In a recent post, I off-handedly remarked that some people seem to play the odds with their health. “After all,” I remarked, “only 20% to 25% of smokers get lung cancer.”
This morning, as I reread my article, I realized that while that’s true to some extent, there are actually a couple of prevailing attitudes:
- It can’t happen to me, so I’m not going to worry about it.
- It will happen to me, so there’s nothing I can do about it.
It can’t happen to me
This attitude has merit. This people are playing the odds. They may be in a little bit of denial with the word “can’t”, but “probably won’t” is not outside the realm of rationality.
The problem is that, if you are pointing to individual ailments caused by smoking — heart disease, lung cancer, diabetes — well, sure, your chance of contracting one of those diseases is lower than not.
But I don’t want to play those odds, because we are talking about extremely deadly diseases.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC),
- Smoking causes 20% of the deaths in the US. That’s 1 out of every 5 deaths — directly attributable to smoking.
- Smoking causes about 90% of all lung cancer deaths in men, and 80% of all lung cancer deaths in women. 90% of all deaths from chronic obstructive lung disease are caused by smoking.
- More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined.
Per that same article, the CDC also states that smoking increases the risk of
- Coronary heart disease by 2 to 4 times
- Stroke by 2 to 4 times
- Men developing lung cancer by 23 times
- Women developing lung cancer by 13 times
- Dying from chronic obstructive lung diseases (such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema) by 12 to 13 times
How do you like those odds?
Ultimately, though, I think what made me quit smoking 20 years ago was not any of that. I just got tired of (1) being addicted to cigarettes, (2) smelling like cigarette smoke, and (3)
When smokers quit — what are the benefits over time?
According to The American Cancer Society, here is a timetable for what happens in your body when you quit (with references).
20 minutes after quitting
- Your heart rate and blood pressure drop.
(Effect of smoking on arterial stiffness and pulse pressure amplification, Mahmud A, Feely J. Hypertension. 2003:41:183)
12 hours after quitting
- The carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal.
(US Surgeon General’s Report, 1988, p. 202)
2 weeks to 3 months after quitting
- Your circulation improves and your lung function increases.
(US Surgeon General’s Report, 1990, pp.193, 194,196, 285, 323)
1 to 9 months after quitting
- Coughing and shortness of breath decrease; cilia (tiny hair-like structures that move mucus out of the lungs) start to regain normal function in the lungs, increasing the ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs, and reduce the risk of infection.
(US Surgeon General’s Report, 1990, pp. 285-287, 304)
1 year after quitting
- The excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a continuing smoker’s.
(US Surgeon General’s Report, 2010, p. 359)
5 years after quitting
- Risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, and bladder are cut in half. Cervical cancer risk falls to that of a non-smoker. Stroke risk can fall to that of a non-smoker after 2-5 years.
(A Report of the Surgeon General: How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease – The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease Fact Sheet, 2010; and Tobacco Control: Reversal of Risk After Quitting Smoking. IARC Handbooks of Cancer Prevention, Vol. 11. 2007, p 341)
10 years after quitting
- The risk of dying from lung cancer is about half that of a person who is still smoking.
- The risk of cancer of the larynx (voice box) and pancreas decreases.
(A Report of the Surgeon General: How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease – The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease Fact Sheet, 2010; and US Surgeon General’s Report, 1990, pp. vi, 155, 165)
15 years after quitting
- The risk of coronary heart disease is that of a non-smoker’s.
(Tobacco Control: Reversal of Risk After Quitting Smoking. IARC Handbooks of Cancer Prevention, Vol. 11. 2007. p 11)
There are a lot of reasons to quit smoking. As a smoker, you can either continue to play the odds, or you can quit now and get your body on the road to recovery. Up to you.