Benefits of Not Smoking by Jordan Mormino

Smoke-Free/Tobacco-Free Living-Benefits for family, kids, community

Imagine waking up every morning and you cannot start or function without a puff of a cigarette.  Even though it is harmful, the addiction is too strong, and it seems impossible to quit or to even reduce the amount of cigarettes or packs consumed.  Cigarette smoking takes over 443,000 lives each year in the United States, and that number continues to rise (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012).  To emphasize how detrimental tobacco use is, it causes more deaths annually than “deaths from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined,” (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012).  By the year 2030, due to the current tobacco use status, it will have caused more than 8 trillion deaths (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012).

Knox County has a population size of 3,981 as of 2009.   The health department is located in Edina, the community center and one of the bigger cities in the county.  Edina’s population is 1,110 with a -10.0% population change since 2000 (Onboard Informatics, 2003-2011).  According to the Knox County Health Department, in 2009, a smoking cessation class was not offered (“Knox county health,”2009).  Studies have shown that as of 2007, 22.03% of Knox County residents do smoke (Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, 2007). Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (MICA) have estimates on the number of deaths attributable to smoking which are “based on smokers’ increase likelihood of dying of various disease,” (Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, 2007).

In the United States, coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death, and smoking is a major factor (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012).  For a smoker, the disease is 2 to 4 times more likely to occur (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012).  Tobacco use causes 90% of lung cancer deaths in men and 80% in women and 90% of deaths from chronic lung disease for both genders (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012).  In addition to harming the individual who is smoking, they are also harming their spouse, children and others around them in the community.  This is referred to as secondhand smoke and can cause the same diseases as it would the smoker (Meakem, 2012).  Children who live with a parent or parents that smoke are more likely to develop ear infections, asthma, colds, and bronchitis than children living in a tobacco-free home (Meakem, 2012).  As for the community, smoking can also trigger children in outdoor and public places to become ill or to be influenced by adults who smoke (Meakem, 2012).  In a 2009 Missouri Youth Risk Behavior Survey of high school students, 46% tried smoking, 19% smoked cigarettes on at least 1 day during the 30 days before the survey was given, 7% smoked cigarettes on 20 or more days during the 30 days before the survey, 5% smoked cigarettes on school property during the 30 days before the survey and 47% did not try to quit smoking cigarettes (National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 2009).  From this survey, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) offered solutions that many communities could consider.  The solutions for this are to have better health education, more family and community involvement, and to enforce healthier school environments (National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 2009). 

There are many benefits of not smoking, first off is the cost of tobacco use. Smoking costs the United States billions of dollars ($193), including the health care expenses (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012).  As for secondhand smoke, this costs the United States more than $10 billion which includes health care expenses, morbidity and mortality (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012). 

Another benefit of not smoking is that you are not harming every organ in your body.  It is a leading cause of cancer including that of the lungs, esophagus, larynx, mouth, throat, pancreas, stomach and cervix which also is the main cause of death in individuals (National Cancer Institute, 2012).  Also, for the nonsmoking adults and children around you, you are not harming their organs.  Secondhand smoke can increase a nonsmoker’s risk of heart disease by 25 to 30 percent (National Cancer Institute, 2012).  Quitting or not even beginning smoking can change the course of this disease and prolong a more healthy life. Another benefit of not smoking is your blood pressure and heart rate will remain normal, as a smokers heart rate and blood pressure are more likely to be high (National Cancer Institute, 2012).  Nonsmokers benefit, again, because they will have normal circulation, less phlegm production and they will most likely not wheeze and cough as a smoker would (National Cancer Institute, 2012).  These ailments make daily tasks, such as, walking upstairs, playing with your children, working out, etc, rather difficult.

                                                                             References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012, January 10). Smoking and tobacco use: Health effects of cigarette smoking. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/effects_cig_smoking/

Knox county health department. (2009, October 31). Retrieved from http://health.mo.gov/profiles/CountyInfo/CpiKnox.html\

Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services, D. T. M. (2007). Tobacco use & tobacco cessation for knox-scotland-clark county: Adults. Retrieved from http://health.mo.gov/data/mica/CLS_Compare/header.php?cnty=103&profile_type=3&chkBox=C

Meakem, C. (2012, January 16). Resolve to quit smoking. Strauss News. Retrieved from Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services, D. T. M. (2007). Tobacco use & tobacco cessation for knox-scotland-clark county: Adults. Retrieved from http://health.mo.gov/data/mica/CLS_Compare/header.php?cnty=103&profile_type=3&chkBox=C

National Cancer Institute. (2012, January 12). Harms of smoking and health benefits of quitting. Retrieved from http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Tobacco/cessation

National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2009). Tobacco use and missouri students. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/yrbs/pdf/tobacco/mo_tobacco_combo.pdf

Onboard Informatics. (2003-2011). Edina, missouri. Retrieved from http://www.city-data.com/city/Edina-Missouri.html