At the beginning of November, Public Health France’s “Month without tobacco” campaign returns for its 5th edition. The goal: to encourage as many people as possible to quit smoking.
Quitting smoking is good for your health. On the occasion of No Tobacco Month, here are six good medical reasons to throw your cigarettes in the trash.
1/ It’s good for the heart
Starting to smoke before the age of 15 multiplies by 3 the risk of dying from a cardiovascular disease (stroke, heart attack, etc.), and stopping at the age of 40 reduces this risk by 90%.
2/Reduce the risk of cancer
Tobacco increases the risk of developing cancer, especially lung cancer or breast cancer.
3/Avoid having a respiratory disease
COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), a lung disease mainly caused by tobacco smoke, kills 17,000 people each year in France.
4/Do not develop a severe form of the coronavirus
“It is now clearly demonstrated that smokers present an increased risk of developing a severe form of the virus”insists Public Health France.
5/Spare those around you
“Quitting smoking is particularly beneficial for smokers and those around them”, recalls Public Health France. The exposure of children to cigarettes, for example, is one of the main environmental factors in childhood obesity.
6/Preserving a future or current pregnancy
The placenta retains traces of tobacco even before the start of pregnancy, and cigarette smoking increases the risk of complications during gestation.
After several years of decline, around a quarter of smokers (27%) say they have increased their tobacco consumption in 2020, according to a new survey by Public Health France. On average, the increase was five cigarettes per day among daily smokers. The 25-34 year olds (41%) and home workers (37%) are those who smoke the most in France.
.
