Reasons To Stop Smoking - A Reality Check

At the risk of running a little longer than I usually do here, I feel that, as another year is coming to an end, it is time for a much needed reality check:

Smoking is bad news and everybody knows it - whether we are talking about smokers harming their own health, or that of people around them via secondhand smoke.

And while over 45 million Americans have quit smoking, and smoking bans are in effect all over the place, more than 20 % of US adults are smokers, and every day thousands of teens are taking up that habit.

Smoking is the #1 killer in the nation: 1 out of 5 deaths are caused by nicotine and tobacco. This translates into 20% of all cardiac deaths and almost a half a million casualties annually.

On average, a nonsmoker lives roughly 14 years longer than a smoker. And the American Cancer Society says, that 650 million of the 1,3 billion smokers alive today who don’t stop smoking will pay for their habit with their lives…

Almost 9 million Americans suffer from smoking related diseases: lung-, throat-, mouth-, tongue- and breast cancer, heart attacks, strokes, artery disease, emphysema, COPD,  bronchitis, and pneumonia.

And that’s not all: Smoking also contributes to diabetes, osteoporosis, cataracts, sinusitis, dental disease, prematurely aging skin, heartburn, and, in men, bladder cancer and erectile dysfunction.

And, no, so called "light" cigarettes are not any "healthier" than regular ones.

Make sure you do not become part of any of the above mentioned stats. Check out how you too can easily stop smoking - if you truly desire to do so.

- Franc Tausch, PhD, CCHT