Smoking: A Deadly Habit

Paul and Patricia Bragg

Thanks to Dr. Paul and Dr. Patricia Bragg for their incredible information about the harmful impact of smoking. Click for the complete article and visit their Healthy Living site at www.bragg.com

Excerpt from Chapter 4: Smoking – A Deadly Habit With all these nearly inescapable health hazards, smog, etc, in the world to overcome, it's incredible that millions of people harm their lungs even more by inhaling deadly tobacco smoke into their lungs.

Nicotine is poison! It immediately affects lung function and constricts your cardiovascular system. It destroys vitamin C, which is vital to your health and immune system. After only 12 hours of not smoking, nicotine blood levels fall and the heart and lungs begin healing. If you smoke, please stop now and be loving to your body.
The lungs' air sacs are further damaged by tobacco tars and carbon particles. These lodge in the walls of the lungs' important balloon-like cells, causing them to lose their natural elasticity and eventually breaking them down altogether. The result? Emphysema—the killer disease in which destruction of the breathing mechanism slowly smothers its victim from within.
Of the over 50 million Americans who smoke, one third to one half will die from smoking-related diseases! 

Smoking also introduces at least two deadly poisons into the body: arsenic and carbon monoxide, as well as other toxins. Compounding these health hazards, smoking creates a desire for caffeine and sugar. Moreover, twice as many smokers drink alcohol compared to non-smokers. Smokers have a far greater incidence of cancer of the lungs, larynx, pharynx, esophagus, mouth, colon and breast. All tobacco products should be banned—they are killers!
If you insist on committing a slow suicide by smoking, no one can stop you. If you really want to save your lungs, health and life, stop smoking by using your strong will and persistence. Start today to make the effort to stop as a positive step towards living The Bragg Healthy Lifestyle.

In our Bragg Health Crusade Lectures throughout the world, we have had thousands of health students who were smokers; some for as long as 40 years. We inspired them to stop smoking and take charge of their health. You can too! Smokers should read about the deadly effects of smoking to the heart and overall health in our book, Healthy Heart: Keep Your Cardiovascular System Healthy and Fit at Any Age.

Here's a tip from a writer friend of ours who, over the years, had acquired the habit of lighting a cigarette whenever she paused to compose her next sequence of thoughts. She said, "When it dawned on me what I was doing, I felt like a complete fool. I stopped smoking! It was destroying my health. Now, instead of a cigarette, I take a full, deep breath and I'm healthier and my thoughts come faster and more clearly than ever!"
She finally realized that she did this because her brain was calling for more oxygen. What she actually needed and wanted was a deep breath – but she was inhaling smoke instead of oxygen, thus defeating her purpose.
If you are a smoker, try this! When you want to smoke a cigarette or cigar or pipe—stop! Instead, take a long, slow, deep breath, filling every air sac in your lungs, and hold it, allowing your red blood cells to become more oxygenated. Then exxhale slowly and completely. Empty every bit of poisonous carbon dioxide from your lungs. You will feel a new surge of energy from the top of your scalp to the soles of your feet...a relaxing and incredibly rejuvenating sensation which you can never get from using tobacco or any other artificial stimulant. The surest way to quit a bad habit is to replace it with a good one.

The greatest benefit to your life and health would be to replace smoking with deep breathing!

Teens Talk About Stopping Smoking

Ex-smoking teens testify that their life is better, self-esteem higher and hope and joy for the future more profound after they quit smoking! Often these misguided, unfortunate children begin smoking before they are old enough to appreciate their hard-working lungs. They begin filling their miracle breathing lungs with health destroying tobacco, some when they are 16, 14 and even 10 years old! Stan B. recalls, "I started smoking when I was 12, to look cool." Susan W. says, "I smoked 2 packs a day from the time I was 16."
As horrifying as these stories are, we can take heart from these youngsters and learn a lesson from their resiliency. Though they are young and the challenge they face is difficult, many teen smokers are winning the battle against the smoking habit and feeling healthier and happier as a result! When it comes to quitting, Stan B. admits, "It's not easy, but I look at my parents who've smoked for over 20 years! I know I don't want to be sucking smoke into my lungs and coughing like them."
Every smoking teen should remember that they are not alone in the struggle to quit, and that their goal is within reach. Many young adults now choose a healthy quality of life over one of the greatest destroyers of our time—smoking! And, should any smoking teens find themselves wavering in their efforts to quit, they should remember the words of ex-smoking teen Ann S., who explains, "The biggest reward was that my self-esteem became so much better—I don't need a cigarette to make everything okay. I have made positive changes, enjoy a healthy lifestyle and have more money, time and energy!"

Quit Smoking – See the Difference it Makes!