The Most Important New Year’s Resolution You May Ever Make – PART 2

Breaking free from nicotine dependence is not the only reason to quit smoking. Cigarette smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals and chemical compounds, many of which are toxic or carcinogenic (i.e., cause cancer). Cigarette smoke can cause serious health problems, even death.

Fortunately, people who stop smoking can greatly reduce their risk for disease and premature death. And the younger you are when you quit, the better your chance for avoiding these problems. So don’t wait!

Quitting smoking:

· lowers the risk for lung and other types of cancer.

· reduces the risk for coronary heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease.

· reduces respiratory symptoms, such as coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath.

· reduces the risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), one of the leading causes of death in the United States.

· reduces the risk for infertility among women during their reproductive years. Women who stop smoking during pregnancy also reduce their risk of having a low birth weight baby.

If you quit smoking, you will also help protect your children, family, and friends from exposure to secondhand smoke that can cause immediate harm to the nonsmokers who breathe it.

· Harm to Adults

When others are exposed to secondhand smoke from your cigarettes, platelets in their blood get sticky and may form clots, just like in a person who smokes. This exposure increases their risk for heart attack and death. Secondhand smoke can also cause lung cancer.

· Harm to Children

If babies and children are exposed to secondhand smoke from your cigarettes, they may suffer from bronchitis, pneumonia, and ear infections. Exposure may make them wheeze and cough more often. If they have asthma, breathing in secondhand smoke from cigarettes can trigger an attack that may be severe enough to send them to the hospital. Secondhand smoke also causes sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

There is no safe amount of secondhand exposure. Breathing even a little secondhand smoke can be dangerous. Quitting smoking will improve your health and protect others from exposure to secondhand smoke.

SOURCE: Center for Disease Control and Prevention

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