Knowing The Tremendous Cost Of A Smoking Habit
The tremendous cost of a smoking habit is figured not just in monetary terms. In fact, the high price of cigarettes and other forms of tobacco is insignificant compared to the health consequences, human suffering, effect on others, and effect on families of this hard to kick habit.
The word tremendous is an apt one, for this harmful practice has shattering consequences. To begin with, the price of cigarettes has gone up about as fast as the economy has gone down. Throwing money away on something so bad for you makes no sense at all, but then that is the sad reality of an addiction.
Called coffin nails for a good reason, cigarettes shorten the life expectancy of their users to the extent that insurance premiums are higher for those who smoke. The habitual use of burning tobacco puts the user into the high risk category for stroke, high blood pressure, heart disease and emphysema. Cancer is also linked directly to this harmful practice.
Other forms of tobacco are no safer. Young men think chewing tobacco is cool, then become addicted and can’t stop when they are old enough to know that cool does not come in a can. Later, they may pay the unthinkable price of losing part of their face to mouth cancer. Cigars, with the traditional savoring of the smoke by holding it in the mouth as long as possible, are just as risky.
Even before the final bill comes due, smokers have paid the price in health. They are too short of breath to enjoy the exercise they should have, they can’t climb stairs or take a good deep breath of fresh air, they can’t work or play very long without needing a break, and they get irritable and nervous if they go too long without their ‘fix’.
Second hand smoke has been proved to be very harmful, especially for children and babies. Even pets can suffer from sharing a home with a heavy smoker. The threat is so serious that new laws have made it illegal to light up in most restaurants and virtually all public buildings. Parents who smoke not only risk the health of their unborn and young children, they set a terrible example for then as well.
There is a whole other side to the cost for people who choose to smoke. They are risking the years that they may spend with family and friends to engage in a habit that can shorten their lives considerably. Remember how the whole United States population mourned when Michael Landon lost his battle with cancer and left his wife and young children behind. Long time friends remembered his earlier smoking habits after his death, and the depth of his inhalations of the deadly smoke.
It is not only health that is sacrificed. Peace of mind is lost as well. Kicking the nicotine habit is so hard and unpleasant that many people just cannot succeed. After trying the patch, and the gum, and gaining forty pounds, they begin to bum smokes off their friends and soon feel so guilty about that that they once again start buying their own. For some, even a sincere wish to stop, the pleas of their families, the advice of their doctors, the rising premiums on their life insurance, and even prayer or hypnosis cannot help them quit.
The tremendous cost of a smoking habit involves everyone around the smoker, who puts money, health, and life itself on the line.
Stop smoking and weight loss are 2 of the most important things people are trying to do at this moment. You should get in with something huge and learn how to reach the goals you have.
