Quit Smoking Habit

Once you’re ready to quit, looking at the hazards smoking presents to your health is powerful medicine. As smokers, we all know tobacco is bad for us, but we keep a layer of denial in place and avoid looking at the dangers too closely. We have to in order to be able to smoke in relative peace. We tell ourselves we have years before we need to worry; that it won’t happen to us; that cancer doesn’t run in the family…the list of justifications goes on and on.

An important part of learning how to quit smoking involves removing the blinders and soaking up every bit of information we can find about the damage tobacco use causes and the diseases it has been linked to. It will help you shift your attitude away from thinking of smoking as a buddy and help you see tobacco for the killer it is.

Do you have any idea which smoking-related disease is the number one cause of death among smokers? If you’re thinking it’s lung cancer or COPD/emphysema, you’re wrong. While both of these smoking-related diseases do claim a lot of lives, it is heart disease that holds the top slot in the list of diseases that kill smokers.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States today, and the leading cause of death among smokers. And, on a global level, researchers report that there were 1,690,000 premature deaths from cardiovascular disease among smokers in the year 2000. In contrast, there were approximately 850,000 lung cancer deaths during the same year, and 118,000 COPD deaths from smoking in 2001, worldwide.

Smoking is hard on the heart, but the fact is, tobacco use plays a role in a multitude of diseases that ultimately lead to disability and/or death. Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 chemical compounds; 200 of which are known to be poisonous and upwards of 60 have been identified as carcinogens. Viewed in that light, it’s no wonder that the effects of smoking are so widespread and destructive.

Support.

Simply put, your chances for success with smoking cessation are many times greater when you have the support of like-minded people. Enlist the help of family members and close friends who want the best for you.

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