Kick Your Butt: The Great American Smokeout
Today, November 20, is the Great American Smokeout, and if you've been thinking about kicking the butts for good, this might be your day. It's a day when smokers say no for 24 hours, and it just might be the impetus you need to begin a lifetime as a non-smoker.
Here are some stats for you to chew on:
Some immediate benefits of quitting:
20 minutes after quitting: Your heart rate and blood pressure drops. (Effect of Smoking on Arterial Stiffness and Pulse Pressure Amplification, Mahmud, A, Feely, J. 2003. Hypertension:41:183.) 12 hours after quitting: The carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal. (US Surgeon General's Report, 1988, p. 202) 2 weeks to 3 months after quitting: Your circulation improves and your lung function increases. (US Surgeon General's Report, 1990, pp.193, 194,196, 285, 323) 1 to 9 months after quitting: Coughing and shortness of breath decrease; cilia (tiny hair-like structures that move mucus out of the lungs) regain normal function in the lungs, increasing the ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs, and reduce the risk of infection. (US Surgeon General's Report, 1990, pp. 285-287, 304) 1 year after quitting: The excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker's. (US Surgeon General's Report, 1990, p. vi) 5 years after quitting: Your stroke risk is reduced to that of a nonsmoker 5 to 15 years after quitting. (US Surgeon General's Report, 1990, p. vi) 10 years after quitting: The lung cancer death rate is about half that of a continuing smoker's. The risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, cervix, and pancreas decrease. (US Surgeon General's Report, 1990, pp. vi, 131, 148, 152, 155, 164,166) 15 years after quitting: The risk of coronary heart disease is that of a non-smoker's. (US Surgeon General's Report, 1990, p. vi)The dangers of smoking to your loved ones (including pets):
Secondhand smoke is classified as a "known human carcinogen" (cancer-causing agent) by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US National Toxicology Program, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a branch of the World Health Organization. Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemical compounds. More than 60 of these are known or suspected to cause cancer. Secondhand smoke can be harmful in many ways. In the United States alone, each year it is responsible for:Pregnant women exposed to secondhand smoke are also at increased risk of having low birth weight babies. [...] The 2006 US Surgeon General's report reached several important conclusions:
- an estimated 35,000 deaths from heart disease in non-smokers who live with smokers
- about 3,400 lung cancer deaths in non-smoking adults
- other breathing problems in non-smokers, including coughing, mucus, chest discomfort, and reduced lung function
- 150,000 to 300,000 lung infections (such as pneumonia and bronchitis) in children younger than 18 months of age, which result in 7,500 to 15,000 hospitalizations
- increases in the number and severity of asthma attacks in about 200,000 to 1 million children who have asthma
- more than 750,000 middle ear infections in children
- Secondhand smoke causes premature death and disease in children and in adults who do not smoke.
- Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), acute respiratory infections, ear problems, and more severe asthma. Smoking by parents causes breathing (respiratory) symptoms and slows lung growth in their children.
- Secondhand smoke immediately affects the heart and blood circulation in a harmful way. It also causes heart disease and lung cancer.
- The scientific evidence shows that there is no "safe" level of exposure to secondhand smoke.
- Many millions of Americans, both children and adults, are still exposed to secondhand smoke in their homes and workplaces despite a great deal of progress in tobacco control.
- The only way to fully protect non-smokers from exposure to secondhand smoke indoors is to prevent all smoking in that indoor space or building. Separating smokers from non-smokers, cleaning the air, and ventilating buildings cannot keep non-smokers from being exposed to secondhand smoke.
And here's one that will get you: A calculator, adding up how much smoking costs you out of your wallet. Let's say I am a smoker, that I started when I turned 18 (which was June 1, 1987), that I smoke one pack a day (20 cigarettes), and that I pay $4 a pack. Adding that up, I will have spent approximately $31,000 on cigarettes. That's over ten thousand gallons of milk, over forty-one thousand candy bars, almost nine hundred pairs of Chuck Taylors, a couple of nice new cars, a decent down payment on a house, and over fifteen thousand gallons of gas.
The American Cancer Society site has many helpful links and lots of information to help you. I know it's rough...I have only smoked the equivalent of perhaps one pack in my life, but it was long enough to still get the urge for a drag now and then, even with asthma. My dad quit smoking when I was a kid. It is hard, but it is worth it.
Won't you take that first step? Happy Breathing Day!
