The Dangers of Smoking
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), over 1.1 billion people smoke worldwide. While this may seem like a shockingly large number—and it is—, the amount of people smoking is actually decreasing worldwide - with 29 million fewer smokers today than in 2000.
Smoking is incredibly harmful. Smoking is the single leading cause of cancer worldwide, is responsible for 70% of all cases of lung cancer, and has even been shown to accelerate aging.
The CDC estimates that 1 in 5 deaths in the United States each year is caused by smoking. This means that smoking causes more deaths than HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, car accidents, and firearm-related incidents combined.
Smoking has been linked to cancer in almost every part of the body, including:
- Bladder
- Blood (acute myeloid leukemia)
- Cervix
- Colon and rectum (colorectal)
- Esophagus
- Kidney and ureter
- Larynx
- Liver
- Oropharynx (includes parts of the throat, tongue, soft palate, and the tonsils)
- Pancreas
- Stomach
- Trachea, bronchus, and lung
Additionally, smoking has been shown to increase your risk of many diseases, such as:
- Heart failure
- Lung diseases
- Strokes
- Cataracts
- Infertility
Nearly half of all smokers die prematurely due to smoking-related diseases, and the average life expectancy of a smoker is ten years younger than a non-smoker.
Why is it so hard to quit smoking?
Considering the health consequences of smoking, and the fact an estimated 70% of current smokers want to quit, you might wonder why more people don’t give up the habit? It’s because, for most people, giving up smoking is incredibly difficult.
Smoking cessation can be challenging due to the physical symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. Nicotine is an addictive chemical found in cigarettes that makes people want to smoke—even if they’ve decided to quit. When you begin smoking, the nicotine may target receptors in one of the brain’s key reward systems, the ventral tegmental area (VTA), to stimulate both pleasure and aversion—in other words, you might have hated the taste but still wanted more.
If you continue to smoke, your brain experiences signaling process changes in the brain reward system. As nicotine releases dopamine (the feel-good chemical) each time you smoke, it effectively teaches the brain to repeat the same behavior. By this stage, you are no longer repulsed by cigarettes and begin to crave them instead.
Once your brain is dependent on nicotine, it becomes less concerned with chasing the pleasurable feelings of smoking and instead focuses on relieving ‘bad’ feelings of not having nicotine in your system.
Smoking withdrawal symptoms
Withdrawal symptoms can begin in as little as a few hours from your last cigarette. Some people suffer from severe physical symptoms of nicotine withdrawal once they stop smoking. These include:
- Cravings for nicotine
- Nausea
- Headache
- Abdominal pain
- Aches and pains
Nicotine withdrawal may also cause psychological and sleep problems such as:
- Irritability
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Difficulty concentrating
- Insomnia
If you're looking to quit and want to ward off some of the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal, then hypnotherapy can help. Hypnotherapy has been shown to both help people quit smoking and overcome the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal.
Benefits of Quitting Smoking
Whatever your age, your health will benefit from quitting smoking. However, the sooner you quit, the faster your body can recover and your risk of serious health conditions will reduce.
The benefits of quitting smoking include:
- Reduced likelihood of disease or premature death: quitting smoking can improve your overall health, improve quality of life, and give years back to your life that you could otherwise lose from an early death.
- Higher energy levels: carbon monoxide levels in the blood are higher in those who smoke, reducing the amount of oxygen in the blood and making it difficult to function. But carbon monoxide levels decrease when a person stops smoking, allowing the lungs and muscles to function normally. The higher oxygen levels also benefit the brain, boosting alertness.
- More youthful skin: smoking accelerates the aging of the skin. A smoking habit can leave the skin dull, dry, and prone to wrinkles, but quitting smoking can reverse these effects and allow the skin to receive the nutrients it needs. Over time, the appearance of the skin should also improve.
- Better breathing: your lung capacity can increase by as much as 10% within one year of quitting smoking. This allows you to perform more daily tasks without becoming out of breath. You may also eventually lose your ‘smoker’s cough’, and any breathing conditions, such as asthma, should improve.
- Less stress: although an immediate hit of nicotine may be relaxing after nicotine withdrawal, smoking has been shown to increase stress levels in the long-term. Quitting smoking, although challenging at first, may reduce stress levels over time.
- Financial benefits: In 2024, the average price of a packet of cigarettes is €16.75, which means, for an individual who smokes one packet per day, they are spending €117.25 per week, and €6,113.75 per year.
