Quit Smoking - effects and benefits

Harmful Effects
We've all seen pictures of lungs removed from deceased smokers. They resemble something offered at a bad barbecue and pictures like these display the true horror of what cigarettes do to a human body. The problem is that, as with ads on TV that show terminal cancer patients or photographs of gravestones, these pictures of the harmful effects of smoking create fear. And fear is not always a helpful force for becoming a non-smoker. Often it makes smokers reach for a comforting cigarette.


Governments tend to rely on the income from smoking taxation. According to figures from ASH, the UK Treasury earned just over £8 billion in revenue from tobacco duties in the 2002-03 financial year. From an economic point of view, they aren’t really interested in too many people stopping smoking too quickly – there would be a big hole in the budget figures. This isn’t a moral judgment on any particular government, just a harsh economic reality. But what do you think would happen if quit smoking adverts were positive? If they depicted images of happy and energetic ex-smokers enjoying fitness, health and prosperity? In short, if adverts “sold” stopping smoking as positively as they sell washing powder or a new car?

Forget the “stop smoking because it will kill you” approach, and start thinking about stopping because of the positive benefits, such as living longer and enjoying a better quality of life. Do you see the difference?


Serious Illness

Smoking is known to cause cancer and heart disease. There are now strong links between smoking and diabetes. There are many other conditions and illnesses that smoking might cause or contribute to.

Don’t you think it will feel great when you don’t need to know about any of this anymore? When you no longer need to weigh up the odds, and wonder about whether lung cancer or emphysema might get you first? This will be the greatest health benefit of all – freedom from anxiety about what smoking is doing to your health. There is no guarantee that you won’t get ill in the future, but it won’t be as a result of smoking, and you will have done your health a huge favor.


Smoking Related Deaths

Smoking can be thought of as a slow way of killing you. Cigarettes are full of toxic poisons. Nicotine itself is a toxin, a fertiliser like DDT. Packet cigarettes contain thousands of poisons including arsenic, benzene and carbon monoxide. Our bodies are well equipped to deal with poisons in small amounts and on a temporary basis. This makes us adaptive and is useful for our survival as a species, but make no mistake about it, if you keep introducing these poisons into your body long enough, they will kill you.

If you think of your life expectancy plotted on a graph, your decline towards death will be much steeper than a non-smoker. But not only that, your quality of life will suffer and will not be as good as a non-smoker. The health risks of smoking are more severe the older you are, particularly when you get into your 50s, but it is never too late to give up and start to improve your health.

There will always be an excuse to not give up smoking, an inner voice suggesting negative beliefs, if you don’t genuinely want to give up smoking. Yes, you might be run over tomorrow by a bus, or die suddenly in some other bizarre way, but you probably won’t. Whereas if you stop smoking you are likely to live a longer and better life.

You may wish to question beliefs which harm you – confront them and override them. Ask yourself directly if you really think you’ll get run over tomorrow. The answer will probably be “no”.

The Cost of Smoking
According to statistics produced by ASH, based on the cost of main brand cigarettes after the 2003 budget, smoking 20 cigarettes per day for 20 years in the UK will cost you £32,704. Converted into US dollars that's approximately $62,000 (correct conversion in March 2005).

Many smokers claim that money isn't a reason to stop. They have a resistance to engaging with the issue of how much money they spend on cigarettes. Of course, compared to your health, money absolutely is not an important issue, but perhaps you might like to spend a few minutes considering exactly how much money you spend on smoking, and what you could do with it if you stopped.

You have to be very honest with yourself when completing this next exercise. Work out how much on average you personally spend on smoking. Then multiply this amount by 260, to get the amount you will spend over 5 years. Add about 10% to account for inflation, customs increases etc. Then think about what you would like to spend this money on, if you could. A new car, paying off a chunk of the mortgage, a vacation – whatever you want.