Tobacco causes bad breath and stains your teeth. 17 Smoke can make your clothes and hair stink. 17
Roll over the following text to learn about secondhand smoke.
Secondhand smoke is made up of smoke that comes off the burning cigarette and the smoke that the smoker exhales. 20 According to the Surgeon General, "there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke: even small amounts of secondhand smoke can be harmful to people's health." 20
Visit www.cdc.gov/tobacco for additional information about diseases and health consequences related to tobacco use.
Young people who smoke cigarettes are likely to be less physically fit and have more respiratory (breathing) problems than people their age who don't smoke.19 Coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, and phlegm production are symptoms that young people who use tobacco report they are more likely to experience than non-smoking peers.19
And then there's the issue of addiction, making it difficult to stop doing something.
The younger a person is when he or she starts smoking cigarettes, the more likely he or she is to become addicted to nicotine.19
Most young people who smoke regularly are addicted to nicotine, making it hard for them to quit.19
This statement is TRUE
After smoke is inhaled, it only takes 10 seconds for nicotine, an addictive chemical found in tobacco, to reach the brain.15 Cigarettes, vapes and smokeless tobacco both contain nicotine.18 Over time, the nicotine in tobacco can change the way your brain works.18 Nicotine can also narrow a person's blood vessels, making it tougher for the heart to work.17
Smoking also damages the immune system, which increases a person's risk of getting infections. And, once they get sick, smokers often take longer to recover than people who don't smoke. 15
