You don’t necessarily see the effects of smoking right away on the outside—but it’s definitely taking a toll on your body on the inside. 

Think about it—when you smoke, you are inhaling nicotine, which is a poison. There is also a low level of cyanide, another poison, in cigarettes. The ways that smoking can affect you are almost endless. In the short run, you could end up with poor skin, because smoking keeps oxygen and important nutrients from reaching the skin.

Also—and this is important because you’re an athlete—smoking increases your heart rate while decreasing your circulation. That means that even if you’re doing fine now, if you keep smoking, you will eventually see how the non-smoking athletes will perform much better than you. Smoking also affects the body’s ability to heal from injuries, which means you’ll end up spending more time on the bench with an injury than non-smoking athletes. And if you haven’t noticed yet, smoking is making your lungs less able to breathe well, which is an especially important thing for an athlete.

Smokers also tend to get sick more often than non-smokers because putting toxins in your body keeps your immune system from doing its important work of fighting off infections. Plus, smoking affects the way your entire body smells—your breath, your hair, your hands, your clothes, and even your belongings if you smoke inside a car or your home.