Despite being attributed to countless diseases and deaths across the globe, tobacco products continue to attract thousands of new users in America each day. If you're trying to determine whether to pick up the habit or need a reason to quit, learning the real truth about smoking will help you make a good decision.
Expensive Habit
The average price of a pack of cigarettes in America is $5.29, tax included. If you smoke a pack a day, you'll spend $1,930.85 in a single year. Over a 40-year period, that totals to more than $75,000. A box of 25 cigars costs anywhere from $100 to $650 or more, while a 16-ounce bag of loose tobacco for pipe smoking costs approximately $15. However, the cost doesn't end there. Being a smoker also makes it more difficult to be approved for insurance and raises your insurance costs.
Sickly Consequences
Smoking tobacco leads to a variety of diseases. The most common diseases include lung cancer, emphysema, high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease. However, smoking also puts you at an increased risk of hundreds of other conditions, including abdominal aortic aneurysm; bronchitis; and cancers of the bladder, cervix, mouth, uterus, stomach, pharynx, pancreas and kidney.
Potentially Fatal
According to the National Cancer Institute, smoking is the number one preventable cause of premature death in the United States, and is responsible for one in every five deaths. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that more Americans die from smoking-related diseases and conditions in America than automobile and motorcycle accidents, suicide, illegal drug use, murder and alcohol abuse combined. In fact, NYC.gov states that every cigarette you smoke shaves 10 minutes off of your life expectancy.
Loss of Control
One of the key ingredients in tobacco is nicotine. While you may appreciate its stimulating effect, nicotine is also responsible for the addicting effect of smoking. John Moxham, professor of respiratory medicine at King's College London School of Medicine at Guy's, King's and St Thomas' Hospital, considers smoking as addicting as hard drugs, such as heroine and crack cocaine. Once addicted, you will lose your self-control and will take extreme measures to continue smoking.
Body Recovery
If you smoke, quitting will help your body to recover from tobacco's effects as fully as possible. The American Heart Association says that within 20 minutes of stopping smoking, your blood pressure and pulse return to normal levels. Two days later, you regain your ability to smell and taste; you experience increased energy and can breathe easier as early as one month from your last cigarette. When you've been smoke-free for 15 years, your risk for heart disease is equal to that of non-smokers.
