Today is Kick Butts Day

ST. CHARLES — A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 70 percent of current adult smokers in the United States want to quit and that millions have attempted to end their addiction.

Today is Kick Butts Day — a nationwide campaign to stop smoking for just one day — may offer the extra motivation that smokers can use to break the  habit and return to a healthy lifestyle. 

Surveys show that around 25 percent of Missouri’s adult population smokes cigarettes despite the fact that medical experts agree that smoking harms most every body organ — both of the individual and of those around him/her through secondhand smoke. 

A recent report, “How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease,” compiled by Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin declared that smoking is responsible for approximately 443,000 deaths in the United States and that cigarette use burdens the economy by more than $193 billion annually through health care and lost productivity. Most troubling is that thousands of non-smokers die from heart disease and lung cancer and that thousands of children suffer respiratory infections through the impact of secondhand smoke inhalation.

However, those who choose to stop can revel in this good news. Within 20 minutes of that last cigarette, the body begins the process of recovery. The heart rate drops less than one-half hour after quitting, and the carbon monoxide level in the blood drops to normal within 12 hours. Lung function improves, and the risk of heart attack decreases within three months of stopping. After one year, the added risk of developing heart disease of an individual who quits is half that of a smoker. Most importantly, after 10 years of quitting, the risk of cancers in the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney and pancreas decrease and the risk of stroke are reduced.

The Division of Public Health offers several anti-smoking programs for children and adults that focus on education and cessation guidance. For information on these programs, please call Brittany Camacho at 636-949-7400, ext. 6255. In addition, the department’s website offers a list of smoke-free dining establishments in . 

Further resources available for those interested in quitting smoking are available through the American Lung Association website, and the Missouri Tobacco Quitline at 1-800-QUIT NOW.