15 Reasons to Quit Smoking Now

Many of us know that smoking is bad. Smoking, whether it be a vape, cigarette, shisha, or anything else has little to no benefit. 

On the other hand, smoking has tons of both long and short-term consequences that can not only destroy your health and life but end it too. 

Whether you smoke cigarettes or you consume tobacco in another way, quitting this harmful habit is not only possible, but also necessary for your continued good health. 

Despite what some might think, there are many effective treatments and approaches you can try to stop smoking and quit the habit, from medication to therapy.

But why exactly should you make every effort to completely stop smoking?

Reasons to Stop Smoking Now

Here are 15 reasons you should give up smoking now: 

1. Impaired Sense of Smell & Taste

Smoking impacts your sense of taste and smell much quicker than you might think. Many people who have quit instantly notice that food tastes better and scents are easier to detect and enjoy. Smoking will eventually destroy your taste buds to the point of no return too. 

2. Premature Aging

Smoking makes your skin more wrinkly and will make it drastically sag over time. 

Smokers look noticeably older than people who don’t smoke of the same age, and no amount of moisturizer can change this. 

3. Impotence

For men, smoking can drastically increase the chance of impotence. While impotence does become a struggle as men age, it is sped up considerably if you are a smoker. 

Once again, it is another thing that is irreversible without medical intervention. 

4.   Increased Risk of a Heart Attack

Smoking does incredible harm to your heart and its functions. Not only does smoking increase the chance of heart disease, but it also increases your chance of a heart attack. Smoking is the single most preventable cause of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).

In fact, studies have also found that smokers are more prone to multiple heart attacks in their lifetimes. Even people who smoke a few cigarettes a day have around double the risk of dying from heart and blood vessel disease compared to people who have never smoked.

5. Increased Infections

Your body isn’t as good at fighting and preventing infections when you are a smoker, whether that be infections from a wound, disease, or a virus. 

That means that long-term smokers are also more prone to opportunistic diseases like pneumonia, something that can kill people even with healthy lungs.

6. Increased Chance of Developing Cancer

Studies show that smoking is directly responsible for a least 20 different kinds of cancer. These range from lung and mouth cancers to colon, cervical and even cancer of the voice box. Many of these are also preventable if simply avoid smoking completely. 

7. Physical Underperformance 

People who smoke are more than likely more physically unfit than those who don’t. They tend to get tired and be out of breath more quickly.

That’s because smoking affects your lungs and cardiovascular strength, making simple tasks like walking, running, and going up and down stairs a struggle. 

8. Breathing Difficulties 

As mentioned above, smoking affects your breathing. You will be out of breath quickly after performing simple tasks.

No amount of cardio workouts will improve that if you continue to smoke. 

9. Damage to Teeth  and Mouth Health

Smoking will not only quickly and permanently stain your teeth yellow, but it also weakens the teeth enamel, increasing the chance of cavities and breaking your teeth. 

Smoking also increases the likelihood of cold sores and sores inside of your mouth and, as mentioned above, cancer of the mouth. 

Moreover, smoking causes constant bad breath. No amount of brushing or mouthwash gets rid of the smell either. 

10. Additional Long-Term Health Problems

Besides the already known health problems associated with smoking over many years, there are also many other unknow, less-known, and emerging issues that keep coming up. 

Cancer and CVDs are only a few of the known health issues of smoking, but there are also a bunch of other issues being discovered every year, including different mental health issues. 

11. Harm to Others

You aren’t only causing harm to yourself when you smoke, but also causing harm to all those around you when you are smoking, who’re commonly referred to as passive smokers. 

Millions of people who have never smoked in their life have had cancer or another smoking-related disease because they lived with someone who constantly smoked around them. 

This risk is especially high for smokers with children, because kids don’t have the same immunity strength as adults and can easily become sick due to second-hand smoke. 

12. Ruined Social Relationships

Smoking is increasingly frowned upon and becoming less and less socially acceptable nowadays. More people are aware of the dangers it poses and they not only refuse to smoke, but also refuse to be around anyone who smokes around them. 

Smoking therefore makes it harder to meet and be around new people unless they are smokers too. Some people also take it further by refusing to go to a restaurant or similar public places if there is no smoking section, further alienating smokers around them. 

13. Difficult Finding a Partner

Building on the previous point, as more and more people become aware of the dangers of smoking, many people have added “non-smoker” as one of their requirements for a partner. 

That means it is not only becoming difficult to meet new people and build friendships, but also even more difficult to develop a romantic relationship with someone new if you smoke. 

14. High Economic Cost

There are very few places in the world where cigarettes are cheap. In countries like Australia and New Zealand, for example, a standard-sized box of Marlboro cigarettes can cost upwards of US$24. While this is not entirely unaffordable, buying cigarettes will hit your wallet hard. Smoking is costly and much more expensive than it was 5 or 10 years ago. 

15. Premature Death

This one is quite morbid, but smoking causes people to die much sooner than non-smokers. You don’t even have to be suffering from any sort of underlying disease or be sick. 

In fact, studies have shown that smokers die, on average, ten years earlier than those who don’t smoke at all, according to the U.S Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 

On the other hand, studies have shown that previous smokers increase their life expectancy only a few months after quitting smoking.