I'm a big advocate of getting people to quit smoking. I don't think people realise what they put into themselves and the consequences of them smoking. I've heard smokers all say, "It's not affecting you, so why do you care?" etc. etc. etc.
"Tobacco use reduces not only your life expectancy but your quality of life. Many medical conditions caused by smoking can result not just in death, but in living for years with disabling health problems" (so this is also where you are affecting others!) I can tell you one thing passive smoking is just as bad, if not worse than smoking themselves. Especially smoking around children or preganant ladies (or they themselves smoking). There is substantial evidence that second-hand smoke is a serious health threat. Studies suggest that even brief exposure to second-hand smoke can be harmful and that regular exposure increases the risk of respiratory problems, heart disease, heart attacks, and cancer. Research into smoking in the home indicates that non-smokers who live with a smoker have a 25%-30% greater risk of developing coronary heart disease than those who live in a smoke-free environment. A developing baby can be affected by ETS if the mother smokes or if she is exposed to tobacco smoke during pregnancy. Exposure to second-hand smoke during pregnancy can reduce the growth and health of babies and increase the risks of a number of complications and illness for both mother and baby. Babies born to women who smoke during pregnancy have a greater chance of premature birth, low birth weight, stillbirth and infant mortality. Smoking during pregnancy can also affect the development of baby’s lungs which increases the risk for many health problems.
Smokers don't think the health issues and problems related with smoking is not an immediate effect and the risk of cancers and health issues is just a chance. I don't think they realise that it's not a gamble as to whether or not they will experience it, chances are they have it but don't realise it.
So firstly, what are the issues? Apart from the physical appearances - looking older, yellow nails and teeth, bad breathe, your clothes smelling (what's the point of buying beautiful clothes if you are just going to stain them with ciggarette smell and ash?) etc.
There are the unseen things. Your lungs for example are made up for small air pockets, every ciggarette smoked burns these little pockets up so the ability to exchange gases is more difficult, which means that it becomes harder for you to breathe. You get asthma like attacks, you cough more and eventually these pockets will be destroyed as the lungs cannot repair this damage, this is called emphysema. The main symptom of emphysema is a feeling of breathlessness that gradually becomes more severe over the years. Sufferers often say they feel like they're suffocating. Almost all smokers will get emphysema. The damage to the lungs occurs for many years before the effects are felt.
Inhaling the substances in any type of burning tobacco is harmful to the human body. The toxins in tobacco smoke can go everywhere in the body that the blood flows causing harm to nearly every organ and system of the body. Your throat gets burnt from dragging the chemicals down your throat this can eventually lead to throat cancer. There is risk of stomach cancers, prostate cancers and colon cancers. Smoking can also cause blindness, dental problems, erectile dysfunction, reduced fertility in women, sudden infant death syndrome, contributes to osteoporosis and increases the risks of pregnancy complications including premature birth, low birth weight, still birth and infant mortality
If this wasn't enough there is the money factor, you are spending more money on something that is shortening your lifespan than on other things that can enrich your life and your family lives. The amount of money you can save by not buying a ciggarette can probably take you and your family on a holiday. You might be able to get that new boat you wanted, or that car. AND if you think quitting is going to cost more or just as much as buying ciggarettes - essentially you are just replacing the cost of the packet of ciggarettes (sometimes the quit options are cheaper!) with something that is a short term cost but very long term gain.
After all if you are gone, it'd be the people you left behind that will be affected by it.
Think about it, and quit.
HELPING YOU TO LIGHT OUT and QUIT:
Some benefits of quitting
You will feel the benefits of quitting straight away as your body repairs itself. Depending on the number of cigarettes you smoke, typical benefits of stopping are:
- After twelve hours almost all of the nicotine is out of your system.
- After twenty-four hours the level of carbon monoxide in your blood has dropped dramatically. You now have more oxygen in your bloodstream.
- After five days most nicotine by-products have gone.
- Within days your sense of taste and smell improves.
- Within a month your blood pressure returns to its normal level and your immune system begins to show signs of recovery.
- Within two months your lungs will no longer be producing extra phlegm caused by smoking.
- After twelve months your increased risk of dying from heart disease is half that of a continuing smoker.
- Stopping smoking reduces the incidence and progression of lung disease including chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
- After ten years of stopping your risk of lung cancer is less than half that of a continuing smoker and continues to decline (provided the disease is not already present).
- After fifteen years your risk of heart attack and stroke is almost the same as that of a person who has never smoked.
