Smoking has more than 50 ways of making life a misery through illness and more than 20
ways of killing you. In general, smokers endure poorer health than non­smokers. It has been
estimated that, in England, 364,000 patients are admitted to NHS hospitals each year due to
diseases caused by smoking.

This translates into 7,000 hospital admissions per week, or  1,000 day. In 1997/98, cigarette smoking caused an estimated 480,000 patients to consult  their GP for heart disease,20,000 for stroke and nearly 600,000 for COPD.

Half of all teenagers who are currently smoking will die from diseases caused by tobacco if
they continue to smoke.  One quarter will die after 70 years of age and one quarter before,
with those dying before 70 losing on average 21 years of life. It is estimated that between
1950 and 2000 six million Britons, 60 million people worldwide, would have died from
tobacco­related diseases.

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As we approach a new year filled with fresh possibilities, countless people will try to quit smoking. Everyone has their reasons to butt out: to improve their health, to eliminate the costs of tobacco products or to avoid spreading secondhand smoke.

Yet should smoking be considered an individual disease or is it a behaviour that is shaped by social conditions?

If smoking is a disease it requires medical treatment. If lighting up is a social behaviour it is shaped by norms, attitudes and environmental influences. So, is smoking an illness or a collective activity?

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I’M GETTING READY TO QUIT
Preparing to quit smoking takes time and effort. Follow this section through, step by step, and you’ll be further down the road to quitting.

LOOK AT YOUR PAST ATTEMPTS
Most smokers don’t quit the first time they try. It takes many attempts to learn the skills of living without cigarettes. If you’ve tried to quit in the past, take a look at what happened and how you can avoid problems.

DECIDE ON A STOP DATE

It’s important to pick a firm date when you are going to stop smoking. That will be your first day with no cigarettes. Set the date a week or two from now.
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• Depending on the number of cigarettes smoked, cigarette smokers are six times more likely to die from different mouth related cancers.
• Cigar smokers are twice as likely to die from mouth related diseases compared to non-smokers.
• The most common places where oral cancer forms is on the tongue, the gums, or the floor of the mouth.
• In 1996 it was estimated that approximately 700 Canadians died as a result of smoking-related lip, mouth and throat cancers.
• Using chewing tobacco also increases the risks of mouth and throat cancers.

Source and Full Article: http://bodyandhealth.canada.com/channel_section_details.asp?text_id=3257&channel_id=2022&relation_id=16630

Impotence, or erectile dysfunction, is twice as likely to occur in smokers than non-smokers. Exposure to second-hand smoke is a significant factor in becoming impotent.
What is Impotence?

Impotence is the constant inability of a man to maintain an erection for sexual purposes. It is estimated that impotence affects over 30 million men in the United States.

Sexual functioning requires the coordination of several functions in the body. This includes the nervous system (mental stimulation) working in coordination with hormones, and the vascular system which pumps blood into the muscle tissue that maintains the erection. Smoking can affect all these systems, thereby, causing impotence.

Many diseases caused by smoking involve blockage of the arteries, meaning that smoking inhibits the flow of blood throughout the body. Strokes and heart attacks are one result of severe blood flow blockage. Impotence is another result of arterial blockage.
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Chronic bronchitis is the production of excess mucus in our lungs and causes problems in absorbing oxygen. The excess mucus impairs breathing and is usually associated with constant coughing, which is a natural mechanism that removes foreign particles and irritants from our lungs.1

Healthy lungs have a natural cleaning process that removes the dust and smoke and other foreign particles that are part of the air, allowing us to breathe normally.

Tobacco smoke contains many harmful chemicals, and the smoke itself limits our lungs’ natural filtering/cleaning system. Cigarette smoke also contains substances that directly damage the lung tissue.2 Smoking irritates the bronchial tubes in the lungs which in turn results in the production of more mucus. Smokers’ cough, as it is commonly known, is a sign that the lungs are trying to clean themselves.
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CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health (OSH) created the National Tobacco Control Program (NTCP) in 1999 to encourage coordinated, national efforts to reduce tobacco-related diseases and deaths. The program provides funding and technical support to state and territorial health departments. NTCP funds

• All 50 states
• The District of Columbia
• Seven U.S. territories
• Nine national organizations
• Six national networks, representing six priority populations
• Health officials at the local, city, county, and state levels

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The two main types of smokeless tobacco in the United States are chewing tobacco and snuff. Chewing tobacco comes in the form of loose leaf, plug, or twist. Snuff is finely ground tobacco that can be dry, moist, or in sachets (tea bag-like pouches).

Although some forms of snuff can be used by sniffing or inhaling into the nose, most smokeless tobacco users place the product in their cheek or between their gum and cheek.3 Users then suck on the tobacco and spit out the tobacco juices, which is why smokeless tobacco is often referred to as spit or spitting tobacco. Smokeless tobacco is a significant health risk and is not a safe substitute for smoking cigarettes.

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Cigarette smoking remains the leading cause of death and illness among Americans. Every year, roughly 430,000 Americans die from illnesses caused by tobacco use, accounting for one fifth of all deaths. Tobacco use costs the nation about $100 billion each year in direct medical expense and lost productivity.

About 25% of all American adults (46.3 million people) smoke. This number has remained constant for several years despite government efforts through Healthy People 2000 and Healthy People 2010 to lower those percentages. Slightly more men (28.1%) smoke than women (23.5%). Hispanics (20.4%) smoke less than whites (25.3%) or African Americans (26.7%).

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“I’ve smoked two packs of cigarettes a day for 40 years—what’s the use of quitting now?”

If you quit smoking, you are likely to add years to your life, breathe more easily, and have more energy. You will have extra money for spending or saving, and food will taste better. When you quit smoking, you join over a million people who stop smoking each year. Whether you are young or old, you will also:

• have less chance of cancer, heart attack, and lung disease,
• have better blood circulation,
• have no odor of smoke in your clothes and hair,
• have a better sense of taste,
• set a healthy example for children and grandchildren,
• have a more sensitive sense of smell, and
• have healthier family members, particularly children and grandchildren.

What Smoking Does

Cigarette smoke damages your lungs and airways. Air passages swell and, over time, you will have more and more trouble clearing mucus from your air passages. This can cause a cough that won’t go away. Sometimes this leads to a lung disease called chronic bronchitis. If you keep smoking, normal breathing may become harder and harder as emphysema develops. In emphysema, your lung tissue is destroyed, making it very hard to get enough oxygen.

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