Why Quit?
Numerous studies show the following reasons to quit:
- Smokers are more likely to die earlier than non-smokers. A 35-year-old smoker is twice as likely to die before reaching the age of 65.
- Smoking can affect the way you live your life and can get in the way of who you want to be.
- Smoking causes many diseases that can make you disabled and dependent on other people, such as heart and vascular disease, cancer, aneurysms, and lung disease.
- Smoking can affect a woman's ability to have a healthy baby or get pregnant. It's linked to miscarriage, stillbirth, infant death, low birth weight, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
- Smoking can cause impotence in men because of decreased blood flow.
- Smoking affects the people you care about via second-hand smoke. Children who breathe second-hand smoke have more asthma attacks and ear infections.
- Quitting smoking will save money! Health care problems from smoking can cost you money in missed work, doctor's visits, and long-term care. In the short term, those packs of cigarettes add up! A pack-a-day smoker who pays $7.50 for a pack of cigarettes spends $52.50 a week and $2,730 a year.
