Smoking comes with many serious health risks that are easy to ignore because they take a few years to affect their bodies. Heart disease, stroke, and cancer are all a result of smoking. For a few who are strong enough to quit there is a second chance at life. But for many, by the time the truth about smoking sinks in, it is too late for they have succumbed to the results of smoking.

It is really quite simple cigarette smoking kills. Statistics and studies conclusively prove it. In hospitals, where there are hundreds of men and women who have suffered a major heart attack, undergoing open heart surgery, now lie in the wards fighting for their lives.

Statistics say that there is a 1 in 10,000 chance of surviving a left ventricular heart attack. Statistics also show that for other types of heart attack there is a 60% chance the patient will die before reaching hospital. If the patient is lucky enough to make it to hospital alive and undergo CABG 75% will survive but only 50% will return to their normal life. The other 50% will be left with major damage to their heart and thus the person will be severely limited. Of the 75% that survive the 5 year survival rate is only 30%. That is a very good reason to quit smoking.

Lung cancer is the number one disease associated with smoking. Only 50 years ago lung cancer was a rarity and yet today it is the number one cause of death in both women and men. There is no cure for lung cancer and it will generally kill the patient within 6 months of diagnosis. But lung cancer is not the only cancer cigarettes are responsible for - esophagus, mouth, tongue, larynx, lip, and pharynx as well as stomach, pancreas, bladder, and kidney cancers are all a result of smoking.

Smoking also causes circulatory problems. In fact more people die from these problems than from all of the cancers combined. Nicotine is a stimulant so it raises blood pressure and the heart rate while constricting the arteries, which is combined with the carbon monoxide in the body. The result is more than 300,000 deaths per year.

Emphysema is as deadly as lung cancer. The difference is lung cancer kills you fast while emphysema tortures you for years especially in the later stages.

Then there are all the less noticeable problems like sinus infections, more colds, and headaches. Smokers often feel fine right up until they suddenly die. Then it is too late. The best time to quit smoking is today or better yet, yesterday.

Around the globe more than 5 million people will die this year from cigarette smoking. Listing every reason to quit smoking could fill a book but just these main reasons should be enough to give up the habit.