1. Smoking is bad for your health
Smoking increases your chances of dying from lung disease, emphysema, heart-attack, stroke and other diseases. In men, smoking can reduce the sperm count and contribute towards impotence. Pregnant women who smoke have a higher risk of delivering a premature baby.
Smoking is also a contributory factor towards cervical, breast and colon cancer and has also been linked to depression in younger people.
2. Passive smoking affects the health of others
Non-smokers who are constantly exposed to cigarette smoke are at an increased risk of suffering from the many diseases that smokers are prone to.
Babies with smoking parents are more likely to suffer from colic and are more unsettled than those with none-smoking parents.
3. Smoking is anti-social
Twenty years ago it was thought to be ‘cool’ to light up a cigarette, however times have changed and with people becoming increasingly health conscious they really don’t want to be around smokers.
That’s why most public places now ban smoking, forcing smokers to go outside to light up. Let’s face it, most people would much prefer to breathe in fresh clean air than stale tobacco polluted air.
Smokers are also more likely to snore, which their partners are sure to find anti-social. Even non-smokers who live with a smoker are more likely to smoke than those in smoke-free households.
4. Smoking is expensive
Smoking is not only expensive but it is basically burning your money away. At today’s price (2009) in the US a packet of cigarette costs around $3.48 If you smoke 20 cigarettes a day then your habit will cost you $104.30 a month – that is a staggering $1270.19 a year. Over 20 years (not taking inflation into account), you will have burnt $25,403.80.
What could you buy with that amount of money?
Find out with the American Heart Associations Smoking Cost Calculator
5. Smoking makes you smell
If you’ve ever noticed the stale smell of tobacco on your clothes, your breath, your hair and/or skin then you can bet your life that others have noticed it far more strongly – and it is a repulsive smell for those who don’t smoke.
Stopping smoking will enhance your own sense of smell to the extent that you will really notice what I mean in the previous paragraph. When you are around people who smoke you’ll be really glad that you don’t smell that way.
6. Smoking adversely affects your environment
When you walk into a room where people have been smoking you are immediately hit with the stale, unpleasant smell of tobacco. Tobacco smoke also makes your walls, ceiling, furniture, upholstery and everything else in the room a dirty yellowy, grimy color.
Isn’t your family or whomever else you live with entitled to a clean, smoke-free home? If you visit a friend or family member who doesn’t smoke, would you consider smoking in their house? Probably not, but if you do then I’m sure they’ll be spraying the air freshener around the moment you leave.
7. Smoking ages your skin
Smoking restricts the blood vessels, depleting the skin of oxygen and nutrients, causing dryness, wrinkles and skin damage and giving the skin a grayish wasted appearance. It has also been linked to psoriasis in women.
Smoking causes discoloration of the fingers and fingernails where cigarettes are held and also results in a yellowing of the teeth and is a cause of bad breathe.
8. Smoking is a bad habit
If you have the first cigarette of the day with your morning cuppa, when driving to work or smoke more when in the company of others who smoke, then you will see how habit and association play a big part in your smoking, however the habit is more of a psychological one than physical.
Have you ever woken thinking, ‘right that’s it, I’m not going to smoke again’ only to go downstairs and light up with your usual trigger? If so, you are not alone, but it takes only a few days to break that habit and create new, healthier ones.
9. Smoking depletes your energy
With your lungs functioning at maximum capacity you will be delighted to discover that stopping smoking actually increases your energy levels. You will feel much more motivated in all areas of your life.
10. Smoking sets a bad example to children
Children of parents who smoke are more likely to become smokers themselves. They are not exactly good role models for their children and feel hypocritical in dissuading their children from smoking.
If you set a good example, by quitting smoking, your children will respect you for it and are far more likely to follow in your footsteps.
