Firstly, if you are not particularly au-fait with what the menopause actually is, the term, actually describes the years that leads up to the time when the woman has her last period but the build-up to this occurrence is very much experienced on an individual level. Known as the change of life, menopause can make the woman feel significantly different as she enters the next stage of her life.

The average age for a woman to go through the menopause in the UK is 51 years of age but in reality is usually happens between 45 and 55 and there may be a genetic connection as to when it actually occurs. So if you are approaching that age range, it can be useful to look at other women who have started the menopause within your own family as this may give you an indication.

Those who smoke often go through the menopause earlier than those women who do not smoke. The hormones progesterone and oestrogen are in control of your monthly cycle and prepare your body for the possibility of pregnancy each month. If pregnancy does not occur, an egg is released and a period results. As these hormones reduce, the symptoms of the menopause begin to be experienced.

There are many different types of symptoms likely to be experienced through the menopause including feeling emotional and depressed but mood swings, headaches and irritabilities are also likely to occur. Feelings of great tiredness can often be experienced too and this is often as a direct result to the difficulties women experience with sleeping. Irregular periods and with a varying level of flow, hot flushes - which are undoubtedly synonymous with the menopause are uncomfortable but not harmful at least.

Research indicates that there is a real link between your smoking habit and the menopause and that the more that you smoke, the earlier your menopause will occur. Now this might not sound like a bad thing but in fact, an early menopause increases the risk of your contracting osteoporosis and heart disease. If you can stop smoking as early as possible before the onset of the menopause, you will have additional protection from the risk of your menopause starting.

About 80% of women will experience at least some symptoms including period irregularity although 20% of the female population will experience very few symptoms at all. Women feel a multitude of emotions throughout and as the menopause can often last for about 4 years; there is often a great sense of relief when the changes come to an end.

You may find that your skin and hair becomes dryer but that internally, the thinning can affect your bones too resulting in osteoporosis and this happens when your bones have lost a lot of calcium and they need calcium to remain strong. The hot flushes that you are likely to experience may also be a lot more consistent due to smoking and research indicates that a specific gene type may also be responsible for this.

Giving up smoking is the best thing that you can do to prevent an early menopause which can lead to further complications. There are many ways that you can cut back and give up smoking including nicotine patches or you could try electronic cigarettes which can help you to increase your ability to break the back of your smoking addiction. Whilst many e-cigarettes contain nicotine, some don’t but you can use electronic cigarettes to help you to change your association with smoking and they are certainly healthier than traditional cigarettes.

There is no risk of passive smoking either and although they appear to emit smoke, it is in fact a water vapour that is free from the 4000 plus chemicals which are found in traditional cigarettes. You might not be able to prevent all of the menopause symptoms from coming your way, but you can at least make sure it is a healthier one by cutting out cigarettes and decreasing your risk of osteoporosis.

If you answered  yes to these questions and  you smoke, the chances are that you could be showing early signs of lung disease which is probably a horrifying thought, but possibly not as horrifying as the statistics which show that lung disease kills more than 20 times as many people as the condition asthma.

Lung disease is a collective term which covers a variety of conditions that damages the lungs and makes it difficult to breathe through blocking the air passages. The lungs have less ability to take in oxygen and to remove carbon dioxide when you exhale. As the disease progresses, the small airways in the walls of your lungs, start to lose their elasticity. Finally, these airways become blocked with mucus and eventually collapse. This action does not stop you from being able to breathe in but it can make it difficult to release the air. Smoking as you are probably aware is the prime cause of lung disease and if you smoke, you are putting yourself at risk.

Sadly, passive smoking also means that those around you may also suffer from lung disease and air pollution or neglected lung conditions that have not been treated or resolved, can cause the start of lung. Unfortunately, many of those who smoke think that it’s a fact of life that there will be niggling side effects to their smoking and will not have really considered that their lungs are seriously being damaged.

If you experience a tightness in your chest in the morning and feel that you struggle to get a lungful of oxygen, then your lungs are certainly at risk. You may experience the same symptoms when the weather turns colder too.  Do you have a cough that is accompanied by a lot of phlegm? Are you constantly wheezing or clearing your throat? Do you consistently suffer from bronchial chest infections where your phlegm is green and brown?

In the UK alone, there are approximately 3 million people who have lung disease and this serious condition causes one fifth of the smoking related deaths each year and yet people still continue to smoke.  Lung disease is a progressive one and it can be contracted at any age.  Whether you are a smoker or an ex-smoker, you need to take any of the symptoms seriously. The sooner you give up smoking the better too because it is possible to stop the disease from becoming progressively worse and amazingly your lungs can actually start to improve. It’s important to know that there is no cure for lung disease however but you can improve certain aspects and learn to manage your health more effectively.

If you want to give up but know that you will find it difficult, you can turn to stop smoking aids such as nicotine patches, gum or even change over to electronic cigarettes which enable you to smoke without inhaling any of the 4000 plus horrendous chemicals that traditional cigarettes contain.  Although electronic cigarettes (or the majority of them) contain nicotine, they can be used to help you cut down on the amount that you smoke so this is an avenue worth exploring.

It’s vital that you break your addiction and association with smoking however as this will be the only way for you to be able to stop any lung disease in it tracks and for you to gain greater control over your life.

Women who smoke certainly do have a higher risk of infertility or of experiencing difficulty in conceiving than those women who do not smoke. The more you smoke and the longer you smoke will have a detrimental effect. It is often the chemicals that are within your cigarettes that cause a lot of the fertility problems- this shouldn’t be much of a surprise; there are 4000 chemicals within each cigarette that you smoke.  The dangers include damage to the fallopian tubes and to your cervix, the possibility of genetic abnormalities within the embryos and ovulation problems.

As any woman ages, the number of eggs naturally start to decline but for any woman who smokes, this decline in the production of eggs is greatly accelerated and this can lead to diminished ovarian reserve. This is serious and may leave you infertile or facing the menopause prematurely.

Of course, smoking also heightens your risk of developing various types of cancer including cervical cancer too. Some cancers and their subsequent treatments can also leave you infertile. Even being subjected to passive smoking can actually have a detrimental impact on your eggs or if you are already pregnant, the health of your unborn child.

If this is not bad enough, smoking also greatly increases the chance for you to experience a miscarriage and there is even a greater risk for developing an ectopic pregnancy.  Yet even though these are facts that are available for those planning to conceive, women the world over continue to want to smoke and risk their own lives in the process as well as to reduce their opportunity to have a healthy pregnancy and a beautiful baby.

Of course, as much as smoking can affect the fertility levels of women, smoking is also connected to male infertility too so if your partner smokes, this may not be helping your chances of getting pregnant.  Smoking can work to decrease your partners sperm count, it can impact the ability of his sperm to get to and to ultimately penetrate the egg but could also be a cause of erectile dysfunction and if you notice that he struggles to maintain his erection, smoking could be responsible.

The most important thing for any couple to do if they are desperately trying to have a baby is to give up smoking completely. Certainly fertility will often improve but it is definitely worth waiting for at least a couple of months after giving up smoking before seriously trying for a baby.

If you are experiencing infertility problems, it’s vital that you seek medical advice as there will be an abundance of information that they can give to you which may help the situation. But there are things that you can do to help yourself as well. Giving up smoking is no fun but it’s vital if you wish to increase your fertility levels and give yourself the maximum opportunity to conceive. When you seek out medical advice they will also be able to provide support for when you try to quit the habit. There are many things that can help you to control your addiction including nicotine patches or even the new types of electronic cigarettes, but of course there are more holistic options if you prefer. However you plan to give up, make sure that you do find what works for you before trying to conceive. The life of your baby is at stake.

Osteoporosis is a very real risk if you smoke. The potential for you to develop this weakening of the bones occurs in your latter years and for women, often follows the completion of the menopause but research into the connection between osteoporosis and smoking have found that it reduces the amount of blood supply to the bones – in a similar way that it reduces blood to your tissues.

Smoking also decreases any absorption of calcium that is obtained through your diet. Calcium is vital for bone mineralization so if you have less bone mineral, you are likely to develop bones that are increasingly fragile. Nicotine is one of the most addictive drugs out there and an addiction can be formed as quickly as smoking only a few cigarettes, smoking slows down bone forming cells so that they create less bone. Oestrogen is important for both men and women because it is needed to help build and maintain a skeleton that is essentially strong but nicotine breaks down those oestrogen levels.

By now you will be getting the picture that nicotine and smoking in general poses a serious risk to your musculoskeletal health but smoking does even more damage by affecting the tissues that make up the musculoskeletal system and this creates the danger of not just injury to your body but by being affected by disease too. As a smoker, you are also more typically likely to endure injuries caused through overuse such as bursitis. For those smokers who suffer with lower back pain or even rheumatoid arthritis, it may surprise you to know that smoking is often thought to be connected with this too.

If you used to be a keen on sports, you may have found over the years that your fitness has diminished along with your lung capacity, and this is entirely due to your smoking habit. Smoking will slow down and impact growth and healing within the lungs and you will experience a shortness of breath three times more than a non-smoker. You may have noticed this if running up the stairs or walking up a hill. Breathing becomes much more laboured.  Because nicotine has a direct association to your brain, it will make you want to eat less and if you do not gain sufficient nutrition, you may be putting yourself at increased risk of getting fractures.

By reading this article, you may be shocked to see just how far-reaching the negative impacts of smoking are. It may paint a very grey picture for you which will no doubt be of great concern when you are fiercely embroiled in the grips of a very powerful addiction. The truth of the matter is of course important because then at least you can make an informed choice as to whether you wish to give up.

Giving up isn’t as easy as waving a magic wand but you could try to change your association with cigarettes by using the electronic versions instead. Because traditional cigarettes are so chemical laden – over 4000 per cigarette, electronic cigarettes do at least provide you with the opportunity to enjoy a chemical free (apart from nicotine) smoking experience. Importantly though, e-cigarettes can really help you to control your habit because the hit from the nicotine is more effective and therefore you need to actually smoke less. Many people have managed to kick their habit after using electronic cigarettes and this is the way that you should be thinking if you are seriously concerned about your musculoskeletal health.

Fortunately with the smoking ban, most people are protected now from having to experience passive smoking in public places and this is a real benefit but if you are an asthmatic in an impossible predicament of also being addicted to smoking, then you need to learn just what damage you are doing to your body in the hopes that it will help you to quit smoking right now.

The reason why asthmatics suffer is because they have sensitive airways and these airways can narrow due to certain triggers being experienced. Smoking and second-hand smoke is obviously a trigger and can lead to an increase of asthma attacks but also from your having less protection from medication. It also leads to a greater risk of inflammation and potentially a faster loss of your lungs functioning.

When you smoke, you damage the tiny hairs that line your lungs and these lungs are called cilia. It is the job of the cilia hairs to protect your lungs from any irritants and they move in a rippling motion so as to sweep pollens, dust or any other type of irritant from your lungs. Because these hairs are then damaged, your lungs are much more at risk of mucus or any toxic substance from collating which in turn increases the risk of your developing lung disease. It’s not just the cilia at risk however from cigarette smoke; it also damages the air sacs and the small airways which can lead to the nasty health condition emphysema.

There is no doubt that second hand smoke is very dangerous to anyone but especially so for those who have asthma and by inhaling second hand smoke, you may need to rely on your medication much more heavily, but your lung function will be reduced too. It is vital that you take your condition seriously and quit smoking once and for all. But whilst you are on the journey to quitting, endeavour to make your home completely smoke-free and make sure that no-one smokes in your house. You can also avoid any venues that may allow smoking such as private parties for example. It might not feel good to have to miss out on a social event but your heath is far more important.

Electronic cigarettes can help to bridge the gap between quitting and moving away from smoking traditional cigarettes. They are easily sourced and have many different varieties. Most importantly, the smoke emitted from an e-cigarette is actually vapour and contains no harmful elements at all so this immediately will give your lungs some respite. Your body will start to heal quite quickly once it is not under attack from any of the 4000 + chemicals inside traditional cigarettes and because you will  not be inhaling smoke which can trigger off an asthma attack, you will have less need for medication.

It’s worth noting though if you are really serious about giving up smoking, that e-cigarettes primarily contain nicotine so they are not completely healthy. You can choose some of the nicotine free options however which means that you can satisfy the urge to indulge in the practical aspect of smoking but without all of the negative elements. This may help you to gain control of your addiction.

Smoking and asthma are at opposing sides and you have to make up your mind whether your health or your addiction is more important.

Apparently, there is new research into smoking which suggests that every time that you inhale, you breathe in a mass of germs because the smoke from your cigarette itself is riddled with germs. If this isn’t enough to put you off, did you also know that smoking can also reduce your ability to ‘perform’ in the bedroom? Smoking can affect your circulation which also means that there is less blood flow to those all-important genital areas. If you suffer with cold hands and feet, smoking could well be to blame for this too,because it restricts your circulation to your extremities too.

If you are passionate about animals, then you may also wish to consider the fact that animals have always been used as test subjects so by giving up cigarettes, you can also remove yourself from endorsing these kinds of lab tests.

Food does not taste as good when you are a smoker, in addition, you lose your sense of smell too so just by giving up, you will start enjoying every sensation of food once more.

If you are worried about the potential for osteoporosis, women smokers have been reported to lose up to 3 % of their bone mineral density for each ten year period that they have smoked. If you suffer from psoriasis, it may well be that this itchy, irritating skin condition is linked to the number of cigarettes smoked and the higher the number, the greater your potential for your skin to react.

Smoking and the contraceptive pill do not go hand in hand and it is definitely not recommended that you use both because these oral contraceptives can increase the risk of strokes, heart attacks and blood clots. Crohn’s disease is also a nasty chronic and often debilitating disease which may result in intestinal surgery but smokers are four times more at risk of developing this disease in comparison to someone who does not smoke.

Worried about heart attacks? You are up to four times more likely to develop heart disease than a non-smoker, but also twice as likely to succumb to sudden cardiac failure as those who don’t smoke. Looking after your heart is important. Just as important is to protect your brain from a tumour, and according to reports, lung cancer often spreads to the brain.

If you like to look nice, you must know that smoking can really stain your teeth and make them very unattractive including giving you bad breath but smoking can also age you very quickly and make your skin look thin, rubbery and wrinkled, plus you will develop that dreaded smoker’s mask. Your skin becomes thinner, and blood vessels become damaged as a result of your smoking habit. Smoking can also stain your fingers a nasty permanent yellow so you may wish to hide your fingers from the view of others if you are embarrassed by them. Smoking doesn’t just stain your fingers yellow of course; the walls of your house will often take on an unattractive smoky yellowy sheen too.

If you give up smoking, you are less likely to spend time at the dentist’s which for the majority of the world’s population, has to be a good thing. Smoking accelerates the risk of you contracting oral cancer or gum disease plus, if your teeth are very stained, your time in the dentist’s chair will be much more prolonged.

Smoking offers very little in the way of benefits but actually provides many reasons why you should never pick up a cigarette again. Electronic cigarettes are less damaging because they contain only nicotine but remember that the best way to take control of your life and to avoid the facts within this article, is to give up for good.

Nicotine is in bad company, it is included in the three most addictive drugs including cocaine and methamphetamine. The stats speak for themselves however because approximately 45% of those who smoke regularly do become addicted in comparison to those who drink alcohol which is a surprising 15%. Sadly, if there are addicts within your family, it is more likely that you will be among those who do develop an addiction of your own; it seems genetics contributes a fairly big factor in the outcome.

Nicotine is an especially dangerous drug because it is parcelled up with hundreds of damaging and potentially toxic chemicals and these ingredients accumulate for many years within the body which is why people tend to think that they have escaped the ravages of their smoking addiction. Other drugs give tell-tale problems much more quickly so it is deemed that they are the more damaging.

As much as you may wish to give up smoking, much of your smoking addiction is psychological and this is because you form very strong behaviours which are interlinked with your smoking addiction. You also experience chemical changes within your brain too which makes you want to experience them again. You receive an intoxicating high when you inhale and might well use smoking as a stress reliever to make you feel better. But in actual fact, the effects of this are very short-term and are often followed by lows, where you will find that you need to smoke more to experience the same feelings.

As a smoker, you use cigarettes as a crutch for life and light up so many times. Think about it, each time you inhale you are becoming deeply embroiled within the addiction but it’s also due to the frequency of each cigarette so your subconscious associates every day practical needs with smoking.

There are many ways to gain control over your addiction however, but the drive to giving up has to come from within in order to give yourself a fighting chance. It’s important that you seek medical advice especially if you are a long time smoker and have previously tried and failed to beat the habit. Nicotine gum or patches can be useful or you could try cognitive behavioural therapy to see if this helps to change your approach to smoking.

Hypnosis, acupuncture and even meditation can really help you to find a sense of inner peace whilst having your association with smoking changed. But on a practical level, you could invest in an electronic cigarette starter pack because this has been proven to be a very useful resource in terms of giving up. This is because e-cigarettes simulate the whole smoking experience so it provides the practical elements as well as the social interaction.  Importantly though, electronic cigarettes do not contain any of the hundreds of additional chemicals that your traditional cigarette does and this is a very important element when it comes to becoming healthier again.

Some electronic cigarettes do contain nicotine however so if you are trying to give up smoking, choose the level of nicotine that will enable you to reduce the amount that you smoke daily and you can gradually decrease the amount of nicotine inhaled as time goes on. To ensure that you combat the smoking habit, you do need to take a two pronged attack and that is from a psychological viewpoint as well as a practical one. This is because you need to change your associated behaviour and to change how you think and feel about your smoking habit.