Thursday, 13 February 2014

The 10 Best Reasons to Quit Smoking

Kicking a smoking habit can be a painfully aggravating journey of nagging cravings, irritable mood swings, appetite roller coasters, and embarrassing failures.
However, for every awful withdrawal symptom—these ten positives give you reason to quit smoking once and for all…

1. Cash Savings

It should be no surprise that once you quit smoking you’ll save a ton of cash.  With cigarettes anywhere from $5 to $10 per pack (depending on where you reside and how much you smoke) a month of smoking can coat upwards of several hundred dollars. And you’ll not only have a lot of extra money due to not buying cigarettes any longer, you’ll save money on laundry costs, car cleaning costs, and house purification costs (i.e., carpet and upholstery cleaning) to banish that awful stale smoke smell.

2. Taste Everything For the First Time

Many folks who kick the habit claim eating food is an entirely new experience—it’s like tasting flavors for the first time! That’s because years of smoking literally deaden your olfactory (sense of smell) and gustation (sense of taste).  After quitting smoking, luckily, those sensations are restored in a few days and you’ll be able to enjoy food more than ever.
 

3. Bye, Bye Wrinkles

Smoking does in fact cause premature wrinkles—primarily around the lips from the regular motion of sucking in cigarette smoke.  However, nicotine can affect the skin all over your body as it constricts the blood vessels and limits oxygen in the blood. Smoking also damages skin proteins (i.e., collagen and elastin, which leads to sagging and wrinkling earlier on.

4. Improved Physical Health

Smokers risk heart health due to sucking in so much carbon monoxide. The chemical decreases oxygen in the blood and makes physical activity more tiring, more quickly. This is why smokers often experience shortness of breath when exposed to minimal physical exertion.


5. No More Offensive Odor

Once you quit smoking you can rid your clothes, your car, and your house of that offensive smell that’s always lingering. You probably didn’t notice it when you smoked (due to desensitized olfactory sense), however, in a few weeks after you quit, you’ll probably be offended by the fact that your entire world smelled of one giant ashtray and ban cigarettes of your presence.

6. More Time to Focus on What’s Important

It’s just amazing how much time you’ll suddenly have once you quit smoking. Most smokers admit that they have more quality time to focus on family, career, and personal goals, when they no longer have to stress about running out for a smoke break every hour.  They also no longer feel the anxiety of long car rides, bus trips, or flights without a smoke break.

7. Reduced Cancer Risk

You might associate smoking with lung cancer, but cigarettes are also linked to increased risk of several other types of cancer—including mouth, tongue, stomach, throat, kidney, and bladder cancer. In fact, studies link well over 40-percent of premature U.S. fatalities to cancer-related deaths.

8. No More Second Hand Smoke

Kicking smoking not only makes you healthier by extending your life expectancy—decreasing your risk of cancer, lung disease, stroke, emphysema, and heart attack—butting out will also improve the health and life expectancy of your loved ones (especially if they live with you). After all secondhand smoke causes approximately 3,000 non-smokers to die of lung cancer each year, on top of decreasing the prevalence of asthma and bronchitis in children and spouses of smokers.

9. No More Hiding Yellow Teeth

A mere week after butting out for good, you will start to notice a decline in the yellowish film covering your teeth. In fact, every time you brush your teeth after you quit smoking,  the faster
yellow/brown stains will fade. Soon you can once again show that brilliant white smile to the world with confidence.

10. Lower Insurance Premiums

Did you know that life insurance and home insurance costs more for smokers? It’s true, smokers pay upwards of $300 to $600 more per year on their annual health insurance costs and monthly premiums because they are considered a disease. Home insurers will also charge more as smokers are considered risky to ensure when it comes to house fires.


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