Smoking is a serious danger to your health and others you love! I decided to devote an entire week of my wellness and health blogging to the hazards of smoking and the importance of quitting.

CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-Smoking

The 2014 Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health marked the 50th anniversary of the landmark 1964 report, the first federal government report linking smoking and specific diseases. Smoking causes immediate damage to your body, which can lead to long-term health problems. For every smoking-related death, at least 30 Americans live with a smoking-related illness. The only proven strategy to protect yourself from harm is to never smoke, and if you do smoke or use tobacco products, to quit.

Both my dad and my father-in-law died of smoking related diseases (lung cancer and complications due to COPD) even though they had longevity in their family. When they started smoking as young men, they did not know the health risks of smoking and clearly were both addicted to nicotine.

We know now and YOU know, so “you must stop smoking!”

Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.1

• Cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths each year in the United States. This is nearly one in five deaths.
• Smoking causes more deaths each year than the following causes combined:
  • Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
  • Illegal drug use
  • Alcohol use
  • Motor vehicle injuries
  • Firearm-related incidents
• More than 10 times as many U.S. citizens have died prematurely from cigarette smoking than have died in all the wars fought by the United States during its history.
• Smoking causes about 90% (or 9 out of 10) of all lung cancer deaths in men and women. More women die from lung cancer each year than from breast cancer.
• About 80% (or 8 out of 10) of all deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are caused by smoking.
• Cigarette smoking increases risk for death from all causes in men and women.

Despite significant progress since the first Surgeon General’s report, issued 50 years ago, smoking remains the single largest cause of preventable disease and death in the United States. surgeon general.gov