Smoking is one of the worst things you can do to your body. Yet every single day around 450 young people, in the UK, between the ages 12 and 17 start smoking. Crazy huh? Especially when you read the following statistics:

• Smoking just 3 to 6 cigarettes a day doubles your chance of having a heart attack.
• Smokers are more than twice as likely to have a fatal heart attack than non-smokers.
• Each year 114,000 smokers die in the UK as a result of smoking.
• One in five people die from smoking in GB.
• About half of all regular smokers will be killed by their habit.

So what is actually in a cigarette?

4000 CHEMICALS!!!!

Just the thought of that, should stop you in your tracks from lighting up and taking a puff....

The main chemicals we hear about are:

•  Nicotine: is a highly addictive substance which occurs in tobacco. It is  a poisonous, pale yellow substance that turns brown when exposed to air. In concentrated form, nicotine is used as a potent insecticide!
•  Tar: is the term used to describe the toxic chemicals found  in cigarettes. It is the brown resin left on the end of the cigarette. It stains smokers teeth and fingers, brown and coats everything with a yellowy film
•  Carbon Monoxide: is a colourless, odorless gas which, enters the blood from the lungs and combines with hemoglobin in blocking the blood's abilitiy to carry oxygen to the body's cells

There are so many more chemicals that will harm you. Need we say more?

THINK BEFORE YOU TAKE A PUFF!

Saying NO....

We know cigarettes cause cancer and heart disease, we may not think we will suffer from it now, but it can happen to any of us at any time.

It is important to remember that we can say 'NO'!
We do not need to feel pressure from our peers or anyone else.

Feel confident with making your own choices, your own SMART choices.

:)

Short term:

• bad breath
• yellow teeth and fingers
• smelly clothes
• loss of sense of smell and taste
• more colds and coughs
• can make people feel sick or dizzy
• difficulty keeping up with friends when playing sports
• empty wallet - cigarettes and tobacco products are very expensive!

Did you know that if you smoke 10 cigarettes a day you are spending £840 a year on fags!!

Long term:

• increase risk of stroke that can result in paralysis and loss of speech
• cancer
• lung diseases ;bronchitis, emphysema, asthma
• heart diseases
• stomach ulcers
• impotence and reduced fertility
• weak bones
• early ageing, wrinkles, cellulite
• smoking can kill

Do you want to give up? Have you got a friend that wants to? Do you want to help someone in your family quit? Then get in touch with Quitline www.quit.co.uk 0800 002200 (free phone number from landlines)