Released February 10, 2009
AUBURN UNIVERSITY, Ala. -- In these tough economic times, consumers need to make every dollar count. They need to think about how much money they can save by cutting out tobacco products. This one step will not only help their physical health but also help their fiscal health. Besides being a major risk factor for cancer and heart attacks, smoking also affects their pocketbook. The cost of a pack of cigarettes averages $4.50 to $5. A pack-a-day smoker burns through $31.50 per week or $1,638 a year.
The financial ramifications of smoking go beyond the cost of a pack of cigarettes. Smokers usually pay more for health and home insurance, spend extra money on dry cleaning and teeth cleaning, and lose money on the resale value of their cars and homes.
Smoking can also affect your job. More businesses are banning smoking in the workplace and making employees go outside a certain distance from the premises to smoke. Time taken away from the workday to go outside for a smoke adds up, especially if the employee smokes six or more cigarettes a day. Ten minutes per smoke adds up to one hour a day, five hours a week or 20 hours a month that the employee is away from his or her work.
And there is good news for consumers' health. Quitting smoking can quickly help their hearts. The American Cancer Society reports that just 20 minutes after quitting, a person's heart rate and blood pressure drop. The carbon monoxide level in the blood drops to normal 12 hours after quitting. Within two weeks to three months after quitting, circulation improves. In just one year, you can decrease the excess risk of coronary heart disease to half that of a smoker, and you can reduce your stroke risk to that of a nonsmoker in five to 15 years after quitting. The younger a person quits the better, but quitting at any age is good.
To boost your odds of quitting smoking for good, try a multi-pronged strategy. Don't get discouraged. Talk with your health care provider about using medicines to help you quit, find a support program near you, use telephone counseling programs or get self-help materials.
For help quitting, contact the American Heart Association at 1-800-AHA-USA (1-800-242-8721), the American Cancer Society at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237) or the Alabama Tobacco Quitline at 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669).
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Contact: Kathleen Tajeu, (334) 2844-2201, tajeuka@auburn.edu
