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Smoking: A Potential Death Sentence to Yourself!

Make no mistake about it! You are potentially sentencing yourself to death if you continue to smoke. You have the power, but you also need the will to stop smoking!

Smoking is the most wide spread addiction in the world. Statistics show that in 90 years there have been 1.1 billion smokers in the world. Imagine if a non-smoker was always around a majority of these persons, whether in the workplace, a public park or anywhere else! The second-hand smoke and the eyes and throat irritation could cause the general public medical problems of their own.

To stop smoking is one of the most important decisions you will have to make in your life. There are two factors that you need to be aware of to help in determining your success in quitting smoking for good. Will - you must have the desire to give up your habit of smoking and have a strong will to avoid even considering lighting up. Mindset - you must learn about the effects of smoking, understand the consequences and face the fact that you need to stop smoking and follow, finish and maintain a quit smoking plan.

Despite all the health reasons to want to quit, the most powerful reasons for you to quit smoking are the reasons that you come up with yourself. Your reasons may include health benefits or it may include other reasons, such as wanting to save money. Write down a list of reasons of why you want to continue smoking and why you want to quit smoking. Having a list of reasons of why you want to keep smoking will help you understand what you will face as you quit. Having a list of reasons on why you want to quit will help encourage you to keep on being smoke-free.

To stop smoking is to overcome the psychological dependence on tobacco and the physical addiction to nicotine. To slowly stop smoking is not recommended - because in this way you are only teasing your body - and the desire to smoke still remains. One of the main reasons people want to stop smoking is that they want their body to be healthy - and free from the toxins contained in cigarette smoke. Tobacco use accounts for about one third of all cancer deaths in the United States - and smokeless tobacco carries many of the same health risks as cigarettes.

One of the key factors that plays a very important role in how successful a person can be in their efforts to stop smoking is how committed they are to seriously quit their bad habit and to stay on that path.

Another popular method of medicine to help stop smoking is the nicotine gum. This gum looks like regular pieces of gum but have a certain amount of nicotine in each piece. In this way, the person gets an instant nicotine rush to his system, much like the effect of the cigarette when he smokes it. It also provides the oral stimulation since it is chewed, which seems to help some people in quitting smoking since it gives their mouths something to do when they would normally be taking a smoke break.

One of the major benefits provided by support systems for people who are trying to quit is to offer ideas on what to do when the urge to smoke becomes overwhelming due to stress or other triggering situations. Not all smokers will succeed in their attempt to stop smoking their first time and should be aware that they are not alone. It takes most smokers several tries before finding the right path and strength in order to stop smoking successfully.

Stop smoking is as individual as you are. Medication can provide support in your effort to stop smoking by easing withdrawal symptoms, reducing cravings, and improving your chances of successfully quitting. Smoking cessation medications are most effective when used as part of a comprehensive stop smoking program monitored by your physician.

Any person who decides to use medication from their doctor should be aware that some of the options available for help to stop smoking are addictive by themselves and could lead to other problems.

Here are some of the motivations that will lend themselves to helping you kick the habit. Health-wise, once you quit smoking, the benefits starting kicking in 20 minutes or less. Blood pressure and heart rate return to normal. The risk of heart disease is reduced by a third. Within 48 hours, there is no carbon monoxide or nicotine in the body. The lungs have already started clearing out mucus and other smoking damage and taste and smell senses are improved. By the time a year has gone by, blood circulation has improved, lung function has increased by 10% and breathing problems are vastly better. In addition, at one year the risk of heart attack is half that of a smoker. At ten years, the risk of lung cancer has fallen to half that of a smoker and at fifteen years the risk of heart attack is the same as a non-smoker.

When you consider the cost of smoking, you will quickly realize that the cost is minuscule compared with the cost of treating you for the possible health issues you may develop. One also needs to consider what the cost of buying cigarettes is, for example. If someone smokes two packs a day at a cost of $4.50 a pack - $9 a day, $63 a week, $270 a week and $3,285 annually! If you did not smoke, your hard earned money could be spent on other things, such as dinner and a movie, vacations, presents for the family, etc. The list is endless. And you would not be impacting your body by smoking.

Here are some of the statistics available from an Internet search that have a significant impact on the subject of smoking:

Smoking is responsible for approximately 1 in 10 deaths worldwide. This means that this number has risen steadily and is expected to reach the number of 1 in 6 deaths by approximately 2030. The average for tobacco related deaths is approximately one person every eight seconds. At any given point, all across the world there are approximately 10 million cigarettes sold each minute of the day. The total amount of cigarettes typically sold in a day all across the world adds up to approximately 15 billion cigarettes.

Figures from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids assert that smokers cost the economy $97.6 billion a year in lost productivity.

Smoking statistics indicate that almost 500,000 death per year are attributable to cigarette smoking, or one if every 5 deaths.

Smoking in places that are not banned have 9 times more indoor pollution than places that have a smoking ban. 54% of Americans favor a complete smoking ban inside restaurants, 34% favor a ban in all hotel rooms, and 29% favor a ban inside bars.

A cigarette contains more than 4000 chemical compounds among which 40 are carcinogens. Smoking during pregnancy is responsible for 20 to 30 percent of all low-birth-weight babies.

With each passing day, over 3,000 teenagers begin smoking cigarettes for the first time. But, heed the smoking statistics referenced above that state that once you start to smoke cigarettes, you most likely will never find the willpower to quit smoking. Most teen smokers quickly become addicted to nicotine. Please try to discourage your children from smoking. It is not cool!

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