Thankfully, I never started smoking. Though my dad, some of my extended family, and many of my old high school and college friends smoke, I never picked it up. In fact I have never even tried smoking a cigarette, which I realize is borderline weird. I mean, who hasn't at least tried a cigarette besides me?

As I have grown older, I've read so many nasty things about the effects of smoking, and quite frankly I'm very glad I never tried one. A study I read recently about smoking cigarettes is not much different from most of the other studies. The one main point that I took away from it, is that there is plenty of hope for smokers, no matter how old you are.

The study results to confirm that, "If you smoke, you have a much greater chance of dying from smoking related diseases." OK, that's obvious, but the study also says, "If you quit today, you will be 50 percent better off in 5-10 years, and 100 percent better off in 20 years."

I believe that knowing facts like these could certainly motivated one to quit smoking today. In my opinion, if you are a smoker, you should consider quitting.

121,000 American women were followed and their health histories recorded from 1976 to 2008. Similar findings were recorded in a similar study, for men who also quit smoking.

Within 5 years of quitting smoking, major health benefits include a 13 percent reduction in the risk of death from heart and vascular problems. By 10 years, we see an 18 percent reduction in the risk of death from respiratory problems as compared to smokers. Within 20 years, the risk of death from smoking related illness is the same as lifetime non-smokers.

It is still important to quit today. The problem is that it can take decades to rid yourself of the increased risk of lung cancer and for your body to repair respiratory damage. Although quitters will see a 21 percent reduction in the first 5 years, it takes up to 30 years to completely reverse the smoking-related risk of lung cancer.

The most important message that I took away from this study is that the causes of 64 percent of deaths in people that currently smoke, are directly linked to smoking. Furthermore, the causes of 28 percent of deaths in former smokers, are directly linked to smoking. Quitting reduces additional risk of death for all major causes examined in the study. This is a significant statistic that is so important to children, teenagers, and young adults.

Obviously the younger you are, the more reasons you to have quit.

Another message that we can infer from the study results, is that people who start smoking earlier in life have a much higher risk of developing and dying from smoking-related causes. Other studies tell us that kids are starting to smoke at a younger age, which is pretty depressing.

Please be responsible and talk to your kids about smoking. They need to be aware of the effects of peer pressure, especially in an environment that demands they act 'cool'. Our children need to understand that they are the future of America. The teenage years are difficult for everyone, but if a child makes a complaint about something in his or her life that really stresses them out, please don't blow it off.

Kids and teens need to be validated and helped to get them through those first 18 difficult years without massive mental and emotional trauma. When ignored, dismissed, or pushed away, they will often seek attention from negative sources, either by making friends with the wrong people, or by misbehaving in school and society. Please pay attention to your kids.

Nicotine addiction can be equally as strong and deadly as any other addition or serious medical condition. In fact, if you total the number of people who die yearly of all these other conditions combined, they would not add up to the number of premature deaths attributed to cigarette smoking.

Until recent times, the idea of nicotine being a physiologically addictive substance was controversial in the world-wide medical community. For a drug to be considered addictive, it must meet certain criteria.

First, it must be capable of inducing physical withdrawal upon cessation. Nicotine abstinence syndrome is a well documented, established fact. Those who go through this process can vouch for the intense withdrawal symptoms.

Second, tolerance to the drug usually develops. Increasingly larger doses become necessary to achieve the same desired effects. Smokers experience this phenomenon as their cigarette consumption gradually increases from what probably was sporadic occasional use to a required daily consumption of one or more packs. Cocaine and heroin users also develop this level of tolerance.

The third criterion is that an addictive substance becomes a totally consuming necessity to its user, usually resulting in what is considered by a society as anti-social behavior. Many have argued that cigarette smoking fails to fulfill this requirement.

It is try that most smokers do not resort to deviant behaviors to maintain their dependency, but this is because most smokers do manage to easily obtain the full complement of cigarettes they need to satisfy the addiction. When smokers are deprived of easy accessibility to cigarettes, the situation is totally different. If you've never been around a smoker who can't get their nicotine fix then you might not understand, but it's not pretty.

During World War II, in concentration camps in Germany, prisoners were not given enough food to fulfill minimum caloric nutritional requirements. They were literally starving to death. A common practice among smoking prisoners was to trade away their scarce supplies of life sustaining food for cigarettes. Even today, in underdeveloped countries, such as Bangladesh, parents with starving children barter away essential food for cigarettes. This is not normal behavior.

Nicotine is a drug. It is addictive. And if you let it, it can be a killer. Consider this when you get the urge for a cigarette. One puff can and most often will reinforce the addiction. Don't take that chance.