Recommendations for You to Quit Smoking

Smoking is a very harful habit that can cause lots of diseases and take a toll on your health, so here are some recommendations for you to quit smoking!

Reviewed and approved by the doctor Maricela Jiménez López.

Written by Daniela Echeverri Castro

Last update: 15 December, 2022

According to the World Health Organization, each year 6 million people die from smoking-related causes. And from this figure it’s estimated that about 600,000 are passive smokers. Smoking is one of the most common and harmful addictions that exist; cigarettes can contain up to four thousand toxic components, a product of their combustion, which makes them lethal for the health of the body in many bodily functions.  Therefore, it’s very important to quit smoking as soon as possible.

What consequences do smokers present?

• Bad breath or halitosis: over time, smokers tend to suffer from halitosis due to nicotine, this will be a difficult problem to solve and can lead to rejection in the social environment.
• Lung cancer: cigarette smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer.
• Other types of cancers such as mouth, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, pancreatic, cervical/uterine, renal and bladder cancer.
• Circulatory system diseases: the tobacco and nicotine it contains reduces the thickness of the arteries and coronary vessels, and increases the heart rate and blood pressure.
• Respiratory system diseases such as chronic bronchitis, emphysema, among others.
• Cerebrovascular diseases such as aneurysms.
• Male impotence and loss of sexual desire.

What are the benefits of quitting?

Any moment is a great one to quit the bad habit of smoking. As we stated above, this addiction is lethal and poses a very serious threat to global health. So, if you are a tobacco consumer, you better start striving to put it aside so you can have a healthy and disease-free life.

Here are some of the many reasons why you should quit smoking:

• Only two days after not using cigarettes and/or tobacco, the carbon monoxide and the nicotine have disappeared and, consequently, the oxygen level in the blood increases and your physical appearance improves.
• After three or four days, the mucus in the throat and bronchi starts decreasing, and thus there will be less breathing difficulties.
• At five or seven days, the senses of smell and taste improve.
• At three months lung function improves by 5%.
• After a year, the risk of suffering from cardiovascular diseases is cut by half.
• After five years, the risk of suffering from throat, esophagus and bladder cancer is cut by half. At this time, the smoker has lost the need to taste tobacco and will be completely free of it.
• In addition to reducing the chances of cancer, it also has benefits for your emotional health. It’ll help you have more control over your life and will also save you a lot of money each year.

Are you ready to quit smoking?

Plan for you to quit smoking

If you feel ready to quit, these are some very effective recommendations to help you quit smoking before it’s too late for your health.

• Set a date to stop smoking: you should stop smoking completely at the chosen date, in the days before the chosen date, you must gradually reduce daily consumption.
• Get rid of cigarettes and ashtrays: avoid all kinds of items that remind you of tobacco. In addition, clean anything that has the particular cigarette smell.
• Find healthy alternatives: you can eat a fruit instead of smoking a cigarette. At the market there are some pieces of gum to help prevent the anxiety of smoking. Drink water or tea, it also helps you eliminate anxiety.
• Identify times when you get cravings and devise a strategy to avoid them. Try to stay busy with activities that you find enjoyable, exercise, hang out with friends, shop or spend time with your family.
• Plan an exercise routine and have discipline: this will help you improve your health and also frees you from cravings.
• If the addiction is strong, look for support groups: in these places, good strategies to quit tobacco are devised. They’ll give you tougher alternative to put aside this nasty habit.
• To relieve anxiety, chew carrots, apples or celery.
• Tell your friends not to smoke around you and to not even think about offering you a smoke. Tell them about your plan to quit smoking.
• Take breaks at work and take advantage of this time to get some fresh air, drink water and eat healthy foods.