Harmful Effects of Smoking you Need to Know About

There is no doubt that tobacco is bad for your health. Tobacco smoke contains over 5000 chemicals including acetone, tar, nicotine and carbon dioxide!

Smoking can lead to long term complications in the body. Learn more about the effects of smoking on the body below.

• Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body. It causes diseases like cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung disease and more.
• Smoking increases the risk of complications from diabetes – including managing high blood pressure and poor blood flow to legs and feet.
• Secondhand smoke can also cause stroke, lung cancer, and coronary heart disease in adults.
• Children who are exposed to secondhand smoke are at increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome, acute respiratory infections, middle ear disease, severe asthma, respiratory symptoms, and impaired lung growth.

Stopping smoking greatly reduces your risk for disease and early death as well as long-term benefits for you and your loved ones.

Great reasons to quit are

• To improve your health
• Lower your risk of disease in the future
• You will protect your family and friends who used to breathe in your secondhand smoke
• And you will save money!

So, you’re ready to kick the habit

Making the commitment to stop smoking is half the battle. Nicotine is highly addictive, and to quit smoking — especially without help — can be difficult.

The good news is that thousands of people walk away from tobacco use every day.

Around 90% of people who decide to stop smoking go it alone – no aids, no medicine, no therapeutic support. Only about 5% to 7% are able to quit. Research shows that you are up to eight times more likely to be successful in quitting tobacco use through a formal program that combines behavior modification, education and quit aids than going it on your own.

Take advantage of the many resources available to help you successfully quit smoking.

Start planning your quit:

• Pick a quit day
• Prepare for your quit day
• Ask your doctor about medications
• Find a support program
• Identify online tools and apps
• List your smoking triggers and habits and decide how you are going to deal with them
• Share with people
• Get rid of all your cigarettes and ashtrays from your house, office and car
• Stock up on substitutes – sugarless gum, hard candy, straws, cinnamon sticks or carrot sticks
• Schedule a dental cleaning
• If you’ve tried to quit smoking before but took it up again, think about what challenges you faced and why you started again. What worked and what didn’t?

Think about what you can do differently this time!