Nicotine, arsenic, methanol, industrial solvents, ammonia, butane, cadmium. If some of those ingredients are good enough to clean your toilet with, or to power a battery, why not ingest them, too? That is what a cigarette smoker does with that smoke after dinner or break at the office.
As a nonsmoker, and a person who has become a serious believer in the importance of doing the right things for the body in order to be healthy, I became curious about why smokers don't quit the habit. With more and more things known about the harmful effects of cigarettes, you would think a person would have the willpower to quit if it made a big difference to their health!
While we nonsmokers may not ever completely understand how a smoker feels, doing the research for this article has opened my eyes a little wider as to what the obstacles are to anyone who has become addicted to nicotine.
First, let's look at a few of the reasons that should make a person want to give up the habit. To start with, tobacco smoke is harmful to both smokers and nonsmokers. Fortunately, with this fact in hand, smokers have become very considerate of their non-smoking friends, their children, relatives and other people around them. Most will go outside or in to another room where people do smoke.
The health problems that can be caused by smoking cigarettes are many. Here's a list of a few of the problems:
Cardiovascular disease, which includes heart attacks, stroke, arterial blockage, and peripheral vascular disease.
Lung cancer, cancer of the esophagus, larynx, mouth, throat, breast, liver, adrenal glands, kidney, bladder, and pancreas. There are about 250 known harmful chemicals in tobacco smoke and 69 of them are known to be causes of cancer.
Fertility issues in both men and women.
Pulmonary diseases, as COPD, asthma, chronic bronchitis, and respiratory tract infections.
Other problems include stress, faster aging of the skin, weakened immune system, receding gums, miscarriages in pregnant women, congenital disorders, deformities in newborns, dementia, and blindness.
The list above certainly points out plenty of reasons to quit. Knowing those reasons then, why is it so hard to quit smoking?
Nicotine is very addicting. One cigarette may contain 10 milligrams of nicotine. A whole pack of cigarettes then could have 200 milligrams. Smoking cigarettes becomes a pleasurable habit. As the person becomes more addicted, if they try to quit, they almost certainly will experience some very unpleasant withdrawal symptoms.
The withdrawal symptoms could be: dizziness, depression, frustration, impatience, anger, anxiety, irritability, disturbed sleep, trouble concentrating, boredom, restlessness, headaches, tiredness, increased appetite, weight gain, constipation, gas, chest tightness, slower heart rate, coughing, dry mouth, and sore throat.
About two-thirds of smokers say they cannot quit. Only about one in ten actually does quit the habit. So, knowing the facts about smoking today, facts that were not that well known a few years ago, it should be an easy decision to not ever start smoking!
There are many obvious health benefits for the person who quits smoking. That has to be an individual decision. Certainly, whether the decision is to quit or not quit, it would be a wise decision to take care of your body in other ways. Eat right, take good supplements, exercise, get adequate sleep. I think your body will like you for the right things you do!
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