The harmful effects of smoking cigarettes are so numerous and well-documented, it's difficult to imagine anyone living in today's modern society being unaware of them. Sadly, many smokers are indeed aware of the consequences of smoking and want to quit, but they find it difficult to do so because of the powerful addictive properties of the nicotine in cigarettes.
2 Financial Reasons
Smoking is expensive, not only for the individual, but for the economy in general. In 2004, the United States incurred $193 billion in health care costs and lost productivity due to cigarette smoking. According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the average cost of a package of cigarettes in the U. S. is $5.51, as of 2010. If you buy one pack a week, you spend $286.52 a year. If you buy a pack a day, as many smokers do, you spend $2,011.15 per year.
4 Reproductive Health Reasons
Smoking can have adverse effects on the reproductive health of both men and women. In women, it increases the risk of not being able to get pregnant. For women smokers who do get pregnant, smoking can cause premature delivery, stillbirth, low birth weight and sudden infant death syndrome. In men, smoking can affect the production of semen and sperm and decrease the quality of sperm. Smoking may also contribute to erectile dysfunction in men. (See reference 2)
8 General Health Reasons
Simply put, smoking can kill you. That, in itself, is a good reason to quit smoking. According to the American Cancer Society, 50 percent of all Americans who continue to smoke will die from causes related to the habit. Smoking causes adverse health effects that result in approximately 443,000 deaths in the United States each year. If smoking doesn't result in death directly, it decreases your quality of life. Smoking causes damage to almost every organ in your body. It causes coronary heart disease and at least 11 kinds of cancer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that smoking shortens your life an average of 13.2 years if you are an adult male smoker, and 14.5 years if you are an adult female. These are dismal statistics. The good news, and a powerful incentive to quit smoking, is that you start reaping immediate health benefits as soon as you stop. Your blood pressure and chances of a heart attack both decrease within 24 hours of quitting smoking.
7 Secondhand Smoke Reasons
You should quit smoking not only for your own health but also for the health of others. Secondhand smoke can cause lung cancer and heart disease in adults who have never smoked. Nonsmokers have a 20 to 30 percent greater chance of having lung cancer and a 25 to 30 percent greater chance of having heart disease when they are exposed to secondhand smoke at work or at home. Secondhand smoke is responsible for approximately 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 46,000 coronary heart disease deaths in adult nonsmokers in the United States each year, according to the CDC. Secondhand smoke is especially harmful to children. It can cause ear infections, more frequent and harsher asthma attacks and increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome. Secondhand smoke is responsible for approximately 150,000 to 300,000 new cases of bronchitis and pneumonia each year in children 18 months or younger, and it causes 7,500 to 15,000 hospitalizations each year for children in the same age group.
References
- American Lung Association: General Smoking Facts
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Smoking and Tobacco Use: FAQ
- American Cancer Society: Cigarette Smoking
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Smoking and Tobacco Use: Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Annual Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and Economic Costs --- United States, 1995--1999
- National Institute on Drug Abuse: Tobacco Addiction (PDF)
