Next time you go to light up, remember: Cigarette smoking causes 87 percent of all lung cancer.
Lung Cancer is one of the most difficult cancers to treat and detect in its earliest, most treatable stage. Smoking also is a major cause of cancers of the mouth, throat and esophagus and is a contributing cause for cancers of the bladder, pancreas, cervix, kidney, stomach and some leukemias.
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Not starting is much easier than quitting. As Mark Twain said, "Quitting smoking is easy. I've done it a thousand times.' The hard truth is that 30 percent of deaths from lung cancer could have been prevented by eliminating tobacco use.
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What does smoking do to my lungs?
Your lungs are your breathing machines. The air you breathe in is pushed deep into your lungs by tiny hair-like structures called cilia. Cigarette smoke destroys these tiny hairs, and, to make up for it, your body produces mucus, usually too much mucus. That’s why smokers cough—their body is trying to get rid of extra mucus. A long-time smokers lungs show other effects: they are dark (not pink) and hard (limiting that in-and-out motion we need to breathe deeply). It’s been said that if the effects of cigarette smoking showed on our skin instead of in our lungs—where we can’t see it—no one would smoke. Now for some good news.
What happens when I quit smoking?
- 20 minutes after quitting: Your blood pressure drops to a level close to that before the last cigarette. The temperature of your hands and feet increases to normal.
- 2 weeks to 3 months after quitting: Your circulation improves and your lung function increases.
- 1 to 9 months after quitting: Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue and shortness of breath decreases.
- 1 year after quitting: Your excess risk of heart disease is half that of a smoker's.
- 10 years after quitting: The lung cancer death rate is about half that of a continuing smoker. The risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney and pancreas decreases.
- Smokers who quit before age 50 have half the risk of dying in the next 15 years compared with those who continue to smoke. Those who quit by age 35 avoid 90 percent of the risk attributable to tobacco.
- Your risk is reduced for other major diseases including lung and cardiovascular disease.
Smoking not only hurts you; It hurts those close to you.
Secondhand smoke causes:
- About 3,000 deaths annually among nonsmoking adults
- An estimated 35,000 to 40,000 deaths from heart disease among nonsmokers
- Respiratory problems in nonsmokers, including coughing, phlegm and chest discomfort
- 150,000 to 300,000 respiratory infections in children younger than 18 months of age
- Increase in the number and severity of asthma attacks in about 200,000 to 1 million children
- Increase in the number of ear problems in young children
Help break the cycle: keep teenagers from starting
- The younger you are when you begin to smoke, the more likely you are to smoke as an adult.
- Young people are more likely to develop a long-term addiction to nicotine than people who start when they’re older.
Teenagers who start using tobacco are the ones most likely to replace older smokers who die smoking.
Talk to your doctor about getting help to quit—for good and for good health.
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