Smoking all together is a dangerous thing to do. It began thousands of years ago with the use or tobacco in South America (Libal 11). No one knew about the long-term health effects of smoking tobacco before the twentieth century. It was decades of cigarette use before society began to realize that a health crisis was emerging (Libal 13). The health crisis that was emerging was cancer, among other diseases such as heart disease, bronchitis, and lung cancer. Cigarettes contain many harmful substances that help contribute to the forming of cancer in the human body. Some of those substances are nicotine, black tar, and carbon monoxide. Nicotine is the drug that helps the body to become addicted. Black tar sticks to the lining of the lungs and makes it hard to breathe. Carbon monoxide and other chemicals help poison the lungs (Keyishian, 14). When black tar sticks to the lining of the lungs. While making it harder for the smoker to breathe, it also causes for the heart to work harder than it normally should. Carbon monoxide prevents oxygen from getting to the heart. That could cause heart disease.
Smoking is very hard on the heart also. There is a chemical in tobacco smoke that can narrow the veins in the heart, increasing the chance of a heart attack (Libal 28). Smokers do not realize that many parts of the body work together like the lungs, heart, and blood vessels. When smokers smoke, the body inhales the nicotine and carbon monoxide. Nicotine and Carbon monoxide makes the blood vessels smaller than usual. As a result, a smaller amount of oxygen gets to the heart, so the heart has to work harder. Then the heart disease causes heart attacks (Keyishian 17).
Smokers get sick more often than nonsmokers. They get bad colds and a lung infection called bronchitis.