It's Never Too Late To Quit Smoking

**Stoniphi** · 06-12-12, 06:26 AM

Like the title says, you can really help yourself live a longer, higher - quality life if you quit that bad habit, no matter how long you have been smoking.

From Science Daily:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0611193309.htm

I quit many years ago myself. It was very difficult and took a long time but I finally succeeded in leaving that bad habit behind, very glad I did it. If you smoke, consider quitting and living a healthier, longer life - no matter how old you are now.

**Buddha12** · 06-12-12, 08:35 AM

Smoking is about the worst thing you can do to your body besides drinking allot of alcohol that legal to do in society. It makes a few people very rich while it destroys the lives of millions. I agree with you about your statement and ask those who want to smoke do so away from others, like outside away from where people congregate so that they don't have to worry about getting second hand smoke into themselves.

**Syzygys** · 06-12-12, 09:32 AM

Just to play the devil's advocate, I have just finished JP Morgan's bio. He was a heavy cigar smoker, easily 1-2 dozen cigars a day (no filter). In his 50s he was advised not to exercise, and he followed that advice faithfully, thus he was overweight.

He died at 76, which is a pretty darn good age for a guy like him. So you never know...

Oh, 1 example doesn't make a statistic? But 2 definitely do: Keith Richard is still alive at 69, and Jim Fixx died at 52

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Fixx

"On July 20, 1984, Fixx died at age 52 of a fulminant heart attack, after his daily run on Vermont Route 15 in Hardwick. The autopsy revealed that atherosclerosis had blocked one coronary artery 95%, a second 85%, and a third 70%"

**Buddha12** · 06-12-12, 04:10 PM

Just to play the devil's advocate, I have just finished JP Morgan's bio. He was a heavy cigar smoker, easily 1-2 dozen cigars a day (no filter).

Do you know for a fact that he actually inhaled the smoke or might have he just puffed away all day without inhaling?

**gmilam** · 06-12-12, 04:23 PM

Originally Posted by Syzygys

Oh, 1 example doesn't make a statistic? But 2 definitely do: Keith Richard is still alive at 69, and Jim Fixx died at 52

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Fixx

"On July 20, 1984, Fixx died at age 52 of a fulminant heart attack, after his daily run on Vermont Route 15 in Hardwick. The autopsy revealed that atherosclerosis had blocked one coronary artery 95%, a second 85%, and a third 70%"

Seeing as how I'm 54 - dying at 52 sounds pretty damn young to me.

**Syzygys** · 06-12-12, 06:12 PM

Originally Posted by Buddha12

Do you know for a fact that he actually inhaled the smoke or might have he just puffed away all day without inhaling?

I wasn't there, but I assume he inhaled. Puffing it away would have been unmanly in those times.

**Epictetus** · 06-13-12, 12:43 AM

It's too late for this fellow.

**Stoniphi** · 06-13-12, 06:26 AM

Ah yes, that is one of the things that seems to bother lots of ....well, smokers especially.

I was once addicted to cigarettes myself, so I completely understand the mindset of the resistant tobacco junkie.

"Only 1 out of 20 cigarette smokers will die of lung cancer so my chances of not dying of that are pretty good!

Whew - had me worried for a moment there."

Yeah well, my mom died from COPD which is something else you get from smoking, like asthma, emphysema, heart disease, stroke etc etc etc.

The bottom line from the Science Daily article is that quitting smoking improves your health and longevity regardless of how old you are when you quit. Due to family pressure, a 113 year old lady on Windsor Ontario quit smoking cigarettes...made it to 123 before she died, said she was glad she quit too.

Pablo Picasso smoked 2 packs a day of unfiltered French cigarettes and he made it to 92 years old before he died....

.....of acute lung congestion, due to smoking.

There will always be the exceptional person who - for reasons unknown - smokes like a chimney his/her entire life and never shows any ill effects. Of course for each of those folks there are 19 others who die a miserable death due to the habit.

It is a good thing, IMHO, that the anti - smoking folks are running those scarey ads on tv now done by former smokers who have lost big chunks of their bodies due to their smoking habits. Makes me even more glad that I quit when I did.

**spockster** · 06-14-12, 02:06 PM

I quit also, the only thing that sucks is that I'll never be a non-smoker, I'll always be an ex-smoker if you know what I mean...

**Stoniphi** · 06-15-12, 06:35 AM

Yeah, I can relate.

At least after 20+ years of non - smoking your' lungs are very close to as clear and clean as a non - smoker. The heart benefits are close to immediate too. Better to have quit than to continue fatalistically sucking on those nasty things, even if we have already killed ourselves with them. At least we get a higher quality of life than we had when we were smoking.

Further, taking up a serious exercise program can de - methylate those exogenomic lung proteins that were methylated by the tobacco smoke. The methylation is connected to many of the bad effects of smoking and reversing that goes a long way to preventing other serious problems from developing.

**Balerion** · 06-15-12, 07:14 AM

Yeah, quitting has been the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I just recently celebrated my third anniversary, and I'm very happy I did it, but I'm not sure I'll ever be over it. I smell smoke today and my mouth still waters a little.