A few weeks ago, March 18 to be precise, was No Smoking Day. Here at the office, we celebrate with the traditional breaking of cigarettes and a breath of fresh air.
We also take the opportunity to goad some of us who have not yet quit smoking (yes, there are people here who still smoke), to finally commit to quitting.
And, of course, they have our full support. Research has shown that workplace smoking cessation programs are an excellent resource to help people quit smoking.
Some of them have chosen to go cold turkey. While others have opted for the NRT route. Others still use vaporizers from Vapingdaily.
But before everyone sets out on their quit smoking journeys, here are some of the best reasons to quit smoking in 2020. Here are the reasons we came up with:
10. The environment
The ways in which cigarettes harm the environment is something that is not always mentioned when talking about the reasons to quit smoking. But it should be.
The negative environmental impact cigarettes have on the environment was something that was recently revealed in a damning report from the WHO. The report pointed to all the ways, from tobacco growing to cigarette waste and cigarette litter, in which cigarettes wreak ecological havoc.
Some quick facts:
- Cigarette production resulted in 45,000,000 tonnes of waste since 1995
- 6,000,000 tonnes of nicotine waste
- 4,000,000 tonnes of chemical waste
You can read the full report here. And it’s just the tip of the iceberg. You need to understand how cigarettes and smoking harm the planet and people. When you do, you won’t have a problem finding the motivation to quit.
9. No More Playing with Fire (literally)
Cigarettes burn. In fact, it is the burning of tobacco that causes the release of so many dangerous chemicals. The damage caused by combustible cigarettes is one of the reasons why so many people have turned to vaporizers, as the best vaporizers only heat up the nicotine, thus releasing fewer harmful elements.
Cigarettes burn other things too. The fact that cigarettes are responsible for 8-10% of all home fires in the United States over the past decade (that is, nearly 90,000 fires a year) is another nugget of desperation emerging from the WHO report.
So, in addition to all the other ways that cigarettes can kill you, they can also set your house on fire. It’s not just residential property that suffers. Wildfires are usually started by humans (well, 90% of the time). Although cigarettes are not always the culprit, they still do a lot of damage.
The Fort Collins wildfire that struck parts of Colorado in 2017 was caused by a lit cigarette butt. In 1999, a lit cigarette butt thrown from a moving truck in southern France started the infamous Mont Blanc tunnel fire that killed 39 people.
8. Be a Quitter and Pick Up Your Litter
Quick question: Do you know what the dirtiest object in the world is? Tip: This is not plastic bags, cups, bottle caps, or paper receipts. They are cigarette butts.
I hear you think (because I’m on your mind right now) “but how can cigarette butts be the most trashy object in the world, when they are so tiny and tiny?” Well, I’m about to feed the answer into your brain as Leonardo DiCaprio did in Inception.
There are around 1.1 billion smokers in the world. These 1.1 billion smokers smoked more than 5.8 trillion (trillion with a T) cigarettes in one year. Imagine if instead of cigarettes these billions of people threw away, I don’t know, banana peels or used diapers (Ewwww).
You would notice the accumulation of used diapers and banana peels on city streets, parks, and beaches if 5.8 billion of them were thrown away each year.
And that’s the situation with cigarette butts. But, not only are there many, but cigarette butts are too:
- Non-biodegradable, meaning they can take almost fifteen years to degrade
- They contain poisonous and dangerous chemicals that seep out into the environment, especially in bodies of water, where they produce substances known as “leachates,” which kill half of all the marine life that comes in contact with it.
7. Waste of Money
The last three points should be enough for most conscientious people to quit smoking. But, now, we are going to explain the reasons why smoking is bad for you and only you. You like money, right?
So why waste it on a habit that costs you heart and lungs? And also a lot of money. You can use this handy cigarette calculator to estimate your savings if you quit smoking. Many state smoking cessation programs offer free incentives, such as telephone counseling, free or subsidized samples of NRT medications.
But one study found that in the places where cigarettes are most expensive – New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island – smoking for life can result in a bill of a million dollars or more. Even in places like the Midwestern and Southern states, where cigarettes are cheaper than other states, lifetime smoking still results in costs that run into the millions of dollars.
If you live in a state that does not offer free help to quit smoking, you can always try to quit using an e-cigarette. Many of the long-term effects of vaping are unknown, and ideally, no nicotine at all.
But if you want to reproduce that smoking feeling, the best vaporizers out there are not only cheaper and more profitable, but they are also much less dangerous than smoking cigarettes.
6. Something to be Proud Of
“Wish list” is a term that recently entered pop culture. Wish lists are lists of all the things you want to do before you die. A smoker’s wish list could possibly have “quit smoking” number one on that list.
But don’t beat yourself up if you think “quitting” is not as laudable or as awesome a goal as climbing Mount Everest or skydiving. Quitting smoking can be your Mount Everest.
Think about what you’re up against: nicotine is one of the most addictive substances on the planet. 85% of people who try to quit suddenly relapse in the first year. Stopping is no small thing.
So instead of gifting your friends with photos of Mount Everest, tell them, with pride and your puffed chest: “I quit smoking.” It will blow your mind, guaranteed.
5. Did We Mention the Environment?
Just as the first and second rules of Fight Club do not speak of Fight Club, it is worth mentioning the importance and breadth of the environmental impact of cigarettes, for the fourth time. Yet it is astonishing how much damage even tobacco-growing causes.
Most of the tobacco is grown in developing countries, such as China, Brazil, and India. Tobacco, like all crops, needs land. And when there is not enough land, trees and other plants begin to die. Clearing of land for tobacco crops is a major cause of large-scale deforestation throughout the world.
Not only that, but growing tobacco also requires more use of insecticides and pesticides than other plants, as tobacco has no natural defenses against other plant pests. So even growing tobacco is bad for many people.
4. Your Lovelife
It’s almost become a stereotype: lighting a cigarette after a satisfying lovemaking session. But the reality is that cigarettes and smoking can shorten, or even advance, your plans to go down.
Smoking constricts the blood vessels. And constricted blood vessels are a major contributing factor to erectile dysfunction. If you’re reading this and thinking, “thank goodness, I don’t have a penis,” I’m sorry: women are just as affected by the adverse effects of smoking on libido as men.
3. Your Life
Cigarettes are totally and overwhelmingly destructive; It makes sense that quitting smoking significantly improves your chances of living longer. The evidence is everywhere. Your heart and lungs work less excessively than when you smoked.
In the first twenty minutes after it doesn’t turn on, your heart rate returns to normal. The longer you don’t smoke, the more benefits accrue. Improve your breathing. Your senses of taste and smell become alive and vibrant again.
The long-term effects are even more favorable. Smokers who quit before age 40 can expect a 90% chance of avoiding most, if not all, smoking-related illnesses.
2. Your Health
Horses are such beautiful creatures, which makes it all the more sad and tragic that we have to defeat this dead horse one more time. No, literally, of course. Smoking is bad for you. She Says It On The Package!
Some quick numbers:
- 4,000 different chemicals (carbon monoxide, tar, arsenic) in tobacco smoke
- 250 of those chemicals are poisonous
- 50 of them are known carcinogens
Need we say more? Yes, we do. The number one reason to quit smoking in 2020 is:
1. Saving Lives
This list goes beyond the personal when it comes to good reasons to quit smoking. If all the negative effects of smoking and cigarettes on the environment, tobacco producers, and your health, which we have seen in this list are not convincing enough, you should think of only one thing: the life you will save, which is not yours.
Smoking kills nearly six million people a year. However, the most worrying figure of all is the number of people who die each year from secondhand smoke: 600,000. 600,000! And these are people who never smoked.
Cigarette companies may be responsible for your death, but who is responsible for all those people who die? People who don’t even smoke? Tobacco control campaigns often attempt to embarrass the smoker for what he does to himself. But maybe they should also focus on people who kill who smoke, by accident.
About the Author: Phyllis Baker is a health blogger who specializes in smoking cessation and addiction treatment. Her experience also includes self-development and lifestyle.
