Cigarette Smoking

In this day and age, I don't think anyone questions the fact that smoking is bad for your health.  Smoking can cause stroke, bronchitis, lung cancer, mouth and throat cancer, lowered fertility, gangrene, peptic ulcers, emphysema, tobacco amblyopia (defective vision), aortic aneurysm, vascular disease (damage to arteries in legs).  Nicotine constricts blood vessels causing the heart to pump harder.  Tar damages delicate lung tissue when billions of tiny particles in cigarette smoke "cook" inside the lungs.  The lungs are actually inflamed.  It has been estimated that some 500,000 people in the U.S. die from smoke related diseases annually.

Despite the warnings, smoking is still big business.  In light of the 2020 ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic - and the subsequent restrictions and vaccination campaigns, it would be nice if more effort would be put into eliminating smoking.

Quitting smoking can be so difficult, but the health benefits are well worth it.
Please take a moment and carefully read the information below...

The Benefits of Quitting Smoking

What happens inside our bodies when we quit using tobacco?  

You may ask, "Have all of the years of smoking or chewing caused too much damage for quitting to be of any benefit?"   Not at all. The human body is amazingly resilient!

• Nicotine constricts blood vessels, thus, causing the heart to have to pump harder
• Tar damages delicate lung tissue; when billions of tiny particles in cigarette smoke cook inside the lungs some form a dark, sticky mass containing chemicals that have been shown to produce cancer in tests (aka lung cancer)
• Smoking inflames the lungs and scars them.

However, within the first 20 minutes of quitting, the healing process begins. The benefits of quitting will continue to improve your health and quality of life for years.

AT 6 MONTHS WITHOUT ONE SINGLE PUFF AND AFTER OVER 25 YEARS OF SMOKING, THESE THINGS CAN DISAPPEAR:

• A pressure, heaviness, and pain in my lungs in the morning
• Morning cough
• Breathlessness in my reading voice
• Breathlessness when walking up hills or stairs
• Unpleasant irritation in my mouth
• General tiredness and loss of energy
• Headaches
• Cigarette hangovers after late nights out
• Yellow teeth
• Bloodshot eyes
• Bad breath
• Hair that smells like an ashtray
• Two yellow, stinky fingers
• Waking up at night coughing
• Colds that turn into terrible chest colds that need to be treated by antibiotics
• Gravel, broke-glass voice
• Constant clearing of my throat
• Constant stuffy nose.
• 
  

After 1 year without a puff, the risk of heart disease is decreased by 50%.

In our opinion, people who quit cigarettes are supermen and superwomen - like those who have climbed Mount Everest, or been to the South Pole, or swum across the British Channel.  It takes determination and courage to quit!

10 More Very Good Reasons to Quit Smoking

Smoking kills. But in case death isn’t enough to scare you into dumping this addiction, here are the top 10 reasons you should.

If smoking wasn’t bad for you, it wouldn’t be banned nearly everywhere you go. You wouldn’t have 10-step programs to help you quit; and you wouldn’t see a “how to quit smoking” section on the Philip Morris tobacco company’s website. There are good reasons to quit smoking.  Besides dying, here are 10:

1. You Stink!
You don’t just smell like cigarettes while you’re smoking, you reek all day long. The scent of stale smokes saturates your hair and clothes, and follows you wherever you go, including your vehicle, your work and your home. Smoking also gives you terrible breath, and no mint in the world can get rid of the smell of a pack-a-day habit.

2. You Have 10 Times More Wrinkles
You can always pick a regular smoker out of a crowd, not just by the stench but also by their skin. Smokers have 10 times more wrinkles than nonsmokers. They also have pale, ashen skin and yellowing teeth, fingers, and fingernails. Smokers with prominent wrinkles are five times more likely to suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, such as emphysema and bronchitis, than nonsmokers, according to a study published by the British Medical Journal.

3. Your Lungs Are Full of Phlegm and Tar
Smoking causes sticky, black tar to build up in your lungs, reducing the exchange of oxygen, carbon dioxide and nutrients between the tissues and bloodstream. This hurts your entire body, but you’ll especially feel it in the lungs. Smokers have a harder time breathing and are more likely to develop painful, chronic coughing because of the increase in phlegm production. The good news? If you stop smoking, your lungs can clear some of the tar and heal significantly. Your body begins the healing process just 12 hours after your last cigarette, according to the National Cancer Institute. Improved lung function and circulation can take up to three months.

4. Smoking Can Cause Depression
Feeling moody lately? Is your outlook on life pessimistic? Smoking is a major cause of depression, so don’t just blame the rain if you’re feeling blue. A study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry followed more than 1,000 smokers and nonsmokers over five years and found that smokers were twice as likely as nonsmokers to suffer from major depression.  Some smokers turn to cigarettes to ease depression, but it only makes it worse. Kick the habit and you may see life sunny-side up.

5. It’s Expensive
So now you know smoking burns a big hole in your health and happiness. But if those reasons don’t move you to quit, maybe this will: It’s burning a big hole in your pocket too! Depending on where you live, a single pack of cigarettes can cost up to $9, and if you smoke a pack a day, that’s almost $3,285 a year!  Just to drive the point home, let’s say you start smoking at age 18 and live to age 68 (you’ll probably die young from smoking). Over 50 years, you will spend almost $164,250 on cigarettes alone. And that doesn’t include the extra gum and breath mints, in addition to higher dry-cleaning bills for getting the smell of stale smoke out of your clothes.

6. You’re Becoming Infertile
Female smokers may have a harder time getting pregnant, and male smokers generally have a low sperm count. Recent studies also show that genetic mutations of sperm from male smokers may also be blamed for infertility. They are also at a higher risk for erectile dysfunction.

7. You’re in for a Difficult Pregnancy
If you become pregnant, you’re in for a rough ride. Women who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to experience ectopic pregnancies, where the fertilized egg begins to develop in the slender fallopian tube instead of the uterus. Ectopic pregnancies can be fatal for mom and baby. Because of your smoking, your baby may have a lower birth weight and birth defects too. You are also more likely to deliver prematurely or miscarry.

8. You’re a Bad Influence
Kids imitate their parents. So if you smoke in front of your kids, they will probably copy you. One study showed that 50% of kids whose parents were smokers thought smoking was “cool;” 55% planned on smoking in the future. Children brought up by smokers are generally less active and develop poor nutrition skills. If you want to improve the futures of your children and the other children around you, be a healthy role model – quit smoking.

9. Second-Hand Smoke Kills
Not only is smoking a bad influence on those around you, it’s killing them too. You can’t contain cigarette smoke, which means that innocent people breathe in your second-hand smoke. Children and adults who are exposed to second-hand smoke are at a higher risk of developing lung cancer and heart disease, and other respiratory problems, including shortness of breath, coughing, and more phlegm.  Children exposed to second-hand smoke have a high risk of developing asthma.

10. Smokers Die Young
Smoking is the No. 1 leading cause of preventable disease and death in America. And it’s not a pleasant way to go. Smokers risk cancer of the mouth, throat, and lungs, as well as asthma, chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Smokers are also more prone to high blood pressure, high levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol, stroke and heart disease. In fact, a smoker’s risk of dying from a heart attack is 2 to 4 times greater than non-smokers.

Are You Ready to Quit Smoking?
By now you should know that smoking increases your risk for heart disease, lung cancer, stroke, and more.

Source: Life Scripts