Why Stop Smoking Reason #8: it’s never too late to stop. Research has shown that after the age of about 35-40, every year of smoking reduces life expectancy by about three months on average. If you can quit before then, statistically, you risk little chance of a shortened life expectancy.
Why Stop Smoking Reason #9: People who smoke suffer from regular bursts of hypertension (high blood pressure) as a reaction to smoking. The nicotine triggers an adrenalin rush in the body that constricts arteries, speeds up heart rate and increases blood pressure.
When you stop smoking you stop putting your body through these stress cycles and research has shown that blood circulation around the body improves significantly within about three months of quitting.
All of this is an important section of this particular theme. Why Stop Smoking Reason #10: When you smoke, carbon monoxide in the tobacco smoke is absorbed into the blood stream. This gas locks itself onto the red blood cells, which should only carry oxygen in, and carbon dioxide out of the body. As a result of the carbon monoxide hijacking the red blood cells, the bloods efficiency is reduced by up to 15% in a smoker compared to that of a non-smoker.
When you stop smoking, your body starts fixing the blood by prizing the carbon monoxide off the red blood cells so that they can work properly. Within two days, your blood will be in full working order and tip top again!
Why Stop Smoking Reason #11: When you smoke, every puff of smoke causes damage to the cells and tissue structure of the lungs. Some of this damage is repairable, some is not.
When you stop smoking, the damage that’s repairable will be repaired and the damage that’s not repairable won’t get any worse. This is important for diseases like emphysema that are irreversible so stopping smoking will stop the progress of the disease.
Smokers who quit’ll notice great improvement in their lung function with substantially less wheezing and coughing. (The wheezing and coughing is caused by mild bronchitis that all smokers suffer throughout their smoking lives.)
Why Stop Smoking Reason #12: Anyone can see the difference between someone who has been a long term smoker and some one who hasn’t. When you stop, your appearance will improve as your body cleans itself of the toxins that have been ingested through years of smoking. Your skin will become more radiant and will lose its greyish pallor. Wrinkles may become less pronounced and you’ll look healthier.
Why Stop Smoking Reason #13: Statistics show that people who stop smoking reduce their risks of cancer. Risk of lung cancer will be half of that of a smoker after just ten years off the cigarettes. Risks of other cancers will also reduce rapidly with time.
Why Stop Smoking Reason #14: Smokers run a high risk of heart attack but quitting smoking reduces these risks dramatically. After just one year, a smoker who has quit’ll have halved his or her risk of suffering a fatal heart attack, compared to someone who continues to smoke. After fifteen years, there will be no noticeable difference in risk between an ex-smoker and someone who has never smoked.
Tom Dainty is a Quit Smoking Therapist and author of The Quit Smoking Bible, a cognitive behavioral therapy approach to quitting smoking. His work is only available from http://quitsmokingbible.com
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