REASONS TO GIVE UP SMOKING

Smoking is unbelievably expensive. A 20-a-day smoker is thought to spend in excess amount of money each year on their habit. Plus, if you think about all the cigarettes that you give away to fellow smokers, the cost to you is actually even higher. And just imagine what you could do with the extra money every year! It’s also worth noting that if you have life insurance, it will be significantly cheaper if you are a non-smoker.

If anything, you should give up smoking for your own health’s sake. Tobacco smoke contains addictive nicotine, as well as a whole range of other harmful chemicals, including carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide. Smoking causes a very long list of problems including various cancers, heart disease, strokes, impotence, and osteoporosis — so stopping now will reduce the risk of being affected by these conditions in the future.

Not only is smoking bad for you, it affects others too. Passive or second-hand smoking means other people are put at risk by your habit. Pubs and bars are typical venues where passive smoking is at its worst, but at least steps have been taken into minimize the risk to customers and staff by the enforcement of smoking bans. Plus if you smoke at home, then you’ll be putting your family at risk too.

Smoking causes premature aging. Take a look at fellow smokers, and then compare them to non-smokers of similar age that you know. It’s likely that the smoker's’ skin will be far more wrinkled, pale and generally damaged. And think about this: a single cigarette is thought to reduce the blood supply to the skin for up to an hour. Smoking also stains the teeth — so you can usually spot a smoker just by the staining on their ‘not-so-pearly whites’.

Smoke stinks! Non-smokers who spend a few hours in the company of smokers know how much is smells because when they get home they stink. Smoke gets everywhere — both in your clothing and your hair — so that you’ll always need to wash everything to get rid of the nasty smell. If you go into a bar that has a no smoking policy it will become very apparent that the place feels much ‘fresher’ than a dingy smoke-filled venue that you might be used to.

‘Smoke Gets In Your Eyes’ isn’t just a saying — it’s a fact that you shouldn’t ignore. A night spent in a smoky environment can lead to a real stinging sensation in the eyes — and even if you don’t notice it that evening, you’ll certainly be aware the following morning when your eyes have that a ‘gritty’ feeling. This won’t be good if you need to have a sharp eye for detail on a daily basis. And it’s also worth mentioning here that smoking has been linked to eye disease and blindness!

You might think that enjoying a cigarette with friends is a good, sociable thing to do, and it might be the case with fellow smokers — but what about the non-smokers? Having a cigarette isn’t like enjoying a drink with friends. When you have a drink, you go the toilet afterwards — when you have a cigarette, you blow the smoke around for everyone to share, and quite often, unwittingly or not, directly in their face. This won’t help you get on their good side!

Smoking can have a major impact on a person’s ability to have children by affecting women’s ovaries and men’s sperm counts. Additionally, if you’re a woman and you’re pregnant, there are even more reasons to give up. Smoking when pregnant can cause low birth weight, premature birth, abnormal bleeding, and even miscarriage. Smoking during pregnancy is also thought to increase the risk of a baby being a victim of cot death and of going on to develop a range of illnesses later in life.

Smoking will probably leave you short of breath because of the tar it contains, which inhibits your lungs’ ability to extract oxygen from the air you breathe. Giving up will have you feeling better, and your improved lung function may enable you to start doing more exercise too! If you give up, your lungs will begin to heal themselves and eventually much of the tar that has collected in your lungs will clear up.

Even if you don’t put the health of your family at risk by smoking around them, you may be putting their long-term security and happiness at risk. Give up smoking for those people who care about you. Since smoking reduces your life expectancy, there’s a possibility you could die at a much younger age than you would if you didn’t smoke. Think of the consequences of what would be left behind if you popped your clogs prematurely.

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