Have Government health warnings about the dangers of smoking become just blah-di-blah to you?
There are 16 different Government health warnings that must be displayed on cigarette packets by law. You’re probably very familiar with some of them:
- Smokers die younger
- Smoking clogs the arteries and causes heart attacks and strokes
- Smoking causes fatal lung cancer
- Smoking when pregnant harms your baby
- Smoking can cause a slow and painful death
- Smoking causes ageing of the skin
- Smoking can damage sperm and decreases fertility
- Smoke contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide
You may be so familiar with these warnings that you hardly notice them any more, but do you know some of the statistics behind them?
- 1 in 2 regular smokers dies prematurely – a quarter of smokers die between the ages of 35 and 69; of these, nearly 1 in 4 will die of lung cancer.
- Smokers are 2 to 4 times more likely to suffer heart attacks than non-smokers.
- Heavy smokers (more than 20 cigarettes a day) are 2 to 4 times more likely to have a stroke than non-smokers.
- Lung cancer is not the only cancer caused by smoking. Other cancers linked to smoking include cancer of the stomach, kidney, pancreas and throat.
- There are many other fatal and non-fatal diseases related to smoking. Just a few are: Crohn’s disease, psoriasis, loss of vision, osteoporosis, emphysema, pneumonia and gum disease.
- Smoking increases the risk of impotence by around 50% for men in their 30s and 40s and reduces fertility by 30% in women.
The poisons you’re breathing in every time you smoke
Did you know that nicotine is a naturally-occurring insecticide in the tobacco plant, with the function to repel bugs?
You may also not be aware of the other toxic chemicals in cigarettes:
- Benzene – an industrial solvent used in chemical and fuel manufacture
- Formaldehyde – used to preserve corpses
- Cadmium – a toxic metal used in batteries
- Polonium 210 – a radioactive element
- DDT – a banned insecticide
- Not to mention arsenic, cyanide and ammonia…………
Is it any wonder that there are so many health problems associated with smoking?! And if you had a dog, would you feed it dog food that you knew had these ingredients in it?
For more information about the health risks of smoking go to:
http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/healthyliving/smokingandtobacco
Better still, decide to do something positive for your health now – find out how hypnotherapy can make it easier to stop smoking for good! Have a look at my Stop Smoking page and contact me today.
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