Stop
smoking and gain health and confidence
I am sure we all know the benefits
for quitting smoking. Every smoker knows that to stop smoking will
mean better health, clearer mind, better stamina, better confidence,
more money and more friends. Yet, despite knowing very well the
benefits towards smoking cessation, why then do smokers find it
so difficult to stop smoking completely?
Since you are reading this, chances
are you are a smoker, or someone you love is a smoker. In either
case you surely are
not looking for
a publication that will tell you how to smoke. Rather, you are
looking for a “magic button” to quit smoking.
I am sorry to disappoint you,
but there is no “magic button.” In
fact, it is going to require discipline on the part of the smoker
to kick the addiction.
You will read the word “addiction” over
and over again throughout this document. The reason is simple.
Smoking IS an addiction
regardless of how you look at it.
We offer you history, statistics and methodologies to eliminate
the addiction, but the final ingredient is you and your desire
to quit
smoking once and for all!
Why Do People Smoke Cigarettes
Doctors and health professionals have said time and again that cigarette
smoking is dangerous to one's health. According to United
States studies, cigarette smoking is responsible for one out of
every
five deaths in the U.S. Smoking robs more than five million years
of lifespan because of premature death.
Cigarettes are the most
addictive and destructive over-the-counter drug known to man.
Cigarette smoking is equivocal to lung cancer. With this said,
one may wonder
why do people still smoke cigarettes?
Before World War I, tobacco was
smoked in the form of cigars. They were primarily smoked by the
wealthy. Cigarettes, which
are basically
leftovers of the cigar making process, were smoked by the less
fortunate. The number of people who smoked cigarettes boomed
when tobacco companies
started to mass-produce cigarettes. Their clientele: soldiers of
World War I.
It took some time before a deadly
by-product of smoking became evident. Doctors only noticed the
increase in lung cancer incidents
20 to
30 years after WWI. With this increase, Reader's Digest published
an article "Cancer by the Carton,” which prompted
the public to be aware of the effects of cigarette smoking. Similar
articles
have been published to condemn cigarette smoking.
Medical advancements
have proven the correlation between cigarette smoking
and lung cancer. But despite all of these, lung cancer has remained
to be one of the
most common diseases in the modern world.
Cigarettes' most common ingredient
is nicotine. Nicotine is more addictive than heroine, which is
in fact, a prohibited drug
in most parts of the world. Aside from heroine, doctors ranked
nicotine
ahead
of alcohol and cocaine in terms of dependence. Indeed, research
has shown that smoking four cigarettes a day can induce life-long
addiction
to nicotine. People who smoke tend to see smoking as a part
of their personality, as something that they cannot live
without.
That is
a clear sign of addiction. And the addiction to chemicals,
which in the case of nicotine, is considered a sickness.
What adds to the addiction to
smoke cigarettes is the psychological pleasure or satisfaction
a smoker gains when puffing a cigarette.
Smokers describe smoking as a "pat-on-the-back" after
a hard day's work. One smoker confesses that it is not the
taste of
the cigarette; it is actually the sense of satisfaction that
you get from it that keeps you smoking.
Studies have also shown
that
depression is twice as common to people who smoke against
those who do not smoke. Some also use cigarettes as an ersatz activity
to pass
time and be patient. Just like in war movies, when a soldier
is waiting for the signal to attack, he is seen as holding
a gun on one hand
and a cigarette on the other.
Nicotine triggers the smoker's
brain to be more efficient in processing information. It also reduces
anxiety and induces
euphoria. Researches
have also shown that nicotine induces alertness and arousal,
and sedation and relaxation based on the dose of nicotine
intake. These
effects, though, do not outweigh the harmful effect of nicotine
addiction, which is lung cancer, and possibly other ailments,
which will all
eventually lead to death.
People who cannot stop from smoking
may see it the other way around. They may be blinded by the short-term
effects
of nicotine.
Aside
from nicotine, smokers rarely know that a cigarette contains
acetylene (fuel used in welding), cyanide, nitrogen oxide,
and carbon monoxide,
all of which are harmful chemicals. These chemicals are
also used as poison.
Psychosocial factors also contribute
on why people continue to smoke. Persons surrounded by people who
smoke, like
family and
friends,
can soon develop the habit of smoking. And as its addictive
nature, the smoker will have a hard time quitting the
habit. An environment
permissive and indifferent towards cigarette smoking
will produce significant numbers of smokers.
Recently, researchers have reported that genetic variables
also play a role on why people keep on smoking. These
genetic variables
affect
the tendency of a person to smoke to the chances of quitting.
Given the many facts and figures
related to the hazards of smoking cigarettes, the percentage of
smokers has
not experienced
any
considerable decrease. In fact, it continues to increase.
The World Health Organization
has estimated that by year 2020, tobacco will kill
more people than any single disease in the world.
Educating the people about the
dangers of smoking doesn't seem to strike sense out of smokers.
For some smokers,
thinking that smoking
is directly related to lung cancer and eventually
death is a myth yet to be proven.
But whatever the reason why smokers
have why they still make smoking a habit will never justify that
smoking
is indeed
an addiction,
and sooner or later, this will eventually cause
death.
Why is it Hard to Quit Smoking
Smoking is emerging to be one of the major causes of death in the
modern world. This is attributed to the growing consumers of tobacco.
Tobacco is responsible for the death of 1 in 10 adults all over
the world, which translates to around 5 million deaths every year.
It is because of this fact that cigarette smoking is now a public
health priority.
As we mentioned previously, the
boom in cigarette smoking occurred sometime during the First World
War. Tobacco companies were successful
in including their products as part of the military ration. At
the time, soldiers under the stress of warfare took up smoking.
And since
then, the tobacco industry has grown through an increased consumer
patronage all over the world.
With the prevalence of cigarette
smoking came its adverse health effects on its consumers. Smoking
poses dangers directly and
indirectly to the public. An indirect public health concern
that cigarettes
may pose is accidental fire. As for the health risks in smoking
tobacco, the disease mainly strikes the cardiovascular system,
resulting to
heart attack, respiratory tract diseases, and even cancer.
In spite of these risks, the
number of cigarette smokers all other the world has not dropped
considerably. Though several
smokers
claim to have been meaning to quit this habit, they just find
it so difficult.
The fact is that after smoking for quite sometime, quitting
smoking will prove to be very hard, but not impossible.