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400,000 Reasons to Stop Smoking
By: Kathy Burns-Millyard
Most of us know that smoking is indeed a habit that can have many serious implications on our health, but there's a tendency to view the problem lightly. It's important though, that every smoker be aware of the facts concerning smoking. So here are some eye openers for you...
The World Health Organization has been studying smoking trends and statistical patterns across the globe and has come up with the following statistics:
A good deal of variation exists from one part of the world to another. Many more women smoke in Eastern Europe than in East Asia and the Pacific Region. Eastern Europe itself has a particularly high rate of smoking, with up to 59 percent of adult males smoking.
As with other substances of abuse, such as alcohol and cocaine, the global frequency of tobacco use varies by social class, historical era, and culture. Historically, smoking had been a pastime of the rich. This trend has changed dramatically in recent decades. It appears that economically advantaged men in wealthier countries have been smoking less. The more years of education you've had, the less likely you are to be a smoker.
Most smokers begin early in life, before they are 25 years old. According to World Health Organization studies, the majority of smokers in affluent countries begin in their teens. A decline in the age of starting smoking has been observed worldwide.
As a wannabe quitter, you're in excellent company. People all over the world are trying to quit and stay away from cigarettes. There appears to be a correlation between a country's standard of living, level of education, and income and the number of people who have quit smoking. The more and better-informed people are, the more likely they are to quit smoking.
Current estimates are that over 1 billion people in the world smoke. (In other words, approximately one in three adults on the planet smokes.) The majority of these smokers reside in countries on the low end to the middle of the socioeconomic spectrum. Of this majority, about 80% live in low and middle income countries. The total number of smokers worldwide is expected to keep increasing.
But are things in the USA any better? Not really, as you can see for yourself in the figures of National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
In the United States, an estimated 25.6 million men (25.2%) and 22.6 million women (20.7%) are smokers. These people are at higher risk of heart attack and stroke. The latest estimates for persons age 18 and older show:
- Among whites, 25.1 percent of men and 21.7 percent of women smoke
- Among black or African Americans, 27.6 percent of men and 18.0 percent of women smoke
- Among Hispanics/Latinos, 23.2 percent of men and 12.5 percent of women smoke
- Among Asians (only), 21.3 percent of men and 6.9 percent of women smoke
- Among American Indians/Alaska Natives (only), 32.0 percent of men and 36.9 percent of women smoke
Studies show that smoking prevalence is higher among those with 9-11 years of education (35.4 percent) compared with those with more than 16 years of education (11.6 percent). It's highest among persons living below the poverty level (33.3 percent).
And These Figures Spell Death...
·One out of every five deaths is caused by tobacco
·An average of 400,000 Americans die each year from tobacco
·Tobacco is blamed for many serious pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases
·Tobacco and nicotine are some of the most potent carcinogens and are to blame for a majority of all cancers of the lung, trachea, bronchus, larynx, and esophagus
·Tobacco use also produces cancers in the pancreas, kidney, bladder, and cervix
·Impotency is sometimes to blame from addiction to nicotine because of its ability to reduce blood flow
·Smoking is an important risk factor for respiratory illnesses, causing 85,000 deaths per year from pulmonary diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and pneumonia
·Children and adolescents who are active smokers will have increasingly severe respiratory illness, as they grow older
·Smoking during pregnancy causes about 5-6% of prenatal deaths, 17-26% of low-birth-weight births, and 7-10% of pre-term deliveries, and it increases the risk of miscarriage and fetal growth retardation
·Cigarettes are responsible for about 25% of deaths from residential fires, causing nearly 1,000 fire-related deaths and 3,300 injuries each year
So, are you ready to try and quit smoking now?
Visit http://www.health-and-fitness-information.com/Quit-Smoking/ to learn how you can finally quit smoking fast, easily, and all naturally!
About the Author
© 2004 Kathy Burns-Millyard and The Health and Fitness Information Network
This article is provided courtesy of http://www.health-and-fitness-information.com - You may freely reprint this article on your website or in your newsletter provided this courtesy notice and the author name and URL remain intact.
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How to Benefit from the Mind-Body Connection
(excerpt)
You are about to gain insight into the
mind-body connection. The number of
people who truly understand these principles on our
planet are relatively few.
There is an undeniable connection between our minds and
bodies, you can learn
to use this fact to your benefit.
Dr. Bernie Siegel, author of "Love, Medicine and
Miracles" was once a
distraught cancer surgeon until he
began to understand the greater principles
of the mind-
body connection. He felt dragged down by the artificial
barriers
that existed between patient and doctor, and the
helplessness he often felt as
a result of his inability
to effectively serve those patients. Eventually, those
barriers
were disintegrated by Dr. Siegel's recognition
and growing understanding of the
mind-body connection and
how it could serve his patients and himself.
Dr. Siegel, or Bernie as he began to have his patients
refer to him, had some
startling realizations as a cancer surgeon. He found that
there were actually
quite a few people in the world that successfully beat
the statistics on cancer
survival. He began to recognize that a patient's ability
to defeat something as
serious as cancer had to do with the patient's mind and
attitude about their
disease.
If you would like to see the rest of
this article, please go here:
http://www.tobeinformed.com/repository/mind-body.html
copyright 2004 - David Snape
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