The Smoker's Dilemma

Wake up and grab your first cigarette.  11 minutes.  After breakfast, another cigarette.  11 more minutes.  By the time the day is over, the average smoker will have shorten their life by nearly 4 hours.  
Ready for an onslaught of statistics?

While watching fireworks for the first time with my 11 month-old son, the two ladies in front of us seemed to be oblivious to the above numbers.  In the two hour span that we watched the outhouse races and the fireworks show, the ladies each reduced their life expectancy by 44 minutes.  This, combined the cost of a pack of cigarettes (in Nebraska, it's somewhere in the $5 range, New York is near $11), the additional costs of the increase in disease burden, and the added health risks that are imposed on the surrounding people the numbers are completely staggering.
Smoking, by far, is the #1 preventable cause of death, with 443,000 people dying prematurely due to this habit (this accounts to 18% of all deaths in the U.S.).  The diseases and illnesses caused by smoking costs the U.S. $96 billion in healthcare costs.  Taking this number and dividing it by the national population, it costs you, the individual, $303 per year.  Have a family of five?  No one smokes?  You're still paying roughly $1500 to help pay for the healthcare of those that smoke (these numbers include the cost of stop smoking campaigns).  
In a weird twist of statistics, some estimate that healthcare costs would actually rise.  According to this study, costs would rise 7% for men and 4% for women.  Why?  People would live longer and contract other illnesses that would put a greater weight on healthcare spending.  But, this isn't a story about cost vs. savings, it's a story about the impact that this habit has on your health and the health of those around you.  
If you are a wellness coordinator/coach/educator, this could be your number one fight.  Depending on the demographics, smoking could be costing your company big money.  If this is the case, smoking cessation initiatives are a must - look into what your employer offers, their health insurance company may have a program, or even local groups and classes.  Also, look into being a smoke free campus (or tobacco free) - no smoking in or near the workplace, including the parking lot.  It may be a long process to become smoke free, but it is definitely worth it.
I don't ask people to stop smoking, I plea with them.  It is unimaginable the amount of mental toughness that is required to quit such an addiction, but to me, there is no question as to whether it should happen.

Cheers to those who are empowered to quit their tobacco addiction!