People start smoking cigarettes due to many reasons – common one is to look cool. Though it sound silly but teenagers often start smoking because they think teens doing smoking looks smart, and better than non-smokers. Many people start smoking after watching their friends and fellow members to smoke. A common disbelief among kids is that smoking is harmless. To your disappointment, all these are myths!
When I was a kid, I used to see people and other teens smoking – wondering what’s there so good in it? Luckily, I didn’t had to take practical experience to know – one of my friends started smoking and he shared his experiences (mostly worst) with me. It’s also sad to tell that he don’t like smoking (as of now) but still, can’t do without it. That’s the dilemma of getting this habit, a very bad habit called Smoking.
One of the notable point about Cigarettes is government’s reaction toward it. Government of many countries have very negative reaction towards cigarette and tobacco companies. These companies are not allowed to give advertisements about their products on television, newspapers, magazines, etc. This reaction is because cigarette is good. Right?
Right?
Wrong! Cigarette and tobacco are no good for health and actually, they’re good for nothing. One can hardly find any good reason to smoke and if you can, congratulations – you can make a search engine (may be better than Google). Usually, smokers give lots of reasons and explanations for their smoking. But keeping aside its addiction, everyone blames their bad habit.
Ask any person who smoke that do they really like smoking – you’ll get mixed answers. Many will say ‘Yes’ because it lower the stress, calms the mind, and relaxes the person. Many will say ‘No’ because it is bad for health. Statistically, you’ll get more responses against it than in favour. And you very well know the reason – because Smoking kills!
Talking about statistics – here are some details from CDC Fact Sheets about death rates in America:
- Cigarette smoking is the cause for 1 out of 5 deaths.
- 443,000 deaths per year due to smoking (including deaths from secondhand smoke).
- 49,400 deaths annually from secondhand smoke.
- 269,655 deaths per year among men.
- 173,940 deaths per year among women.
Did you know?
Tobacco use is the leading preventable death cause in the United States of America.
Smoking is a lot worse than just causing cancer and lung diseases – there are all satisfactory reasons to quit smoking. Cigarettes not only cause your body to drain faster of breath and energy, but also decrease your life span and to be shocked, cigarettes even decrease life of others living near you, due to secondhand smoke. Here are some top harmful effects cigarettes can cause to you:
- Cancer: You’ll surprise to know that 90% of all Lung Cancer patients get it because of smoking. Lung Cancer is one of the most common cause of deaths of people due to cancer. People who smoke cigarettes are also prone to other type of cancers like Kidney cancer, Mouth cancer, Bladder cancer, Throat cancer, Stomach cancer, Oesophagus cancer, Cancer of nose, Bowel cancer, Cervical cancer, Ovarian cancer, some types of Leukaemia, etc.
- Emphysema: Emphysema is a long-term and progressive disease of the lungs. It primarily causes shortness of breath. It is an obstructive lung disease because lung tissues near alveolus get damaged in this disease – causing permanent irreversible harm to the lungs. It is most often caused by smoking tobacco.
- Smoker’s cough: Cigarettes contain harmful chemicals dangerous to the body. When a smoker smokes, some of these chemicals pass the cilia and reach lungs where they get deposited, creating a dry and hacking cough.
- Harm Foetus: Smoking also have harmful effects on a woman’s foetus. If a pregnant woman smoke cigarettes or inhale other’s smoke regularly, she can pass unwanted prenatal diseases to her baby.
- Affect sexual health: Smoking also affects sexual health of men and women. Girls who’re on pills or using any other method for birth control – smoking increases risk of serious health problems for them, like heart attacks.
Above listed diseases and harmful effects of smoking cigarettes and tobacco are long-term, and generally goes unnoticed in short-term periods. But harmful effects of smoking is not limited to long-term only, there are many short-term problems caused by smoking which start showing their symptoms from early time:
- Heavy breathing: Smoking causes rapid heartbeat, decreased circulation and shortness of breath leading to heavy breathing, i.e., you need to breathe more to get required oxygen to your body as compared to people who don’t smoke. This also reduces your body’s athletic performance and you perform worse than non-smokers in games & physical work.
- Risk of Injury: Smoking affects your body’s ability to produce collagen – so common sports injuries like damage to tendons & ligaments will heal slowly in smokers than in non-smokers.
- Bad breath: Continuous smoking lead smokers to a condition of persistent bad breath, known as Halitosis.
There used to be a time when people used to smoke all the times at all the places. That was the time when people were unaware about harmful effects of smoking. That was the time when people were less conscious about their body and health. But present era is not same – people now know the truth about smoking. People now don’t smoke here and there and in fact, smoking is prohibited at public places in many countries.
But why is it that people still smoke?
People still smoke because they can’t quit it or should I say, they don’t try well to quit it. Quitting smoking is not easy but it’s possible when proper steps are taken. If you’re a smoker, then don’t feel sad or guilty for trying to leave smoking but unable to get rid of the addiction – try and try until you succeed! Many people have to try quitting smoking as much as 10 times before they finally give up smoking. So, don’t lose your hope and if you ever lose it, ask your partner and family members to build faith and confidence in you.
Take a paper and write about all what you like and dislike about smoking – if dislikes are not heavy enough then start a new list but keep it doing until you finally accept that smoking is bad for health. If you can’t make it yourself, ask your family members what they dislike about your smoking. Read that list frequently, especially when you go for smoking – try to explain yourself about the bad effects of the tobacco. If everything fails, take help from a good doctor and follow his tips to quit smoking. Quitting smoking may not be easy but of course, you can do it.
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