Most people already know that tobacco smoking is harmful to human health. Some people, however, still smoke cigarettes and pipes. The effects of tobacco are the same regardless of the method you use to deliver it to your body cells. Smoking causes numerous health, economic, and social problems to the smoker, and this could have grave consequences. For instance, terminal diseases such as lung cancer or COPD might result from tobacco smoking. If you quit smoking, you will enjoy better health in addition to saving a lot of money.

If you are still smoking but want to quit, luckily, there are plenty of effective tools to help you quit, such as nicotine patches, nicotine gum, and smoking cessation programs. Aso, here are some of the overlooked reasons related to long-term health conditions that should encourage you to quit smoking for good:

1. Lupus and other autoimmune diseases
Continuous smoking is likely to lead to autoimmune diseases such as lupus. Lupus is a disease where the body’s immune system becomes hypersensitive and pounces on normal healthy tissues. Some of the signs of autoimmune diseases include swelling, inflammation, and damages to the skin, heart, joints, blood, and lungs.

2. Smoking contributes to colic in infants
There is a higher probability for expectant mothers to give birth to infants with colic when they are exposed to high levels of tobacco. Baby colic or infant colic is a condition where infants cry for more than three hours a day, for more than three days a week, for three weeks. The crying is caused by abdominal pain, and research has shown that smoking could be a contributing factor.

3. Cognitive decline and dementia
The use of tobacco has the risk of leading to cognitive impairment. Smokers are more likely to have trouble with cognitive activities such as remembering, learning new things, and concentrating. An infant born to a mother exposed to tobacco would also experience impairment in cognitive development.

4. Smoking and rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis is a health condition where the heart’s valves are damaged permanently due to rheumatic fever. Smoking can introduce Streptococcus bacteria to your throat, which leads to strep throat and eventually causes rheumatic fever. The disease is fatal because it leads to permanent damage of heart vessels, which causes death through heart failure.

5. Impotence
Smoking can cause impotence in men because it reduces blood flow to the penis by damaging the blood capillaries that supply blood to it. Blood is necessary for nourishing the penis, and smoking could destroy the blood vessels of the organ.

6. Sleep apnea or snoring
Sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder where an individual experiences cessation of breathing several times while sleeping. It results from relaxed throat muscles. Smoking can damage the throat tissues, thus causing relaxed muscles, and this can cause sleep disorder.