When you see him walking on the street, you just can’t help but stare: a well-groomed man in his late 30’s, smoking a Macanudo cigar. The air of power and confidence about him attracts admiring looks from men and women alike.

Such is the aesthetic appeal of smoking. It makes you seem self-assured and classy. But beneath that cool exterior, that nicotine is slowly doing a whole lot of unseen damage to your body.

· Smoking attacks the heart and lungs, leading up to a wide range of lung diseases.

· It weakens your immune system, thus increasing your susceptibility to infections.

· Antioxidants are naturally produced by our body to repair damaged cells, but with smokers, their levels of antioxidants are lower than that of non-smokers.

· Carcinogens found in cigarettes attach themselves to cells in the airways and major organs of smokers.

So, think twice, the next time you pick up that stick of cigarette.

Source: http://quitsmoking.about.com/od/tobaccostatistics/a/CigaretteSmoke.htm