Benefits of Quitting Smoking

We all know that smoking is injurious to our health. It can cause serious life-threatening conditions, including cancer and heart disease. It is responsible for millions of death all over the world every year. Still, people of all age groups indulge in it.

It is not easy to quit smoking, like any other addiction. However, when you know the short-term as well as long-term benefits of not smoking, you can persuade yourself to stay away from cigarettes.

There are so many disastrous effects of smoking on one's health. For instance, the risk of developing cancer is much higher in smokers than in non smokers. Lung cancer is most commonly found in smokers. Other forms of cancer that they can get includes blood cancer, brain cancer, breast cancer, pancreas cancer and so on. If you do not smoke for the next ten years, then the risk of death from cancer reduces to half.

Prolonged period of smoking leads to hardened blood vessels. This makes smokers prone to high blood pressure, stroke, and heart disease. When you stop smoking, the body's self-correcting mechanism, given time, significantly reduces this risk.

There are several adverse effects of smoking on your sexual health. Men often suffer from impotency after heavy smoking, because normal blood flow to the penis and gonads gets badly affected by smoking. Many smokers get a low sperm count, as the sperm produced by the body fails to survive for long. Even the childbearing age of women who smoke gets shortened due to nicotine.

Smoking gives rise to so many gastrointestinal problems. This happens because it tends to increase the acid production inside the stomach. This excess of acids often flows back into the esophagus and causes gastrointestinal reflux.

As a result, you feel a constant burning sensation in your chest, and many other physical discomforts that you just accept as an inevitable part of your life. Once you stop the habit, these niggles will be negated.

As soon as you stop smoking, the body's healing mechanism starts working, and repairs the damage caused by smoking. Body temperature, blood pressure, and pulse rate, that tend to rise under the influence of nicotine, gets normalized when you stop smoking for few days.

The chronic cough that used to keep you (and your family, and pets, and neighbors) awake during the night will stop bothering you within a month or two. You will get a more refreshing feel every time you breath. Your stamina and lung capacity, which is the health aspect most affected by nicotine, increases within six months.

• If you smoke, you probably look much older than people of your age who are non smokers. This is because of wrinkles on your skin, and discoloration of teeth and nails, caused by nicotine. All these ugly stains will go away, and there will be marked improvement in your skin condition if you do not smoke any more.

• Cigarettes are expensive, and you have to spend thousands of dollars every year to maintain this habit. By not smoking, you save a large sum of money every year.

• When you go out with your friends and family, you are always on the lookout for suitable places to smoke. If you quit the habit, you need not worry about such things, and can simply enjoy with your loved ones.

Quitting smoking will help you get a longer, healthier life. When you successfully quit smoking, it gives you a sense of accomplishment. It boosts your self-esteem and improves your personality. In short, kicking the butt out of your life is good for both your physical as well as emotional well-being.