GENERAL CARE OF THE BODY: TOBACCO
Enough is now known about the direct relationship between smoking and several extremely serious diseases to cause me to say, along with many other doctors, ‘If you don’t smoke, don’t start. If you do smoke, stop. If you can’t stop, then at least cut down.’ The dangers and diseases associated with smoking are fully discussed in the entry on smoking in the encyclopaedia section.
You may wonder why I do not just tell everyone to stop smoking, without even suggesting they cut down. One reason is that my experience as a doctor tells me most people will not listen to such drastic advice. Habits are hard to break, even habits that injure our health. But I do emphasize two things—if you have children, do everything you can to persuade them never to start smoking. For yourself, if you cannot stop, cut down on your smoking until it becomes a low-risk activity. There is no reason to panic at the knowledge of how smoking damages the body, but it certainly makes sense to indulge in low-risk, not high-risk, smoking if you cannot break the habit.
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