When your parents were young, people could buy cigarettes and smoke pretty
much anywhere - even in hospitals! Ads for cigarettes were all over the place.
Today we're more aware about how bad smoking is for our health. Smoking is
restricted or banned in almost all public places and cigarette companies are no
longer allowed to advertise on buses or trains, billboards, TV, and in many
magazines.
Almost everyone knows that smoking causes cancer, emphysema, and heart
disease; that it can shorten your life by 14 years or more; and that the habit
can cost a smoker thousands of dollars a year. So how come people are still
lighting up? The answer, in a word, is addiction.
][ Once You Start, It's Hard to Stop ][
Smoking is a hard habit to break because tobacco contains nicotine, which is
highly addictive. Like heroin or other addictive drugs, the body and mind
quickly become so used to the nicotine in cigarettes that a person needs to
have it just to feel normal.
Almost no smoker begins as an adult. Statistics show that about nine out of 10
tobacco users start before they're 18 years old. Some teens who smoke say
they start because they think it helps them look older (it does - if yellow
teeth and wrinkles are the look you want). Others smoke because they think it
helps them relax (it doesn't - the heart actually beats faster while a person's
smoking). Some light up as a way to feel rebellious or to set them selves apart
(which works if you want your friends to hang out someplace else while you're
puffing away). Some start because their friends smoke - or just because it
gives them something to do. Some people, especially girls, start smoking
because they think it may help keep their weight down. The illnesses that
smoking can cause, like lung diseases or cancer, do cause weight loss - but
that's not a very good way for people to fit into their clothes!
Another reason people start smoking is because their family members do. Most
adults who started smoking in their teens never expected to become addicted.
That's why people say it's just so much easier to not start smoking at all.
The cigarette ads from when your parents were young convinced many of them
that the habit was glamorous, powerful, or exciting - even though it's
essentially a turnoff: smelly, expensive, and unhealthy. Cigarette ads from the
1940s even showed doctors recommending cigarettes as a way to relax!
Cigarette ads still show smokers as attractive and hip, sophisticated and
elegant, or rebellious and cool. The good news is that these ads aren't as
visible and are less effective today than they used to be: Just as doctors are
savvier about smoking today than they were a generation ago, teens are more
aware of how manipulative advertising can be. The government has also passed
laws limiting where and how tobacco companies are allowed to advertise to help
prevent young kids from getting hooked on smoking.
][ How Smoking Affects Your Health ][
There are no physical reasons to start smoking - the body doesn't need
tobacco the way it needs food, water, sleep, and exercise. In fact, many of
the chemicals in cigarettes, like nicotine and cyanide, are actually poisons that
can kill in high enough doses. The body's smart and it goes on the defense
when it's being poisoned. For this reason, many people find it takes several
tries to get started smoking: First-time smokers often feel pain or burning in
the throat and lungs, and some people feel sick or even throw up the first few
times they try tobacco.
The consequences of this poisoning happen gradually. Over the long term,
smoking leads people to develop health problems like cancer, emphysema
(breakdown of lung tissue), organ damage, and heart disease. These diseases
limit a person's ability to be normally active - and can be fatal. Each time a
smoker lights up, that single cigarette takes about 5 to 20 minutes off the
person's life.
Smokers not only develop wrinkles and yellow teeth, they also lose bone
density, which increases their risk of osteoporosis (pronounced: ahs-tee-o-
puh-row-sus, a condition that causes older people to become bent over and
their bones to break more easily). Smokers also tend to be less active than
nonsmokers because smoking affects lung power. Smoking can also cause
fertility problems in both men and women and can impact sexual health in
males.
The consequences of smoking may seem very far off to many teens, but long-
term health problems aren't the only hazard of smoking. Nicotine and the
other toxins in cigarettes, cigars, and pipes can affect a person's body
quickly, which means that teen smokers experience many of these problems:
• Bad skin. Because smoking restricts blood vessels, it can prevent oxygen and
nutrients from getting to the skin - which is why smokers often appear pale
and unhealthy. An Italian study also linked smoking to an increased risk of
getting a type of skin rash called psoriasis.
• Reduced athletic performance. People who smoke usually can't compete with
nonsmoking peers because the physical effects of smoking - like rapid
heartbeat, decreased circulation, and shortness of breath - impair sports
performance.
• Greater risk of injury and slower healing time. Smoking affects the body's
ability to produce collagen, so common sports injuries, such as damage to
tendons and ligaments will heal more slowly in smokers than nonsmokers.
• Increased risk of illness. Studies show that smokers get more colds, flu,
bronchitis, and pneumonia than nonsmokers. And people with certain health
conditions, like asthma, become more sick if they smoke (and often if they're
just around people who smoke). Because teens who smoke as a way to manage
weight often light up instead of eating, their bodies lack the nutrients they
need to grow, develop, and fight off illness properly.
][ suggestions and recommendation ][
:: Smoking Is Expensive ::
Not only does smoking damage health, it costs an arm and a leg. Depending on
where you live, smoking a pack of cigarettes a day can cost about $1,800
dollars a year. That adds up. Its money you could save or spend on something
for yourself. The good news for people who don't smoke or who want to quit is
that studies show that the number of teens who smoke is dropping
dramatically. Today, only about 22% of high school students smoke, down from
36% just 7 years ago.
][ Ending ][
If you do smoke and want to quit, there's more information and support out
there than ever. Different approaches work for different people - for some,
quitting cold turkey is best, whereas others find that a slower approach is the
way to go. Some people find that it helps to go to a support group especially
for teens; these are sometimes sponsored by local hospitals or organizations
like the American Cancer Society. And the Internet offers a number of good
resources. Check out some of these by clicking on the Resources tab to the
right of this article. When quitting, it can be helpful to realize that the first
few days are the hardest, and it's normal to have a few relapses before you
manage to quit for good. Staying smoke free will give you a whole lot more of
everything - more energy, better performance, better looks, more money in
your pocket, and, in the long run, more life to live!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_smoking
http://www.kidshealth.org/teen/drug_alcohol/tobacco/smoking.html
http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/watch/house/smoking.html