Anyone who watches television, visits a doctor, or even reads the label on a pack of cigarettes knows that smoking is not a healthy habit. Knowing why you should quit smoking might give you some extra incentive to kick that habit once and for all.
Smoking causes lung cancer. This fact does not seem to scare many smokers. Smoking causes respiratory illnesses including emphysema. Smokers live with a much higher risk of pneumonia and bronchitis due to their habit. Smoking also causes heart disease and increases the risk of suffering a stroke. These are the some of the big reasons to quit smoking. Quitting smoking decreases the risk of most of these diseases almost immediately.
Along with the big and dangerous diseases that smoking causes, there are so many smaller reasons to give up those cigarettes. Smoking is expensive. The taxes placed on cigarette purchases continue to rise and smokers are paying more for a pack of cigarettes today than ever before. Smoking makes your clothing smell like cigarettes. It makes your home smell, your car smell and even your hair smell like smoke. Smoking causes your skin to age prematurely. The tobacco and nicotine in cigarettes will stain your teeth. Visiting the dentist to have your teeth whitened can cost $500 or more.
If those reasons are not enough to make you want to toss those cigarettes in the garbage, smoking also causes erectile dysfunction. Recent studies published by the American Journal of Epidemiology state that men who smoke cigarettes are much more likely to suffer from this condition. Quitting smoking can reverse the dysfunction. Men who smoke are also twice as likely to lose their hair as men who do not smoke.
Smokers also take more sick days from work than nonsmokers. Nonsmokers are more productive because they take fewer breaks. Quitting smoking stops you from exposing your child or your pet to second-hand smoke. Smokers are more likely to need medication for depression or anxiety than nonsmokers. Smoking limits the use of the birth control Pill for women because cigarettes and the Pill both cause blood clots and stroke. Together, they can be a deadly combination. Smoking ruins your sense of taste and your sense of smell. Smokers are more likely to be over-weight because they also tend to be sedentary.
Quitting smoking will increase your ability to exercise. You can walk up the stairs or across the parking lot without losing your breath. Smokers are four times more likely to develop digestive disorders like Crohn’s Disease. Smoking cigarettes can lead to quite a few gastrointestinal disorders including acid reflux.
Smokers pay much higher rates for life and health insurance than nonsmokers. Many insurance companies triple the rate of premiums for smokers. Smokers are also twice as likely to suffer from macular degeneration than nonsmokers. This means that smoking can actually cause blindness. There are so many reasons to quit smoking that there are whole websites, books and lectures devoted to them. The best reason to quit smoking is because quitting will save your life.
