Dear Quitter, Believe it or not, I used to be a smoker too. I started when I was a teenager and smoked about a pack a day right through my twenties. Quitting smoking was one of the best decisions I made in my life and one of the toughest. As soon as I stopped I was amazed at how much better my body felt. Food tasted better. My sense of smell started to return to normal. I no longer felt out of breath doing simple activities. Its worth repeating, but smoking has many serious effects. Most everyone knows that smoking causes cancer. But smoking can also increase your risk to many other diseases like cancer of the mouth, larynx, kidney, bladder, pancreas and stomach. Smoking also causes serious respiratory disease like chronic bronchitis and emphysema in 20% of all smokers. That said, I know how hard it is to quit. For me, all my friends kept telling me "why dont you just stop." Unfortunately, its not that easy. But youve obviously taken some steps already and its never too late too quit. A 2002 report in the American Journal of Public Health found that a 65 year old woman who quits can add 4 years to her life. If youre younger the news is even better. People who quit at 35, the study also found, added over 8 years to their life compared with those who continued to smoke. One of the best places to begin quitting is with The American Cancer Society. They advise that the best way to quit is a combination of three things:
Dont worry if you may gain a little weight at first. Just increase the mall walking with your friends to compensate. First of all, your mall walking friends can be a great source of emotional support while youre quitting. More importantly, regular exercise is a terrific way to relieve the urge to smoke and at the same time burn off those extra calories. Some other quitting tips include:
As for swimming, I cant think of a better sport to try. The deep breathing youll need while you swim will remind you of the importance of having clean lungs. Once you add swimming to your workout routine, Ill bet you wont even want to touch another cigarette again. For more information on quitting, try some of these organizations: © Joe Decker 2003 |