Smoking
and
How to Quit Smoking
Medical Revising Author: Melissa Conrad Stoppler, MD
Medical Revising Editor: Jay W. Marks, MD
What problems are caused by smoking?
By smoking, you can cause health problems not only for yourself but also for
those around you.
Hurting Yourself
Smoking is an addiction. Tobacco contains nicotine, a drug that
is addictive. The nicotine, therefore, makes it very difficult (although not
impossible) to quit. In fact, since the U.S. Surgeon General's 1964 report on
the dangers of smoking, millions of Americans have quit. Still, more than
430,000 deaths occur in the U.S. each year from smoking-related illnesses. The
reason for these deaths is that smoking greatly increases the risk of getting
lung cancer, heart attack, chronic lung disease, stroke, and many other cancers.
Moreover, smoking is perhaps the most preventable cause of breathing
(respiratory) diseases within
the USA.
Hurting Others
Smoking harms not just the smoker, but also family
members, coworkers, and
others who breathe the smoker's cigarette smoke, called
secondhand smoke or
passive smoke. Among infants up to 18 months of age, secondhand smoke is
associated with as many as 300,000 cases of
bronchitis and pneumonia each year.
In addition, secondhand smoke from a parent's cigarette increases a child's
chances for middle ear problems, causes coughing and wheezing, worsens
asthma, and increases an infant's risk of dying from
Sudden Infant Death
Syndrome (SIDS).
Exposure to passive smoke can also cause cancer. Research has shown that
non-smokers who reside with a smoker have a 24% increase in risk for developing
lung cancer when compared with other non-smokers. An estimated 3,000 lung cancer
deaths occur each year in the U.S. that are attributable to passive smoking.
Secondhand smoke also increases the risk of stroke and heart disease. If both
parents smoke, a teenager is more than twice as likely to smoke as a teenager
whose parents are both nonsmokers. Even in households where only one parent
smokes, young people are more likely to start smoking. Pregnant women who smoke
are more likely to deliver babies whose weights are too low for the babies' good
health. In fact, it has been estimated that if all women quit smoking during
pregnancy, about 4,000 new babies would not die each year.
Next: What is addictive disease and why is smoking considered addictive? »
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Anxiety »
Introduction to Anxiety
Generalized anxiety disorder (or GAD) is characterized
by excessive, exaggerated
anxiety and worry about everyday life events with no obvious reasons for
worry. People with
symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder tend to always expect disaster and
can't stop worrying about health, money, family, work, or school. In people
with GAD, the worry often is unrealistic or out of proportion for the
situation. Daily life becomes a constant state of worry, fear, and dread.
Eventually, the anxiety so dominates the person's thinking that it interferes
with daily functioning, including work, school, social activities, and
relationships.
What Are the Symptoms of GAD?
GAD affects the way a person thinks, but the anxiety can lead to physical
symptoms, as well. Symptoms of GAD can include:
- Excessive, ongoing worry and tension
- An unrealistic view of problems
- Restlessness...
Read the Anxiety article »
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