The Top Nine Facts You Should Know about Smoking (and Quitting!)
1.)
Smoking doesn't cause just lung cancer. Since the
release of the first Surgeon General’s Report in 1964, the scientific
knowledge about the health consequences of tobacco use has greatly increased. It
is now well documented that smoking cigarettes causes chronic lung and heart
disease, and cancer of the lung, esophagus, larynx, mouth, bladder, pancreas,
kidney, and cervix. It contributes to male impotence. It affects circulation,
causes hardening of the arteries, and also creates low-level carbon monoxide
poisoning. Together, these decrease the delivery of oxygen to every part of the
body including discs in the spine. Smokers have more back pain than non-smokers,
and heal slower from illnesses and injuries. Smokers
are admitted to hospitals twice as often as nonsmokers. Smokers
risk having a heart attack 19 years earlier than nonsmokers.
2.) 1 in 2 smokers will die from their habit. Tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, resulting in an annual cost of more than $75 billion in direct medical costs. Each smoker loses an average of 15 years of life. Nationally, smoking results in more than 5.6 million years of potential life lost each year. For every smoker who dies of lung cancer, 5 will die from some other disease directly caused by smoking. Twenty percent of all deaths in North America are caused by cigarette smoking. Smoking kills more people than AIDS, murder, suicide, fires, alcohol and all illegal drugs COMBINED.
3.) "Light" cigarettes are just as harmful as regular ones. "Light" cigarettes have tiny holes just where your fingers hold them. Why? When you inhale, you get full-strength smoke. But when just the end of the filter is inserted into a "smoking machine" to determine the tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide content, the smoke is diluted by air entering through those holes. What's more, people inhale deeper and more frequently after switching from "regular" to "light" cigarettes, in order to keep the same average level of nicotine in their bloodstream.
4.) Each year, because of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, an estimated 3,000 nonsmoking Americans die of lung cancer. Researchers have identified more than 4,800 chemical compounds in tobacco smoke; of these, at least 69 cause cancer in humans and animals. A non-smoking spouse of a regular smoker has a 20% increase in their chances of developing lung cancer, and a 30% increase in their chance of developing heart disease.
5.) Second-hand smoke causes many diseases in children, including ear infections, asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, and SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). Smoke in an infant's household quadruples the chances of a SIDS death (sudden infant death syndrome). Each year in the United States second-hand smoke causes an estimated 284 to 364 deaths in children from house fires and lung infections. Also, it causes between 354,000 and 2.2 million ear infections in children, as well as 260,000 to 436,000 episodes of bronchitis and 115,000 to 190,000 episodes of pneumonia.
6.) There are as many ex-smokers alive as there are smokers. 47% of the people who have ever smoked and are still alive haven't smoked in the past six months. That means that for every smoker, there's an ex-smoker.
7.) Out of
the 440,000 deaths annually due to smoking, approximately 152,000 are women.
Women have become addicted to cigarettes over the years, and the tobacco
industry has become addicted to women. The industry has spent billions of
dollars getting women hooked on one of the most destructive substances in
existence. Smoking increases a woman's risk of heart disease, stroke and many
forms of cancer. It reduces fertility and increases the risk of pregnancy
complications like premature birth and low birth weight (the leading cause of
infant mortality).
9.)
Women who smoke and take the contraceptive pill have 10 times the risk of a
heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular disease
compared with those who take the pill but are
non-smokers. Smoking has also been linked with an increased likelihood of
menstrual problems. Smoking leads to an earlier menopause: on average women
smokers go through the menopause up to 2 years earlier than non-smokers and are
at a greater risk of developing osteoporosis.