In Stressful Economic times: The Dangers of Smoking

Originally, I was going to write on a different topic but the other day I was outside of a store and someone turned to me while smoking, drinking a soft drink and complaining about how bad the economy was and how he wished he had more money. While I empathized with his plight because these are ‘challenging’ and stressful times I felt like saying: “You know you could probably save about $100 a month right now by not smoking plus have more money for healthier groceries.” Had I known him better I might have added that smoking has other negative effects because the last thing a person needs is to get ill when job hunting and then lack the energy and wellness to do what is necessary or helpful because you are ill. Studies show that smokers are 2 to 4 times more likely to get ill than the nonsmoking public and that percentage of getting sick increases for smokers as a person ages.

Unfortunately, about 24 percent of all men and 21 percent of all women smoke, which means that more than one out of every five adults still smoke. Tragically about 22 percent of all high school students smoke, and about one of every 12 middle school students smoke. The one bright spot is that 15 years ago more than one out of every four adults smoked, so the health hazard effects of the anti-smoking campaigns and the high cost of tobacco products are gradually becoming effective. Additionally, more people are being made aware of the health hazards of living around smokers and who are subject to the carcinogenic effects of second-hand smoke.

The CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) estimate that adult male smokers lost an average of 13.2 years of life and female smokers lost 14.5 years of life because of smoking.

1. Cigarette smoking accounts for at least 30 percent of all cancer deaths.
2. Approximately 87 percent of lung cancer deaths are attributed to smoking.
3. Cancers account for only about half of the deaths related to smoking. Smoking is a major cause of heart disease, aneurysms, bronchitis, emphysema, and stroke. It contributes to the severity of pneumonia and asthma.
4. Tobacco has damaging effects on women’s reproductive health. It causes reduced fertility and a higher risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, and low birth weight in infants. Smoking has been linked to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
5. Smoking has been linked to other health problems, including cataracts, bone thinning, hip fractures, and peptic ulcers.
6. More than 4,000 individual compounds have been identified in tobacco and tobacco smoke. Among those are more than 60 compounds that are known carcinogens (cancer-causing agents).

The U.S Surgeon General’s office has concluded that cigarettes and other forms of tobacco (cigars, chewing tobacco) are addictive.

Nicotine is the drug in tobacco that causes addiction. The pharmacologic and behavioral processes that determine tobacco addiction are similar to those that determine addiction to drugs such as heroin and cocaine, according to the American Cancer Society.

Positive Health Benefits of Quitting Smoking
The U.S. Surgeon General office has outlined the benefits of smoking cessation:

Stopping Smoking has major and immediate health benefits for men and women of all ages. Benefits apply to persons with and without smoking-related disease.

1. Former smokers live longer than continuing smokers. For example, persons who quit smoking before age 50 have one-half the risk of dying in the next 15 years compared with continuing smokers.
2. Smoking cessation decreases the risk of lung cancer and other cancers, heart attack, stroke, and chronic lung disease.
3. Women who stop smoking before pregnancy or during the first 3 to 4 months of pregnancy reduce their risk of having a low-birth weight baby to that of women who never smoked.
4. The risk of lung cancer & other cancers can be reduced by quitting smoking.
5. “People who stop smoking at younger ages experience the greatest health benefits from quitting. Those who quit in their 30s may avoid most of the risk due to tobacco use. However, even smokers who quit after age 50 substantially reduce their risk of dying early. The argument that it is too late to quit smoking because the damage is already done is not true.” Source: The American Cancer Society: www.cancer.org.nnWithin as little as two to three months of stopping smoking:

1. Walking, endurance, and exercise becomes easie
2. Up to a 30 percent increase in lung function may be noticed.
3. Circulation improves throughout the body, aches and pains can disappear, and even those with poor sexual functioning often notice an improvement
4. Your chances of developing lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, cancers of the mouth, esophagus, pancreas, kidney, liver, and cancers of all types diminish with each month that you continue not to smoke.

Need One More Reason to Stop Smoking? Recent studies show that smokers are up to four times more likely to develop age-related macular degeneration (AMD), leading to blindness. It is particularly important to note that people exposed to smoking (second-hand smoke) such as family members, friends, and co-workers are also up to twice as likely to develop AMD.

Improving your diet, lifestyle, getting regular exercise, and the use of excellent nutritional supplementation, including veggies & greens can even further increase your chances for a longer, healthier & more fulfilled life.

Additional Help for Smokers: In addition to eating healthier, high quality nutritional supplements and multivitamins help and in particular the B-complexes, antioxidants & Omega 3’s can really help the body and mind to recover faster from the damage caused by cigarettes. Many community relief agencies, medical help centers and online information sources are available to help smokers quit.

For an excellent source of Organic Energy and wholesome nutritional supplements go to www.doctorgreens.com.

Start Feeling Better Now and Here’s to your best of health,
Hal Decker