How Smoking for 5 Years Impacts Your Health and What to Do Next?
With millions of lives claimed every year, smoking is regarded as one of the most disastrous yet preventable causes of death in India (and worldwide). Despite knowing the dangers, many people continue smoking and often don’t realise how big of a toll it takes on their health.
Be it the lungs or other vital organs in the body, smoking imposes irreparable damage to the body over time. Often, being aware of these complications is enough to help quit the habit and overcome the nicotine addiction, too.
In this guide, we will pay close attention to “5 years of smoking how much damage”, and what you can do next to improve your well-being.
What are the Immediate and Long-term Impacts of Smoking?
Consistently smoking for half a decade is bound to take a toll on your physical health. While the impacts on the lungs are often highlighted, we usually don’t realise that the damage runs deeper than that.
To better assess the situation, we need to consider the immediate and long-term impacts of smoking.
Immediate effects include:
- Increased heart rate
- Reduced oxygen levels
- Narrowed blood vessels
- Coughing and respiratory irritation
Long-term effects include:
- Decreased lung function
- Increased risks of heart disease and strokes
- High cancer risk
- Weakened immune system
Either way, these impacts are damaging to one’s health, which is why leveraging the right nicotine replacement therapy, like Ryze’s flavoured nicotine gums, can help you break free from such an ill habit.
What Happens After 5 Years of Smoking?
Smoking for five years chronically leads to significant health consequences, ones that you are either aware of or ones that subtly creep in and destroy your body from within.
1. Lung Damage
Starting with the most obvious – Destruction of the lungs and the respiratory function. If you have been smoking for five years without a break, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, or early stages of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may begin to develop.
You might start experiencing symptoms like shortness of breath, coughing without phlegm production, wheezing, or a feeling of lightness in the chest.
2. Cardiovascular Disease Risks
Another potential health decline you will notice is directly impacts on the cardiovascular health. The chemicals present in the cigarettes, especially nicotine, directly damages the inner lining of the arteries, leading to its calcification or the build-up of fats. This, in turn, clogs the arteries, leading to risks of strokes and heart attack.
You might experience episodes of chest pain, dizziness, fatigue and cold hands and feet due to poor blood circulation.
3. Increased Cancer Risks
One of the most common consequences of smoking for over five years is the increased risk of cancer. The likelihood of lung cancer, oral cancer, oesophagal cancer, and bladder cancer becomes a lot more pronounced. The carcinogens present in the chemicals of the cigarette are absorbed into the bloodstream, leading to the risks of cancer.
Some potential symptoms include persistent sore throat, changes in voice, breathing difficulties, difficulty swallowing, unexplained weight loss and more.
4. Decline in Fertility
Smoking affects your reproductive health in ways that not many people realise. Situations can get serious to the point of infertility in some cases. Both men and women who have been smoking for 5+ years are at risk of declined fertility.
From reduction in sperm count to hormonal imbalance, smoking alters the body’s functions in ways that many don’t expect, leading to complications related to fertility. You’d have a hard time conceiving or have reduced libido and sexual performance.
What to Do Next: Steps to Reverse the Damage
Now that you know what five years of smoking does to you, it is time to take charge and reverse the impacts of the bad habit.
Following are a few things you can do:
1. Quit Smoking
The most obvious in the lot is to quit smoking and embrace a smoke-free life. Depending on your willpower and determination, you can either go cold turkey or opt for a gradual reduction, the latter being more effective.
To gradually reduce and eliminate your smoking habit, nicotine replacement therapies like flavoured nicotine gums are a game-changer. Ryze, with its vast array of Nicotine Flavoured Gums, has helped thousands of people get their lives back on track. With a variety of flavours and affordable pricing, Ryze has become a go-to NRT option for several Indians who want to break free from the shackles of smoking addiction.
2. Adopt a Healthy Lifestyle
As you are ditching your smoking habit, you can further augment your well-being by making healthier lifestyle choices. If you weren’t eating a balanced meal, now is the time to eat clean. The better your lifestyle, the better the chances of recovery after your body has gone through years of mistreatment with the cigarette and smoking chemicals in it.
Beyond food, an active lifestyle also helps. This is especially great when you are on your journey of quitting smoking. Exercising releases endorphins, which are effective in curbing the nicotine cravings that many get.
3. Monitor Your Health
After five years of smoking, there are substantial health impacts, some of which might take years to reverse. Be it decreased lung capacity or impacted heart health, these will take quite a significant amount of time to return to normal. So, as you make healthier switches, ensure that you also monitor your health occasionally.
This includes getting routine screenings for cancer, heart disease and lung function to catch any kinds of anomalies at an earlier stage before things take a turn for the worse.
4. Get Professional Help
When you have been addicted to smoking for five years or more, you develop a nicotine dependence, making it hard for you to quit. If taking that step by yourself hasn’t yielded favourable results, the next best thing to do is get professional help.
You can opt for behavioural therapy, medications or other forms of treatment to restore control over your life.
It's Never Too Late to Quit!
While smoking for 5 years can have severe consequences for your health, it’s never too late to make a change. The damage that smoking causes can be halted and, in many cases, reversed if you take steps to quit and adopt a healthier lifestyle.
Take Ryze’s 21-Day Challenge to reduce your risk of serious illnesses like cancer, heart disease, and COPD and improve your overall quality of life.