Did you know that cigarette smoking is the most preventable cause of illness and death in the United States? Yet many americans continue to smoke. One million a year new adults and children start smoking and the number is increasing exponentially. It is a well-known fact that smokers die faster than those who don’t. Smoking increases your health risks if you have diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. The cost of a pack of cigarettes is right around five dollars a pack and yet people in a recessed economy are still buying them left and right. Not only is the cost per pack high but the cost to your health and health insurance premiums is even higher.
There are many cons to smoking and here are a few: increased risk of cancer of the lips, throat, mouth, lungs, voice box, esophagus, kidney, pancreas, cervix, bladder and skin; greater risk for heart and blood vessel disease; lung diseases such as ephysema; gastrointestinal disease; if your a woman on birth control increased risk of stroke or if you are pregnant possible stillborn or losing the baby altogether; bad breath; accellerated wrinkling of the skin; staining of teeth; sore throat; sleeping problems; higher risk of bone fractues in the hip, spine, or wrist; increased risk of fire in the home if you fall asleep; and lack of ability to partake in athletics due to breathing problems. As you can see, there are so many positive things about smoking I can totally understand why any one would want to continue doing it. It always amazes me that people complain that they could never afford a personal trainer, however if you bought one pack of cigarettes per day you could buy 3 training sessions a month at $50 per session. Now if you combine alcohol consumption, smoking, and eating fast food to the number of training sessions you could purchase in a month’s time that number would increase exponentially. I guess it depends on what your priorities are: dying young with a ton of health problems or extending the quality of life by making healthier choices. You make the decision.