The USPS Wellness team wants to educate Postal Service employees on the importance of quitting smoking.
Approximately 38 million adults in the United States smoke cigarettes, and 58 million nonsmokers are subjected to secondhand smoke.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and harms practically every organ system of the body.
Secondhand smoke harms children and adults — even brief exposure can be harmful to health. The only way to protect nonsmokers is to eliminate smoking in homes, workplaces and public places.
The use of e-cigarettes — or vaping — is still relatively new, and researchers are learning about long-term health effects. Most e-cigarettes contain nicotine and have an aerosol that contains potentially harmful substances like nicotine, metals and cancer-causing agents.
E-cigarettes are not safe for youth, young adults, pregnant women and adults who currently don’t use tobacco products. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration doesn’t approve e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation aid.
If you smoke, quitting is the best step you can take to improve your health. Quitting can reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, lung disease and other smoking-related illnesses.
Even if you’ve tried to quit before, the key to success is to keep trying and not give up. More than half of U.S. adults who smoked have quit.
The CDC and USPS November Wellness Toolkit websites have additional information.
