You’ve made the decision to quit smoking. This time you are determined to succeed. You want to make sure that every form of support is available to insure that you do it.
In an effort to provide more support, here is some information to keep handy to help you visualize the physical and health reasons that make your goal to quit smoking more crucial to your life.
Did you know smoking causes 25 diseases and 11 Cancers?
There are over 4000 types of chemicals in each cigarette. 400 of them are poisonous and at least 50 of them cause cancer. Some of these chemicals include:
• Nicotine, which causes addiction
• Carbon monoxide a dangerous gas found in car exhaust smoke
• Tar used to cover the surface of roads
• Acetone paint stripper
• DDT, a pesticide used to kill mosquitoes and ants
• Arsenic white ant poison
• Formaldehyde, used to embalm dead bodies
• Ammonia, an active ingredient in floor cleaners
• Hydrogen cyanide poison, used in gas chambers
According to whyquit.com, not many people know that nicotine in cigarettes is as addictive as heroin and cocaine. In addition, it not only robs the body of life-giving oxygen but its toxic properties act as a Brillo pad in grinding away the smooth delicate endothelium lining of blood vessel walls. Like eggs that begin sticking to a worn Teflon frying pan, extra fight or flight fats begin sticking, accumulating, building and hardening.
Picture the inside of once smooth coronary arteries whose job it was to feed our heart muscle oxygen instead gradually becoming narrower and narrower as they slowly fill with fight or flight fats and cholesterols. Picture the same process occurring in blood pathways to the brain.
Eventually it happens. Complete blockage occurs. All downstream tissues serviced with oxygen by the blood vessel immediately begin to suffocate and die. By far the most common site of smoker circulatory tissue death is the heart muscle (a heart attack) followed by the brain (a stroke).
Smoking can kill you in many ways:
Heart disease and stroke - Smoking causes fatty deposits to build up in the blood vessels, leaving them narrow or blocked. This leads to heart disease or stroke. About 40% of deaths due to heart disease before the age of 65 are related to smoking.
Cancer - Cigarette smoke contains more than 50 cancer-causing substances. Smoking is the most common, preventable cause of lung cancer. Smokers are 22 times more likely to develop lung cancer.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) - Smoking narrows the airways and destroys the air sacs in the lungs. This makes breathing difficult. Smoking is the most common cause of COPD, which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
Bone Loss and Osteoporosis-Osteoporosis is a disease that causes bones to lose density and become brittle, leading to hip, spine and wrist fractures. Women who smoke are 50% more likely to suffer from osteoporosis than non-smokers.
Do you smoke at home in the presence of your spouse and children?
Passive smokers (other people who inhale your smoke) suffer serious negative health effects, especially young children.
Exposure to cigarette smoke, even for brief periods, can cause eye, nose and throat irritation. It can also cause headaches, dizziness, nausea, coughing and wheezing. Cigarette smoke can make it worse for people already suffering from allergies or asthma.
As soon as you snuff out that last cigarette, according to quitsmokingnews.com:
Within 20 min:
Blood pressure, body temperature, and pulse rate will drop to normal.
Within 8 hours:
Smoker's breath disappears. Carbon monoxide level in blood drops and oxygen level rises to normal.
Within 24 hours:
Chance of a heart attack decreases.
Within 48 hours:
Nerve endings start to regroup. Ability to taste and smell improves.
Within 3 days:
Breathing is easier.
Within 2 to 3 months:
Circulation improves. Walking becomes easier. Lung capacity increases up to 30%
Within 1 to 9 months:
Sinus congestion and shortness of breath decrease. Cilia that sweep debris from you lungs grow back. Energy increases.
Within 1 year:
Excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a person who smokes.
Within 2 years:
Heart attack risk drops.
Within 5 years:
Lung cancer death rate for the average former pack-a-day smoker decreases by almost half. Stroke risk is reduced. Risk of mouth, throat, and esophageal cancer is half that of a smoker.
Within 10 years:
Lung cancer death rate is similar to that of a person who does not smoke. The precancerous cells are replaced.
Within 15 years:
Risk of coronary heart disease is the same as a person who has never smoked. Smoking causes fatty deposits to build up in the blood vessels, leaving them narrow or blocked.
This leads to heart disease or stroke. About 40% of deaths due to heart disease before the age of 65 are related to smoking.
Whyquit.com says it's easy to appreciate that the cancer causing chemicals in each and every puff are slowly building an internal time bomb. What few of us comprehend is that before the bomb has time to go off that it’s far more likely that smoking will cause some portion of their body’s blood piping to completely clog, with downstream oxygen deprived tissues suffocating and dying.
Once you have a quit smoking, do everything in your power to make it last. You don’t know that you will have the desire, strength or worst of all, the opportunity to quit next time. A tragic and fatal disease may get you first. Always consider the full danger of smoking and power of the addiction and your likely choice will be to - NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF!
Remember, I’m not a doctor. I just sound like one.
Take good care of yourself and live the best life possible.
Glenn Ellis lectures and is an active media contributor nationally and internationally on health related topics, including health education and health promotion particularly relevant to the African-American community. E-mail him at info@glennellis.com
For more good health information, visit: www.glenellis.com |
