How do cigarettes affect muscles?

Are There Benefits in Smoking? What Does Nicotine Do? What Are the Risks of Smoking? What About Secondary Smoke? Dietary Recomendation Supplements Smoking Cessation Concern for Children Nicotine Nutrient Program

Cigarette smoking, the main way we take in nicotine, is the single greatest cause of preventable diseases (these are the progressive, serious diseases) and probably creates the most difficult addiction of the commonly used drugs. Smoking is a high-priced addictive pleasure (and sometimes displeasure) that is costly, not only in dollars but in lives as well.

In the United States alone, cigarette smoking causes a third to a half million deaths per year (over 1,000 per day) and is responsible for about 25 percent of the cancer deaths and 30–40 percent of the coronary heart disease. It also increases the incidence of atherosclerosis, strokes, and peripheral vascular disease. Diseases of the lungs—colds, flus, acute bronchitis, pneumonia, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis, and lung cancer—are all much more common in smokers. Other infections or allergies are also prevalent, and rapid aging of the body and especially the skin results from the generally poor oxygenation of tissues and the other chemicals and physiological effects of regular cigarette smoking