Smoking; Its Dangers And How To Quit Smoking


In our world today, the rate of smoking among teenagers, adults, male and females is on the increase. A times people ask questions like what is the effect of smoking in our environment, what are the dangers of smoking, how does cigarette smoking affect the respiratory system, what tobacco can do to you,what does cigarettes do to your body? The fact remains that smoking has both health and environmental effects.

According to CDC report smoking has killed 10 times the population of Americans than war. Smoking causes more deaths each year than the following causes combined Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Alcohol use, Firearm-related incidents, Illegal drug use and Motor vehicle injuries.

Smoking has adverse effect on the health of an individual. Cigarette contains over 5000 compounds including 1,3-Butadiene used to manufacture rubber, arsenic used for wood preservation, cadmium used for making battery, benzene and hundreds of others have been proven to cause lungs cancer, liver disease, leukemia and host off other dangerous effects on man’s health.

Smoking affects pregnancy in women as it can make chances pregnancy difficult. Smoking increases risks of stillbirth (death of the baby before birth), ectopic pregnancy, sudden infant death syndrome (known as SIDS or crib death), preterm (early) delivery, low birth weight and orofacial clefts in infants. Smoking also affects the sperm in men thus can result to impotency.

Smoking causes general adverse effects on the body, including inflammation and decreased immune function. Causes of type 2 diabetes mellitus and can make it harder to control. The risk of developing diabetes is 30–40% higher for active smokers than nonsmokers. Smoking can increase your risk for cataracts (clouding of the eye’s lens that makes it hard for you to see) and age-related macular degeneration (damage to a small spot near the center of the retina, the part of the eye needed for central vision). Smoking affects the health of your teeth and gums and can cause tooth loss and is the cause of rheumatoid arthritis.

How To Quit Smoking

Understand Your Smoking

Quitting smoking is a very difficult but not an impossible task. The number one step to quitting smoking is to understand your smoking. Understanding your smoking in this sense means knowing why you smoke, what prompts your smoking, who compels you to smoke. Nicotine withdrawal, habits and routines, stress, social situations and the amount of alcohol you’ve had, each contribute to the urge to smoke. Together they make quitting a challenge. Understanding your smoking helps to anticipate cravings and plan for your quit attempt.

Choosing the Best Way to Quit

when you have understood what prompts your smoking, the next step is to device a means to regulate those factors that prompts your smoking. You may have tried to quit before on your own and found it too hard. seek support from a professional advisor. Research shows that there are two types of support that increase the likelihood of success guidance from a professional advisor or coach to help you manage habits and emotions linked to smoking and nicotine replacement products or quitting medications (both reduce cravings and nicotine withdrawal symptoms). you can as well sort assistance from self-help book, brochures and websites

Getting Ready

Choose some days within the coming week to tryout the strategies you have mapped out to quit smoking. Experiment by trying not to smoke at all. The facts remains that this step is a difficult one which might fail but persistence and determination is the only way out.

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