Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Reasons to quit smoking


Smoking kills

One in two lifetime smokers will die from smoking.

Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, chronic bronchitis, asthma and emphysema.


Your smoking affects others too

Smoking around others can affect their health too.

For non-smokers, other people’s smoke can cause lung cancer and heart disease. It
can also irritate the nose, eyes and throat and lead to chronic coughing, phlegm production,
shortness of breath and chest illness.

Other people's smoke also increases the incidence of asthma attacks, especially in
children.

Smoking may make it harder for you to have a family

Men who smoke may suffer impotence and smoking can also affect sperm quality.

Women who smoke take longer to fall pregnant and are more likely to miscarry.

Mothers who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to have low birthweight babies,
and to give birth to babies who are premature, stillborn, or die shortly after birth.

Quitting sets a good example for your family

It shows you care about your health and the health of your family.

If you quit, your fitness will improve and you have a better chance of keeping up with
your kids!

And the money you used to spend on cigarettes will be there to spend on yourself
and your family.

Quit and you’ll feel some of the benefits straight away

After 24 hours, most carbon monoxide from smoking is out of your system. Lungs
work better and you can do more before running short of breath.

After two days, senses of taste and smell sharpen. Breath, hair, fingers and teeth
are cleaner.

Within a month of quitting, your blood pressure should return to its normal level.

Within two months, blood flow to hands and feet improves, the toes and fingers stay
warm and you will have more energy.

After about three months, men and women become more fertile. The lungs may
have regained the capacity to clean themselves properly.

Quit to live longer
Quitting smoking reduces the risk of lung cancer, other cancers, heart attack, stroke,
and chronic lung disease.

Smokers who quit live longer than those who quit later in life. For example, a person
who stops smoking before age 50 has half the risk of dying in the next 15 years compared
with continuing smokers.
On average, smoking reduces your life span by over 10 years.
At about three months, most quitters have become established non smokers.

Quitting is not always easy…

Every year about 1.7 million Australian smokers try to quit and 180,000 succeed permanently.

One of the things that make it hard to quit is that smokers are addicted to the nicotine
in cigarettes. There are medical products available to help you stop smoking and to
deal with the symptoms of withdrawal.

Each time you stop smoking you learn more about quitting and it is never too late to
try again.

Smoking Facts & tips to quit


Hurting Yourself

· Smoking is an addiction. Tobacco contains nicotine, a drug that is
addictive and very difficult, but not impossible to quit.

· More than 50,00,000 deaths in the worldwide  each year are from smoking related
illnesses. Smoking greatly increases your risk for lung cancer
and other cancers.

Hurting Others

· Smoking harms not just the smoker, but also family members,
coworkers, and others who breathe the smoker's secondhand smoke.

· Among infants to 18 months of age, secondhand smoke is associated
with as many as 300,000 cases of bronchitis and pneumonia each
year.

· Secondhand smoke from a parent's cigarette increases a child's
chances for middle ear problems, causes coughing, wheezing, and
worse asthma conditions.

· If both parents smoke, a teenager is more than twice as likely to
smoke than a young person whose parents are nonsmokers. In
households where only one parent smokes, young people are also
more likely to smoke.

· Pregnant women who smoke are more likely to deliver babies whose
weights are too low for the babies' good health. If all women would
quit smoking during pregnancy, about 4,000 new babies would not die
each year worldwide.

Why Quit?
· Quitting smoking makes a difference right away, you can taste and
smell food better. Your breath smells better. Your cough goes away.
This happens to people of all ages, even those who are older. It
happens to healthy people as well as those who already have a disease
or condition caused by smoking.
· Quitting smoking cuts the risk of lung and other cancers, heart and
lung disease, stroke, and other respiratory illnesses.
· Ex-smokers have better health than smokers. Ex- smokers have fewer
days of illness, fewer health complaints, and less bronchitis and
pneumonia than current smokers.
· Quitting smoking saves money. A pack-a-day smoker, who pays Rs25
per pack, can expect to save more than Rs 9125 per year.

Quitting Tips
Getting Ready to Quit
o Set a date for quitting. If possible, have a friend quit smoking
with you.
o Notice when and why you smoke. Try to find the things in
your daily life that you often do while smoking (such as
drinking your morning cup of coffee or driving a car).
o Change your smoking routines: Keep your cigarettes in a
different place. Smoke with your other hand. Don't do
anything else when smoking. Think about how you feel when
you smoke.
o Smoke only in certain places, such as outdoors.
o When you want a cigarette, wait a few minutes. Try to think of
something to do instead of smoking; you might chew gum or
drink a glass of water.
o Buy one pack of cigarettes at a time. Switch to a brand of
cigarettes you don't like.

On the Day You Quit

o Get rid of all your cigarettes. Put away your ashtrays.
o Change your morning routine. Stay busy.
o When you get the urge to smoke, do something else instead.
o Carry other things to put in your mouth, such as gum, or hard
candy.
o Reward yourself at the end of the day for not smoking. See a
movie or go out and enjoy your favorite meal.

Staying Quit

o Don't worry if you are sleepier or more short-tempered than
usual; these feelings will pass.
o Try to exercise.
o Consider the positive things about quitting, such as how much
you like yourself as a non-smoker, health benefits for you and
your family. A positive attitude will help you through the
tough times.
o When you feel tense, try to keep busy, think about ways to
solve the problem, tell yourself that smoking won't make it
any better, and go do something else.
o Eat regular meals. Feeling hungry is sometimes mistaken for
the desire to smoke.
o Start a money jar with the money you save by not buying
cigarettes.
o Let others know that you have quit smoking-most people will
support you. It's good to talk to others about your quitting.
o If you slip and smoke, don't be discouraged. Many former
smokers tried to stop several times before they finally
succeeded. Quit again.