There’s no way around it, smoking is bad for you.  On top of the negative health effects, smoking also strains our economy.  In fact, current estimates suggest $100 billion health care dollars could be saved each year by reducing the number of smokers.  So to offer some food for thought for any smokers out there, I wanted to share some of my recent findings.

First, I came across some interesting statistics that I wanted to share (from Science Progress):

19.8 percent of adults in the United States (43.4 million people) were current smokers in 2007.

30 percent of all cancer deaths involve smoking as the primary cause.

443,000 people died prematurely every year as a result of smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke during the period between 2000 and 2004.

During that same period, smoking caused $98 billion in productivity losses each year.

For every person who dies of a smoking-related disease, 20 more people suffer with at least one serious illness from smoking.

20 percent of high school students were smokers in 2007.

3,600 people between the ages of 12 and 17 pick up smoking everyday.

I also found an interesting study that discussed the paradox of nicotine use: Users are thin and have low body fat, but are at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.  So what is it in cigarettes/nicotine that’s causing heart problems?  A research group at Charles Drew University investigated the effects of giving nicotine to mice.  Although the mice lost weight and ate less than the control animals, the nicotine-fed mice developed insulin resistance, which is a precursor to diabetes, and may explain the increased development of heart disease in nicotine users.

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Franklin Roosevelt's blood pressure chart for 1944

One of the key components of making the right health decisions is – and ever will be – having the right information from which to decide. In today’s world of blood tests and screening exams and Gleason scores, this seems pedestrian. But the fact is that medicine only began quantifying health in the early 1900s, with the notion of high blood pressure, and it was well into the 1950s before individuals became aware of their numbers. I read recently that FDR’s blood pressure was high for nearly a decade, hovering as high as 200/150- astronomical, by today’s standards -for years, and was locked at 260/150 near his death from, yup, heart disease. But with no treatment available, the number was simply a warning that, maybe, he should cut back on smoking a bit.

In the 60 years since, the number of commonly tracked health metrics has soared, so much so that, these days, you can track them on your iPhone

The ability to track (and utility of tracking) these metrics seems to me increasingly important. While my colleagues over the Quantified Self have been sniffing around the greater landscape of personal metrics (UPDATE: and Alexandra Carmichael recently posted the 40 things about herself that she tracks daily), from productivity apps to those photo-a-day guys, I’ve been especially interested in those metrics that we can use to provide feedback and can perhaps manipulate in the hopes of improving our health (whether it’s running faster or weighing less). Feedback, to me, is key. Where FDR could only watch his numbers climb, now to have our numbers is to have the opportunity to adjust our numbers.

Which brings me to the point of this post: Aan effort to begin cataloging all the health metrics ordinary citizens might have available to track. The list – which needs your help – begins after the jump: Read more…

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