Don’t Become a Statistic – Quit Smoking and Beat the Odds
Video That Inspired Me to Quit Smoking

In addition to becoming overwhelmingly unacceptable by an ever increasing health conscious society, smoking has been directly correlated to conditions such as pneumonia, bronchitis and emphysema. Because of long term exposure to the toxins contained in cigarette smoke, a person’s respiratory system is persistently compromised, which eventually leads to some form of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The chance that smokers will suffer more from upper or lower respiratory tract infections than abstainers is more likely, largely due to the fact that consistent exposure to toxins can suppress the body’s immune functions.  Throat, tongue and lung cancers are also found in higher incidents among smokers than non-smokers.

Generally, a smoker’s lungs succumb more readily to lung infections because their ability to fight off infection is already compromised.  Chronic coughing, wheezing and mucus production appears more often in smokers than it does in those that do not smoke.

Chronic, long term exposure to cigarette smoke can also result in shortness of breath, loss of energy, anxiety attacks, unintentional weight loss, swelling of hands or feet and/or a barrel shaped chest.  When the body is deprived over a long period of time of the life giving oxygen it requires to survive, there are often severe, sometimes fatal consequences.

The most effective and important treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is to stop smoking.  Quitting smoking immediately begins the process of cleansing toxins from the body. 

The prevalence of smokers who contract emphysema is far higher than among those who do not smoke, or those who quit smoking.  People who smoke up to a pack of cigarettes a day for up to 20 years are more likely to die when and if they succumb to emphysema. According to statistics compiled by the Surgeon General, mortality rates among patients with emphysema increase substantially in heavy, consistent smokers.

Scientific evidence supports the assumption that smoking is also related to dozens of other diseases, however research also indicates that a lot of damage is reversible and, in fact, a good deal of the adverse affects of smoking begin to be reversed within a short period of time once the smoker throws the pack away.

Unless they quit smoking, many smokers will not live beyond their 70^th year while the quality of their lives will be severely restricted.  Researchers estimate that smokers will die approximately eight years earlier than non-smokers. The good news is that life expectancy improves dramatically after a smoker kicks the habit.