Some Important Smoking Statistics
One of the most startling statistics connected to smoking is the number of people that it kills each year. Smoking is directly linked to the development of pancreatic, lung, esophageal and many other deadly forms of cancer, and it also causes serious heart and respiratory conditions too. It is estimated that in the year 2015 smoking will lead to the deaths of over six million people around the world. Currently, the WHO (World Health Organization) indicates that smoking takes the life of one smoker roughly every six and a half seconds. Additionally, around fifty thousand people perish every year from the effects of secondhand smoke, and that number applies just to those in the United States alone.
What is the point of all these facts and figures? They serve to demonstrate that smoking is harmful to everyone, not just the person who makes a habit of it but also to those who share their home, work space, and general environment. It is an activity that is going to kill over one billion people within this century, and shorten the life span of most people who make a regular habit of it by around fifteen years, if it doesn’t actually cause their death.
If you are reading this you are probably one of the millions of smokers who are trying, or who has tried already, to quit smoking. If you are having some trouble with achieving this goal it is important to know that many people who try to stop smoking will not succeed with their first effort. This is due to many factors, including the fact that the body must actually suffer withdrawal symptoms from nicotine use.
Consider that most smokers who quit “cold turkey”, without any supplementary nicotine in the form of gum or patches, are likely to feel moody, dizzy, tired, and also experience a severe craving for tobacco.
The advantages of enduring this brief period of discomfort are amazing, however, and begin within minutes of extinguishing the last cigarette. For example, within twenty minutes of quitting the heart rate and blood pressure of the former smoker begin to drop to healthier levels. Within twelve hours the carbon monoxide level of the blood is back to normal and safer levels, and within two weeks the circulatory system has improved dramatically.
A longer life and dramatically reduced chances for the development of fatal disease are the direct benefits of a few weeks of the irritability and cravings associated with quitting, and are well worth the effort.
