dogs

Even the hardest-core smokers can cite the standard reasons to kick the habit - everything from reducing the risk of cancer and heart disease to improving how you and your clothes smell. But if those reasons aren't sufficient for you or someone you know, recent studies offer a few other possibilities worth considering.

Recover more easily from surgery.
A Swedish study found that smokers undergoing operations who gave up cigarettes for at least three weeks before surgery and four weeks afterward had half as many complications as those who continued to smoke. The finding reflects what doctors already know: Smokers tend to fare worse after surgery than non-smokers. About one-third of the quitters were still smoke free after one year, suggesting that surgery may be the impetus some of us need to give up smoking for good.

Protect your pet's health.
Did you ever consider the effects of smoking on your pet? Many people don't realize that second-hand smoke can be just as dangerous for our four-legged friends as it is for us, increasing their risk of allergies, cancer, and respiratory diseases. When informed of this in a recent survey, nearly one in three smokers said they would be willing to quit for their furry companions. So if you're an animal lover and can't or won't quit for your own sake, do it for Fido's.

Save money.
In this tough economy, we're all looking for ways to keep more cash in our pockets. And the chance to earn extra dollars can be a powerful incentive to quit, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The research involved nearly 900 workers at General Electric, some of whom were offered up to $750 in cash -- $100 for completing a smoking cessation class, $250 for quitting for 6 months, and $400 more for sticking it out for 12 months. A comparison group of smokers received only information about quitting. After a year, those in the cash-earning group were three times more likely to be smoke free.

If you aren't lucky enough to have an employer this generous, try paying yourself. Every week, take the money you would have blown on cigarettes and hand it over to a trusted friend or relative. Have that person put it in the bank and then "pay" you periodically - say, after three months, six months, and a year of remaining smoke free. (If you fall off the wagon, they get to keep the money or donate it to charity.) You'll be surprised at how quickly the savings add up. A pack-a-day smoker, for example, can save $1800 a year. To find out how much cash you can "earn," use our smoking cost calculator. And to get the scoop on the latest stop-smoking treatments, check out this segment with our pharmacist Doug White.

When it comes to dog owners' interactions with their pets, there are two distinct camps: those who allow -- and even encourage -- their pooches to lick them on the face, and those who react to the practice like Lucy from Peanuts. When Snoopy plants a big, wet kiss on her, she screams, "I have dog germs! Get some hot water, get some disinfectant, get some iodine!"

Turns out those who side with Lucy may have a little less to fear. Research by Dr. Kate Stenske at Kansas State University has found that people who let Fido kiss or sleep with them are no more likely than other dog owners to share the same strains of E. coli bacteria with their pets. What's more, the dogs in the study tended to have fewer drug-resistant strains of E. coli than their owners.

While these findings don't provide direct proof about germ transmission, they do suggest that people may be more likely to spread drug-resistant E. coli to their dogs than the other way around. So maybe Snoopy is the one who should be demanding disinfectant.

Still, that doesn't mean humans can't get germs from their four-legged friends. Dr. Stenske found that people who failed to wash their hands after petting their dogs had higher levels of antibiotic-resistant E. coli. (Just another reason to keep your paws clean.) And given dogs' affinity for feasting on decaying garbage, dead rodents, and other such delicacies, it's possible that their mouths harbor other germs that can be passed to humans though canine kisses.

As for sharing a bed with your dog, perhaps a bigger worry is its effect on sleep. Studies show that sleeping with pets can keep you awake and leave you feeling, uh, dog tired. In this case, though, the risk isn't reciprocal: Dogs sleeping in their owners' beds seem to have no complaints.

The original “hyper-chondriac,” author and humorist Brian Frazer shows you why pets can calm your road rage.