Is cigarette smoking bad for your heatlh?

Serendipity

I had lunch with a friend from high school who I haven't seen since last year; he is a smoker and continues to smoke regularly everyday. I told him that cigarette smoking is very bad for your health, as I was trying to look out for him, but he didn't want to hear any of it and said that the cheeseburger I was eating at the time is just as bad for your health.

How do I convince him to quit smoking before it is too late?

To what extent is cigarette smoking bad for your heatlh?

I always thought it was extremely harmful to your lungs, but never did any research. Just believed what I was told. As I like to question everything, I am looking for concrete data showing that cigarettes are indeed bad for your health.

Systems

Hell no its not bad for you!
No carbs, 0 calories, and plus you just look damn Kool doing it!:biggrin:

BlueFox

Actually, it is good for you. Why anyone would think it is harmful is beyond me. :rolleyes:

Seriously, are you trolling?

Dennis Gardner

There are 100 year old people that have smoked for 80 years, just as there are those that have died way too early from lung cancer. Unless it is currently affecting his health, I doubt that anything you say/do will matter much. We humans tend to gauge our lives on current situations, and personally history, not by others thoughts/rants/wishes.

It sounds as if you are more concerned for his health than yours, cheeseburger man......:biggrin:

joeparaski

You cannot convince a smoker to quit. He has to come to that decision himself.

Joe

ESavinon

Live and let live. He's an adult, it's his life; End of story.

Systems

Deleted:biggrin:

Toolfan66

I quit smoking Cigs and Pot many moons ago!!! Now Skoal Straight is my weakness,and I gave that up as well but if I was to go back to a bad habit Chewing Tobacco would be it!!

He has to want to quit first...

maximillian

Show him pictures of smoker's vs non-smoker's lungs. There's plenty out there via a simple Google search.

lightman1

Very bad for you! I'd be 6'10" and playing in the NBA!
Only made it to 6'3" and can't make it to half-court without taking a breather.

inspiredsports

When I was very young, I had an uncle who put a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. His cigarette induced emphysema had reached a point that (he wrote in his suicide note) he felt as if he was constantly drowning.

In my teens, I watched another cigarette-smoking uncle's skin turn leathery and ashen gray in color as emphysema set in. He lived in constant misery even with oxygen and died a few years later.

I still decided to experiment with cigarettes, but the powerful visions of those uncles dying always haunted me, and I decided to never touch them again after college.

Thank God I've been smoke free for 30 years now.

Toolfan66

inspiredsports wrote: »

Thank God I've been smoke free for 30 years now.

Thats about how long it's been for me as well..:biggrin:

gdb

When they announce the coming of a killer asteroid or a black hole.........I'll grab up a pack again, just to calm my nerves!

JustinHEMI

ESavinon wrote: »

Live and let live. He's an adult, it's his life; End of story.

This. Save your salvation for yourself and mind your own business.

Mike Reeter

Your friend "knows" that smoking is bad for his health,he just won't admit it because he is addicted to a drug.

Intervention very seldom works with most,he will give up smoking someday,one way or the other,but,it's his call.

I fought the damn things for over forty years.

billbillw

Dude,
You are supposedly just graduated from college, but your questions often sound like something a 6th grader would ask.

If you have any doubt as to whether inhaling cigarette smoke is good or bad for you health, I fear that your entire education has been a waste.

TECHNOKID

Sound advice harywebster20 however, just noticed you are a spammer and you have been reported!

headrott

yes.

woodhead 2

The Marlboro Man took my wife, that's how bad they are.

Slaine777

The only thing you will accomplish trying to tell a smoker to quit is pissing them off. It's a drug, it's addicting, it's their decision. Quitting smoking is easy, I've done it hundreds of times.

Jer.War

In Canada they put pictures of ailments caused by smoking along with slogans stating health facts right on the front of the pack to deter you from smoking. Some pretty compelling pictures, but the picture of a bent cigarrette along with the statement that smoking can lead to impotence and E.D. always hit me the hardest (hehehe). Cant quit unless you want to though, and even then it is a commitment.

tonyb

joeparaski wrote: »

You cannot convince a smoker to quit. He has to come to that decision himself.

Joe

Agreed.

So you have lunch with a friend you haven't seen in a year and decide to badger him about his smoking ? No wonder the dude only comes around once a year. Those who smoke know it's bad for them, it's their choice. Just like it's your choice to eat artery clogging junk food. No one wants to be told how to live their life. Lay off the guy if you value your friendship, he will quit when he's ready....and that maybe never.

steveinaz

Winners don't quit, and quitters don't win. :biggrin:

But seriously, like everything in this society today, it's blown way out of proportion. My father is 78, looks like he's 50, and has been smoking since he was 12. My point? I think alot of it has to do with family medical history. We have NO cancer in our family, and both sides of my family typically live a long time. I think some people are pre-disposed to cancer, like a time bomb waiting for the right bad habit to trigger the disease.

Smoking is stupid. I'm a smoker; though not what I would call a heavy smoker. There are other concerns, lung afflictions (emphysema/COPD) and heart disease that are far more likely and nearly as devastating.

You'll never get a smoker to quit by HOUNDING. That just pisses us off. It's like alcohol abuse, a person has to decide for themselves when the time is right. Though quitting smoking is probably significantly easier than other addictions, it is hard to stay quit in the long term.

TECHNOKID

Slaine777 wrote: »

... Quitting smoking is easy, I've done it hundreds of times.

ROTFLMAO, I guess then quitting is easy, I've done it so many times too!:redface: Maybe someday it will be the right one?:frown:

Jer.War wrote: »

In Canada they put pictures of ailments caused by smoking along with slogans stating health facts right on the front of the pack to deter you from smoking. Some pretty compelling pictures, but the picture of a bent cigarrette along with the statement that smoking can lead to impotence and E.D. always hit me the hardest (hehehe). Cant quit unless you want to though, and even then it is a commitment.

Unfortunately, the pictures and slogans do not seem to have any effect. Sure educates but far from curing the drugg addiction. Most of us buy our cigs and no longer see the pictures and/or slogans any longer. I soooo wish quitting were as easy as looking at pictures...

cnh

Any Doctor will tell him to stop smoking and give him a wondrous array of statistics to back that up. As said above, it's unlikely that you will fair better than this.

I've lost two cousins, who were smoking packs a day to lung cancer and pancreatic cancer. In both cases, by the time the cancer was found it was too late...it had spread.

If you think quitting will reduce your chances--maybe. A friend who stopped his heavy smoking in his 50s found, in his early 70s, that he had cancer in his brain, lungs, and other organs throughout his body. He too, went very quickly!

Of course there are actuarial statistics which show a 'small' percentage of people can become centenarians as smokers, so can some obese individuals, people whose diets 'suck', and booze-hounds because when you have billions of individuals to select from, there will ALWAYS be exceptions. But playing the exceptional card when we know that this behavior does damage is not unlike waiting to win the lottery in order to 'secure' your economic life, instead of taking CONCRETE steps to secure your life and retirement now.

If your friend's Doctor can't do it. Then, I guess, he'll just have to hit the wall--if he's lucky! Or be a 'genetic' superhuman?

cnh

pitdogg2

My dad has smoked Camels or Lucky Strikes since he was 12. He is now in his late 70's. My mom smoked Winston gold for 20 yrs. and has not smoked for 30yrs but now has emphazema(spelling?) in the last 5yrs. Dad is still going strong(in smoking) and nothing will stop him from smoking no drugs no patches not even 3 heart attacks or a stroke....He will smell of smoke in his casket. Your friend will only stop when he /she deceides and all the harping in the world will only make them want to smoke all that much more.
Step back and enjoy them while there here because you can't when they're gone..

bobman1235

There honestly isn't anything dumber than someone who says "blah blah has smoked for 70 years and is fine." Couldn't be dumber.

Smoking makes you statistically more likely to get cancer, emphysema, etc etc. It doesn't guarantee you will, but if you have a 2% chance of getting lung cancer right now, and when you smoke you have a 50% chance... it may not be a guarantee, but it sure isn't great odds. You only get one life, people.

Rivrrat

Eat enough cheeseburgers and it probably is as bad for your health as smoking.

Tony M

Doctors' #1 advice is do not smoke.

#2 is do not drink alot.

What do Americans do?

tonyb

Before you know it,sex will be bad for you too. Everything in moderation....well, except the sex part.
Eating a couple cheeseburgers every now and then isn't going to kill you. Nor is that slice of cheesecake. It's when we go to extremes that this stuff is bad for you. Sitting down and eating a half gallon of ice cream 3 times a week,bad. Occasional trip to Dairy Queen...good. You want to eat Mickey D's 4 times a week...don't expect steller checkups from your doc.
As Steve pointed out also,genetics play a role too but the majority of people don't have those genes that allow you to abuse your body without paying the piper. I think the key here is to be aware of what you put in your mouth,and listen to what your body is telling you. Easier said than done, I know. Fortunately, I am one of those guys people hate because I can eat a whole cheesecake and be a pound lighter the next day. My weight hasn't changed much since high school. The unfortunate part though, is as you get older, your metabolism slows down. I can feel it. So I try and keep the body moving but I think as I get even older I may have to supplement hormones to help keep everything reved up.

cristo

Smoking is not bad for me since I don't smoke.
Well, not quite...
If it's close enough, there's second hand smoke which has very significant effects.
It drives up health care costs, so it interferes with my acquisition of health care.
It wastes farm land that could be producing healthy foods.

On the plus side...

It provides some tax revenue that partially offsets the huge health care costs
associated with smoking.
It provides people who grow tobacco or work for the tobacco industry with jobs.
It also sends me more business, as I'm a primary care physician (I'd rather do
without that extra business, however - it's very frustrating to watch people decline
over the years before their time because of their smoking history).