Smoking and Premature Aging

One sign of smoking and premature aging is smoker’s face. You’ve seen it before. It’s a face deeply etched with wrinkles, a face with shriveled skin covered with gray and purplish blotches; the person takes on a prune like look. That’s Smoker’s Face.

People with Smoker’s Face look old before their time. Smoking causes the elastin in skin to thicken. Smoking depletes the skin’s oxygen supply by reducing circulation. The skin’s main structural component is collagen and smoking causes a huge reduction in this vital substance. The water content of the skin is also reduced. These things happen because when you puff on a cigarette you are inhaling some 4000 chemicals that reduce circulation by constricting the blood vessels that carry the oxygen to the top layer of your skin. No wonder smoker’s skin sags and bags and takes on a deathly look.

Tobacco smoke is full of free radicals, those pesky substances that cause our cells to break down. Smoking interferes with skin’s ability to protect itself against free radicals. Women smokers have it even worse-smoking diminishes estrogen and that in turn fosters dryness and the disintegration of skin tissues. Smoking doubles your risk of tooth loss, but women lose more teeth than men. People who have smoked for 10 years or more have the telltale signs of Smoker’s Face. Those who smoked 50 packs a year or more are nearly five times more likely to be wrinkled as those who don’t smoke.

A 1995 study showed that smokers can look at least a year and a half older than nonsmokers.

Give up the nasty habit and see your skin drastically improve, begin to taste your food again, breathe more easily and prolong your life. Smoking deprives your heart of vital, life-giving oxygen. Nicotine in cigarettes causes the body to produce adrenaline which makes the heart beat faster and raises your blood pressure, leaving you more susceptible to heart attack and stroke. The tar in cigarettes is known to cause cancer.

Stop smoking and reap these benefits:

• Save money-lots of it!
• Stop putting your family at risk from second hand smoke.
• Have whiter teeth-get your smile back.
• It is possible that you can reverse some of the damage done to your face if you quit.
• Have a fresher smelling home, clothes and car.
• Reduce your risk of cancer.
• Show your children a good example that will last a lifetime.

It doesn’t take long to see the effects of a non-smoking life. A mere 20 minutes after quitting smoking your blood pressure and pulse rate return to normal. Eight hours later oxygen levels in your blood return to normal. Twenty-four hours later your lungs will begin to clear out that nasty mucus and other smoking debris.

In 2 to 12 weeks your circulation will improve, and Smoker’s Face begins to disappear. In three to nine months your breathing improves. At one year your risk of a heart attack falls to about half that of a smoker. Congratulations. You’re going to be around longer to enjoy your healthy life.

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