Self Help

Smoking can’t be all bad, or else no one would do it!

A small number of people who stop smoking are affected by chemical changes in their mouths and may suffer minor problems including blisters, sores, and inflammation. For years, your mouth has had to withstand the endless attacks of hot smoke, so it can handle the sores.

Many smokers have exaggerated notions of the agony of going without cigarettes and want to know how long they will be affected by withdrawal symptoms. Since physiology varies widely among individuals, the answer has a lot to do with your attitude about the process.

Cigarette smoking is a primary culprit in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is the fourth-ranking cause of death in the United States (after heart attacks, cancers, and stroke). Nearly 16 million Americans have COPD. Smoking accounts for 82 percent of all deaths from this disease.

When smokers are confronted with the harsh reality of the problems - both health related and social - that their smoking habit brings for themselves and others, the majority admit that they have always intended to become non-smokers, but that there has always been an excuse to put it off to a “better time”.

As the saying goes, “Hindsight is 20/20 vision.” Most people who smoke wish they had never started. If you were able to go back in time to when you first tried a cigarette, what would you do? Chances are good that you wouldn’t even take one single puff.