Annually on May 31, World No Tobacco Day is observed. A day created by the World Health Organization, World No Tobacco Day aims to raise awareness about the dangers of tobacco and how people can take control of their health. Considered the leading cause of preventable deaths in the world, smoking tobacco can instantly affect your body negatively just from one cigarette.
There's no way around it. Smoking is bad for your health. Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body. Cigarette smoking causes 87 percent of lung cancer deaths. It is also responsible for many other cancers and health problems. These include lung disease, heart and blood vessel disease, stroke, and cataracts. Women who smoke have a greater chance of certain pregnancy problems or having a baby die from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Your smoke is also bad for other people - they breathe in your smoke secondhand and can get many of the same problems as smokers.
Quitting smoking can reduce your risk of these problems. The earlier you quit, the greater the health benefit.
Cigarette smoke contains thousands of chemical agents; at least 60 of these cause cancer!
When a person decides to stop smoking, the craving for nicotine leads to withdrawal symptoms. These symptoms include:
When a person smokes, it not only affects the smoker, but also the people who are exposed to the smoke. Anyone nearby when a person is smoking breathes in the smoke that is exhaled from the smoker, as well as the smoke that comes from the cigarette, cigar, or pipe. This is known as secondhand smoke.
To those who already smoke but wish to stop, quitting is difficult, but many successful smoking cessation programs exist.
Some people stop cold turkey. They have one last cigarette and never return to smoking.
Most people who quit successfully stop smoking gradually.
There are many reasons that encourage smokers to take the first step towards quitting smoking.
Most people quit smoking for health reasons. Smoking is responsible for most lung cancer deaths. It is also the main cause of lung diseases such as emphysema, COPD, and bronchitis.
Smoking is also one of the leading causes of heart disease. It can lead to many other health problems, including sexual dysfunction, blindness, strokes, and blood clots.
Smoking causes bad breath, dark stained teeth, and wrinkles in the face. Some people wait until they are diagnosed with a disease to quit smoking. But many people take a pre-emptive strike and stop smoking before they get sick.
When you quit smoking, the body tends to recover and repair some of the damage caused by smoking. It is never too late to quit. Your chance of heart attack is reduced 4 hours after you quit. Within 3 months of quitting, lung function improves by about 30%. In about one year after quitting smoking, the risk of heart problems is half what it would have been if the patient had continued to smoke. After 10 years of smoking cessation, the death rate from lung cancer is nearly cut in half.
The risks of other cancers also go down, and the risk of strokes becomes similar to that of non-smokers.
Some people quit for loved ones. People who are often around tobacco smoke have a much higher risk of developing cancer or lung diseases. This includes children.
Recent studies have proven that residue from tobacco smoke can linger in carpets, upholstered surfaces, and can cause health risks, even if no one is actively smoking in the area. This is known as third hand smoke!
Giving up smoking is hard, and it can be difficult to stay smoke-free. Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare's (JHAH) Smoking Cessation Program is run by a team of experts, to help you quit and stay on track. As well as boosting the health of smokers, our program helps to reduce the risks to fellow workers and the community at large.
As a healthcare leader, JHAH has a duty to protect employees, patients, and the public from passive smoke. We are also committed to implementing an evidence-based program to encourage tobacco users to quit.
The program is available to adult JHAH and Saudi Aramco employees and their eligible dependents through a referral from a JHAH Respiratory Therapist.
Read more about our Smoking Cessation Program
At JHAH, we are here for you not just when you are ill, but also to help you stay well. That is why we have a range of programs to help you create a healthier you.
We believe in providing help and support to achieve and maintain improved health and wellbeing, from programs that support you in achieving better health outcomes, to self-management guides for long-term health conditions. It is all part of our commitment to helping you live a healthier, happier life.
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