cigaretteIf you have already stopped smoking (like me!), pat yourself on the back. You will live 14 and a half years longer than someone who is still lighting up.

Smoking is scary, and there are people I love who still do it. I'll definitely forward this story my brother, close friend and others who I wish would quit. After all, November was Lung Cancer Awareness Month.

Even though smoking takes an average of 14.5 years off women's lives, almost one in five American women age 18 and older smokes.

"The damaging effects of smoking on women are extensive, well-documented, and can be observed from the cradle to the premature grave," Dr. Sharon Phelan said in an organization news release for The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. She helped develop ACOG's smoking cessation materials for health care providers.

  • Smoking is the main cause of lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death in women.
  • Smoking also significantly increases the risk of many other cancers in women, including breast, oral, pharynx, larynx, esophageal, pancreatic, kidney, bladder, uterine, and cervical cancers.
  • Women who smoke are twice as likely to develop coronary heart disease and 10 times more likely to die from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) than nonsmokers.
  • Smoking increases the risk of emphysema, bronchitis, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, cataracts, lower bone density after menopause, and hip fracture.
  • Reproductive-age women who smoke may have trouble conceiving, and pregnant women who smoke are at high risk of delivering preterm or low birth weight infants or having babies with poor lung function, bronchitis or asthma.
  • Women over age 35 who smoke and take birth control pills are at risk for developing deadly blood clots.

If you need tips, check out the Stop Smoking Support Group.

Is there someone in your life who you wish would stop smoking?