Aging Backwards Tuesday Tips #17: Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (And Your Lungs)

"The debate is over. The science is clear. Second hand smoke kills people."

Those are the words of former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona in a 670-page 2006 study that eliminated "any excuse from any state or city for taking halfway measures to restrict smoking, or permitting smoking in any indoor workplace." According to the report, more than 126 million people in the United States are regularly exposed to passive smoke, which has been shown to cause lung cancer, cardiovascular disease and a myriad of other illnesses.

Other experts weighing in on the subject have come to the same conclusion. "One of the fastest-growing groups of lung-cancer patients are individuals in their early 40s who are non-smokers," according to Karen Giammicchio, R.N., Oncology Genetics / High Risk Coordinator at The Cancer Institute at Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. From Charles Baum, M.D., Vice President of Health Affairs for the suburban Chicago-based Alexian Brothers Hospital Network, "Smoke is toxic and full of poisons. There doesn't need to be massive levels of exposure when combined with a genetic predisposition to trigger cancer."

And health risks aren't the only effects of smoking. Concrete evidence from numerous studies reveals that smoking ages you by shortening the telomeres, or ends, of chromosomes

Clearing the Air

The indoor smoking bans instituted by state and local governments have done much to protect non-smokers from second hand smoke and some companies are going even further by banning smoking at home. Benefits management company Weyco of Okemos, Michigan is one such company. In 2005, the company launched a strict no-smoking policy, administering random breath tests to determine if employees used tobacco during or after work hours. If employees tested positive, they could be fired. Another Michigan group, Kalamazoo Valley Community College, instituted a policy of no longer hiring tobacco users full time. In a recent move, some cities and private firms are adopting smoke-free policies in apartment and condominium buildings or other buildings with "shared space."

Good News

There is a light at the end of the ... cigarette. Smokers who quit smoking before age 50 cut their risk of dying in the next 15 years in half, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Here are some more good reasons for quitting from the Surgeon General's Office:

• You will live longer and live better.
• Quitting will lower your chance of having a heart attack, stroke, or cancer.
• If you are pregnant, quitting smoking will improve your chances of having a healthy baby.
• The people you live with, especially your children, will be healthier.
• You will have extra money to spend on things other than cigarettes.

Aging Backwards Stop Smoking Tips:

1) Try Hypnosis. Hypnosis has proven very helpful in modifying habits, even those that are deeply ingrained. In fact, multiple-session hypnosis has a 66% success rate at helping people quit smoking, higher than any other smoking cessation method available, according to Hypnosis Network. Click here for a link to the Non-Smoker's Edge by Dr. Randy Gilchrist from the Hypnosis Network.

2) Get help from the American Lung Association. Smoking-related diseases claim an estimated 430,700 American lives each year. Smoking costs the United States approximately $97.2 billion each year in health-care costs and lost productivity. It is directly responsible for 87 percent of lung cancer cases and causes most cases of emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Find out more about how smoking has affected your community, see the American Lung Association State of Tobacco Control: 2006 Report.

3) Get live support from the American Cancer Society. Quitting is hard, so don't do it alone. The Quitline is a helpful voice that's available 24 hours a day. You can sign up to have someone from the Quitline personally contact you.

4) Look into medication. Medications can help you stop smoking and lessen the urge to smoke. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved five medications to help you quit smoking. Find out about them here.

5) Check out Nicotine Anonymous, a 12-step program adapted from Alcoholics Anonymous to achieve abstinence from nicotine.

With all the resources available to help people quit smoking, the quest to "clear the air" is well underway.

"Tobacco is surely designed to poison and destroy mankind." -- Philip Freneau (1752-1832), in his poem, Tobacco.