Try a campfire instead
Smoking
Smoking stats
What are you going to tell me about smoking? You’ve probably never smoked Mr. Dr. Healthy Pants.
As a first year resident in internal medicine I remember taking a wrong door in a stairwell that took me outside the hospital. What I saw has never left me—three of the lung doctors were standing outside AND they were smoking! I have never smoked but that experience made me realize how addictive the habit is when even the lung doctors were doing it.
You know what would be good right now? Some statistics.
Okay, I’ll oblige. In 1965, 42% of adults smoked, but in 2010 that number had dropped to 19.3% (about 42 million still smoke). About 21% use any type of tobacco product. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the US (400K-480K deaths/yr) and in the world (5-6 million deaths/yr). The economic impact of smoking totaled $289 billion between 2009 and 2012 in the United States.
Any facts about impacts on your health if you smoke?
If you smoke, you can kiss 10 years of your life gone! Another study showed that smoking is linked to kidney failure, blood flow problems to the stomach and intestines, high blood pressure, lung and other infections, breast cancer, bladder cancer, and prostate cancer. The average cost of a pack of cigarettes is $5.51 to a smoker, but society pays $18 in health costs every time a pack of cigarettes is purchased.
Okay, I get it. It costs more to society when someone smokes, then it does for that person to buy cigarettes.
Absolutely. For health and societal impact, it’s essential to get people to stop smoking. Many things have been done to stop the spread of smoking. These include banning public smoking, educating people on the dangers of smoking, banning advertising/sponsorship, and tobacco taxes.
Don’t be a guinea pig in the great science experiment of marijuana and E-cigarettes.
Yeah Butt...
If smoking is bad, how about second hand smoke?
Secondhand smoke contains 7,000 chemicals and is estimated to lead to 34K-41K deaths yearly. Because of this effect, as of 2013, 24 states had banned smoking in workplaces, restaurants, and bars protecting 49% of the population from second hand smoke.
What about cigars, pipes, or chewing tobacco?
There’s increased risk with cigars as well. Pipe smoking hurts you too! Chewing tobacco also comes with consequences. Sorry.
What about E-cigarettes? Those look pretty sick (For those in the audience without teenagers this term “sick” doesn’t mean bad, it actually means that it looks pretty neat).
E-cigarettes are powered to heat a liquid mix of chemicals (including nicotine) into a liquid vapor which is then breathed into the lungs. This is a good idea because…? The names of the flavors remind me of ice cream flavors. I don’t think this is by accident. One study has shown that the flavors vanillin, menthol, cinnamaldehyde, eugenol and acetylpridine caused the blood vessels to stop making nitric oxide which is important to prevent inflammation and blood clots. The number of youth trying E-cigarettes in 2013 was 263,000. Triple the number from a few years earlier. Keep in mind these things about E-cigarettes:
1). They are not approved by the FDA for smoking cessation.
2). Long term health effects are unknown
3). Short term use may cause asthma
4). There exists no regulatory oversight on their production.
Don’t be a guinea pig in the great E-cigarette experiment.
What about low tar ciagarettes? Aren’t those better for you?
Approximately 50 years ago, low tar cigarettes came on the market with the thought that they were safer than regular cigarettes. Many switched to the “healthier” alternative, but we now know that low tar cigarettes are more likely to lead to lung cancer and they do not reduce the incidence of heart attacks.
What about marijuana? States that legalize it, can’t be wrong can they?
It’s crazy to me we are legalizing marijuane for recreational purposes. Heck we already have legalized alcohol and cigarettes, why are we adding another thing that can damage our bodies, kill us, or impair us in such a way to harm/kill others? The medicinal part of marijuana is the Cannabidiol (CBD) and the “high” inducing part is Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). There are already medicines made with the CBD compound in the form of pills and oil which are used for appetite stimulation, epilepsy, and pain. Interestingly most of the marijuana that’s sold to smoke has high THC (the high producing part) instead of the CBD (the medicinal part).
What’s the relationship between marijuana and heart disease?
There isn’t much information available. One study of people with heart attacks, showed that those who smoked marijuana were very likely to have a heart attack within 60 minutes of smoking. Another study showed that patients with heart attacks that continued to smoke marijuana had a much higher risk of heart attacks.
Smokers live, on average, 10 years less than non-smokers.
Smoking and heart disease
Are we ever going to get to the connection between smoking and heart disease?
In the Interheart study, smoking was the second most powerful risk factor for heart disease and if removed as a risk factor, up to 36% of all heart attacks would not happen. Women and men who smoke over 20 cigarettes a day are 6 and 3 times more likely, respectively, to have a heart attack compared with those who don’t smoke.
What if I quit smoking after a heart attack or my bypass surgery?
After a heart attack, those who quit have the same risk of a heart attack as non-smokers after 3 years. Quitting smoking after a stent can prolong your life by 2 years.
What other benefits are there to quitting?
Within 20 minutes of quitting smoking your heart rate decreases. Within 12 hours the carbon monoxide levels in your blood return to normal. In 3 months, your risk of a heart attack decreases and your lung function begins to improve. After 1 year, your risk of a heart attack is 50% lower than someone who smokes. Every year 1.3 million people quit smoking.
Okay, I wave the white smoke of surrender. How do I quit?
You can quit. Here’s a good place to start: 1-800QUITNOW. Give them a call. You’ll talk to someone in your own state familiar with resources where you live (and lots of things are free!).
In Summary
Call 1-800-QUITNOW. Even smoking less will help.