Stop Smoking « Quit Smoking Now

August 18, 2009

Anti-Smoking Slogans

Filed under: Stop Smoking — Tags: Anti-Smoking, Slogans, Stop Smoking — admin @ 9:44 am

With so many campaigns going on now to discourage people from smoking, it is little wonder that everywhere you look there are anti-smoking slogans. These slogans range from cute, funny and polite, to downright rude and obnoxious. There is still a question as to just how effective these slogans can be when it comes to changing the smoking habits of people.

First of all, it may help to understand just what a slogan is. Basically, it is a sentence bearing a specific message that is used to promote an idea. Through the years slogans have been used as a way for different groups to get across their points of view. Slogans are used by advertisers, politicians, and just about anyone who has an idea they want others to subscribe to. Ironically enough, slogans were also used in the past to PROMOTE cigarette smoking, just as there are now anti-smoking slogans.

There are many slogans used to try to get people to stop smoking. People carrying signs with “Save your lungs! Save your life!” and “Breath healthily, Live happily!” are all over the place when there is a gathering to protest smoking. Another more sobering one is “If you can’t stop smoking, cancer will.” These anti-smoking slogans are all geared to scare you into putting down that cigarette and never picking up another one.
Some are a bit insulting but also quite funny. You may even have walked into a home or place of business that displayed a plaque reading “If you don’t smoke, I won’t fart!” While it is a bit off color, it still gets the point across. The person or persons in this home or business do NOT want you to smoke there.

Most die hard smokers are not really going to be affected by these slogans though. They may read them and turn up their noses, or laugh. Or they may totally ignore them. For the most part, these anti-smoking slogans don’t seem to make much of an impression on someone who is not going to stop smoking no matter what.
Whichever group you fall into, anti-smoking slogans will at least make for interesting conversation, whether they are serious or funny. You may want to be careful about who you get into a debate with over them though. This is a conversation that can quickly escalate into an all out war with some people, and that isn’t healthy for anyone.

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November 17, 2008

Smoking Side Effects

Filed under: Stop Smoking — Tags: Side Effects, Smoking, Stop Smoking — admin @ 8:30 pm

Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body. Eighty seven percent of lung cancer deaths are cigarette related. The effects of smoking are also responsible for other various cancers throughout the body, such as throat, mouth, tongue, and skin. Other health problems include, but are not limited to, lung disease, heart and blood vessel disease, stroke, angina, arteriosclerosis, osteoporosis, chronic bronchitis, high blood pressure, impotence, respiratory ailments, and cataracts.

Of the many effects smoking has, according to the American Heart Association, the greatest risk is coronary heart disease. The risk is 2-4 times greater in smokers than in non-smokers. Nicotine from tobacco smoke temporarily increases heart rate and blood pressure, less oxygen-rich blood circulates through the body due to the constriction of the blood vessels. Smoking also leads to stenosis, clumping in the blood vessels, of the heart. All the cardiovascular diseases caused from smoking usually result in heart failure.

Smoking is responsible for one third of cancer deaths in the United States. Countless studies have proved that smoking causes lung cancer, and substantially increases risk of cancer of the larynx, pharynx, oral cavity, esophagus, bladder, kidney, and pancreas and suggests a strong association with cancer of the cervix.

Emphysema, another common effect of smoking, is a lung disease involving damage to the alveoli (air sacs). The pollutants found in tobacco smoke damages these sacs. This damage worsens over time affecting the oxygen supply to the body. Symptoms include shortness of breath, chronic cough, fatigue, and wheezing. Other possible effects are respiratory infections, pulmonary hypertension (abnormally high blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries), anxiety, edema, and death.

COPD, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a lung disease that makes breathing difficult, is a lung inflammation that destroys alveoli (air sacs). Fifteen to twenty percent of smokers will develop COPD. Symptoms usually include, cough, fatigue, shortness of breath that lasts for months or years, and wheezing.

Another way smoking effects the body is it lowers the body’s ability to heal. Studies show that smokers have a lower survival rate after surgery due to the damage of host defenses and reduced immune response. Smokers also have a greater risk of infection and postoperative pneumonia.

Of the more than four thousand harmful chemicals in tobacco, more than fifty are known to cause cancer. Not to mention the arsenic, cyanide, formaldehyde, and ammonia bromide, which is used in toilet cleaners are all included in each cigarette, each with their own effect on the body.

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