Honestly, is smoking THAT harmful? and aren't they exagerrating a little bit???

Question

Do you think anti smoking ads exagerrate?? I mean all these documentaries, films, ads and stuff about how smoking cigarettes gives you cancer, strokes, heart disease etc.. Do you believe everyone who smokes will end up having one of these problems? What's the rate of people who will be seriously affected by cigarette smoking ?? I'm asking this because I see so many smokers out there and I'm wondering if all of them will die of cancer or smoking-related illnesses
I just quit smoking yesterday (I've been smoking about a pack, for about 3 years)

Answer 1

Yep, smoking is that harmful. Your lungs weren't designed to inhale burning smoke and chemical fumes, and it shows over time. I have known several people to pass away due to cancer or other lung related diseases due to smoking. Does everyone who smokes die from lung cancer? No, but a heck of alot more do than people who don't smoke. I don't know numbers and rates, because they are different depending on who is reporting them. The tobacco companies' numbers will be much lower than say the TRUTH campaign numbers. There are tons of studies, but the results are all the same, smoking is bad for you. Plain and simple. Not just smoking, but chewing tobacco and dip will give you cancer as well.

Congrats on stopping smoking, your children will thank you for it and you may even get to meet your grandchildren :-)

Smokers on the other hand run the risk of checking out early, abandoning their family and missing out on life's joys such as holding your baby granddaughter for the first time. Think about those things if you start to pick up a cig again.

Hope this helps! and good luck! :-)

Answer 2

Hi,

Glad to here you have stopped smoking, now all you have to do is break the habit.

Smoking is an addiction to nicotine so you will get withdrawal symptoms but you have been doing it for quite a while so it will have also become a habit.

Things like buying a morning paper, and your ciggies.

The after a meal smoke, one before bed these are habitual things that have also got to be overcome.

Smoking is also a voluntary form of lung exercise and all the tar and rubbish you have been inhaling has kept your lungs moist.

They will now dry out slightly and will be not exercising.

So, do some deep breathing exercises first thing in the morning and last thing at night, not much just enough to stretch your lungs out.

Suck a humbug or any sweet if you feel the urge to smoke.

Three things:-

Don't throw all your ciggies away, keep a pack in a drawer,
that way you will never be craving that much you have to go buy some, you will always know if you want to give up you could do, but you are not going to give in.

Count the hours + minutes that you have not smoked, then the days. Every minute that goes past is a milestone, if you can do it for one minute then you can do it for two after all you sleep for 7-8 hrs without smoking. Trying to forget is a passport to failure.

Close your wardrobe doors and do not open them for three or four days. When you open them you will then smell how you always smelt to other people, like stagnant smoke.

I have not smoked for 22 years, when I packed it in I was having to have a glass of sherry to help me sleep, I ate like an horse and had sweeties in abundance.
I used to wake up confused as to whether or not I still smoked, because even to date, in my dreams, I always smoke.

It is not an easy thing to do but after a while when you realise how you don't get out of breath and how bad your breathing actually was and of course how you smelt to others, you will be glad you gave it up.

Skip

I know you will always find an exception to the rule, an 80 year old who has smoked for years with no effect on his health but for every one like that there are hundreds that have died.

Answer 3

Yes! smoking is that harmful. I have lost two grand parents to lung cancer due to smoking. And currently have a grandmother that has emphazema. She has been battling this for over ten years and it gets worse every day. Not all smokers get cancer it is true however due to other peoples second hand smoke, people who do not smoke are suffering with lung cancer. No one knows who will get the different problems related to smoking. That is just not something that can be predicted. Did you know that by quitting smoking you just added ten years back to your life? or that is what I heard. Smoking is a bad habit and I would commend you for quitting. Good luck and Congradulation on quitting.

Answer 4

It's not an exaggeration. My dad was diagnosed with bladder cancer a year ago, at age 89. Cancer does NOT run in our family. The first thing the doc asked was, "Do you smoke"? My dad hadn't touched a cigarette in over 30 years. He had smoked for 40 years plus. The Urologist told him that most men who have smoked at some point in their lives, will end up with Bladder cancer. Luckily, my Dad had an easy go of it and is now 91 and cancer free. So, you see, smoking can affect you way down the road and it's not all about throat, mouth and lungs. It can affect your entire body.

Answer 5

Scientific research has shown that non-smoking restaurant and bar employees absorb a potent carcinogen--not considered safe at any level--while working in places where they had to breathe tobacco smoke from customers and co-workers. The carcinogen, NNK, is found in the body only as a result of using tobacco or breathing second-hand smoke.

Elevated levels of NNK showed up in the urine of non-smoking employees shortly after they encountered second-hand smoke during their shifts. Moreover, levels of NNK, which is known to cause lung cancer, increased by 6 percent for each hour of work. American Journal of Public Health

And that is just the non-smokers!!!

Lung cancer, emphysema, bronchitis, pneumonia, heart and arterial problems are well documented in smokers. It does not stop there - try looking at the skin of a long term smoker. Dry and with lots of fine wrinkles and bad colour indicates serious problems in the bodies health!

Smoking related deaths outstrip every other cause!!!

It was suggested that it takes five years to get your system clean from the day you give up. Recent research suggests some harmful effects are never removed!

Answer 6

It all depends on how much you smoke. The longer you smoke, the higher the chance of you developing cancer. Smoking is linked to a lot of other health issues besides cancer and heart disease. When I think of all the toxins that they put in cigarettes to make them burn slower, it makes me want to quit even more. I smoke about 10 cigarettes per day which doesn't seem like much to me but as I get older, I see my energy drain quicker. I think smoking contributes to that. My mom recently quit after 20 years of smoking and I am so proud of her. Maybe I need to seriously get into that frame of mind as well and make my son proud.

Answer 7

It depends on how long you smoke. I've heard ridiculous claims about how each cigarrette takes off a certain amount of your life- but that's just silly. If you smoked for a relatively short period of time then quit, your lungs will totally recover.

But yes, smoking is THAT harmful. If the people you see smoking keep doing it for years and years, they will eventually develop some sort of health problem.

Answer 8

Yes, smoking is that harmful. It is the primary cause of lung cancer in the world today.

Smoking does not mean the you will get lung cancer, but it does raise the possibility that you will develop it later in life.

Quitting smoking is one of the best things that you will ever do for your long term health.

Answer 9

congrats on quiting.
i quit 11/2 years ago.
there is evidence that smoking causes or increases the risk of some of the illnesses you mentioned.
it also thickens the blood which could lead to blood clots in major organs like the liver, heart, lungs and brain.
there is no doubt smoking is hazardous.
and it curtails breathing dramatically. i can now go up a flight of stairs without becoming winded. i can run and play games with my daughter without taking so many breaks to catch my breath or have a smoke.
i think the benefits of not smoking way outweigh the reasons to keep smoking.
i wish you the best of luck with your quiting.
oh, and you save tons of money to use for other things.
good luck. stick to it. smiles.

Answer 10

It is only harmful in large amounts. Smoking a pack here or there will allow your body to recover. Damage from long terms of smoking, however, is forever.