okay so the biggest reason to quit smoking is the most obvious one which is it's so bad for
your health tobacco smoke contains over 7 000 chemicals including hundreds that are toxic in
about 70 that can cause cancer meaning they're carcinogenic there are three chemicals that are
especially dangerous that's tar carbon monoxide and nicotine so tar is a substance that becomes
sticky in the lungs and tar itself is actually made up of a bunch of chemicals that are known
to be carcinogens carbon monoxide is a colorless and odorless gas that binds to the hemoglobin
in your red blood cells and therefore allows less oxygen to bind to the hemoglobin in your blood and
ultimately results in less oxygen being delivered to your tissues in your body nicotine is an
addictive chemical that gets into the bloodstream and travels to all parts of the body including the
brain when someone smokes cigarettes the nicotine that they inhale gets absorbed by the blood
that's in the capillaries in the lungs and then it gets delivered to different parts of the body
when the heart pumps it in the arteries but what about if someone is not smoking and instead you'll
say they're chewing tobacco or snuffing well that nicotine gets absorbed mainly through the mucous
membranes of the mouth and ultimately still makes its way to the brain but this is a slower process
but because it's constantly being absorbed it has a steady state in the bloodstream and therefore
has a steady effect on the brain so it's a more consistent effect of the nicotine on the brain
either way whenever nicotine is in your bloodstream and ultimately makes its way
to the brain it activates receptors in the brain's reward and motivation center
this nicotine gives pleasurable feelings but over time the brain needs more and more of that
nicotine to get more and more of those pleasurable feelings when the body eventually breaks down the
nicotine in your system you have less and less nicotine in the body and when that nicotine
goes away that's when the withdrawal symptoms develop and that's when the cravings develop
so the withdrawal symptoms include difficulty concentrating nervousness irritability anxiety
it can cause sleep problems and cause headaches dizziness and increased appetite
of course this only makes people want to smoke to get that nicotine in their body nicotine comes
in different forms but ultimately all forms of nicotine are not good for your health cigarettes
are the most popular tobacco products there's some cigarettes that claim to have less tar
and less nicotine the so-called light cigarettes but what usually happens is people tend to inhale
longer and or smoke more of these light cigarettes in order to maintain that same level of nicotine
ultimately they end up spending more money on cigarettes and end up getting the same amount
of nicotine in their body regardless they are just as likely to get a smoking related disease
either way now what about smokeless tobacco well tobacco that is smokeless can still cause cancer
and other health problems so in other words chewing tobacco or snuffing is what i'm talking
about here in fact chewing tobacco increases the risk of oral cancer about 50 times compared to
people who don't use chewing tobacco and there still is a possibility that this chewing tobacco
can cause cancer in other parts of the body as well but this hasn't been 100 proven yet
when it comes to smoking whether from cigarettes water pipes or cigars tobacco puts you at higher
risk for all sorts of diseases inhalation of tobacco smoke entails inhaling toxic gases
and particles of tar and eventually it damages the lungs not only can it cause damage in the lungs so
that people develop inflammation of the airways meaning bronchitis but they can also develop
different forms of pneumonia in addition to copd and emphysema it can also contribute towards
other types of lung disease something we call interstitial lung disease this includes things
like pulmonary fibrosis where you have scarring of the lungs it can cause non-infectious types
of pneumonia such as acute eosinophilic pneumonia in addition to discriminative interstitial lung
disease and respiratory bronchiolitis interstitial lung disease also smokers are more likely to get
respiratory viruses like the cold flu and of course now covert 19. smoking also dramatically
raises the risk of having coronary artery disease including raising the risk of having
a heart attack but also raises the risk of disease affecting blood vessels in other parts of the body
such as blood vessels in the brain and that's why it raises the risk of stroke also raises
the risk of peripheral artery disease where you have constriction of the arteries in the legs
making it painful to walk it also raises the risk of getting a blood clot in any part of the body
it raises the risk of developing aortic aneurysms meaning a weakened area of the aorta and sometimes
when people have aortic aneurysms the aorta can burst open which causes life-threatening bleeding
when people have this ruptured aorta they usually don't survive when it comes to smoking and cancer
it's interesting to note that women are more likely to develop lung cancer compared to men
now lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in women it actually claims more women's
lives than breast cancer cervical cancer uterine cancer and ovarian cancer combined
also women who smoke have a harder time getting pregnant compared to those who don't
women who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to have an underweight baby which is defined as
less than five and a half pounds low birth weight babies are much more likely to die during the
first month of life compared to babies who are of normal weight also smoking during pregnancy
has been linked to higher rates of miscarriage and still births and children who are born to mothers
who smoke during pregnancy are also more likely to have brain damage cerebral palsy and behavior
problems now when it comes to the reproductive system in men smoking is known to contribute
towards erectile dysfunction this happens because smoking slows blood flow to the penis and if a man
quit smoking he's less likely to have erectile dysfunction compared to men who don't quit
then there are other health issues that are more likely to arise in smokers
for example smokers are at greater risk of having stomach ulcers there's also a high likelihood of
developing visual problems in older adults such as cataracts and macular degeneration there's also a
higher likelihood of women getting osteoporosis okay reason number two is that smoking affects
the way you look people who smoke are more likely to develop wrinkled skin and have yellow teeth
and yellow nails number three is that smoking stinks it gives you this stench that surrounds
you and also gives you bad breath and number four smoking affects the health of others around you so
a lot of people want to know how dangerous is secondhand smoke well ensure inhaling second
hand smoke increases the risk of getting many of the same diseases as smokers do and this includes
lung cancer coronary artery disease such as heart attack and also stroke and other diseases as well
secondhand smoke causes over 40 000 deaths in the united states every year children of smokers have
more ear infections and respiratory illnesses like asthma and bronchitis and infants exposed
to parents who smoke have a greater risk of dying from sudden infant death syndrome of course
secondhand smoke isn't as bad as a person smoking themselves but is still hazardous nonetheless
lots of people will do things like blowing smoke in the other direction or rolling down the car
window or blowing smoke out the house window and while these are probably better than not
doing that when it comes to secondhand smoke they're still not effective in protecting the
people around them from secondhand smoke also air cleaners and other technologies
that filter out smoke or cleanse the air they don't entirely eliminate the secondhand smoke
there's also the issue of third hand smoke where dangerous chemicals from the smoke
end up settling on clothing and furniture and that can linger there for months the thing
is that the smoke residue which stays on the walls and the carpets and other surfaces they
can react with a common indoor air pollutant called nitrous oxide and when those two react
they can form nitrosamines that persist for months and these nitrosamines are carcinogens
so this is another reason why it's important for people to quit smoking it's not just for
their own health but it's also for the health of those around them okay the fifth reason is
that smoking costs a lot of money if you quit smoking you probably would save a lot of money
and the cheapest cigarettes are in the state of missouri with an average price being five dollars
per pack so if you're a one pack per day smoker that's eighteen hundred dollars per year and if
you live in new york you're gonna double that so you end up paying thirty six hundred per year if
you're one pack per day smoker in the state of new york now at this point you probably already
know the benefits of quitting but the sooner you quit the greater the benefit it doesn't matter
how long or how heavy you smoked the sooner you quit the better we know that former smokers live
longer compared to people who continue to smoke they also have lower rates of lung disease cancer
stroke and heart disease now some might wonder what if i already have a smoking related illness
well no matter what it is your illness and overall health will be better
if you quit smoking let me give you an example when it comes to someone having a heart attack
smokers who stop after a heart attack are less likely to have another heart attack
and are less likely to die from heart disease also lots of times especially as we get older
people need surgery someone who doesn't smoke even if they used to smoke is better equipped to heal
and and they're less likely to have complications related to surgery or less likely to have
complications related to the anesthesia related to the surgery and another benefit to quitting
smoking is the one that i mentioned earlier which is you'll save a lot of money so let's talk about
what happens when you quit smoking what happens to your body so within a day your body will clear all
the carbon monoxide from your system and when that happens your blood specifically your hemoglobin
that carries oxygen it'll carry the oxygen more efficiently and ultimately deliver more oxygen
to your tissues in your body in a more efficient manner within a week your breath gets better hair
fingers and teeth they all get cleaner you have a better sense of taste and smell
and once you hit that one week mark you're no longer experiencing the worst of the withdrawal
symptoms typically after about a month of quitting the cilia in your airways in your lungs begin to
recover and remove more mucus from your lungs so cilia are tiny microscopic hair-like structures
that line the airways you also notice that within a month of quitting smoking there will be less
sinus congestion and also they'll be less likely to have fatigue and feeling shorter
breath after a year of quitting smoking your risk of having a heart attack or stroke becomes
reduced after a few years of quitting the risk of heart disease is half of that of a smoker
and also after a few years of quitting the risk of lung cancer decreases after 10 years of quitting
the risk of lung cancer death is reduced by 50 percent compared to those who continue to
smoke and after 15 years of quitting the risk of heart disease is actually the same as non-smokers
most people know that smoking is bad for the health that's not exactly breaking news
but why is it so hard for people to quit what are the obstacles that are preventing them
from quitting most smokers wish they could just snap their fingers and quit smoking and be done
with it already so let's talk about the obstacles that people need to overcome in order for them to
successfully quit one of the biggest obstacles is withdrawal of nicotine so nicotine is very
addictive and withdrawing from the chemical causes physical changes to occur in the body especially
in the brain the withdrawal symptoms typically start within a few hours of the last cigarette
and symptoms include difficulty concentrating feeling tired feeling anxious and being irritable
so this is the biggest hurdle for smokers to overcome and these symptoms tend to be severe
for at least the first two to three days after quitting these symptoms then tend to gradually
wane over the course of about a month or so so without question physical withdrawal is the
biggest hurdle but then there's also the mental withdrawal this is because smoking is typically
a part of someone's daily routine they're so used to having a cigarette after a meal or
having a cigarette with their coffee or having a cigarette first thing in the morning these are all
habits and these habits are typically hard to break another obstacle is overcoming emotions
we all have anger frustration boredom some people handle these emotions in different ways lots of
people handle these emotions by smoking cigarettes often what happens is when someone has emotional
distress that serves as a trigger to light up a cigarette another obstacle to overcome is
the reality that when someone quits they'll be expected to gain on average 5 maybe 10 pounds
why does this happen well nicotine reduces appetite and it revs up the body's metabolism
so when you no longer have nicotine in your system the opposite happens also when people quit they
often substitute food for cigarettes so in order to get that mini dopamine rush to feel better so
of course it's always a great idea to have a daily exercise program whether someone smokes or not
but it's all the more important to do so and to start a daily exercise program for people who are
planning on quitting smoking because that's going to help them to minimize their weight gain also
nicotine withdrawal symptoms in women of child bearing age are worse during the premenstrual
phase and during menses this is why it's probably better for them to quit at the end of their period
a lot of people ask the question well if i quit smoking can i start vaping instead of smoking
in order to help me quit so lots of people are trying to quit smoking cigarettes by turning
to e-cigarettes aka vaping and vaping entails a using a battery-powered device which vaporizes a
solution a solution of nicotine that is dissolved in water and propylene glycol so propylene glycol
is a fluid that helps nicotine dissolve so an e-cigarette gives a person the feeling of smoking
but without getting that tar and without getting that carbon monoxide into their lungs along with
thousands of other substances but is this a good alternative to cigarettes it's probably better but
it's still far from ideal the long-term effects of e-cigarettes are still unknown since they are
relatively new products e-cigarettes have not been studied that well but some studies so far indicate
that they can help smokers to quit smoking regular cigarettes without causing harm at least in the
short term in one study they were shown to be more or just as effective for quitting smoking
compared to nicotine replacement products but that was just one study so we're still not sure yet
and smoking e-cigarettes has not been compared to any other medications that are
already approved for smoking cessation such as varenicline or dischantix or bupropion
also known as wellbutrin at this time most experts recommend using these fda approved medications for
smoking cessation rather than e-cigarettes because their safety and efficacy is well established if
a person does decide to choose e-cigarettes to help them quit smoking with the regular cigarettes
it's important that they switch completely to e-cigarettes and stop using their regular
cigarettes this is because using both together is not likely to reduce health risks nearly as much
as doing a complete swish of course it's best not to smoke anything or vape anything a lot of people
wonder or ask about vaping lung disease and that's a whole other topic now if that's something you
want me to cover in more detail i'd be happy to so i can make a separate video on that so let me know
in the comments below and also plan on making a video on the best way to actually quit smoking so
if you're a smoker and you want to quit you're definitely going to want to check that out you