by Michelle Wilkinson

Created on: November 26, 2010

If you’re thinking of giving up smoking, there’s no better time than in the New Year, because you have the chance for a fresh start. The New Year is all about new beginnings, which is why so many people make New Year’s resolutions. It can be hard to fulfil these resolutions, but at least if you’re in the right frame of mind to begin with, you will have a better chance of success. If you continue to smoke and don’t make an effort to quit you have to face the fact that you are at greater risk of developing health problems and that you’re spending a fortune on a habit that is killing you.

Tobacco contributes to the hardening of the arteries and this increases your risk of having a heart attack, whilst you are also more likely to develop lung cancer, which is a difficult cancer to treat, and other forms of cancer such as oral, uterine, liver, kidney, bladder, stomach, and cervical cancers. Plus, you could also develop emphysema, which makes it difficult to breathe and will have a negative effect on your quality of life. If you smoke during pregnancy, the risk of miscarriage increases and babies can weigh less than they should when they’re born, whilst their development may be inhibited.

Thus, there are plenty of reasons to quit smoking in that relate to your health, whilst if you intend to have children or already have them, you ought to give up smoking as soon as possible. If you have children, you’re not exactly setting them a good example by smoking and they may decide to take it up themselves. Even if this doesn’t happen, you could be increasing their chances of developing health problems through passive smoking, even if you try your hardest not to smoke in front of them.

Besides, smoking isn’t exactly a cheap habit, as governments have slapped on taxes to try to discourage people from smoking. Since smoking can lead to health problems, the money generated from taxes obviously goes towards the health care that smokers will most probably require. If you want to save yourself some money and avoid having to may even more money to the government, you should definitely quit smoking in the New Year.

If you are successful in tackling your addiction to smoking, so that you give up cigarettes for good, your health prospects will improve vastly; you will be setting your children a positive example and you will be saving yourself some money. Thus, you should make quitting smoking a priority in the New Year.

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