How bad is smoking cigarettes?

[etc]

There's another point to be made here young man.

You need to find another way to deal with the stress live is giving you.

Everybody deals with stress in thier own way. Over the last few years I've found exercise to help.

Maybe spend that money on some running shoes?

+1 to that

 

[PhantomPhoton]

That's a nice lookin' heart rate monitor
Keep at it Erasmus!

 

[jrmcferren]

I think this graphic will help:
http://pictureserver.funnyjunk.com/pics2/0237.gif

 

[nerdgineer]

I think the consensus seems pretty clear here.

On a contrary note, I'd like to add that smoking is good for one thing: the people around you. Not the ones real close, they might get get tagged by effects of second hand smoke (if you believe in all that), I mean the ones a little further off who will benefit from the Social Security taxes you will pay, but won't collect on because you'll likely die right around the time you would start getting benefits. It would be your contribution to everyone else's retirement.

So, not to be too sentimental about it, do what you want. Good for you if you don't, good for me if you do...

 

[geepondy]

Boy, I gotta think my mother would have gladly accepted that scar if it would have kept her alive.

Google "Lung Cancer", look at some images like the one below.

You'll see why I only sent a link.

http://whyquit.com/whyquit/KimScar.JPG

 

[TorchBoy]

On a contrary note, I'd like to add that smoking is good for one thing: the people around you. Not the ones real close, they might get get tagged by effects of second hand smoke (if you believe in all that), I mean the ones a little further off who will benefit from the Social Security taxes you will pay, but won't collect on because you'll likely die right around the time you would start getting benefits. It would be your contribution to everyone else's retirement.

That's not considering the greatly increased average hospital costs while they're alive. Perhaps medical insurance should be compulsory for smokers in all countries.

 

[Lite_me]

I quit smoking 25yrs. ago. Best thing I ever did for myself. I still remember how much better I felt afterwards. I did it on my own over a 2-4 week period. I started cutting back till I was down to maybe a dozen cigarettes a day or so and then went cold-turkey from there. I think doing it that way helped alot. I remember being quite irritable for a few weeks, but it was soo worth it. I haven't touched one since.

I now see smoking as a disgusting habit. Funny how your views can change. I can't stand to be around someone smoking or where smoking is allowed. The odor drives me away. It's even easy to tell who the smokers are when passing people in a store or even on the street. Sorry to say but, they stink. They just can't smell it themselves.

Good luck Erasmus. Here's hoping you can kick the habit easy enough. You'll thank yourself for it. :thumbsup:

...and so will I. :wave:

 

[270winchester]

I smoked for about a year or two off and on in undergraduate to deal with stress. Whenever I smoked I get the sensation that I couldn't walk up the hill without getting short of breathe.

so I quit, and now spend the savings on bike parts and other hobbies.

 

[nerdgineer]

That's not considering the greatly increased average hospital costs while they're alive. Perhaps medical insurance should be compulsory for smokers in all countries.

A well known study - funded by Phillip Morris no less - concluded that what you save from an average smoker dying early (as expected) exceeds what you pay for him before he dies (medical costs, additional fires, etc.) by a ratio of about 21:16. This was in Czechoslovakia where health costs may be lower; but overall, saving 20 years of social security and medicare payments probably outweighs cutting out a lung or two at age 50.

I was trying to make a point with sarcasm earlier (always tricky in a post) but there was a grain of truth in it too. As smoking doesn't impair one's driving and is about (my) tax neutral, I don't feel like expending a huge amount of effort trying to protect people who choose to smoke - despite ample evidence - from their own stupidity.

 

[TorchBoy]

As smoking doesn't impair one's driving...

I'm not so sure of that either. It leaves one less hand to indicate and change gears with while talking on one's cellphone and reading the map. But I suppose they're slightly less likely to be eating.

 

[Arkayne]

How about we compare a healthy lung...

to a smokers lung?