Is smoking bad for your health?

[SysRq]

I smoke on average about a half a pack a day, and I dont have the "smoker's cough". True I cough alot during the winter months due to sinus pressure and whatnot but druing spring summer and fall the only time I really cough is when I have a cold.

I can't help but wonder though if my sinuses would be so bad if I did not smoke.

Let's take also for example the fact that most of your carcinogens come out of the filter. Ritalin Kid's dad is like 70something and has smoked since he was like 15 or something and he doesnt have the 'smoker cough'. His voice is a little raspy but other than that it hasnt really effected him at all. Then you have my dad who has smoked since he was like 20 and he is now 46 and he coughs all the time especially when he first wakes up. The diffrence is that Rit's dad has never smoked through a filter in his life, he smokes cigars and pipes and my dad has always smoked ciggarettes.

Lung cancer increased when filters were put on the ciggarettes and a chemical addatives were put into them.

http://quitsmoking.about.com/library.../aa042301a.htm

Consider this article and what it states being contained in cigarettes.

In the 4000 chemicals in cigarette tobacco, there are 43 known carcinogens.

Take a look at this list and consider some of the things that are mentioned in it.

Over half the chemicals on this list are man made and do not naturally occur in nature. You have to wonder about that. Consider also that tobacco has been smoked in places like china and north america since before the beginning of recorded time and only in recent history do we see things like a surge in various kinds of cancer.

Personally I am left to think that the real carcinogen here is man, not tobacco.

[thekingofpain]

Originally posted by Fingers-
Is smoking bad for your health?

Depends on what you're smoking...

;-)

[Ming]

I voted a few a day will not hurt you. While smoking isn't good, I don't see the harm in a few here or there. Probably much healthier to not smoke at all, but there are a hundred other things to worry about too. Like diet, exercise, and high risk activities.

[Sweet]

just FYI.... (some info on quitting)

http://www.vitaminusa.com/dontradonefo.html

...be sure to read down to the baking soda part, I've heard that a few times before, also son't discount subliminal tapes... hey why not...

congrats to socalgal, and hopefully you can do it to surreal. just gotta tuff it out.


good luck to you

OK, I lied.. I couldn't resist the urge to look again.
Sweet, that was some interesting reading on the niacin and baking soda.. Thanks
And thanks to everyone for the kind words of support.

[Brainchild]

Surreal, great job on cutting back to 10


I smoked 2 packs a day for nearly 10 years,and after quitting june 2nd,I can tell you that I do feel better. That nagging cough I had for a good many years is just now, over the past couple of months, starting to disappear.
Quitting is tough. If ya never had to,you'll never understand what a hold the smokes can have over a person.I hated smoking with a passion,swayed everyone against them. Knew the risks,and yet I still smoked like a chimney
I bought a new pack the day I quit, and laid it on the desk unopened.Knowing that I always want what I don't have, this made it a Choice, for me this works. Finished the pack I was smoking at 9:10AM june 2, and am now a nonsmoker
I do feel better, and believe that a few can be just as bad as a pack. I voted #4, that's just how I feel about it

To all the quitters coming up. Buy a pack of gum, or two. It does help a little

[cyphen]

i smoked for about 2 1/2 years. I was building up my tolerance to cancer.
I quit after every smoke. Heck - I'd quit smoking 20 times per pack - sometimes for as long as an hour and a half! Then of course i'd start up again with the next one.

I talked to a doctor and he said i should quit. Then i talked to a financial advisor, and he said i didn't have to quit - i should just quit buying...

Quitting though, for me, was very easy. Cold turkey. I just never let myself smoke another cigarette. Granted i wasn't a 20 year smoker or anything, but to me, it's all about will power. Be strong! It's just a habit - it's not a need. Mind over matter. (And if you don't mind, it doesn't matter... ) Good luck in your quest for better living....

[Sweet]

note to peeps about prev. comment on niacin,
Just wanted to mention a word about the vitamin niacin. It's suggested to get it along with the other B vitamins. Taking alot of one B without the others may not be a good idea. A nice all-B or b-50 or something is good. (multi-vit first). B's are water soluble.

IF someone does take niacin alone it can cause the body to flush or another way to describe it is like when ur foot falls asleep all over your body for a long time.

SO it is not a good idea to take the niacin comment literally without more individual research, stick with quality, not quantity.

[Epidemic]

Mick,

Not to beat a dead horse but .

4) if you are in an anthrax rich environment pre-heating the air to 400 degrees before inhaling could save your life.
5)
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Ac tually that's just plain wrong, Epidemic.

Someone who smokes is much more PRONE to develop inhalational anthrax after exposure than someone who doesn't, due to the poor clearance of foreign matter from the respiratory tree.


You are right about the long term effects of smoking there. But at the instant of the exposure if you only breath through a filtered cigarette you will burn up the spores. There is good science behind that. It is a stupid premiss but the logic is sound.

Expose the spores to a 400 degree butt and you will reduce the living spores inhaled for that moment. Then use the added filter capability to further reduce exposure.

Geez it was a joke man but it ain't wrong.