Stop Smoking Now! The scary facts Big Tobacco isn’t telling you.
Information on the benefits of quitting smoking to you and those around you. Find the support you need to make your quit attempt a success.
Your Health
According to the Surgeon General, quitting smoking is the single most important step a smoker can take to improve the length and quality of his or her life. Smoking and vaping can cause cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Smoking also increases risk for tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and problems of the immune system, including rheumatoid arthritis.
People who vape are also twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression. If you’re already depressed, vaping can worsen it and any other mental health disorder you have, like attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Your Wallet
It’s expensive to smoke cigarettes. In some places, a pack of cigarettes costs more than $10—and prices keep rising. Even if a pack costs “only” $5 where you live, smoking one pack per day adds up to $1,825.00 each year. The startup price of a rechargeable nicotine vaping product (NVP) with refilled cartridges or e-liquids is three to five times higher than buying a pack of cigarettes.
Health Insurance companies will also have cheaper policy options for non-smokers.
Your Friends and Family
Cigarette smoke harms everyone who inhales it, not just the smoker. Whether you’re young or old and in good health or bad, secondhand smoke is dangerous and can make you sick. Children who live with smokers get more chest colds and ear infections, while babies born to mothers who smoke have an increased risk of premature delivery, low birth weight and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
Even your pets, especially cats, are more likely to develop cancer from your smoking habit.
Both you and the people in your life will breathe easier when you quit. Ex-smokers don’t carry the scent of smoke on their clothes and hair, and their homes don’t smell like cigarettes. Better breathing can mean better sleep at your house: Not only are smokers more likely to snore, so are non-smokers who breathe secondhand smoke on a daily basis.
Your Quality of Life
Here are some ways being a nonsmoker will improve your day to day:
- Because smoking interferes with your sense of taste and smell, food tastes better when you quit.
- You’ll be able to make it through a long movie or an airplane flight without craving a smoke.
- Within a few weeks after quitting, your smoker’s cough will disappear and you’ll have more energy.
*tobaccofreeflorida.com *lung.org *tanner.org
Tips and Tricks to Help you Quit
Coffee As a Trigger
If coffee is one of your triggers, start gradually increasing the amount of time between finishing your coffee and having a cigarette. Eventually, with enough time between the coffee and the cigarette, you will discover you can drink coffee without having the cigarette.
Daily Routines & Stress
Certain daily routines or feelings (like stress) often “trigger” you to grab a cigarette. During stressful moments, give yourself five minutes to take deep breaths and think of something calm—other than smoking. Slowly, you’ll begin to break the connection between stress and smoking.
Alcohol As A Trigger
When you’re first trying to quit, don’t smoke while you drink. Begin gradually increasing the amount of time between finishing your drink and smoking. Also, try choosing a smoke free bar or a restaurant for happy hour.
