More Health Reasons To Quit Smoking
Your health is the most precious gift that you have. You need to think about that when you are trying to decide whether you should quit smoking or not. If you are still trying to decide whether the risk for lung cancer is high enough to make you put down that cigarette you may want to look at the other possible health risks you are taking. Once you see what you are doing to your health you will think twice before buying that next package of cigarettes. Smoking has been linked to many more serious medical conditions than once thought.
Systemic lupus erythematosus, commonly referred to as lupus, is a disease of the immune system. It can be very uncomfortable, depending on whether it is a severe case or a mild condition, because the body actually attacks its own organs. This causes pain, inflammation and an assortment of other difficulties including kidney failure. At least nine different recent studies have shown that smokers have an increased risk of developing lupus. Those smokers who stopped did not develop this risk.
A concern for men is related to cigarette smoking and sexual ability. It seems that those who smoke at least a package of cigarettes daily are sixty percent more likely to have difficulties in the bedroom. This is in comparison to men who had never smoked who had only a twelve percent problem with sexual performance. This is an issue to worry about for men, especially as they age, which in itself can causes potential impotence issues. Poor bedroom performance can often affect both self esteem and relationship quality.
Startling results from some recent studies have revealed that smokers are four times as likely to go blind as those who do not smoke. This is because of macular degeneration which has been promoted by the smoking. This in itself is a condition that happens with aging, but the smoking can actually affect the central vision with can result in blindness because the eye can no longer use the piece of the retina that is needed for the type of sight required to see directly in front of a person. Studies have not explained why this happens but have shown that it is tied into smoking.
More bad news connected with smoking has come out in a recent study done on breast cancer. Tests have confirmed that smoking somehow affects the risk factors of developing breast cancer. Women who began smoking early in their lives, under twenty, who smoked at least twenty cigarettes daily or started smoking a minimum of years before having their first child have a thirty percent higher risk of developing breast cancer than women who do not fit into any of those groups.
Smoking is also linked to an increased risk of developing a thyroid conditions, some types of colon cancers and depression. It is obvious that it is in the best interests of your health to quit smoking before you develop any of these serious health problems.