🚭STOP SMOKING🚭

                             

                             

             STOP SMOKING
Tobacco has been around for centuries, but what we know about the health damage from smoking is much newer. For example, smokers tend to die more than 10 years earlier than people who don’t smoke. You can improve your health by choosing to quit smoking.

Is smoking bad for your health? 

Since at least the 1950s, health experts have linked smoking to lung cancer. Research continues to pinpoint more ways tobacco harms your health, from cancers to chronic (long-term) diseases.  

Experts estimate that 16 million Americans live with a disease caused by smoking. Every year, roughly 480,000 people die from smoking-related diseases. That means that for every person who dies from smoking, at least 30 others live with a serious smoking-related illness. 

Are other forms of tobacco safer? 

Many people believe that smoking a cigar is safer than smoking a cigarette. But, cigar smokers face many of the same potential risks as cigarette smokers, including cancer. Chewing tobacco or smokeless tobacco products are not safer than cigarettes, either. Smokeless tobacco contains almost 30 cancer-causing chemicals. 

E-cigarettes (vapes), an emerging form of nicotine delivery, differ from traditional tobacco products. Vaping delivers more concentrated nicotine than cigarettes in a smokeless inhaled mist (vapor). Health risks from vape products range from asthma to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cancer. 

How does smoking affect your body? 

Tobacco use harms every organ in your body. Smoking tobacco introduces not only nicotine but also more than 5,000 chemicals, including numerous carcinogens (cancer-causing chemicals), into your lungs, blood and organs. 

The damage caused by smoking can shorten your lifespan significantly. In fact, smoking is the number one cause of preventable death in the United States. 

Pregnant women who smoke put their unborn babies at risk, too. 

Possible effects on pregnancy include: 

•Ectopic pregnancy, a life-threatening condition when the embryo implants outside the uterus. 

•Miscarriages. 

•Stillbirths. 

•Birth defects, such as cleft palate. 

•Low birth weight. 

How can I avoid getting sick from smoking? 

The best way to avoid getting sick from smoking is to never start. If you do smoke, quitting as soon as possible can prevent or reverse health problems. 

Without smoking, you can: 

•Live longer. 

•Reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease. 

•Reduce your risk of developing a variety of other        conditions. 

•Feel healthier and have more energy. 

•Look and feel better. 

•Improve your sense of taste and smell. 

•Save money. 

How can I quit smoking? 

There are many different ways to quit smoking. To succeed, you have to find a smoking cessation plan that works for your personality. You need to be ready emotionally and mentally. You should want to quit smoking for yourself and not just for family or friends exposed to your secondhand smoke. 

When you decide to quit, these pointers can help: 

•Get rid of all cigarettes and anything related to smoking, like lighters and ashtrays. 

•Live with another smoker? Ask them not to smoke near you or convince them to quit with you. 

•When the cravings hit, don’t focus on them. Cravings are temporary, so focus on why you want to quit instead. 

•Keep yourself busy and find things to do with your hands — doodling or playing with a pencil or straw. Change any activities connected to smoking, too. Take a walk or read a book instead of taking a cigarette break. 

•When you get the urge to smoke, take a deep breath. 

•Hold it for ten seconds and release it slowly. Repeat this several times until the urge to smoke is gone. You can also try meditation to reduce baseline stress levels. 

•Avoid places, people and situations you associate with smoking. Hang out with nonsmokers or go places that don't allow smoking (like movies, museums, shops or libraries). 

•Don't substitute food or sugar-based products for cigarettes. These can cause weight gain. Instead, choose low-calorie, healthy foods. Try carrot or celery sticks, sugar-free hard candies or gum. 

•Drink plenty of fluids, but limit caffeinated beverages and beverages containing alcohol. They can trigger urges to smoke. 

•Remind yourself that you are a nonsmoker, and you don't smoke. 

•Don’t forget to exercise, because it has health benefits and help you relax.