Smoking is a serious addiction that has been demonstrated to cause many problems over time. Smoking increases the risk of stroke, heart attack, and other kinds of cancer. The damage done to the brain due to smoking cannot be ignored.
Smoking does more than just destroy your lungs. It destroys the cells that make up your brain and this means that you are taking a risk on how well you function in society. Smoking has been shown to have adverse effects on memory, attention span, thinking ability and brain function. Some people have even lost their ability to think and reason properly.
This is not to say that all smokers are doomed to live with these problems for the rest of their lives. With so many people trying to quit smoking, there’s still time for you to recover and save yourself.
Effects of Smoking on Brain
Cognitive decline
Cognitive decline happens naturally with ageing. You may not be able to think as quickly as you did when you were younger and become more forgetful. But if you smoke, you may encounter way faster cognitive decline than nonsmokers.
Decreased Function
People who smoke often have problems related to the blood vessels. The circulation in the brain gets increased due to smoking. Blood flow to the brain is vital for it to function properly. If the blood flow to your brain is decreased due to smoking, the functions of your brain are affected terribly. Your grasping power dies quicker.
Increased risk of dementia
Smokers also have an increased risk of dementia, a condition that can badly affect language skills, memory, thinking abilities, behavior, and judgement. It may also cause severe personality changes.
Brain Driven Stroke and Seizures
Smoking has also been linked to seizures, an increase in blood pressure, and an increase in the risk of developing a stroke. If you smoke, you are taking a huge risk by continuing to do so.
Loss of brain volume
The longer you smoke, the higher your risk of greater age-related brain volume loss. Researchers found that smoking negatively affected the structural integrity of subcortical brain regions. They also found that smokers, compared to nonsmokers, had greater amounts of age-related brain volume loss in several areas of the brain.
Smoking is a highly addictive habit. Your urge to smoke can become so strong that you can’t control your urge. This means that after a while, smoking becomes an involuntary behavior. However, you can still quit! read my other articles & explore some offbeat and innovative yet practical ways of quitting smoking. Quit Smoking & Save your Brain.
