You should quit smoking today or at least by next week, for the sake of your own health if not for others.
Did you know that smoking is one of the main causes of people dying earlier than they need, and it can be as much as ten years earlier? Ten years of your life is not worth forfeiting unless you were getting a serious benefit from smoking. But what benefit do you get exactly? Some people say that smoking relaxes them but even that is not necessarily true as to some extent nicotine acts as a stimulant. When you need to relax there are better ways than with a cigarette
If you look at the history of smoking it certainly goes back a long way. It seems that tobacco was harvested as long ago as 3000 BC or even earlier, probably in South America. The practice of incense burning and use of tobacco worked its way into various civilisations as part of ritual practices. From there it began to be taken up for pleasure and as a social tool. It probably spread to Northern America and then across to Europe where the practice became widespread.
Unfortunately, like so many things, the dangers of tobacco and smoking were not appreciated until much more recently. Even up to the end of the Second World War smoking was often considered a manly practice and much advertising centred on this image. In fact this advertising was grossly misleading since smoking does nothing to enhance manliness. In fact it's quite the reverse in that smoking gradually takes away from one's health and strength and can reduce a man, in his later life, to a weakened cripple.
Today the pendulum of public knowledge and opinion has swung the other way. Tobacco companies have been sued for misleading advertising, smoking is becoming less tolerated in public places, and even the packets of cigarettes carry large, government backed health warnings.
Today, everybody should be aware of the serious health risks from smoking:
- Cancer, particularly of the throat and lungs
- Lung disease in the form of emphysema and bronchitis causing reduction in lung capacity and function
- Blood vessel and heart disease
Okay, it's easy to think that these things will never happen to me. I'm fit and healthy. Well, maybe you are now but these conditions creep up on you slowly so that you don't even notice that anything is wrong until it's too late to reverse the narrowed arteries or repair damaged lungs. You may get some warning from a persistent cough or a shortness of breath, but it's amazing how many people just accept this state of affairs without trying to do anything about it.
Don't leave it too late to quit smoking. The later you leave it the more difficult it is to quit, and, the more damage will have been done. A heavy smoker may not only die ten years sooner than he should, but may well also have the last years of his life marred by crippling illness that destroys the quality of life.
The upside of quitting now is that, almost immediately your body starts to recover, and although you may not actually notice any difference straight away there will be immediate health benefits. Heart rate and blood pressure tend to lower, and fitness gradually improves as lung function begins to be restored
So please, quit smoking today. You know it makes sense.
