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Why quit smoking?

What can I gain from quitting smoking?

Your body will start to repair itself as soon as you put out your last cigarette. You will feel the benefits regardless of age, how long you’ve been smoking or how healthy you are.

Quitting at 30 cuts out almost all risk of dying young.  If you give up at 50 you can half your chance of dying prematurely.

  • After 12 hours almost all the nicotine is out of your system
  • After 24 hours the level of CO in the blood has dropped dramatically
  • Within days sense of taste and smell improve
  • Within a month blood pressure returns to normal
  • Within two months lung function improves
  • After 12 months your increased risk of dying from heart disease is half that of a continuing smoker and continues to gradually decline to that of a never smoker
  • After 6 years of not smoking your risk of lung cancer is less than half of a continuing smoker and continues to decline

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How is smoking affecting my health?

Smoking is one of the leading causes of death and disease in Australia but it’s also one of the most preventable.  Tobacco is responsible for most drug related deaths with more than 15,000 Australians dying from tobacco-related causes each year.

Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body, causing many diseases and damaging the health of smokers in general. There is no such thing as a safe cigarette or a safe level of smoking. Anyone who smokes puts themselves and others at risk.

Smoking is the most common cause of cancer.  It’s linked to cancers of the:

  • Lung
  • Larynx (voice box)
  • Oral cavity (mouth) including lip, cheek, gum, tongue and lining of the mouth
  • Pharynx (throat)
  • Oesophagus (the tube which carries food into your stomach)
  • Pancreas (a gland that produces important hormones)
  • Stomach
  • Kidney and bladder (organs that filter and eliminate waste from the body)
  • Cervix and vulva
  • Penis
  • Colon and rectum (known as colorectal cancer)
  • Anus
  • Blood (known as acute myeloid leukaemia)     

Smoking also increases a person’s risk of developing the following disabling and life-threatening diseases:

  • Heart disease  
  • Stroke
  • Peripheral artery disease (cause of gangrene)
  • Abdominal aortic aneurysm (dilation of the abdominal aorta, which if ruptured can cause death in minutes)
  • Sudden cardiac death
  • Congestive heart failure (when the heart is physically unable to pump blood through the body)
  • Chronic bronchitis and emphysema
  • Pneumonia
  • Asthma
  • Macular degeneration (a cause of blindness)

Women who smoke while they’re pregnant also increase their risk of having a miscarriage, stillbirth or ectopic pregnancy. They also put their unborn baby at risk of being born premature or with a low birth weight. Parental smoking also increases a baby’s risk of dying from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) also known as cot death.

For more information visit Quit Victoria’s website to find out what effect smoking has on your body.

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What is really in my cigarettes?

Cigarette smoke contains over 4000 chemicals, many of which are poisonous. Sixty-nine of these chemicals directly cause cancer. These chemicals are not just absorbed by the smoker but also by those around them who breathe in their smoke.

Some of the toxic chemicals found in cigarette smoke include:

  • Nicotine – addictive agent in cigarettes
  • Formaldehyde – used in the preservation of laboratory specimens and dead bodies
  • Ammonia  – used in toilet cleaners
  • Hydrogen cyanide – used in rat poison
  • Acetone – used in nail polish remover
  • Carbon monoxide – found in car exhaust
  • Tar – particulate matter in cigarette smoke
  • Toluene – found in paint thinners
  • Phenol – used in fertilisers

Cigarettes also contain a number of different flavour additives such as sugar, honey, liquorice and cocoa.  These are frequently used in cigarettes to sweeten and mask the bitter taste of tobacco but nothing can hide the damage smoking causes.

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What is smoking really costing me?

Have you ever tried to calculate how much money your smoking habit has been costing you over the years? To help you quit smoking you may find it useful to determine how much money you spend on cigarettes each week, month and year.

Visit Quit Victoria’s website and use their interactive cost of smoking calculator to work out how much money you could be saving if you quit smoking.

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Where can I go for more information on why I should quit smoking?

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