Having your skin constantly feel soft, smooth, and well moisturized is something every person with dry, leathery skin would love to achieve. But, this is almost impossible to achieve while smoking, as smoking affects the skin more than almost any other substance. When I noticed this happening to me the first thing I did was stop smoking.

Why it's so hard to quit smoking

Cigarettes are extremely addictive because they contain nicotine. This toxic poison has the ability to alter the state of your brain activity within the space of a few seconds and it affects the way we pay attention, think, eat, deal with stress, and feel pleasure.

Smoking for a long time causes the brain and body gets accustomed to the increased levels of nicotine. Without it, I would begin to feel withdrawal symptoms and would unconsciously tell myself 'you need a cigarette' in order to maintain my nicotine levels.

How smoking affects your body

There are 3,000 chemicals in cigarettes. They affect your mouth and can cause cancer there, as well as in your lungs. Of the many chemicals in smoke, hydrogen cyanide attacks the lining of your lungs, inflaming them and causing that chronic smoker's cough. Smokers are 10 times as likely to get lung cancer and emphysema as nonsmokers.

Smoking cigarettes causes major damage to your blood vessels. My blood pressure would go up and my blood was clotting more easily when I used to smoke. This caused plaque build up on my artery walls, which could have resulted in a heart attack. Luckily I quit before it was too late.

To Stimulate Anti Aging, Quit Smoking

The following lists the effects of smoking on the skin:

- Wrinkles: around the lips from puckering them and around the eyes from closing them to protect eyes from smoke.

- Leathery dry skin: smoking severely dehydrates the skin, which also contributes to wrinkles. You will need a dry skin treatment to reverse this effect.

- Aging: carbon monoxide levels in the blood increase when you smoke, promoting age inducing free radicals in the skin.

- Lowered oxygen supply: smoking reduces the blood flow to the skin, because nicotine causes blood vessels to constrict, also contributing to aging

- Lowered levels of Vitamin C: Smoking lowers vitamin C levels in the body. Without vitamin C your body can't produce collagen to repair its own skin, and vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant. Depleting your body of Vitamin C is like giving away your body's natural youth serum.

How to Turn Back the Effects of Smoking on Your Skin