DEAR Dr. Fritz,
Good day. Please call me John John. I do really want to stop smoking. The problem is, my friends tell me that if I stop smoking, I will get sick. This made me think twice and doubtful – about quitting. So, is this true?
John John D.
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Dear John John D.,
When you said your friends told you that if you quit smoking, you will get sick, then I could surmise right there and then that your friends are not health experts. Surely, your friends are people close to you and are probably concerned about your health. But since they are not health experts, I hope you will not entrust to them your health – which could mean your life. I am glad that you turned in to me about your health.
Remember that health experts, like physicians, still know what’s best for you. So, if hundreds of scientific studies have confirmed that smoking is not healthy, then that’s the truth and nothing but the naked truth. Generally, tobacco smoking causes about 20 times the number of deaths in the United States than all other addictive drugs combined.
Speaking of studies, there are a lot of them that confirmed that the risk of dying of former smokers from smoking-related disease decreases with each year of abstinence from puffing cigarettes. As a matter of fact, according to the World Health Organization, smokers who quit smoking before the age of 50 would reduce their risk of life-threatening disease by half after just one year, compared with those who continue smoking.
Good luck!
Dr. Fritz
(Dr. Fritz Legarde Espedilla is an aesthetic dermatologist and surgeon and clinical sexologist. She is also trained in hypnotherapy and Medical Acupuncture. She is the co-host of digital page of Superbalita. She has been in the broadcast media for more than a decade and has written a book based on her 15-year stint with her radio program, “Healthy is Sexy Secrets ni Dr. Fritz.”. For your questions, you may e-mail them to dokfritz@yahoo.com. If you don’t wish your letter to be published, we regret that we can not answer them. Thank you for your understanding.)