Why should you quit smoking? Your health is the #1 reason.

One out of every five deaths is from smoke related illnesses. 8.6 million people suffer from some type of lung and heart disease related to smoking.

Everyone knows that smoking is related to cancer, they just don’t relate cigarette smoking to all of these types of cancer. The risk of cancer also includes cancer of the mouth, voice box (larynx), throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney, pancreas, cervix, stomach, and some leukemia’s

Pneumonia is included in the list of diseases known to be caused by smoking. Smoking also increases your risk of getting lung diseases like emphysema and chronic bronchitis. These diseases are grouped together under the term COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).  Emphysema and chronic bronchitis can be found in people as young as 40, but are usually found later in life, when the symptoms get much worse. Long-term smokers have the highest risk of developing severe COPD.

Smokers are twice as likely to die from heart attacks as are non-smokers. And smoking is a major risk factor for peripheral vascular disease, a narrowing of the blood vessels that carry blood to the leg and arm muscles. Smoking also affects the walls of the vessels that carry blood to the brain (carotid arteries), which can cause strokes. Men who smoke are more likely to develop erectile dysfunction (impotence) because of blood vessel disease.