Now here's some good news to brighten your day, the CDC has recently released a report detailing that the average American adult is less likely to smoke. It's down to 18% from 19% and considering the huge numbers involved in this trend, the change is very significant. 

If you count that, assuming that the adult population of the US is somewhere in the area of 239,516,412 people. 18% of that is 43,112,954. While 19% is 45,508,118. 

In short, you have 2,395,164 people who are no longer smoking in 2013.

Hooray!

While statisticians, health advocates and policy makers are probably jumping up and down with joy, the only downside to this good news is that nobody really knows why. The data is there, but pinpointing where the most effect comes from through statistical correlation is not definite.

To be sure, and from the standpoint of an ordinary individual, I'd say that it has to be the multi-pronged approach to the problem. 

Among the things that are cited that may have contributed to this decline are the following:

• Less TV and movie characters are smoking in shows
• A 1998 ban on commercials in entertainment may also have figured prominently
• Increased tax rates on tobacco, correlates with less teenage tobacco consumption
• Negative advertising portraying gory images related to smoking related illnesses by the CDC also helped
• Increased education drives

The change may redound to some real world statistics as cigarette smoking and the illnesses that comes along with it is the number one leading cause of preventable deaths. How much? 

Well, let's just say that 1 out of 5 people who die in the United States, died from something related to those darn Marlboros, Winstons, Camels, Philip Morris and such. (Source: CDC) Wow.

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You have got to see this if you love statistics, numbers and bar graphs! CDC State Map Statistics

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One of the more interesting tidbits I found in that website is that in Alabama, the ethnicity of people who are more likely to smoke are the Native Americans. 

So what does this really mean for me?

It means that there is hope. For most people, smoking is not just a habit, it's a social phenomenon. The government however, sees smoking and smoking related illnesses as a budgetary black hole. The more people smoke, the more people get sick, the more that those tax dollars allocated for health, get drained for something that could be prevented.

Imagine, how much better healthcare would be if there were no smokers! That's right, we're talking about billions of dollars in savings! To be precise $96 billion dollars go towards healthcare costs related to smoking. (Source: CDC)

18% is still a big number, but we're getting there.

If this trend goes on, let's cross our fingers and hope to see a future, 18 years from now, where there would be 0% smokers. 

But ultimately, that change would always start with you, me - us.

Creative commons Image via Flickr

 

 

Most everyone knows that smokers live shorter lives, an average of 8 years shorter. But have you ever thought about how much time smoking takes up during your life? We live in a "time is money" culture. Not that that's how it should be, but people often put that kind of value on time...and wish they had more of it. A smoker might not even realize how much valuable time is taken up by this habit.

There's the mental energy and time wasted by thinking about when you'll be able to take a break, or step outside, or go for a drive, to have that smoke. There's the time spent worrying about the harm it's doing to you (and possibly to others you love). There's the time spent driving to the convenience store to buy smokes, or driving around to find a place to buy them, or thinking about where to buy them. Time wasted making sure one has matches, lighters, and cigs, and maybe something to drink with it or something to ash in.

Then there's the time wasted by the smoker that the non-smoker doesn't even have to worry about, such as the extra time it takes to heal from a cold or recover from an illness, because smokers take longer to get well after being ill, not to mention the extra time it takes to catch up at work because of being sick longer. There's more time spent at doctor's visits talking about smoking problems, and more time spent going to doctors due to more illness, and that's just when facing run-of-the-mill illnesses, we're not even talking yet about the time spent dealing with serious illnesses that can occur after years of heavy smoking such as cancer, emphysema, or loss of limbs, for example. There's also the extra time the smoker needs to sleep, to make up for the poor sleep s/he gets, since smoking affects sleep negatively.

There's the time spent cleaning up from the habit--cleaning ash trays, throwing away empty packs, more house cleaning if you actually look at the fact of the gray film and odor that smoking leaves on the walls, furniture, and every object in the home if smoking occurs inside.

Finally, there's the time spent actually smoking. It all adds up to a big fat waste of time. Your life is too precious, and time on this Earth too short and special, to waste one more moment of it on this addictive drug. Take the first step, do whatever you can, or keep doing what you are doing, to free yourself from the clutches of this time-sucking addiction.