New Evidence for Stop Smoking

My own father died from smoking cigarettes. After his death, I looked at his death certificate. The doctor wrote on the certificate that he had died of the effects of tobacco abuse. For some time after his death, I would have a emotional reaction when I would see someone smoking, wondering how anyone could be smoking.

Studies have shown that cigarettes kill 443,000 people every year in the United States due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cancer, heart disease, lung disease and other causes. In fact, one in every five Americans dies of a smoking related illness.

Even tiny amounts of cigarette smoke harm your lungs and DNA according to a released report by the Surgeon General. The chemicals in tobacco smoke reach lungs quickly ever time you inhale, causing damage immediately. The more you smoke, the harder it is for your body to repair DNA damage or respond to treatment if you develop cancer.

SOME REASONS TO STOP SMOKING:

1. Smokers die young. Smoking is the number one cause of preventable disease
and death in the United States. Half of all long term smokers are killed
by smoking related diseases. Besides COPD, smokers risk cancer of the
mouth, throat and lungs, as well as asthma, chronic bronchitis and
emphysema. They are also more prone to high blood pressure, high levels
of LDL (bad) cholesterol, stroke and heart disease. If you smoke your
risk of dying from a heart attack is 2-4 times greater than a monsmoker's.

2. Smoking is a major cause of depression, in fact smokers are twice as
likely as non smokers to be depressed.

3. Smoking can make you infertile. Female smokers may have a harder time
getting pregnant and male smokers generally have a low sperm count.
Smoking appears to accelerate the loss of eggs and reproductive function
and may advance the time of menopause by several years.

4. Women who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to experience life
threatening ectopic pregnancies, in which the fertilized egg begins to
develop in the slender fallopian tube instead of the uterus.

5. Children imitate tgheir parents. If you smoke in front of your children,
there is a good chance you children will smoke. One study shows that
55 percent of children whose parents were smokers plan on being
smokers in the future.

6. You will have 10 times more wrinkles. Smoking accelerates aging. It
inhibits the body's ability to repair damage caused by the environment.
The damage is more than skin deep. Smokers with prominent wrinkles are
five times more likely to suffer from COPD than non smokers. Smokers
also have pale, ashen skin and yellowing teeth, fingers and fingernails.

The good news. Your body begins to heal just 12 hours after your last
cigarette according to the National Cancer Institute. But it will take up to three months for improved lung function and circulation.