ANN ARBOR, MI -He’s not David Letterman, but Dr. Steven Gay has a top 10 list that he thinks all of America should hear. And it’s no laughing matter.

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Though most smokers might assume only their lungs suffer from their tobacco habit, Gay’s list proves otherwise. From a smoker’s head to his or her toes, puffing away on cigarettes or cigars does damage throughout the body. That’s what makes it so risky – and what makes quitting so important.

“All around, smoking is an incredibly dangerous disorder,” says Gay, who notes that 47 million Americans take their lives in their hands each day by lighting up. “It’s thought that half a million people each year die from smoking-related diseases, making it the No.1 cause of premature death in the United States.”

Smokers can keep themselves from becoming just a statistic if they quit — and November’s Great American Smoke Out is a great time to do it. The damage done by years of puffing won’t go away, but quitting can prevent any further damage.

In the short term, quitters just feel better, Gay says, and in the long run, their health is better on the whole than the health of those who keep smoking. “As time goes on, their possibility of dying from smoking-related diseases is going to diminish,” says Gay, a clinical assistant professor of internal medicine at the U-M Medical School who is also medical director of Critical Care Support Services for UMHS. “Basically, you’re going to do better the longer that you stay away from smoking.”

And now, a drum roll please, as Steven Gay, M.D., unveils his Top 10 Health Reasons to Quit Smoking:

Top 10 Health Reasons to Quit Smoking:

1. You’ll drastically cut your risk of developing lung cancer and other cancers.
   The cancer that everyone associates with smoking is lung cancer. Indeed, smoking is what makes lung cancer the top cause of cancer death in the nation, so the top reason to quit is to avoid this grim diagnosis. Gay has seen his fair share of doomed lung cancer patients come through his clinic, and knows he hasn’t seen the last. But he also notes that studies have shown stomach cancer, pancreatic cancer and other types of cancer are more common or more deadly among smokers.
   
2. You’ll cough less and breathe easier.
   Besides doing damage to the lungs that can lead to cancer, smoking hurts the lung’s fragile tissues in other ways. This can lead to an uncontrollable cough — so common it’s easily recognizable as “smoker’s cough” — and other breathing problems as the lungs struggle to cope with all the chemicals in tobacco smoke. These symptoms can signal even worse problems (see reason No. 3). Solution? Nip the problem in the bud by quitting. “Patients who stop smoking have a markedly decreased amount of wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath and mucus production,” Gay says.
   
3. You’ll be less likely to develop chronic lung diseases like emphysema and bronchitis.
   Over time, the lung damage and inflammation caused by smoking often leads to chronic breathing problems far more serious than a wheeze or a cough. Lungs that are constantly irritated by tobacco smoke often start producing too much mucus, which narrows the breathing passages and makes it harder to breathe. This condition, known as chronic bronchitis, can worsen into chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. Another chronic breathing disease linked almost exclusively to smoking is emphysema, which is caused by the death of lung cells and which not only limits the amount of oxygen a person can take in, but also reduces his or her ability to get rid of carbon dioxide. Both diseases make their victims’ lives miserable, reducing their ability to work and enjoy life, before killing them, Gay notes. And both can be prevented by quitting smoking before they develop.
   
4. You’ll decrease your risk of heart disease and heart attack.
   The fact that smoking can hurt the heart and the blood vessels still surprises many people, Gay says, even though these effects have been known for years. Scientists are still trying to figure out exactly what’s going on, and how the chemicals in cigarette smoke interact with the blood, heart and circulatory system. But study after study shows that smokers have far more heart attacks, high blood pressure readings and other cardiovascular problems than non-smokers. The risk of most of these life-threatening diseases, though, goes down after people stop smoking. “People who stop smoking have a decreased risk of heart attack, myocardial infarction or coronary heart disease than people who continue to smoke,” Gay says.
   
5. You’ll be less likely to have a stroke.
   Two times less likely, in fact. Strokes are either caused by a blood clot that gets stuck in the blood vessels of the brain, cutting off blood supply, or by the bursting of a weakened blood vessel in the brain. Either way, part of the brain dies immediately, and so can the person who is having the stroke. Most stroke survivors live out their lives paralyzed or severely weakened. Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. (after heart disease and cancer) and the top cause of disability, but since you can cut your risk in half by kicking the habit, Gay says, why not do it?
   
6. If you’re a man, you’ll be less likely to experience erectile dysfunction.
   This is one effect that most men don’t know about, but if they did, they’d probably get more serious about quitting, Gay says — only half-joking. “Men who smoke have a 50 percent increased risk of developing erectile dysfunction than men who don’t smoke, even after you eliminate all the other medical problems that cause erectile dysfunction,” he explains. The easiest way for a man to reduce his chances of problems in the bedroom is to throw away his cigarettes.
   
7. If you’re a woman, you’ll be less likely to have fertility problems, or give birth to a premature or low birth weight baby.
   Do you want to get pregnant and have a healthy baby? Stop smoking now, before you even start trying to conceive, Gay advises. “Women who smoke have an increased risk of problems with fertility, increased risk of pre-term deliveries, increased risk of having a low birth weight baby, and an increased risk of infant death,” he explains. These hazards related to smoking and pregnancy may also give your baby a higher chance of birth defects, and lifelong health and learning problems.
   
8. Quitting will help your personal appearance, by reducing bad breath, yellowed teeth and fingernails, premature skin aging and early hair loss.
   Not only does smoking hurt your inner organs, it can also harm your outer appearance, Gay warns. The chemicals in tobacco can stain your teeth and hands, and alter the conditions in your mouth to cause bad breath. They can also accelerate the hair loss, wrinkles and loss of skin elasticity that come with older age anyway. It’s like putting your body on fast-forward, Gay notes — you’ll look and feel older than you are. And that fits right in with the fact that you’ll also probably die sooner than you would have if you didn’t smoke. If you quit now, you can probably halt many of the effects smoking has on your appearance, as well as your health. And you’ll probably smell better, too.
   
9. If you quit, you’ll spare your spouse or partner the dangers of second-hand smoke.
   Smoking at home means that anyone who lives with you gets exposed to the witches’ brew of chemicals in tobacco smoke, and breathes them in every day. And while the precise risk is not fully understood, there’s compelling evidence that this can affect their health in the long term. “There is proof that second-hand smoke is very damaging to people,” Gay says. “Non-smoking spouses of people who smoke have an increased risk of lung cancer and heart disease as compared with couples in which neither partner smokes.”
   
10. If you quit, you’ll keep your kids from getting sick from second-hand smoke.
    Adults who live with smokers have it hard enough, but what about children? No matter how much you try to stay away from your kids when you smoke, you’re probably putting them at increased risk of several health conditions, Gay says. “Children who live in a household with a smoker have a two- to four-times-greater risk of asthma as children who live in a non-smoking household,” he explains. “If you stop smoking, your children have less risk of developing this and other medical problems,” from coughs and flu to ear infections and crib death.

The bottom line for any of these top reasons to quit smoking, Gay notes, is that quitting is worth the effort it takes. And he knows that quitting is hard – he has seen many patients struggle with it even when they’re facing devastating lung diseases caused by smoking.

“We physicians clearly understand how difficult it is to stop smoking. That’s why we’re here to help you quit,” he says, adding that smokers should be sure to ask their doctors for help in identifying medications or programs that can help them kick the habit. Many employers will pay all or part of the cost of smoking cessation programs, and several states and nonprofit health groups offer help.

“Very clearly, quitting smoking will improve your health, the health of the individuals that you love, and the health of the people around you,” Gay says. “This is clearly the time to stop smoking. It’s good for you, it’s good for your family, and it’s good for your life.”

Resources to help you quit smoking:

UMHS Health Topic: How to quit smoking
www.med.umich.edu/1libr/guides/smoking.htm

National Cancer Institute stop-smoking help
www.smokefree.gov, or call 1-877-44U-QUIT

American Lung Association tobacco page
www.lungusa.org/tobacco/

U-M Tobacco Consultation service
www.med.umich.edu/mfit/tobacco/

State of Michigan stop-smoking help (for Michigan residents only)
www.mdch.state.mi.us/smoke, or call 1-800-537-5666

Written by Kara Gavin

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