to smoke

So that you do not need to put your imagination into play to know how your appearance will change if you continue to smoke, the British National Health Service (NHS for its acronym in English) has created an application called "Smoking Time Machine" that shows you what it will be like your face in a decade or two due to the effects of tobacco if you are a smoker and do not immediately quit cigarettes. Premature aging, deeper wrinkles around the eyes and mouth, graying of the skin and an enlarged double chin are some of the damages caused by the 4,000 harmful chemicals in cigarettes.

Women who smoke, even those who smoke moderately, have a higher risk of sudden cardiac death than non-smokers. These are the results of a study published in the journal Circulation: Arrhythmia & Electrophysiology. On the other hand, these effects are not irreversible: if the habit is abandoned, the risk decreases again.

According to a study carried out in the United Kingdom on 8,000 adults, it takes four years of regular smoking to deteriorate memory, brain capacity to plan and dexterity for any cognitive task. If you also suffer from hypertension and obesity, memory impairment increases, as the authors conclude in the journal 'Age and Aging'.

A massive study published in the latest edition of the medical journal The Lancet and carried out over 12 years on a total of 1.2 million British women reveals that women smokers who quit before reaching the age of forty can extend their lives by nine years compared to those who never give up the habit. Furthermore, if the addiction is ended before the age of 30, life expectancy is lengthened by ten years.

Although the legislation contemplates the maximum levels allowed in the concentrations of nicotine, tar and carbon monoxide in cigarettes, they contain many other toxic compounds whose presence is not regulated, according to a study developed by scientists from the University of Alicante.

People who quit smoking gain four to five kilos after 12 months without lighting a cigarette. This is indicated by a study published in the British Medical Journal, which shows how ex-smokers gain weight, especially during the first three months of quitting.

If your memory fails, you may have smoked too much this weekend. This is clear from a recent study by Northumbria University that indicates that "social smokers", that is, who only smoke around 20 cigarettes on weekends, usually in the company of friends and family, suffer damage to their memory identical to those who use tobacco daily.

Early riser smokers, who reach for their first cigarette as soon as they get up in the morning, are at higher risk of developing lung and neck cancer than those who wait at least an hour for their first cigarette. Joshua Muscat and his colleagues at Penn State School of Medicine (USA) reached that conclusion by studying about 8,000 regular smokers, of whom 4,775 had cancer.