More than 100 Reasons to Quit Tobacco
31 May 2021 (WHO)* — Tobacco causes 8 million deaths every year. When evidence was released this year that smokers were more likely to develop severe disease with COVID-19 compared to non-smokers, it triggered millions of smokers to want to quit tobacco.
2. Everything stinks! From your skin, to your whole house, your clothes, and your fingers and breath.
3. Tobacco causes teeth to yellow and creates excess dental plaque.
4. Smoking tobacco and the use of smokeless tobacco cause bad breath.
5. Tobacco makes your skin wrinkly, making you look older faster. Smoking prematurely ages the skin by wearing away proteins that give the skin elasticity, depleting it of vitamin A and restricting blood flow.
6. These wrinkles are more apparent around the lips and eyes and tobacco also makes skin leathery and dry.
7. Tobacco smoking increases the risk of developing psoriasis, a noncontagious inflammatory skin condition that leaves itchy, oozing red patches all over the body.
8. Over 1 million people die every year from exposure to second-hand smoke.
9. Non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke are at risk of developing lung cancer.
10. Cigarettes remain an important cause of accidental fires and resulting deaths.
11. E-cigarettes also expose non-smokers and bystanders to nicotine and other harmful chemicals.
12. Being exposed to second-hand smoke may increase the risk of progression from tuberculosis infection to active disease.
13. Being exposed to second-hand smoke is associated with type 2 diabetes.
14. Smokers’ children suffer reduced lung function, which continues to affect them in the form of chronic respiratory disorders in adulthood.
15. Exposure of children to e-cigarette liquid continues to pose serious risks. There is a risk of the devices leaking, or of children swallowing the liquid.
16. E-cigarettes have been known to cause serious injuries, including burns, through fires and explosions.
17. School-aged children exposed to the harmful effects of second-hand smoke are also at risk for asthma through inflammation of the airways to the lungs.
18. Children under 2 years of age who are exposed to second-hand smoke in the home could get middle-ear disease possibly leading to hearing loss and deafness.
19. Quitting smoking decreases the risk of many diseases related to second-hand smoke in children, such as respiratory diseases (e.g., asthma) and ear infections.
20. You want to be a good example for your kids, friends, and loved ones.
21. Tobacco use can affect social interactions and relationships negatively.
22. Quitting means there are no restrictions on where you can go – you can mingle socially, without feeling isolated or having to go outside to smoke.
23. Quitting can make you more productive – you won’t have to stop what you are doing to have a smoke all the time.
28. Smokers are more likely to experience infertility. Quitting smoking reduces difficulty getting pregnant, having premature births, babies with low birth weights and miscarriage.
29. Smoking can cause erectile dysfunction. Smoking restricts blood flow to the penis creating an inability to achieve an erection. Erectile dysfunction is more common in smokers and very likely to persist or become permanent unless the man stops smoking early in life.
30. Smoking also diminishes sperm count, motility and shape of the sperm in men.
