Nicotine Addiction And The Health Effects Of Smoking: Why Is It Important To Stop?

Smoking cigarettes is, we all know, bad news — along with the numerous other ways to use nicotine, including smoking a pipe, chewing tobacco, sniffing it, and the emerging practice of vaping. If you're still participating, it's probably not because you "just really love smoking", even if you're deluding yourself otherwise. It's because nicotine is holding you in a grip of addiction that's hard to break free of. Nearly 70 percent of smokers, statistics show, wish they weren't. 

1. Death: Smoking kills smokers

Smoking kills. In most places, it will say so right on your favorite package of cigarettes. As many as half of all long-time nicotine users will  ultimately succumb to smoking-related illnesses. In concrete terms, around seven million tobacco users die from their addiction globally each year, of whom 480,000 are US residents. More people are killed by smoking than die from HIV, car accidents, alcohol problems, drug use, and firearms combined. 

2. More death: Smoking kills non-smokers

It's true that most people who die from smoking-related causes are themselves smokers — these make up the approximately seven million deaths we've already looked at. Just over a million people who will die for reasons linked to tobacco every year all over the planet aren't tobacco users at all, however, but victims of second-hand and third-hand smoke. 

That means people who smoke inside their homes put those they live with at risk. Even those who don't, however, still carry toxins on their bodies and clothes. The people you love didn't sign up for this. It's a good reason to quit, even if you don't much care about your own health. 

3. Smoking robs smokers of their quality of life

"Smoking kills" might just be the most frequent argument to quit now — but depending on your world view and personality, you may simply not care all that much. "So what?", you may think. "I gotta die of something, right?" The fact that smoking kills so many addicts may not convince you to stop, but perhaps this will. Smoking kills slowly, and often painfully. 

Smoking causes more than nine in 10 lung cancer deaths, and eight in 10 deaths related to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It causes wheezing, shortness of breath, and coughing. Smoking may double to quadruple your risk of coronary artery disease and stroke. Cancer-wise, smoking is responsible for an awful lot more than lung cancer. Name your body part, and smoking increases your odds of getting cancer in it, basically — from the larynx to the bladder, and the pancreas to the colon. 

4. Stopping smoking lowers your risk of dying and adverse health outcomes

We were about to make some "unless you've been living under a rock, you'll already know most of this" comment — but if you're reading this and buying tobacco, you're obviously not living under a rock. In this day and age, every smoker is, frankly, quite aware of the health risks of smoking, at least in broad terms. 

You may convince yourself you don't need to quit by thinking something along the lines of "I've been smoking for two decades already, and all this is already inevitable". Wrong. Quitting now, no matter how long you have been smoking, reduces your risk of heart disease, stroke, and lung disease and will improve your breathing. If you are already affected by a smoking-related disease, your prognosis will improve. 

5. Beyond health: Other benefits of quitting smoking

Smoking may kill you and take your independence away one day, but if you're young(ish) and aren't experiencing any adverse effects yet, that may seem so far in the future that you can't really comprehend it right now. Other motivations may help you quit smoking, instead. Saving money is a prime non-health reason to quit smoking in this case. Many people prefer to date non-smokers. Smoking makes you smell bad; quitting eliminates this. Smoking dulls the taste buds, and quitting opens up new flavors. 

6. Help is available for quitters

A final reason to still be smoking is, quite simply, addiction — you want to stop and have tried to, but nicotine has reeled you back in. Know that support is available. Nicotine replacement therapy, in the form of patches, lozenges, gum, and nasal spray can help you quit. Medications are even around to help you through the withdrawal process, and they go by the names Zyban and Chantix. Counseling sessions can be beneficial, too. 

Nicotine withdrawal is rough. We know that. You may suffer from cravings and find yourself irritable and unable to concentrate. The addiction may fight back — "smoke, smoke!" — and you may even be concerned that you can't finish your daily responsibilities if you don't smoke. Nicotine withdrawal is finite, though. It gets easier every day, and with time, you do get used to it and the urge to smoke tapers off. At about the same time, you may begin to notice some of the health benefits of quitting, like easier breathing and less coughing.