Most people begin smoking when they are teenagers and go on to become regular smokers as adults.
Why do young people start smoking when there is so much information available about the damage smoking does to the body?
- It has been suggested that young people are attracted to the 'image' they associate with smoking. The tobacco industry has created an image of smoking as being tough, cool, sophisticated, sexy, attractive or a form of rebellion. Although nicotine addiction keeps people smoking, young people usually start smoking because of the social image they want to present to others.
- Young people are also more likely to start smoking if their friends or family are smokers.
- In some cultures, smoking is still widely accepted.
Smoking causes over 80% of all drug related deaths over the world, far more than alcohol or illicit drugs! Did you know that 80% of young people who smoke regularly continue to smoke as adults? Nearly half of smokers under 30 started smoking by the age of 15.
Many people say that smoking makes them more alert and improves their concentration, while others believe that smoking calms them down, especially when they are feeling anxious or stressed.
Scientists believe this is because the chemicals in the cigarette (especially nicotine) have reduced the withdrawal symptoms that smokers get between one cigarette and the next. Smokers are 'addicted' to smoking!
Tobacco is more addictive than heroin or cocaine. Smokers become addicted to smoking in three different ways.
- People who smoke out of habit find they smoke more at certain times or in certain situations. This includes smoking when they are talking on the phone, after eating, with coffee, with alcohol, or when sitting around with friends. These people automatically smoke when they are doing certain things, without really being aware of any real 'craving' for a cigarette.
- Other people smoke more when they are under a lot of stress, or if they are angry, depressed, bored, or even when they are happy. Their urge to smoke is triggered by their feelings, and their need for an 'emotional boost'.
- Most smokers find it hard to stop smoking because they are physically addicted to the nicotine in cigarette smoke. Nicotine addiction begins as soon as people start to smoke regularly.
People who tend to smoke around other people, often when drinking alcohol, consider themselves 'social smokers'. Social smokers often believe they are safer than regular smokers because they smoke less often. But don’t be fooled into thinking you are 'not a real smoker'. Social smokers are at risk of all the dangers too.
It is possible to be addicted to smoking in any or all of the ways described above. The longer you have been smoking, and the more cigarettes you smoke a day, the harder it is to give them up.
Apart from the health risks, smoking is not seen as 'cool' any more. Its banned in so many places these days, that it can be hard to hang out with your friends.
- Smoking is very likely to kill you!!!
- Smoking makes your hair and clothes smell and your breath smell. Smokers get so used to the smell of stale tobacco smoke on their hair, clothes and breath, that they don't notice it anymore. But others do!
- Smoking turns your teeth and fingers yellow, and affects your skin and complexion.
- Smoking affects your sense of taste and smell, making both of them less sensitive.
- Smoking can really harm your body! It is the most common cause of cancers of the lungs, throat and mouth.
- Smoking makes you about 10 times more likely to die early from a major stroke or heart attack.
- Smokers suffer more frequently from severe bronchitis and emphysema (a disease where the chemicals in tobacco smoke severely damage the lining of the lungs, and make it difficult to breathe).
- Smoking increases the risk of developing diabetes.
- You don't have to have bronchitis or emphysema for smoking to effect your breathing. Try swimming a few laps of a pool, playing a game of footy or netball or do an aerobic class as a smoker. Breathing while exercising the heart and lungs is a lot tougher if you're a smoker.
- Smoking damages small blood vessels, and restricts blood flow to the hands and feet, can lead to gangrene and even the amputation of limbs.
From one lung to another
Smoking harms unborn babies and young children.
- In South Australia it is illegal to smoke in a car with children as passengers.
- Female smokers have more trouble falling pregnant than non-smokers
- They have more miscarriages during pregnancies.
- When they do get pregnant the smoke can harm the baby - often the baby is smaller than expected at birth.
- To help prevent SIDS, babies need to be kept away from cigarette smoke during pregnancy and for the first year of life.
- Smoking in the same house or car with children means they breathe in the smoke as well. These children get more colds, ear infections and chest problems such as asthma, if they live with a smoker.
- Male smokers also have a lower sperm count and more abnormal sperm than non-smokers.
The good news is that, if smokers quit smoking, the body repairs itself quite quickly.
- Nicotine leaves the body in just two hours, and another deadly chemical, carbon monoxide, leaves the blood stream after only twelve hours.
- Nicotine by-products are gone within two days.
- Within two months, the blood flow to the arms and legs improves, and the lungs begin to repair themselves in about three months.
- Your sense of taste and smell improves, your skin will lose the 'grey' look that smokers get, and your body will be free of that stale tobacco smell.
- Your chance of getting heart disease and cancer begins to fall.
Another good reason for giving up smoking is the amount of money you save. Smoking is expensive. Count up how much money it costs in a year. That amount of money could pay for an overseas holiday, or buy a great sounding stereo system!
Source: http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetails.aspx?p=240&np=158&id=2099#3
