If you were looking for a wake-up call to get you to quit smoking for good, you've found it. I have compiled a list of the cold hard facts regarding smoking as well as the impact it will have on your life if you don't break free from the habit.

Here are some sobering statistics to start things off:

-Worldwide, tobacco use causes more than 5 million deaths per year.

-Current trends show that tobacco use will cause more than 8 million deaths annually by 2030.

-Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.

-In the United States, cigarette smoking is responsible for about one in five deaths annually, or about 438,000 deaths per year.

There is no doubt smoking is a killer. On average, smokers die 13 to 14 years earlier than nonsmokers! That translates to 12 to 14 minutes taken from your life with each cigarette! Each and every one of those cigarettes you smoke is bringing you closer and closer to an early grave.

Some other Reasons to Quit Smoking for Good:

-Food doesn't taste as good to smokers. When a smoker's nasal cavity is under the effects of the chemical products found within cigarettes their ability to savor various tastes/aromas is lessened.

-If you smoke, your body will require more sleep than a non-smoker. Additionally, smokers don't sleep as well as non-smokers

-Smokers find themselves sick more often than non-smokers. The average smoker misses 7 1/2 work days a year compared to 4 1/2 for the non-smoker

-Smoking makes people more irritable and argumentative, in part due to subconscious knowledge of the above mentioned points.

-A correlation has been found between smoking and brain damage/premature senility

This is just touching the tip of the ice-berg. There are plenty more reasons to quit the habit once and for all. We may know smoking is not healthy, but it helps to stop and look at these facts to wake us up to the reality of what we are doing to ourselves.

Hopefully the above has opened your eyes some and given you additional insight into how smoking is affecting your life. It is never to late to make a change...to quit smoking for good.