Smoking Kills

Smoking is one of the most common forms of recreational drug use.  This is primarily practiced as a route of administration for recreational drug use, as combustion releases the active substances in drugs such as nicotine and makes them available for absorption through the lungs. It can also be done as a part of rituals, to induce trances and spiritual enlightenment. The most common method of smoking today is through cigarettes, primarily industrially manufactured but also hand-rolled from loose tobacco and rolling paper. Other smoking tools include pipes, cigars, hookahs and bongs. Tobacco smoking is today by far the most popular form of smoking and is practiced by over one billion people in the majority of all human societies. Less common drugs for smoking include cannabis and opium. Some of the substances are classified as hard narcotics, like heroin, but the use of these is very limited as they are often not commercially available.

Although smoking is a recreation, it is bad for your health, and that quitting will reduce your risk of getting a disease related to smoking, such as heart attack, lung disease, early death, impotency or having a fertility problem, strokes. These are only few of the effects of smoking.  Many effects will cause not only to your self but will risk the health of the people that surrounds you.

Most people try to quit smoking a few times before they finally succeed. After all, what other "satisfying" thing do you do 200 times a day (the average number of puffs a pack-a-day smoker takes) and then abruptly decide not to do at all? However, nowadays, many programs like Smoking Cessation which is the process of discontinuing the practice of inhaling a smoked substance have been implemented. Smoking cessation programs mainly target tobacco smoking, but may also encompass other substances that can be difficult to stop using due to the development of strong physical addictions or psychological dependencies resulting from their habitual use.

Here's a timeline with some of the effects of quitting smoking and how they will affect your body;

• In 20 minutesyour blood pressure will drop back down to normal. Your pulse rate will also drop.
• In 8 hoursthe carbon monoxide (a toxic gas) levels in your blood stream will drop by half, and oxygen levels will return to normal.
• In 24 hoursour chance of having a heart attack will have decreased.
• In 48 hoursAll nicotine will have left your body. Your sense of taste and smell will return to a normal level. Your nerve endings have begun regrowth.
• In 72 hoursyour bronchial tubes will relax, and your energy levels will increase.
• In 2 weeksyour circulation will increase, and it will continue to improve for the next 10 weeks.
• In 3 to 9 monthscoughing, wheezing, and breathing problems will dissipate as your lung capacity improves by 10%. Even walking will become easier.
• In 1 yearyour risk of having a heart attack will have dropped by half.
• In 5 yearsyour risk of having a stroke returns to that of a non-smoker.
• In 10 yearsyour risk of lung cancer will have returned to that of a non-smoker.
• In 15 yearsyour risk of heart attack will have returned to that of a non-smoke.

I want you to know that it's never too late to quit smoking. Don't cop out and justify your continuing to smoke by telling yourself that the damage has already been done to your health so there's no point in you quitting.