I was an occasional cigerette smoker. The smoking automatically increased during parties, travel, meetings with friends, overworking days and stressful times. All of these activities have almost disappeared from my life due to lifestyle correction. And smoking also disappeared. I realised that smoking is nothing but a response to stress.
Here is a list of reasons why you should quit smoking too:
Heart rate improves within 20 minutes of quitting. Asthma and breathlessness improves within 1 month. Stroke risk is reduced within 5 years. Risk of death due to lung cancer disappears within 10 years. Heart diseases due to smoking automatically go by 15 years. Combine quitting with lifestyle changes and you will get all these benefits within just a few months.
25% of cancer related deaths are due to tobacco.
All the dangerous effects of smoking develop in your friends and family too.
1 million people die annually due to being just with a smoker.
Non smokers around you also develop lung cancer.
Cigerettes are a major cause of accidental fires.
E-cigarettes are also equally dangerous like normal cigarettes.
People with tuberculosis develop severe form of the disease when others smoke near them.
Exposure to cigarette smoke increases risk of diabetes.
Your image is immediately ruined when you ligh up your cigarette.
Your entire body, clothes, furniture, car and home, stinks of tobacco.
Tobacco destroys your gums and teeth.
Tobacco chewing & smoking causes bad breath.
Tobacco speeds up ageing and makes you look older.
Tobacco makes your skin leathery and dry.
Tobacco is the major cause of psoriasis and many such diseases.
Smoking around children is very dangerous for them as it damages their tender lungs rapidly, causes asthma, & hearing loss.
Tobacco damages your social life as you will no more be a role model, your relationships are affected, you will not be permitted to go everywhere and you will be isolated.
Smoking interrupts everything that you do.
Tobacco is expensive. Buying is the minor expense. Real expenditure starts when you get serious diseases.
Tobacco reduces your chances of getting and progressing in your employment. Smokers are barred from many jobs.
Tobacco users are likely to remain poor.
Tobacco lowers your fertility by affecting sperm and egg development, causes abortions, premature births, erectile dysfunction, necessitates cesarean birth, lowers milk formation, hinders child's development and so on.
There are no safe forms or versions of tobacco.
Half of the tobacco users die due to the consequence of tobacco use.
Tobacco destroys the entire body.
Tobacco users can develop all types of cancer starting from mouth to brain, cancers of the lips, throat (pharynx and larynx) and oesophagus, acute myeloid leukaemia; cancer of the nasal and paranasal sinus cavities; colorectal, kidney, liver, pancreatic, stomach or ovarian cancer; cancer of the lower urinary tract (including the bladder, ureter and renal pelvis), breast cancer and cervical cancer.
Smokeless cigarettes are more dangerous than regular cigarettes.
Tobacco industry is exploiting millions of farmers, laborers and children. When you buy tobacco, you support this exploitation.
Switching from one tobacco product to another form of tobacco product is not 'quitting'.
Tobacco industry uses misleading advertisement, cheating and many such malpractices to make people dependent on its products. You are a victim of it. They Target teenagers.
Mostly smokers died of COVID.
Risk of lung cancer is 22 times higher in smokers.
20% of smokers develop COPD.
Smoking causes and increases the severity of Asthma.
Smokers commonly get tuberculosis infection.
Tobacco increases the risk of heart diseases by four times.
Tobacco doubles the risk of stroke.
Smokers lose hearing and vision by developing many diseases like macular degeneration, cataract, glaucoma and inner ear degeneration.
Continuous tobacco use reduces lifespan by atleast 10 years.
Cigerettes contain thousands of toxic chemicals.
Smokers develop memory loss.
Alzheimer's Disease is more common in smokers.
Smoking women experience menstrual problems and early menopause.
Tobacco causes clots in all parts of the body.
Tobacco leads to gangrene.
Tobacco reduces the efficiency of repair mechanisms of the body. Smokers fail to recover completely after trauma or surgery.
Smokers need longer treatment for every disease, including admissions in ICU.
Smokers develop stomach ulcer, cancers of the digestive system and IBS.
Smokers lose bone strength.
Smokers have weak immunity.
Smokers have a high chance of developing autoimmune diseases.
Progression of HIV to AIDS is faster in smokers.
Nobody, including your government can help you in quitting. You have started smoking, it's your responsibility to quit.
Tobacco farming, manufacturing of products, use of products and discarding of packages and butts is a significant source of environmental pollution.
Quitting smoking and other addictives is very easy. Correcting your diet and lifestyle removes pain from your body and worry from your mind. This reduces the stress and helps in reducing smoking and reaching a point where you can completely quit easily. If you need help, get in touch.
Take Care
Dr. Madhukar Dama
Lifestyle Advisor