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Tobacco

Benefits of Quitting

  • 20 minutes:      Blood pressure is restored to normal
  • 8 hours:           Carbon monoxide levels in the body are restored to normal
  • 24 hours:         Sense of smell and taste are improved
  • 2 weeks:         Cough/dyspnea (difficulty breathing) resolving
  • 9 months:       Coughing, congestion, exercise tolerance, fatigue are better
  • 1 year:            Risk of heart disease is ½ that of a smoker
  • 5 years:          Stroke risk is equal to non-smoker
  • 10 years:         Cancers of throat, lung, and mouth are cut by 50%
  • 10-15 years:     No increased risk of heart disease
  • 10-15 years:     Mortality rates same as never smokers

Smoking

Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body. Smoking causes many diseases and reduces the health of smokers in general.

  • Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death.
    • Worldwide, tobacco use causes more than 5 million deaths per year, and current trends show that tobacco use will cause more than 8 million deaths annually by 2030.
    • In the United States, tobacco use is responsible for about one in five deaths annually (i.e., about 443,000 deaths per year, and an estimated 49,000 of these tobacco-related deaths are the result of secondhand smoke exposure).
    • On average, smokers die 13 to 14 years earlier than nonsmokers.
  • Compared with nonsmokers, smoking is estimated to increase the risk of-
    • coronary heart disease by 2 to 4 times,
    • stroke by 2 to 4 times,
    • men developing lung cancer by 23 times,
    • women developing lung cancer by 13 times, and
    • dying from chronic obstructive lung diseases (such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema) by 12 to 13 times.
  • Smoking causes death.
    • The adverse health effects from cigarette smoking account for an estimated 443,000 deaths, or nearly one of every five deaths, each year in the United States.
    • More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined.
    • Smoking causes an estimated 90% of all lung cancer deaths in men and 80% of all lung cancer deaths in women.
    • An estimated 90% of all deaths from chronic obstructive lung disease are caused by smoking.
  • Smoking and Cardiovascular Disease.
    • Smoking causes coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States.
    • Cigarette smoking causes reduced circulation by narrowing the blood vessels (arteries) and puts smokers at risk of developing peripheral vascular disease (i.e., obstruction of the large arteries in the arms and legs that can cause a range of problems from pain to tissue loss or gangrene).
    • Smoking causes abdominal aortic aneurysm (i.e., a swelling or weakening of the main artery of the body-the aorta-where it runs through the abdomen).
  • Smoking is associated with the following adverse health effects:
    • Postmenopausal women who smoke have lower bone density than women who never smoked.
    • Women who smoke have an increased risk for hip fracture than women who never smoked.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention


Smokeless Tobacco

Whether you light it or not, the threat of tobacco is very real. Smokeless tobacco can be every bit as harmful and is not a "safe" alternative to smoking.

Here are a few facts you may not know about smokeless tobacco:

  • It contains 28 cancer-causing agents and has been shown to cause oral and pancreatic cancers in humans.
  • It has abrasives to cut gums & lips to speed nicotine delivery that can also wear down teeth.
  • It can cause receding gums, leaving tooth roots open to disease and decay.
  • Other effects of nicotine include peptic ulcer disease, delayed wound healing, increased cholesterol levels and reproductive disorders.
  • It has 7 times as much nicotine as a pack of cigarettes. A pack of cigarettes has 168mg of Nicotine, but a day´s worth of chewing tobacco has 1,176mg.

Snus

  • Snus are small packets of moist snuff sold in flavors like "frost," spice" and "peppermint." They come in colorful tins and packages- just like mints & gum.
  • They come in colorful tins and packages- just like mints & gum. Smokeless tobacco is marketed as a smoking alternative where smoking is not allowed, encouraging more constant exposure to nicotine, which is extremely addictive.
  • In women who used smokeless for 1-13 years, studies showed a 14-times-greater chance of cancer of the gums. Longer users showed a 50-time increased likelihood of the disease.

Source: Tobacco Free Florida


Quitting tobacco now greatly increases your quality of life, saves money, and decreases your risk for health problems. QuitNet is a free resource and online community for quitting smoking - www.quitnet.com . For help on campus, visit Student Health Services for free nicotine replacement patches or gum. To make an appointment, call 813.974.2331 or visit www.shs.usf.edu/services/request-an-appointment.aspx .