quiz

Your Body Thanks You for Not Smoking

Smoking kills more than 400,000 Americans every year. Not all will die of lung cancer. How much do you know about the other dangers of lighting up—and the perks of kicking the habit?

There are many compelling reasons to quit smoking. Test your smoke-free smarts with this true-false quiz.

1. Because puffing keeps your weight down, it also lowers heart risks.
True
False

2. Smoking can affect your eyes, bones, bladder, stomach—and children.
True
False

3. Cigarettes contribute to the number one killer in America.
True
False

4. Smokers can never reduce their risk for cancer or other diseases.
True
False

Answers

1. False. It’s true that some smokers weigh less than nonsmokers and that quitting can lead to weight gain. But smokers tend to pack fat in their bellies. This raises the risk for diabetes and heart disease.

2. True. Smoking harms nearly every organ in the body. It contributes to osteoporosis and hip fractures, heartburn and ulcers, cancers such as bladder cancer, and blinding eye diseases. It also can decrease your fertility and boost your babies’ risk for stillbirth and sudden death.

3. True. Beyond belly fat, tobacco is linked to many other risk factors for America’s deadliest illness—heart disease. For instance, smoking increases blood pressure and decreases HDL, or “good,” cholesterol levels. Smokers are two to four times as likely to develop coronary heart disease. And they have double the stroke risk.

4. False. For women, most of smoking’s health risks—including cancer and lung disease—are erased within 20 years of quitting. Anyone who kicks butts before age 50 halves his or her risk of dying from any cause during the following 15 years.