The Effects of Smoking
As a smoker, you already know the effects of smoking are literally life threatening, and it’s common sense to quit smoking, but that doesn’t make it any easier. Because many people will tell you it’s very difficult to stop (including the tobacco companies, who are currently controlling your life), we often look for reasons and excuses not to stop. Here’s a list of excuses, and the effects of smoking which you may be familiar with:
My father/grandfather smoked 20 a day and lived till he was 75. Everyone knows someone like that, but they conveniently forget the many others they have known who died long before their time. The chances are that you will be one of those, rather than one of the lucky few.
People who don’t smoke also have heart attacks. True. There are other causes of heart attacks, but 70 per cent of all people under 65 admitted to coronary care with heart attacks are smokers, as are 91 per cent of people with angina considered for coronary bypass surgery.
I believe in moderation in all things, and I only smoke moderately. That’s rubbish. We don’t accept moderation in mugging, or dangerous driving, or exposure to asbestos (which incidentally causes far fewer deaths from lung cancer than smoking). Younger men who are only moderate smokers have a much higher risk of having a heart attack than non-smoking men of the same age. The figures are even worse for women.
I can cut down on cigarettes, but I can’t stop. It won’t do you much good if you do. People who cut down usually inhale more from each cigarette and leave a smaller butt, so that they end up with the same blood levels of nicotine and carbon monoxide. You must stop completely.
I’m just as likely to be run over in the road as to die from my smoking. In the UK, about 15 people die on the roads each day. This contrasts with 100 deaths a day from lung cancer, 100 from chronic bronchitis, and 100 from heart attacks, almost all of which are due to smoking. Of every 1,000 young men who smoke, on average 1 will be murdered, 6 will die on the roads, and 250 will die from their smoking habit.
I have to die from something. In my experience this is always said by someone in good health. They no longer say it after their heart attack or stroke, or after they have coughed up blood, and when they are on deaths door.
I don’t want to be old, anyway. We define ‘old’ differently as we grow older. Most of us would like to live a long time, without the inconvenience of being old. If we take care of ourselves on the way to becoming old we have at least laid the foundations for enjoying our old age.
I’d rather die of a heart attack than something else. Most of us would like a fast, sudden death, but many heart attack victims leave a grieving partner in their early fifties to face 30 years of loneliness. Is that really what you want?
Stress, not smoking, is the main cause of heart attacks. Not true. Stress is very difficult to measure and it is very hard to relate it to heart attack rates. In any case, you have to cope with stress, whether you smoke or not. Smoking is an extra burden that can never help, and it does not relieve stress. It isn’t burning the candle at both ends that does the harm, but burning the cigarette at one end.
I’ll stop when I start to feel ill. That would be fine if the first sign of illness were not a full-blown heart attack from which more than a third die in the first four hours. It’s too late to stop then. My friends first sign of lung cancer was the one that he died of only a few short weeks later.
I’ll put on weight if I stop smoking. You probably will, because your appetite will return and you will be able to taste food again. But if you have learnt about changing your eating habits to control your weight better, than you will lose any extra weight anyway. In any case, the benefits of stopping smoking far outweigh the few extra pounds you may put on.
I enjoy smoking and don’t want to give it up. Is that really true? Is that not just an excuse because you can’t stop? Ask yourself what your real pleasure is in smoking, and try to be honest with the answer.
Cigarettes settle my nerves. If I slopped, I’d have to take a tranquillizer. Smoking is a prop, like a baby’s dummy, but it solves nothing. It doesn’t remove any causes of stress, and only makes things worse because it is another promoter of bad health. And when you start to have symptoms, like the regular morning cough, it only makes you worry more. It will also make it more difficult for you to control your weight.
I’ll change to a pipe or cigar - they are safer. Lifelong pipe and cigar smokers are less prone than cigarette smokers to heart attacks, but have five times the risk of lung cancer, and ten times the risk of chronic bronchitis, than non-smokers. Cigarette smokers who switch to pipes or cigars continue to be at high risk of a heart attack, probably because they inhale.
I’ve been smoking now for 30 years - it’s too late to stop now. It’s not too late, whenever you stop. The risk of sudden death from a first heart attack falls away very quickly after stopping, even after a lifetime of smoking. If you stop after surviving a heart attack, then you halve the risk of a second one. It takes longer to reduce your risk of lung cancer, but it falls by 80 per cent over the next 15 years, no matter how long you have been a smoker.
I wish I could stop. I’ve tried everything, but nothing has worked. Stopping smoking isn’t easy unless you really want to do it. You have to make the effort yourself, rather than think that someone else can do it for you. So you must be motivated.
So the effects of smoking affect pretty much every area of your life - and the list of reasons not to stop are comprehensive. If you really want to learn how to quit smoking, you need to take contol of your emotions and habits. Don’t keep putting it off - tomorrow could be too late.
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Tags: Effects of Smoking, Giving Up Smoking, how smoking effects your lungs, smoking lung cancer