Dr. Grace Tang is a physician with Rex Family Practice of Wakefield. Her ‘A day in my life’ blog series brings you an inside look at the daily routine of a family physician, both inside and outside of the office.
Everyone knows smoking is not good for their health. For example, it:
- Increases risk of heart disease by 2-4 times
- Increases stroke risk by 2-4 times
- Increases the risk of men developing lung cancer by 23 times, women by 13 times
- Increases the risk of dying from emphysema by 12-13 times
- Increases the risk of leukemia, bladder cancer, cervical cancer, esophageal cancer, kidney cancer, voice box cancer, mouth/ oral cancer, pancreatic cancer, stomach cancer
- Increases the risk of infertility, preterm delivery, low birth weight, SIDS
Although the list of serious, life threatening health effects goes on and on, sometimes it’s not quite enough…a little extra nudge is needed.
This is a chart I put up in my exam rooms which always piques interest:
With the average cost of cigarettes in North Carolina at $5.51/pack, a one pack per day smoker could have almost $500 in their pocket in 3 months, $2000 in 1 year, and almost $10,000 extra dollars in 5 years.
If you are a smoker, maybe you could put your money saved in a jar and treat yourself to something nice…maybe a new car?