Why It's Important to Quit

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Women smoke for different reasons. Some women smoke to deal with stress or control weight. Younger women may start smoking to rebel, show independence, or be accepted by their peers. But there is never a good reason to smoke.

Health Reasons to Quit

Smoking causes serious health problems, including:

• cancers of the lung, throat, mouth, larynx, esophagus, pancreas, kidney, bladder, cervix, and stomach
• leukemia (a cancer of blood-forming tissues)
• lung diseases
• atherosclerosis, or hardening and narrowing of the arteries

• Read or share personal stories about the effects of smoking and quitting.

  heart attacks
• stroke
• gum disease
• eye diseases that can lead to blindness

Smoking also:

• makes illnesses last longer
• causes more wound infections after surgery
• makes it harder to get pregnant
• increases your risk of getting a hip fracture

Smoking during pregnancy is especially dangerous. Smoking while pregnant can cause:

• Why does birth weight matter? Low birth weight babies are more likely to die or have serious health problems. They are also more likely to have long-term disabilities, such as problems seeing or hearing.

  placenta previa—the placenta grows too close to the opening of the uterus or womb. As a result, the baby cannot be delivered through the vagina and must be delivered by cesarean section, or C-section.
• placental abruption—the placenta separates too early from the wall of the uterus. This can lead to early labor or infant death.
• early rupture of membranes, or water breaking, before labor starts, so the baby is born too early
• a baby with a low birth weight
• damage to an infant's lungs

Other Benefits of Quitting

When you quit, you will never again have to leave your workplace, your home, or other places to smoke. Over time, you will see some of the other benefits of quitting:

• your teeth will be cleaner
• your breath will smell better
• the stain marks on your fingers will fade
• your skin is less wrinkled
• you are able to smell and taste things better

You will also feel stronger and be able to be more active.

For more information on the effects of quitting smoking, see What Happens When You Quit?

Additional Information on Why It's Important to Quit:

Publications

1.   Learn About Your Risk From Smoking (or the risk of a smoker you know) — Everyone has heard that smoking cigarettes is unhealthy, but few people really know how big these health effects are. This tool gives individualized smoking risk information and allows smokers to get personalized information about their own risk.

   http://smokefree.gov/smokersrisk/

2.   Quitting Tobacco: Short-term and Long-term Health Benefits — This fact sheet provides information about the positive effects of smoking cessation.

   http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Tobacco/quitting-benefits

3.   Smoking and Your Digestive System — This fact sheet explains the harmful effects that cigarette smoking can have on the digestive system. Some effects can include peptic ulcers, liver disease and gallstones. It also explains how these negative results can be reversed.

   http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/smoking/index.htm

4.   The Benefits of Quitting — This fact sheet briefly describes the benefits of quitting compared with the harmful health consequences of smoking. Quitting smoking has immediate as well as long-term benefits, such as reducing risks for stroke, cancers, coronary heart disease, ulcers, peripheral artery disease, and low infant birth weight.

   http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/sgr_2004/posters/benefits.htm

5. ASCO Expert Corner: Questions and Myths About Quitting Smoking (Copyright © ASCO) — This site uncovers common concerns and myths faced by smokers who are attempting to quit. The web site also includes a podcast that addresses the benefits of smoking cessation even after a smoker has been diagnosed with cancer.

   http://www.cancer.net/patient/Library/Cancer.Net+Features/ASCO+Expert+Corner/ASCO+Expert+Corner:+Questions+...

6.   Patient's Fact Sheet: Smoking and Infertility (Copyright © ASRM) — This fact sheet contains information about the impact of cigarette smoking on reproduction in women and on assisted reproductive therapy outcomes.

   http://www.asrm.org/Patients/FactSheets/smoking.pdf

7. Questions About Smoking, Tobacco, and Health (Copyright © ACS) — This publication answers common questions about health and tobacco use. It provides information on the various health effects of smoking, addiction, and the harmful chemicals cigarettes contain.

   http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/PED_10_2x_Questions_About_Smoking_Tobacco_and_Health.asp...

8. What's So Bad About Tobacco? (Copyright © ACS) — This web page provides fact sheets about various forms of tobacco use. Included is information on the health impact of tobacco on women and children specifically.

   http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/ped_10_1.asp?sitearea=PED

9. When Smokers Quit—The Health Benefits Over Time (Copyright © ACS) — This online fact sheet provides details on how quitting smoking can decrease your health risks each and every day. The benefits are outlined from the immediate effects of quitting to 15 years of living smoke-free.

   http://www.cancer.org/docroot/SPC/content/SPC_1_When_Smokers_Quit.asp?sitearea=PED...

Organizations

1.   National Cancer Institute, NIH, HHS
2.   National Tobacco Quitline, TCRB, NCI, NIH, HHS
3.   Office on Smoking and Health, NCCDPHP, CDC, HHS
4. American Cancer Society
5. American Heart Association
6. American Legacy Foundation
7. American Lung Association
8. Lungcancer.org

= Indicates Federal Resources

Content last updated March 19, 2008.