Smokeout Good Time To Quit Smoking

It is sometimes hard to believe that the most preventable form of cancer is also the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women. The American Cancer Society estimates that there will be a total of 213,380 new cases of lung cancer diagnosed in the United States alone this year. Also, they estimate that 160,390 Americans will die of lung cancer in 2007.While seeing these numbers may or may not alarm you, it is when a close friend or family member is part of these statistics that we really start to worry. What if one of the 213,380 new cases diagnosed is your brother? What if one is your aunt? What if one is you? Then lung cancer becomes more than just the leading cause of cancer death; it becomes your reality.The good news is that many of these cases of lung cancer can be prevented by not smoking or quitting smoking. While quitting smoking is much easier said than done, it is possible to greatly reduce your risk of lung cancer by doing so.The best way to prevent lung cancer is to never start smoking at all. For some of us, it is too late to decide not to start smoking, but it is never too late to quit. Quitting smoking not only reduces your risk of lung cancer, but it reduces your risk of other cancers, heart attack, and stroke. According to the American Cancer society, former smokers live longer than continuing smokers. Major health benefits can be seen in people with and without disease who quit smoking.Quitting smoking benefits your wallet as well as your health. With the recent tax increase in January 2007, the price of every pack of cigarettes has gone up a whole dollar. It is easy to see that a dollar per pack can add up very quickly for heavy smokers.If quitting for your own health and your wallet is not enough, consider the health of those around you. Secondhand smoke can raise a non-smoker's risk of cancer, heart disease, and other respiratory problems.Children are more prone to respiratory tract infections, middle ear infections, and asthma attacks when they are exposed to secondhand smoke. Smoking around children also sets an example for them that smoking is acceptable.There are plenty of reasons to quit smoking, but it is an extremely difficult thing to do. Fortunately, there are many resources and tools available to help you be successful at quitting. According to the American Cancer Society, there is no one right way to quit, but there are several elements to quitting successfully, including:
Make the decision to quit.
Set a quit date, and choose a quit plan.
Deal with withdrawal symptoms.
Maintain your status as a non-smoker.The ACS Web site at http://www.cancer.org/docroot/subsite/greatamericans/index.asp is just one of many great organizations that would love to help you quit smoking.Texas Cooperative Extension and The Texas Cancer Council encourage all smokers to take part in the Great American Smokeout on Nov. 15 in a step to eventually quit smoking.Shelia Lewis is a Smith County Extension agent in family and consumer sciences. She can be reached at sk-lewis@tamu.edu. This column on family and consumer education news appears in the Thursday Community section of the Tyler Morning Telegraph.