Smoking Costs More Than Just Your Health

Most of the time we hear the health reasons why you shouldn't smoke, or if do do, why you should quit. Heart disease, lung cancer, emphysema – the list goes on.

But Dr. Carlos Reynes of Loyola University Health System’s Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, says there's also a very strong economic incentive not to smoke cigarettes.

“At $7 to $9 each, a pack-a-day habit sets you back between $2,500 and $3,300 each year, “ Reynes said. “And improved health also will save you trips to the doctor.”

Sometimes, smokers who are trying to save money turn to illegal cigarette sites on the Internet. Demetrios, a ConsumerAffairs.com reader who has looked into these products after purchasing some, says the products are even more dangerous than regular cigarettes.

Cheap cigarettes may be more dangerous

These companies advertises as a 'duty free shop' offering authentic international cigarette brands at bottom dollar prices,” Demetrios said. “The cigarettes you will receive will be illegal counterfeits smuggled out of China. These fake cigarettes are illegal and extremely dangerous to your health. Scientists who have analyzed Chinese cigarette knockoffs have found elevated levels of toxic heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium and lead, as well as human feces, sawdust, mold, insect eggs and rat droppings.”

Reynes is board-certified in internal medicine and also integrative medicine. For those who want to quit, he says there are a number of aids that have proven effective.

“Hypnosis and acupuncture as well as nicotene patches and chewing gums are just a few of the successful tools out there to help smokers kick the habit,” he said. “The important step is to make the effort to quit and if you are unsuccessful, to keep trying different techniques.”

Reynes says the United States is winning the war against smoking. More than three million Americans quit smoking every year and fewer are adopting the unhealthy and expensive habit. That's producing, he says, a declining smoking rate in the U.S.

“From 1965 to 2006, smoking rates fell by half, falling from 42 percent to 20.8 percent of adults and we will continue to do even better through education and incentives,” he said.

Great American Smoke Out

The Great American Smoke Out, a day sponsored by the American Cancer Society to end smoking, is Thursday, Nov. 17 and thousands of smokers are expected to take a 24-hour break from cigarettes.

While saving money is nice, Reynes says the best reason to give up smoking is to save your health. Kicking the habit, he says, pays off almost immediately.

“Twenty minutes after quitting, your heart rate and blood pressure drop. Twelve hours after quitting the carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal,” Reynes said Dr. Reynes. “One year after quitting the excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a continuing smoker’s.

An estimated 46 million adults in the United States currently smoke, and approximately half will die prematurely from smoking, according to the American Cancer Society.