Reminder: deconstructing preconceived ideas about quitting smoking

On RTL this Wednesday, January 22, Doctor Michel Cymes deconstructed some preconceived ideas put forward by smokers reluctant to quit, ideas which are both false and often still deeply rooted in their minds.[1]. A little reminder of 3 bad reasons not to quit smoking.

It's too late to quit, the damage is done because I've been smoking for a long time

False, it is never too late to quit; for example, the cardiovascular risk (heart attack and stroke) decreases rapidly, after a few weeks of completely stopping, regardless of the smoker's age, whether they are a woman or a man. After a year of completely stopping, the risk of having a stroke linked to smoking will be negligible and that of having a heart attack will have halved. At the same time, the risk of lung cancer is halved in 10 years.

Of course, the benefits of quitting smoking are greater when quitting occurs earlier; for example, quitting smoking at age 30 increases life expectancy by an average of 10 years and at age 60 by an average of 3 years compared to smokers of the same age who continue to smoke.

I am young, healthy, I will have no immediate benefit from stopping

False, completely stopping exposure to toxins, including nicotine, present in tobacco smoke results almost immediately in a drop in blood pressure and a slowing of the heart rate, at the same time as the risks of vascular spasm and arterial and venous thrombosis disappear. Let us recall that 80% of heart attack victims under the age of 45 are smokers. Completely stopping smoking before the age of 30 almost completely eliminates the cardiovascular risk.

I smoke a few cigarettes a day, it's safe.

False, the cardiovascular risk is significant even with minimal consumption; thus, smoking just one cigarette per day increases the risk of heart attack by 57 % in female smokers and 48 % in male smokers and that of stroke by 31 % in female smokers and 25 % in male smokers.

Smokers of only 1 to 4 cigarettes per day have a risk of lung cancer 3 to 5 times higher than non-smokers. When it comes to cancer, what kills is less the number of cigarettes smoked per day than the number of years of smoking.

• To listen to Michel Cymes on RTL