Good Reasons to Quit Smoking

Smokers may want to pretend that they are immune from the damage that smoking causes, but the facts prove otherwise.

"Cigarettes and cigars do damage throughout the body," says Steven E. Gay, M.D., a clinical assistant professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor. "That's what makes it so risky -- and what makes quitting so important."

In the short term, quitters just feel better, Dr. Gay says, and in the long run, their health is better than those who keep smoking.

Here are Dr. Gay's top reasons for quitting smoking:

• You'll drastically reduce your risk for lung and other cancers. Smoking is what makes lung cancer the top cause of cancer death in the nation. But studies also have shown stomach, pancreatic, kidney, bladder and head and neck cancers, and other types of cancer are more common and more deadly among smokers.

• You'll cough less and breathe easier. Besides causing cancer, smoking hurts the lungs' fragile tissues in ways that can lead to chronic lung diseases, such as bronchitis and emphysema. Chronic bronchitis can worsen into chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Emphysema is linked almost exclusively to smoking.

• You'll decrease your risk for heart disease and heart attack. Numerous studies show smokers have far more heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems, including high blood pressure, than nonsmokers.

• You'll be less likely to have a stroke. Stroke is the third-leading cause of death in the United States and the top cause of disability.

• If you're a man, you'll be less likely to experience erectile dysfunction. "Men who smoke have a 50 percent increased risk of developing erectile dysfunction than men who don't smoke," says Dr. Gay.

• If you're a woman, you'll be less likely to have fertility problems or give birth to a premature or low-birth-weight baby. The hazards related to smoking and pregnancy also may give your baby a higher chance of birth defects, and lifelong health and learning problems.

• Quitting will help your personal appearance by reducing bad breath, yellowed teeth and fingernails, premature skin aging and early hair loss.

• If you quit, you'll spare your spouse the dangers of secondhand smoke. Nonsmoking spouses of people who smoke have an increased risk for lung cancer and heart disease, compared with couples in which neither partner smokes.

• If you quit, you'll keep your kids from getting sick from secondhand smoke. "Children who live in a household with a smoker have a two- to four-times greater risk for asthma as children who live in a nonsmoking household," explains Dr. Gay.