Cigarettes. Those poisonous little sticks of addiction. They'll fill your arteries with junk, leading to blood clots. They'll clog your lungs with tar, making it hard to breathe. Your peers miss the energy you used to have before you started smoking. Your fingers are being stained because you smoke so often. You know you'd be healthier if you stopped. You know you'd have more conviction, more energy and motivation if you'd quit. But you feel you're addicted.

You DO want to give up. Giving up smoking is difficult. We all know why; nicotine addiction, peer pressure, etcetera. The thing people don't realise about giving up smoking is that 50% of giving up is a mental process. All these over-the-counter drugs, prescriptions, patches, sprays, and such like will do you no good whatsoever unless you're motivated to give up. So, for those of you trying to give up, and those of you who know you should; this article's for you. You WILL give up smoking, and here's why:

You should know, before you light up another one, that each life sucking cigarette you smoke contains well over 400 toxic substances. The common substances everyone rants about are: tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide. Tar isn't actually like the tar you find on the roads, funnily enough. It's a thick, gloopy substance with the texture and viscosity of caramel. If you've ever toiled with melted caramel, you'll remember that it's really sticky, and difficult to clean up. Imagine it lining your lungs and arteries. The worst thing about tar is that it after it's spread through your lungs and arteries, it hardens. What this means for the average Joe or Joe-ette, is that not only are your lungs filled with junk that really shouldn't be there anyways, this junk is hardening, restricting your breathing, causing your arteries to narrow and thus resulting in high blood pressure. And high blood pressure sometimes equals death.

The killer thing is, the body has no mechanism to clean up tar. So every cigarette you smoke dumps more and more into your system. It builds up. And eventually your arteries clog to the point of coronary thrombosis - a blood clot. Medical studies state that 30% of people who acquire a blood clot die swiftly, unless treatment is given. Smokers are literally a time bomb, ticking, waiting to go off.

Carbon monoxide chokes you to death in a very slow, quiet, fashion. The binding of oxygen to red blood cells in our bodies is what keeps us respiring, keeps us alive, so is the very mainstay of life as we know it. However, when you're smoking, instead of binding to oxygen, your red blood cells bind to the carbon monoxide you're inhaling, poisoning your blood. Carbon monoxide is useless to the body. The reason you are breathless so often, the reason you lack energy, and the reason you are so completely lacking in life is because you smoke. You know you'd be better off without it.

If that fact that smoking equals death just isn't enough for you to quit, how about the stuff you can actually SEE happening? Picture yourself at a bar. You glance over your shoulder and see the most wondrous example of gorgeousness you've ever laid eyes on. You make the approach and talk to this stellar looking person. Once you're close, you begin to notice the smell, the stench of stale smoke emanating from this once perfect person. They smile at you revealing their stained yellow teeth and bad gums. You quickly notice the yellow staining on their fingertips. They speak, and you catch a whiff of their smoker's breath. You suddenly find yourself less attracted to this person, because honestly, when you take a good look, they're not as attractive at all. Take that image, and realise that this is how you appear, every time you light up. Realise that you have the power to change that, and realise that if you give up smoking your attractiveness will increase ten fold. You'd be far more attractive, liked, and loved if you'd quit smoking.

Guys, smoking significantly decreases your ability to perform in the bedroom. Research carried out by scientists states that the risk of erectile dysfunction in men increases by 50%, due to those nasty little cigarettes. Nicotine closes off the arteries to intimate areas of the male body, restricting blood flow, and subsequently restricting your ability to get an erection and keep it. Surely it'd feel much better knowing you could satisfy your partner fully? That you could last longer, have more energy and passion in your life? If you have this problem currently, smoking might well be the cause. And if you don't have this problem yet don't worry - you might well have it soon - according to medical studies on men in their 30's and 40's, which states that erectile dysfunction due to smoking can occur suddenly, without warning.

Many people quit smoking for their kids, and what a great reason to quit! Too sensitive an issue to discuss properly in this article, because the thought truly is provoking; but passive smoking really is just as bad as if you were to hand your kid a cigarette and get them to smoke it themselves. By exposing your kids to passive smoke, it's much like handing them lung cancer, a blood clot and breathing difficulties, on a plate. If you're quitting for your kids, you really have made the right choice. You're a good person with good motivations. And even if you don't have kids, what about the people around you - the people you care about, friends and family? If you stop smoking, you might well make life better for them, too.

I hope this article has opened your eyes, and given you motivation to quit. We all know it's hard to give up smoking. But if you have the right mental attitude, good motivations, and that little extra help you'll find yourself quitting in no time.