Reasons to Quit Your Nasty Smoking Habit

No Ifs or Butts – Why You Should Stop Sooner Rather Than Later

Finding it hard to stop? Imagine this. With each toxic burn you suck in, you are inhaling thousands of chemicals - including harmful carcinogens. These substances are directly involved in your getting cancer and accelerating its spread in your body. And that’s just for starters. Give the following list a moment of your time and realize why you need to finally QUIT:

1. Various Forms of Cancer

   30% of cancer deaths are due to cigarette smoking. This will include cancer of the lungs, larynx/pharynx/esophagus/oral cavity and the bladder. Even the pancreas, cervix, kidney, stomach are not spared and may also lead to leukemia. More than 80% of lung cancer deaths for both men and women are blamed on cigarette smoking.

2. Cardiovascular Diseases

   Smoking is a major cause of various cardiovascular diseases - from strokes, emphysema, aneurisms, to bronchitis. It likewise aggravates symptoms of pneumonia and asthma. Heart disease is the number one killer for cigarette smokers. Over 1.5 million smoking-related cardiovascular disease deaths were counted in 2000 alone.

3. Smoking Health Hazards for Pregnant Women

   Women in the middle of their pregnancies who are still actively smoking not only endanger themselves, but the fetus they are carrying inside as well. How so? Pregnant heavy smokers are a lot more prone to experiencing spontaneous abortion or miscarriages, premature births, ectopic pregnancy (where the fetus develops outside the mother’s womb), premature separation of the placenta (placenta abruptio), birth defects like smaller limbs, babies with lower-than-normal birth weight, and an increased disposition for the child to start smoking when he/she becomes a teenager.

4. Negative Effects on Reproduction

   This will include deformed sperm and less sperm count, infertility and impotence. Female smokers may experience an earlier onset of menopause or have infertility problems.

5. Second-Hand Smoking Risks

   Also called passive smoking. If you are a heavy smoker, you are endangering the health of those around you with each puff you exhale. People nearby who inhale your second-hand smoke absorb all the harmful chemicals the same way as active smokers do. US studies have determined that there were up to 35,000 heart disease-related deaths of non-smokers who were living with smokers.

6. Risk of Cataracts/Blindness

   Your eyes will be irritated with the smoke. Your eyes water or sting, you blink more and you may end up suffering much more serious conditions like cataracts and even blindness.

7. Oral Hygiene Problems

   Continuous smoking stains your teeth, leads to gingivitis/plaque build-up, bad breath and weakens the strength of your teeth overall.

8. Weakening of the Bones

   You run the risk of osteoporosis and an increased susceptibility to fractures.

9. Sense of Smell & Taste Decreases

   Smoking causes long-term damage to the sense of smell.

10. Premature Aging, Wrinkles

    Smoking cigarettes causes lowering of level of oxygen in the skin and hence speeds up the aging process. It also restricts the regeneration of new cells in the skin. Smokers use their lips regularly and this causes generation of fine lines around their mouth. The skin around the mouth becomes gray and hence appears sluggish.

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