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EFFECTS of smoking
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How smoking harms and kills us
Tobacco use and breathing in other people’s smoke (second-hand smoke) causes about 5,000 deaths every year through cancer, stroke and heart disease. It is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in New Zealand.
To reduce your risk, you need to stop smoking completely, not just cut back. This is because people who are cutting back on the smokes draw harder on the cigarette and breathe in even more of the harmful chemicals.
If you smoke tobacco, odds are, you WILL be affected by it. Up to two-thirds of people who smoke today and continue smoking will eventually be killed by tobacco. Long-term smokers will die an average of 10 to 15 years early because of smoking.
There are five times the number of deaths from tobacco use each year, than from drowning, suicide and motor vehicle accidents combined.
Smoking causes one in four cancer deaths in New Zealand
It is a major cause of blindness, with about 1,300 people in New Zealand having untreatable blindness due to current and past smoking.
If you are pregnant, inhaled smoke is a poison that enters your bloodstream and pass through the placenta to the baby. These poisons harm your baby’s health.
Smoking increases the risk of developing cancers of the lung, oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, oesophagus, pancreas, cervix, colon and rectum (colorectal), stomach and bladder.
Smoking increases the risk of developing diseases of the urinary tract, pelvis, bladder and digestive tract.
Forty percent of all strokes in people aged under 65 years are caused by smoking.
Forty percent of heart disease in those under 65 is caused by smoking.
Smokers have two-to-three times the risk of having a sudden cardiac death (when the heart suddenly stops beating) than non-smokers.
Tips to help you quit
Change your routines and habits
Brush your teeth with a fresh minty toothpaste
Spend time with non-smokers or ex-smokers
Try nicotine patches, gum and lozenges
Do things you enjoy - give yourself treats
Put up a list of reasons you quit somewhere you can see it
Try to reduce some of the stresses in your life
Phone a friend for support
Go for a walk when you are stressed or upset
Make your home smokefree and get rid of ashtrays
Plan what to do when you go where there might be smokers
Keep a drink bottle filled with water with you