The IAA One Minute Blog

The only truly healthy way out for nicotine addicts is quitting, researchers have found.

Only One Healthy Option

Smoking is terrible for your heart and lungs, and simply switching to e-cigarettes won’t do much good, a major new analysis finds.

Smoking cessation will remain the most powerful approach to prevent smoking-induced cardiovascular and respiratory disease, concluded researchers.  The team found that both smoked and vaped nicotine was tied to worsening health of the heart and lungs.

In the new study, the research team reviewed data from a range of studies. They found that compared to not smoking, tobacco cigarettes and e-cigarettes boosted the odds of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by about eightfold and threefold respectively.

Compared to not smoking, tobacco cigarettes increased the risk of lung cancer by more than 13-fold, the study found. Because lung cancer takes years to develop, the level of evidence for the impact of e-cigarettes on lung cancer risk is not ready to draw a reliable conclusion from.

There is also evidence for vaping’s damage to the heart. Compared to not smoking, tobacco cigarettes increase artificial stiffness by 10 percent, while e-cigarettes upped the risk by seven percent, research shows. 

For every smoking-related death, at least 30 Americans live with a smoking related illness.

Just Quit

If you are trying to quit, here are some tips on resisting those cravings:

1. Avoid triggers: Urges for tobacco are likely to be strongest in the situations where you smoked most often. Identify your trigger situations and have a plan in place to avoid them or get through them without using tobacco.
2. Delay: If you feel like giving into your tobacco craving, tell yourself that you must first wait 10 more minutes—and then distract yourself for that time.
3. Chew on it: Give your mouth something to do to fight a tobacco craving.
4. Don’t have “just one”: You might be tempted to have just one cigarette to satisfy a craving. But don’t fool yourself into believing that you can stop there. More often than not, just one leads to another one.
5. Get physical: Physical activity can help distract you from cravings and reduce their intensity.
6. Practice relaxation techniques: Resisting a tobacco craving can itself be stressful. Take the edge off stress by practicing relaxation techniques.
7. Call in reinforcements: Touch base with a family member or support group for help in your effort to resist a craving.
8. Remind yourself of the benefits: Write down or say out loud the reasons you want to stop smoking and resist cravings.

Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States, killing more than 480,000 Americans each year. 

What IAA has to Say

Insurance Administrator of America wants you to make healthy lifestyle choices. Even small changes can lead to big improvements! Remember, with IAA one call does it all.

Interested in reading more on this topic? Click here!