Cigarette Smoking! Leave Or Leave

Harmful Health Effects Of Smoking Cigarettes
The harmful health effects of smoking cigarettes presented in the list below only begin to convey the long term side effects of smoking.
Quitting makes sense for many reasons but simply put: smoking is bad for health.
Every year hundreds of thousands of people around the world die from diseases caused by smoking cigarettes - Smoking KILLS.



One in two lifetime smokers will die from their habit. Half of these deaths will occur in middle age.
Tobacco smoke also contributes to a number of cancers.
The mixture of nicotine and carbon monoxide in each cigarette you smoke temporarily increases your heart rate and blood pressure, straining your heart and blood vessels.
This can cause heart attacks and stroke. It slows your blood flow, cutting off oxygen to your feet and hands. Some smokers end up having their limbs amputated.



Tar coats your lungs like soot in a chimney and causes cancer. A 20-a-day smoker breathes in up to a full cup (210 g) of tar in a year.
Changing to low-tar cigarettes does not help because smokers usually take deeper puffs and hold the smoke in for longer, dragging the tar deeper into their lungs.
Carbon monoxide robs your muscles, brain and body tissue of oxygen, making your whole body and especially your heart work harder. Over time, your airways swell up and let less air into your lungs.
Smoking causes disease and is a slow way to die. The strain of smoking effects on the body often causes years of suffering. Emphysema is an illness that slowly rots your lungs. People with emphysema often get bronchitis again and again, and suffer lung and heart failure.
Lung cancer from smoking is caused by the tar in tobacco smoke. Men who smoke are ten times more likely to die from lung cancer than non-smokers.



Heart disease and strokes are also more common among smokers than non-smokers.
Smoking causes fat deposits to narrow and block blood vessels which leads to heart attack.



Smoking causes around one in five deaths from heart disease.
In younger people, three out of four deaths from heart disease are due to smoking.



Cigarette smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of low birth weight, prematurity, spontaneous abortion, and perinatal mortality in humans, which has been referred to as the fetal tobacco syndrome.



As mentioned earlier, this list can only begin to convey the harmful health effects of smoking cigarettes and its long term side effects. Next we consider reasons why smoking is bad for those around you in the effects of second hand smoke.

Chemicals In Cigarettes

The chemicals in cigarettes and tobacco smoke make smoking harmful. Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 different chemicals.
At least 50 are known carcinogens (cause cancer in humans) and many are poisonous.
Cigarettes are one of few products which can be sold legally which can harm and even kill you over time if used as intended. There are ongoing lawsuits in the USA which aim to hold tobacco companies responsible for the effects of smoking on the health of long term smokers.
Chemicals in Cigarettes, Description Mentioned Below
Benzene
(petrol additive)
A colourless cyclic hydrocarbon obtained from coal and petroleum, used as a solvent in fuel and in chemical manufacture - and contained in cigarette smoke.
A It known carcinogen associated with leukaemia.
Formaldehyde
(embalming fluid)
A colourless liquid, highly poisonous, used to preserve dead bodies - also found in cigarette smoke.
Known to cause cancer, respiratory, skin and gastrointestinal problems.
Ammonia
(toilet cleaner)
Used as a flavouring, frees nicotine from tobacco turning it into a gas
Often found in dry cleaning fluids.
Acetone
(nail polish remover)
Fragrant volatile liquid ketone, used as a solvent, for example, nail polish remover
Found in cigarette smoke.
Tar
Particulate matter drawn into lungs when you inhale on a lighted cigarette. Once inhaled, smoke condenses and about 70 per cent of the tar in the smoke is deposited in the smoker's lungs.
Nicotine
(insecticide/addictive drug)
One of the most addictive substances known to man, a powerful and fast-acting medical and non-medical poison.
This is the chemical which causes addiction.
Carbon Monoxide (CO)
(car exhaust fumes)
An odourless, tasteless and poisonous gas, rapidly fatal in large amounts
The same gas that comes out of car exhausts
The main gas in cigarette smoke, formed when the cigarette is lit
Others
Arsenic (rat poison)
Hydrogen Cyanide (gas chamber poison)

Stop Smoking & Stay Healthy

The health benefits of quitting smoking are the main advantages of quitting smoking. Harmful
chemicals and poisons in tobacco smoke can damage the body and inhibit its functions. Smokers
often find that the health benefits of quitting smoking are useful motivators to quit and stay
stopped.


"The health benefits of quitting smoking are immediate and substantial. They far exceed any
risks from the average 5-pound weight gain or any adverse psychological effects that may follow
quitting. The benefits extend to men and women, to the young and the old, to those who are sick
and to those who are well. Smoking cessation represents the single most important step that
smokers can take to enhance the length and quality of their lives."1
Thankfully, when you stop smoking, the body experiences some positive side effects and, as you
can see from the timeline below, the healing process begins within just 20 minutes of giving
up.
Health Benefits of Quitting Smoking Timeline Benefit - What happens when you quit



20 min.
Blood pressure and pulse return to normal.
8 hrs
Oxygen levels return to normal.
Nicotine and carbon monoxide levels in blood reduce by half.
12 hrs
Carbon monoxide levels in blood drop to normal.2
24 hrs
Carbon monoxide will be eliminated from the body.
Lungs start to clear out mucous and other smoking debris.
48 hrs
There is no nicotine left in the body.
Ability to taste and smell is greatly improved.
72 hrs
Breathing becomes easier.
Bronchial tubes begin to relax and energy levels increase.
2-12 weeks
Circulation improves.
Lung function increases.
3 - 9 months
Coughs, wheezing and breathing problems improve as lung functions are increased by up to
10%.
12 months
Excess risk of coronary heart disease is reduced by about half and declines gradually
hereafter.
5 yrs.
Risk of heart attack falls to about half that of a smoker.
Risk of stroke returns to the level of people who have never smoked (5 - 15 years).1
10 yrs.
Risk of lung cancer falls to about half that of a smoker.
15 yrs.
Risk of lung cancer is reduced to close to that observed in nonsmokers.
Risk of coronary heart disease falls to the same as someone who has never smoked.
If you have quit smoking before age 50 you have halved the risk of dying in the next 15
years compared with continuing smokers.

10 Ways to Quit Smoking
This article explores 10 different ways to quit smoking. Thousands of people quit every day.
Many will confirm that there is not only one way to stop smoking. They will however, tell you
that there is a universal truth: You have to want to quit.
Quitting 'cold turkey' or stopping completely, once and for all is a common approach to
quitting for many smokers.

This may require several attempts but you will improve your chances by thoughtful
preparation. The links throughout this site are intended to help you prepare to quit smoking
and deal with all the issues you are likely to face and help you overcome the urge to smoke at will.

Stop smoking drug Varenicline (Chantix or Champix) is a prescription quit smoking medicine
in the form of a pill used to treat smoking addiction.

As a partial nicotinic receptor partial agonist, it both reduces cravings for and decreases
the pleasurable effects of cigarettes and other tobacco products, and through these mechanisms
it can assist some patients in stopping smoking.3

Varenicline may be viewed as a form of aversion therapy that makes the act of smoking more
repulsive.

Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is a type of treatment that uses special products to
give small, steady doses of nicotine to help stop cravings and relieve symptoms that occur when
a person is trying to quit smoking. These products include nicotine gum, nicotine inhaler,
nicotine nasal spray, nicotine lozenges, and nicotine patch.1

ZYBAN (bupropion hydrochloride sustained-release tablets or bupropion hcl sr) is a
prescription medicine to help people quit smoking. Studies have shown that more than one third
of people quit smoking for at least 1 month while taking ZYBAN and participating in a patient
support program.

For many patients, ZYBAN reduces withdrawal symptoms and the urge to smoke. ZYBAN should be
used with a patient support program. It is important to participate in the behavioral program,
counseling, or other support program your healthcare professional recommends.

Some smokers have quit successfully by cutting down gradually, e.g cutting down to five
cigarettes a day or less or delaying the first cigarette by an hour each day. Eventually
however a point must be reached where smoking is stopped altogether (as in the cold turkey
method above).

If this approach is to work for you it is suggested that your final quit date is no more
than two weeks after you start cutting down. Nicotine replacement therapy (discussed next) may
also be an option to consider as part of any such plan.

Help in and support in the form of counselling or stop smoking programs should not be
underestimated. In fact NRT manufacturers and National Health Service professionals recommend
support as an integral part of any attempt to quit smoking.

Speak to your doctor who will also be able to put you in touch with suitable agencies.
Scores of self-help books and booklets have been written on the subject. By far and away
the most successful is Allen Carr's "Easy Way to Stop Smoking".

The revolutionary international bestseller that will stop you smoking for good.
"If you follow my instructions you will be a happy non-smoker for the rest of your
life." That's a strong claim from Allen Carr, but as the world's leading and most successful
quit smoking expert, Allen was right to boast!

Reading this book is all you need to give up smoking. You can even smoke while you
read. There are no scare tactics, you will not gain weight and stopping will not feel like
deprivation. If you want to kick the habit then go for it.

Allen Carr helped millions of people become happy non-smokers. His unique method
removes your psychological dependence on cigarettes and literally sets you free. Accept no
substitute. Nine million people can't be wrong.

Hypnosis is an approach that should not to be underestimated. Countless ex-smokers swear by
it.

Hypnosis is basically a state of relaxation where both your body and mind are relaxed. The
subconscious and conscious parts of the mind begin to work on the same concept at the same time
and your mind becomes open to cleverly worded influences.

Smokers can choose to use the services of a professional or self-induce to achieve a
hypnotic state.

Over the past fifteen years, Paul McKenna PhD has developed a unique approach that
makes quitting smoking surprisingly easy.

Through the simple conditioning system revealed in his book Quit Smoking Today without
Gaining Weight and on the accompanying CD, you will retrain your mind and body so that you no
longer need cigarettes and actually feel better without them. Better still, you will not gain
any weight in the process!

Stop smoking aids (also see natural ways to quit smoking) can help but you must be sure
that you do want to quit and be as prepared as you can.

The best advice is be cautious and use common sense. Try to identify any issues you have
difficulty with before deciding what type of products are suitable for you. E.g if you struggle
with quitting simply because you like to smoke - Aversion therapy may be the answer.

Alternative therapies such as acupuncture, laser therapy or a quit smoking shot (injection)
are other avenues you can explore.

There is no consistent evidence that acupuncture, acupressure, laser therapy or electrostimulation are effective for smoking cessation, but methodological problems mean that no firm conclusions can be drawn. Further research using frequent or continuous stimulation is justified.

Choose an approach that YOU feel comfortable with.
If you are a teen smoker don't start smoking! If you have already begun to experiment with the
odd cigarette the time to stop is now. Once you are addicted to nicotine and smoke cigarettes
or tobacco on a daily basis, the battle to quit can turn into a war.

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