Are you using any of these excuses to keep smoking?

• Scientists still haven't proven that cigarettes cause cancer.
Thousands of research studies have shown these is a link between smoking and lung cancer. These studies also have shown that smoking causes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Smoking also is associated with heart disease, diseases of circulation and ulcers.

Smoking reduces the quality of life for smokers and can cause shortness of breath, less energy and more colds. Smoking also pollutes the air for nonsmokers and may damage their health.

It is not a good feeling to know that you are destroying your health and garming those around you. After you've stopped smoking, your mind and body will feel better.

• I don't smoke enough to get the diseases that smoking causes.
Heavy smokers have a greater chance of getting diseases like empysema. But light smokers get them too. Light smokers have a greater chance of getting these diseases than do nonsmokers.

•It's too hard for me to stop smoking. I won't make it.
It can be hard for some people to stop smoking. For others, it is much easier than expected. Close to 45 million Americans have quit smoking. Each day that you do not smoke, you will be developing a stronger nonsmoking habit. Your desire to smoke will become less and less, and finally disappear! Anyone who really wants to quit can do it if he or she keeps at it.

• I don't have to worry about my health if I use low-tar cigarettes.
There is no safe cigarette.

• Smoking relaxes me
A cigarette may give you the level of nicotine your body has become used to, but don't call that relaxation. It's just temporary relief from the tension caused by your need for a nicotine fix. Smoking actually increases your heartbeat and blood pressure. You can learn to relax in was that are as effecive and much better for you. More info to follow.

• If I stop smoking, I'll gain weight.
Some people do gain weight when they stop smoking. Others do no. Some even lose excess weiht. In some people, stopping smoking slows down their body chemistry as they return to a state of well-being. So they may gain a few pounds. This small weight gain will usually disappear after your body adjusts to the way it was before you started smoking.

You'd have to gain 80 or 90 pounds to do as much damage to your health as one pack of cigarettes a day.

• Air pollution is just as dangerous as cigarettes.
No. Smokers who live or work in heavily polluted areas have much higher rates of lung diseases than do nonsmokers. Any way you look at it, you do not want to breathe in poisons, particularly in the concentrated levels found in cigarette smoke.

• I've smoked so long that it won't make a difference if I quit now.
Wrong... Research has proven that your body benefits from quitting, no matter how long you've been smoking. Your body can even repair some of the damage that has been done. Your body will function more efficiently. You feel better, look better and will live a healthier lifestyle.

REMEMBER - You are not giving up something. You are gaining freedom! Cigarette smoking is becoming socially unacceptable. The people near you, will be happier to be around you. Everyone will breathe clearner air.

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Taken from Freedom from Smoking Orientation Package.

Here's what to Come:

1. On the Road to Freedom (studying your habit, building your motivation)
2. Wanting to Quit (coping with urges, making a plan)
3. Quit Day!
4. Winning Strategies (recovery and support)
5. The New You (stress management & weight control)
6. Staying off (active fun, exercise, assertive communication)
7. Celebration (relapse prevention, graduation)