Unfortunately, there are many people, especially teenagers, who think smoking is cool. Young people want to be adults and a casually smoked cigarette makes them look older. Also, many start smoking out of peer pressure. They spend time with friends who smoke and don't want to be an outsider. After a few years, they get so used to their habit that they can't or don't want to stop smoking. Smoking has many negative aspects, especially in terms of health and appearance.

Here are 11 important reasons not to smoke:

1. smoking is extremely unhealthy in the long term and can drastically shorten life expectancy. Inhaled cigarette smoke can lead to lung diseases, various types of cancer, strokes, heart disease and poor circulation.

2. smoking is unhealthy for other people. So-called passive smokers, people who inhale the cigarette smoke of others, can also suffer considerable damage to their health. Children and adults can develop cancer or respiratory problems. In fact, passive smoking is often even unhealthier, as the smoke enters the air we breathe unfiltered and contains more chemicals.

3 Smoking can be off-putting for non-smokers. A non-smoker often prefers not to date a smoker because they don't want to breathe in the bad air for an entire evening. A potential partner may turn away for this reason even before you have got to know each other better.

4 Smoking settles in your hair and clothes and causes bad odours. If you don't constantly wash your hair and put on new clothes, you will soon smell like an ashtray.

5 Smoking can hinder breathing. Many smokers get coughing fits even when they are not smoking. Smoking can trigger or worsen asthma and make breathing difficult.

6 Smoking harms unborn babies in the womb. When pregnant women smoke, actively or passively, they pass the toxins on to the baby. Smoking during pregnancy can lead to premature births or malformations.

7 Smoking can lead to tooth loss, gum inflammation and discoloured teeth.

8 Smoking causes premature skin ageing and makes the skin look grey and wrinkled.

9 Smoking discolours room walls and car interiors. 

10 Smoking is addictive. Quitting smoking can be a difficult endeavour, depending on your willpower. It can lead to unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. People who have just stopped smoking are often irritable, shaky and get a lot of headaches.

11 Smoking is expensive. If you calculate how much money the average smoker spends per month, you will see that it adds up to a tidy sum.