The Smoking Gun...Why you need to Put It Away!

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Title: The Smoking Gun...Why you need to Put It Away!

Word Count: 408

Author: Ted Crawford

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The Smoking Gun...Why you need to Put It Away!

Copyright 2006 Ted Crawford

EVERYONE knows that smoking is bad for you and affects the

heart and lungs AND causes cancer. Cigarette smoking is the

#1 preventable cause of premature death in the United

States; accounting for more than 440,000 deaths every year

in this country alone.

When you light up, a plethora of toxic chemicals enter your

lungs and bloodstream. Some of these chemicals send signals

to the heart to make it beat and work harder and faster.

Smoking causes vessels to constrict (tighten and narrow),

forcing blood to travel through a smaller area. These

effects cause blood pressure to increase. Many people

develop hypertension (high blood pressure) ALL of the time

just due to their smoking habits. Smoking also increases

LDL (low density lipoproteins), the so-called " bad "

cholesterol in the body. This in turn increases the

likelihood of plaques (fatty deposits) to develop on the

insides of blood vessels to form atherosclerosis;

" hardening of the arteries. " Smoking also greatly increases

the risk of blood clots (thromboses) to form and block your

blood vessels. In time, these clots and fatty deposits

increase the risk of, and can lead to, either a stroke (a

blockage of a vessel to the brain), or a myocardial

infarction (heart attack), a blocked coronary artery.

Smoking, of course, also causes emphysema, a serious lung

disease that impairs breathing by clogging the bronchial

airways with inflammation and mucous.

Here are just a few of the many benefits to quitting

smoking:

*Your skin will look smoother and younger. Smoking wrinkles

you prematurely. I can usually determine who smokes and

doesn't when a patient enters my office based on their face.

*You will SMELL better! I can also identify a smoker by the

smell of smoker when I enter a room.

*It will reduce the risk for heart disease by nearly 1/2

half!

*It will reduce the risk of having a blood clot and stroke.

*It will reduce your risk of developing emphysema.

*It improves your stamina for exercising and doing your

normal activities. Do you want to have prongs sticking out

of your nose hooked up to an oxygen tank that you have to

drag around?

*It greatly improves your sense of taste AND smell.

*You will SAVE tons of money; NOW AND LATER!

Quitting smoking IS a difficult process, but it is well

worth the effort. If you still smoke, please talk to your

doctor about it! Their are aids to help you stop today!

About the Author:

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