For many years, smoking was a socially acceptable habit for many people around the world. Most smokers start the habit as they enter their teens. Child smokers may have been encouraged by images of high-status models and parents smoking cigarettes.
Here is what one such father said: "I told my son I thought he was a little young... Then I remembered how I had to smoke in secret… then I gave him a pack of the cigarette brand I smoke." [Source: Why Do We Smoke Cigarettes? By Ernest Dichter 1947]
“… 80% of cigarette smokers regret that they started, but addiction to nicotine will make them continue to smoke in their adult lives,” wrote Martin J. Jarvis in the article “ABC of Smoking Cessation” BMJ 2004.
Smoking Cigarette and Nicotine Addiction
Recently, two-year old Sumatran Ardi Rizal made news for smoking four packs of cigarettes a day. Alex Peake wrote in Sun News, 26 May 2010 issue, that the toddler throws tantrums, feels dizzy and sick, and knocks his head against the wall if he was not able to smoke. The child could be suffering from one of the smoking effects, which is nicotine addiction.
Each cigarette has a high concentration of nicotine. It is a psychoactive drug with a "high" that provides a dopamine sensation accompanied by an adrenaline release. Once nicotine is in the bloodstream, the drug flows immediately to the brain. The drug causes changes in the brain affecting the body's fight-or-flight response and the serotonin pathways, which are known to cause adrenalin rush and mood swings. After the first cigarette puff, smokers could be in the throes of nicotine.
Henry C. Link wrote in “So You’re Going to Stop Smoking?” Reader’s Digest, August 1938, p. 17 that smoking is addictive and that no cigarette smoker is smoking by choice but by habit.
Health Hazards of Smoking Cigarette
Cigarette smoke is harmful to both smokers and non-smokers. The three main chemicals of cigarette smoke are nicotine, a highly addictive and very fast-acting drug; carbon monoxide, an odorless poisonous gas that can impair the breathing; and tar, a substance made up of various chemicals, many of which are known to cause lung cancer and other health illnesses..
Around 70 per cent of the tar in cigarettes is deposited in the smoker's lungs. Tar in the lungs will reduce the amount of air the body takes in. Cigarette smoking and second-hand smoke could also cause bone loss, damaged blood vessels, decreased energy, and shortness of breath. Non-smokers who breathe in the second-hand smoke could develop heart disease and lung cancer, among other health problems.
Similarly, the smoke from a smoldering cigarette and second hand smoke during pregnancy can cause low birth weight, premature death, and sudden infant death syndrome. Children who always inhale second-hand smoke could suffer ear, nose, and throat infections.
Interesting Statistics about Smoking
Smoking kills. Every eight seconds someone dies from a disease related to smoking. In spite of this, smoking has reached the proportion of a global epidemic. According to the WHO Tobacco Atlas, the global consumption of cigarettes is over 15 billion per day and the number has been growing. More than 41% of people who were first time smokers in 2008 were 18 years old.
There are more people smoking and smokers are smoking more cigarettes. One in three cigarettes smoked in the world today are smoked in China and 2 billion cigarettes are smoked by young teens. In Indonesia, smoking is common among schoolchildren ages three to seven years old. The child smoker from Indonesia smokes 40 cigarettes a day—a habit that makes his parent spends £3.78 daily.
To Smoke or Not to Smoke
An airline pilot told Reader’s Digest how the tar from cigarette smoking affected the insides of the airplane instruments. He quit smoking because he was wondering what tar could be doing to his body. [Robert N. Buck, “Why an Airline Pilot Quit Smoking,” Reader’s Digest, July 1956, pp. 66-68]
Due to the health hazards caused by smoking, it is essential to quit as soon as possible. Smoking bans in hotels, public places, and restaurants could reduce risk for second-hand smoke that is blown into the air. In addition, quit smoking in apartment buildings and homes to protect everyone from third-hand smoke—the smoke that is trapped in carpets, clothes, hair, and skin. Third-hand smoke is also made of toxic chemicals like lead and arsenic, which pollute the air and lungs.
References:
- Smoking Facts Patient Education Materials, Copyright © 2010 UPMC, Upmc.com
- The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004.
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