13 Reasons to Quit Smoking

According to research by the World Health Organization, every 8 seconds one person in the world loses their life due to tobacco use. The results of the research indicate that if people begin smoking in adolescence (which, unfortunately, is when more than 70 percent of cases of becoming a smoker occur) and continue this for 20 years or more, they will die between 20 and 25 years earlier than people who have never smoked in their lives. The consequences of tobacco use are not limited to lung cancer or heart disease; rather, there is a whole set of health issues and problems associated with the use of these substances that can arise in smokers and affect their physical health and bodily resistance. Some of the consequences of tobacco use are:

1) Hair loss

By weakening the immune system of smokers, the body of these individuals becomes susceptible to various diseases, including lupus erythematosus. This disease can be a cause of hair loss, the formation of sores in the mouth, and skin rashes on the face, head, and hands.

2) Cataracts

Smokers are 40 percent more likely than others to develop cataracts—the clouding of the eye's lens, the obstruction of the passage of light, and ultimately blindness.

3) Wrinkles

Tobacco use causes the loss of the proteins that give the skin elasticity, and it also depletes vitamin A and restricts blood flow in the skin's vessels. The skin of smokers is dry and has fine lines and wrinkles around the lips and eyes.

4) Skin cancer

Smokers are at twice the risk of non-smokers of developing a type of skin cancer (scaling, a raised growth on the skin).

5) Hearing damage

Smokers develop middle-ear infections 3 times more than non-smokers.

6) Osteoporosis

Carbon monoxide is one of the main toxic gases present in car exhaust and cigarette smoke; this gas's affinity for blood is far higher than that of oxygen, and it reduces the oxygen-carrying capacity in the blood of smokers by up to 15 percent, which causes the bones of smokers to lose their density and break easily.

7) Tooth decay

Smokers are 1.5 times more at risk of losing their teeth than non-smokers.

8) Discoloration of the fingers

The tar present in cigarette smoke, as a result of continuous tobacco use, accumulates on the fingers and nails and causes them to turn a yellowish-brown color.

9) Heart diseases

Cardiovascular diseases caused by tobacco use kill more than 600,000 people in developed countries. Tobacco use causes an increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, the risk of developing hypertension and vascular blockage, and ultimately a heart attack and stroke.

10) Stomach ulcers

Tobacco use lowers the stomach's resistance to bacteria, causes the stomach to be weakened in neutralizing stomach acid and resisting it after eating food, and causes residual acid to remain in the stomach, consequently damaging its wall. Stomach ulcers in smokers are difficult to treat, and the likelihood of their healing is mostly slim as long as the person continues to smoke.

11) Cervical cancer and miscarriage

Tobacco use during pregnancy can increase the risk of giving birth to a low-birth-weight baby and the occurrence of future health issues. Miscarriage is 2 to 3 times more common in smoking mothers.

12) Deformation of reproductive cells in men

Tobacco use causes a reduction in sperm count and sexual impotence in men. Infertility is also more common in smoking men than in non-smokers.

13) Cancer

There are more than 40 carcinogenic elements in cigarette smoke, which cause 14 different cancers and the death of 70,000 people annually. (The likelihood of lung cancer in smokers is 22 times greater than in non-smokers.) According to countless studies that have been conducted, if tobacco use continues, the likelihood of a person developing various cancers such as those of the tongue, mouth, glands, saliva, and throat increases 6 to 27 times, the stomach 2 to 3 times, the kidney 5 times, and the pancreas 2 to 5 times.

Cigarettes = destruction

Why on earth do we put ourselves, our spouses, our children, and those around us in serious danger?