Cigarette smoking has been a part of the society’s milieu. In the past and even at present, it has been a cause of decease among people. The mortality and disease statistics related to smoking not only erase all skepticism about the detrimental effects of cigarettes on the smoker, but also provide significant evidence illustrating the need for an end to the severe epidemiological effects of cigarette smoke. Smoking effects entire populations: not only is the health of the smoker impaired, but that of the innocent bystander as well.
There is a need to discourage young people from taking up this deadly habit by appealing to their common sense and better judgment, thereby allowing them to choose for them not to smoke, and that is what this research paper aims to bring about. This study on cigarette smoking tends to uphold responsiveness among the people. The development of their compassion and realization of the account, effects on vigor and consequences of smoking is the principal matter of this deep thought. Its purpose is also to induce in the minds of the readers every knowledge and values it can ever present. I strongly believe in the saying that “An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure” and that having the littlest knowledge about something is never and will never be wrong.
People especially the youth should be widely exposed to realities concerning cigarette smoking – its derivation, its end product, and basically all its pieces. People need a complete overview of the subject for they have to be sentient on the call of the environment. Cigarette smoking is not just a dilemma of the people, or of the government, but a predicament of the whole society. Its substances really do matter because a big fraction of the world is involved. No one would ever want a chaotic humanity; we live in the world to be happy and to be able to enjoy everything it offers, so, hindrances such as cigarette smoking don’t have a room in our being.
Cardiovascular Disease (Heart and Circulatory System)
•Cigarette smokers are 2–4 times more likely to develop coronary heart disease than nonsmokers.5
•Cigarette smoking approximately doubles a person’s risk for stroke.4,7
•Cigarette smoking causes reduced circulation by narrowing the blood vessels (arteries). Smokers are more than 10 times as likely as nonsmokers to develop peripheral vascular disease.8
Respiratory Disease and Other Effects
•Cigarette smoking is associated with a ten-fold increase in the risk of dying from chronic obstructive lung disease.4 About 90% of all deaths from chronic obstructive lung diseases are attributable to cigarette smoking.4,9
•Cigarette smoking has many adverse reproductive and early childhood effects, including an increased risk for infertility, preterm delivery, stillbirth, low birth weight, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).9
•Postmenopausal women who smoke have lower bone density than women who never smoked. Women who smoke have an increased risk for hip fracture than never smokers.9
Replacement Therapy
Sometimes the best thing we can do when craving a cigarette is to simply redirect our attention to something different and interesting. Nine times out of ten, the urge is gone within moments.
Our thoughts color our lives, so if you find that yours are taking you places you'd rather not go, take charge and shift your focus.
•Do a jigsaw puzzle, or work with clay.
•Go for a run or a swim or even the best exercise of all...go for a walk.
•Write a poem, a short story, a love letter.
•Go outside and take pictures of your favorite park, building or statue.
•Take an exotic cooking class.
•Learn a new language.
•Organize your boxes of pictures, create memorable and interesting captions for them.
•Visit the SPCA and adopt a pet, or go get a fish - aquariums are loads of fun.
•Go to a Karaoke place and sing, sing, sing!
Passive or second-hand smoking is the involuntary inhaling of tobacco smoke by nonsmokers in a smoke-filled atmosphere. These nonsmokers inhale a great deal of side stream smoke - smoke that is not drawn through the cigarette. Side-stream smoke contains much higher percentages of tar, nicotine, and noxious gases than the smoke that is exhaled by a smoker. All of the risks for smokers also hold true for exposure to second hand smoke. It is estimated that there are about 53,000 deaths per year as a result of passive smoking in the United States alone! 37,000 of these deaths come from cardiovascular disease. Tobacco smoke is made up of many hazardous vapors and particles that when inhaled are harmful to both the smoker and to others around him/her. The smoke at the end of a burning cigarette has more particles that are smaller and more harmful than the smoke directly inhaled by the smoker. These smaller particles go deeper into the lung tissue and do more damage. Ear infections cause most of children's hearing loss and secondhand smoke increases the number of ear infections your child will get. It also makes the infection last longer. Smoke that is breathed in through the nose irritates the Eustachian tube (the tube that connects the back of the nose with the middle ear). The middle ear may swell and shut, and keep the ear from having normal pressure. Abnormal pressure, ear fluid, and infection may cause pain in the middle ear. Who do innocent people need to suffer because of the wrong doings of other people? Smokers should be sensitive enough to consider others health and welfare.
Brandt, Allan. Rise and Fall of the Cigarette: A Cultural History of Smoking in the U.S.
Basic Books, 1999.
Corti, Count. A History of Smoking. London: George G. Harrap, 1931.
Rosenzweig, Torrie, Director. Smoke and Mirrors: A History of Denial. American Lung
Association, 2000.
American Lung Association. Facts on Cigarette Smoking.
The Irreversible Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking by Paul H. Brodish, MSPH.
The Times, Guardian, BBC Online, tobacco.org, FOREST, Filed: 02/01/03
"The cigarette is known to be an enemy of scholarship, of culture, of morals, of health and vigor, and yet it is tolerated, even encouraged. The millions of cigarettes now being fired at our soldiers will...hit its mark and do its mischief. More American soldiers will be damaged by the cigarette than by German bullets" (Tate 82-86).
This is true enough for smoking can only bring temporary happiness and enjoyment. Abstaining from doing is the best way for one to have complete contentment in life. There are lots of things that one can put his attention to but for me, I would rather spend it with my family and friends than to spend my money, time and energy with non-sense activities just like cigarette smoking. When you meet it along the way, learn how to say no. Life is worth a living so better enjoy and make the most out of it.
