starts to experience symptoms such as memory glitches, increasing confusion, reduced concentration, deterioration of language skills and other behavioral problems. For people who smoke, the possibility of having dementia is higher than those who do not. According to a recent study, quitting smoking decreases this risk a lot, and can make it as low as if you were a non-smoker. It’s never too late to switch lifestyles.
3. THIS HABIT MAKES YOU LOSE BRAIN VOLUME
Brain volume loss, like cognitive decline, happens naturally while aging. However, this process can be exaggerated by smoking. In fact, the longer you’ve been a smoker can make your brain volume loss greater when you are old. Smoking can negatively affect the structural integrity of the subcortical brain regions which are a collection of varied neural formations related to complex activities such as memory, emotion, and pleasure and hormone production. Usually, smokers have higher age-related brain volume loss in several areas of the brain.
4. AS A SMOKER, YOU ARE AT A HIGHER RISK OF A STROKE
This one is more obvious or logical than the others. In fact, smokers are up to 4 times at risk of having a stroke than non-smokers, and the higher the number of cigarettes smoked, the higher the risk. But there is good news in this; if you stop smoking, the risk of having a stroke will decrease after approximately 5 years of abstinence.
5. SMOKERS ARE MORE DISPOSED TO CANCER
You cannot not recall the images of distorted lungs on the packs of cigarettes when reading this! A cigarette has many toxic chemicals that smoking transfers to your body and brain. A number of these chemicals have the ability to cause cancer. Some genetic changes in the lungs, throat, or even the brain can happen, which increases your risk of developing different types of cancer.
