Starting to smoke may stem up from just a simple curiosity. A curiosity caused by peer pressure, stress or escape from reality. However, whatever the cause may be, this curiosity often leads to an uncontrollable addiction. “Cigarette Smoking is dangerous to your health” isn’t just a reminder, but a warning, that smoking does more harm than the good you thought it’s going to give.

Cigarette smoking is reported to be the major single cause of cancer mortality in the US, according to the 1982 United States Surgeon General’s report. It also causes 100,000 deaths in the UK each year, either from direct smoking caused cancers or cardiovascular diseases. Still, cigarette smoking deaths are preventable, the number one most preventable cause of breathing in the US even, because smoking is something of man’s own free will, like choosing life over death or vice versa.

After some time of smoking, you’d slowly find yourself suffering from the consequences of your actions. Tobacco contains nicotine that makes it very difficult to quit. Smoking immensely increases the chances of acquiring lung cancer, chronic lung disease, stroke, heart attack and other cancers. Not only do you harm yourself, but you also harm the other people around you. Family, colleagues and co-workers that breathe the smoker’s smoke, called second hand or passive smokers even have a greater chance of developing smoking related diseases than the direct smoker. As many as 300,000 cases of chronic bronchitis and pneumonia have been reported each year for infants up to 18 months old who inhale second hand smoke. Unborn fetus is also in the same danger of being miscarried, prematurity, infant death and stillbirth because of the smoking habits of pregnant mothers. Exposure to passive smoke also increases chances of developing cancer. There is a 24% increase in the risk for those non-smokers who live with smokers than those with other non-smokers.

Death chooses no age, especially if you are a smoker. Research has shown the smoking causes the shortening of life expectancy by seven to eight years. Of the 300 people that die daily in the UK, many are young smokers. A study collected from 1995 to 1999 by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), adult male smokers lost an average life span of 13.2 years while female smokers lose 14.5 years of life.

Smoking is becoming an addiction for many. It is difficult, but not impossible to stop. To enlighten you about what great benefits you can get from quitting smoking, here are just some.

• It stabilizes your blood pressure.

  High blood pressure is also one of the leading causes of cardiovascular diseases. Smoking can temporarily increase blood pressure and the risk of heart and blood vessel diseases. It injures the blood vessel walls and hastens the process of artery hardening, making it bad for people with high blood pressure. The nicotine in tobacco and cigarettes also causes the blood vessels to constrict and speed your heartbeat, therefore temporarily raising your blood pressure. The higher the nicotine is in your blood, the higher the blood pressure increases. This relates to the increased risk of brain attack, heart attacks and amputation due to poor circulation in the legs. A February 2002 study reported in the Journal of Hypertension from France studied 12,417 men including current, previous and non smokers and showed that previous and non smokers had significantly lower prevalence of high blood pressure.

• Energy levels will increase

  This is the very reason why sportsmen are encouraged to steer clear from smoking. The destruction of the cells caused by the flood of cancerous toxins from smoking leads to the sapping of energy in the body. A person who smokes tends to get up late in the morning and feels significantly tired for the rest of the day. In 2 to 12 weeks of stopping smoking, blood circulation will improve. Ex-smokers will tend to feel less tired and less headaches due to increased oxygen in the body. This makes doing physical activities a lot easier and it also boosts the immune system, steering away from colds and flu.

• Reduces risk of lung cancer

  One of the greatest and known dangers acquired from smoking is the risk of developing lung cancer. According to CDC, about 90% of lung cancer cases are acquired from cigarette smoking in the US. People who smoke are 15 to 30 times in danger of developing lung cancer than those who don’t because tobacco is a toxic mix of more than 7,000 chemicals, mostly poisons. People who quit smoking will eventually lower their risk of lung cancer, but still higher than those who never smoked at all.

• Reduces risk of heart attack

  Another main cause of death due to smoking is cardiovascular diseases. When cholesterol and other fats narrow and block your arteries (atherosclerosis), blood clots is most likely to form which will lead in many kinds or cardiovascular diseases. The tendency of smokers is that smoking greatly accelerates the hardening and narrowing process. Not smoking or quitting from smoking before developing such disease decreases your risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.

• Lung function improves

  A significant improvement in lung function is seen from people with asthma who have quitted smoking in less than two months by more than 15 percent, according to the report shown in the July 2006 issue of American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care published by the American Thoracic Society. After studying 11 asthmatic patients who continue to smoke and 10 who have quit for six weeks, lung function results of non smoking patients who have not taken cigarettes for a week have improved by a “considerable degree”.

• Skin becomes healthier

  Aside from the internal destructions that smoking contributes, it also makes us physically unattractive. Quitting smoking has been shown to delay facial ageing and appearance of wrinkles in the face. The skin of smokers often has a lined, sallow complexion while non smokers get more nutrients, especially oxygen.

• You become less stressed

  Improved oxygen levels in the body after quitting smoking makes them have a better concentration and mental well-being. Studies have shown that stress levels of people who have stopped smoking are significantly lower. Smokers tend to get stressed from the cigarette withdrawal from nicotine addiction. The pleasure acquired from smoking is only a temporary feeling and is not a real cure for stress.

Sources
cancer.org
highbloodpressuremed.com
netdoctor.co.uk
medicinenet.com
cdc.gov
sciencedaily.com
nhs.uk