Smokers Beware: Side effects of Smoking

Of course we ALL KNOW that smoking is bad for us - we've heard it over and over for YEARS! We know that it plays havoc with our health, but did you know that the nasty, smelly, smoking habit can also do a serious number on your looks? Even though quitting may be hard, it may also be one of the best things you can do if you desire beautiful, healthy, glowing skin!

Think about smoking as "Suffocating" your skin - which is, by the way, the largest organ of our bodies - yet we treat so insignificantly. Smoking both dehydrates and leeches oxygen from the skin. Quitting will allow you to see real beauty benefits, with a brighter, smoother and more radiant appearance.

Honey, smoking ages you faster than you can imagine!

Along with sun damage and plain ole hard living, nicotine can add YEARS to your appearance! According to Lowell Dale, M.D. of the Mayo Clinic, smoking will speed up the normal aging process of your skin. He says that the more cigarettes you smoke and the longer you smoke, the more skin wrinkling you're likely to have - adding years to your appearance. When you inhale just ONE PUFF of cigarette smoke, "More than a trillion free radicals are produced in our lungs, which then trigger an inflammatory response that circulates throughout the entire body," says the famous Dermagologist, Dr. Nicholas Perricone.

The term "smokers face" was added to the medical dictionary in 1985. If that doesn't persuade you to consider "kicking the habit"! Smokers face is defined as: lines or wrinkling of the face, particularly radiating at right angles from the upper and lower lips or corners of the eyes, deep lines on the cheeks or numerous shallow lines on the cheeks and lower jaw. Eeeek! No thank you!

Maybe hard to believe, but cigarette smoke contains more than 4000 toxins, many of which are directly absorbed into the bloodstream and then taken by blood flow into the actual skin's structure. This depletes the collagen in our skin and causes narrowing of the blood vessels in the outermost layers of our skin. What this then does is impair blood flow and lessens the amount of oxygen and vital nutrients, such as Vitamin A and C. These toxins damage and depletes collagen and elastin, which are the fibers that give skin it's elasticity and strength. Therefore . . . skin sags, wrinkles and ages . . . all because of stinkin cigarettes! Smoking thins the skin. In a recent study, looking at 25 pairs of identical twins, with one twin being a lifelong smoker and the other never smoked, ultrasound technique showed some really alarming results. The smoker's skin was a quarter thinner than that of the non-smoker's skin. A QUARTER THINNER! That is significant! Still want to light up? Yes? Well . . . here's stil more reason to quit . . .

Smoking can alter your body shape! OK . . . I hear you saying, "But smokers tend to be skinnier than non-smokers!"

What smoking does is create an imbalance with woman's hormone levels, which can lead to body shape changes. This is actually from the endocrin system - the glands that secrete the hormones - resulting in an increase in the waist-to-hip ratio. So actually, despite weighing less, smokers tend to be pot-bellied with spindly legs - not so very appealing. They store the normal amount of body fat in the abdominal area, which gives a less womanly "Apple" shape. This picture shows a skinny, apparently pretty young smoker. Don't think that her smoking isn't doing a job on her, even at her young age. The purpose of this blog is on how smoking negatively effects our beauty and ageing. It all adds up and her smoking is adding 10 years to her appearance that will very soon be apparent to everyone!

Just consider a lifestyle change for the better, won't you? I'll be there to offer encouragement every step of the way!!!


Finally, I want to end this blog with the link to a really good article on Doctors' Top 10 Anti-aging tips: http://www.newsmaxhealth.com/headline_health/Anti_aging_Tip s/2011/07/22/399496.html. I hope you'll take a little time to click on it. It's a quick, little informative read to offer easy reminders to simple things we can do to age "Better"


Hope to see you soon . . . In my Treatment Room!

Marci

http://www.themdskin.com
561 Meeting Street
Sabre Building
West Columbia, SC 29169


803-351-2922