Why is smoking considered as one of
the biggest causes of death? And how can such dangerous habit be prevented?
According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking causes more
than 5 million deaths per year worldwide, and studies show that the number of
deaths caused by smoking will increase more than 8 million deaths annually by
2030. Why do people smoking then? There are many reasons why people smoke in
spite of their knowledge of the risk they are putting their lives into, such as
depression, bad income, bad relationships, homelessness, and personal problems.
These issues can lead people to smoke along with practicing other bad habits in
order to feel relaxed and to ease the pressure they have in their lives. Some
smokers claim that smoking gives them energy to go through tough times and make
them concentrate more on doing things. For young people, the desire to try and
experience is what makes them start smoking. They watch others smoke and get
tempted to try it, especially if members of the family smoke as well. They also
think that this kind of behavior will make them feel mature. Almost no smoker
started smoking as an adult. Teenagers and youngsters under the age of 18 are
mostly attracted by this dreadful habit. According to the Ministry of Health in
the United Arab Emirates (UAE) 40 percent of teenagers under the age of 14 in
the UAE are smokers (Snus News & Other Tobacco Products, 2011). Many
teenagers begin smoking without bearing in mind that they may get attached to
it, and by the time they reach adulthood they become addicts. Smoking is an
addiction, once you start; the addictive substance of the tobacco makes it
physically and mentally hard to stop. This addiction leads to several-deadly
health issues such as cancer, emphysema and heart attacks, and to help
preventing and quieting such deadly habit, solutions must be presented like: quitting
smoking gradually, nicotine replacement therapies, and distributing awareness.
The
consequences of smoking can be seen gradually over the long term, leading to
several health problems. According to American Lung Association, “Cigarette
smoking is the number one cause of preventable disease and death worldwide.”
Cigarette contain thousands of chemicals and toxic substances that can damage
the system of the human body and cause many diseases such as cancer. People who
smoke are more likely to get cancer than non-smokers. When a smoker inhales,
the heat breaks down the tobacco and produce toxics like tar which is a
carcinogen[1]
that drowns into the body affecting the body cells and cause cancer. Researches
by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2008), showed that smoking cause
at least 30 percent of deaths by cancer. There are several different types of
cancer caused by smoking such as bladder cancer, throat cancer and kidney
cancer. The most dangerous type of cancer caused by smoking is lung cancer;
which is known to have one of the lowest rates of survival comparing with all
types of cancer. Another common disease smokers are likely to have is
emphysema. Emphysema is a type of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD),
it is a long term disease that affects the lung causing shortness of breath.
People who suffer from emphysema have troubles in breathing properly, their
body’s does not get the proper amount of oxygen it needs due to over-inflation
of the alveoli[2]. This over-inflation makes
it hard for the individual to exchange gasses during the process of inhaling
and exhaling (Schiffman,); which is why smokers find it hard to run and
practice physical exercises like regular people. Moreover, smokers are at
higher risk of getting heart attacks. This risk greatly increases with the
number of cigarette an individual smokes and how often they smoke. As it was
explained previously, it is hard for a smoker to breathe well. Smoking
decreases the rate of oxygen that should be delivered to the heart, increases
the blood pressure and blood clots, and increases the heart rate; which on the
other hand causes heart attacks (Smoking Cessation Health Center, . Smoking
also causes other problems such as bad breath and bad skin.
Smokers
more than anyone else know how endanger their lives are, and they are fully
aware of their addiction’s deadly consequences. Yet, quitting such a habit can
be a challenge for smokers once they get attached. To help smokers save their
lives before it is too late, there are various ways to quit smoking. First, it
will be almost impossible for an individual to immediately quit the smoke. The
smoker has to mentally prepare himself before quitting by starting giving
himself the time to get used to the idea of quitting. The smoker should smoke
less gradually until the body also get used to less and less nicotine in its
system, and as a result, the body will learn how to control the crave for
nicotine. Another solution for quitting is using nicotine replacement therapies
(NRT), which is used to reduce the crave for nicotine and stop smoking by
replacing the nicotine from cigarettes with the different types of NRT such as:
skin patches, gums, sprays and inhalers; these types deliver nicotine to the
brain less rapidly than cigarettes (Nicotine Replacement Therapy, ). NRT
made it possible for a smoker attempt to quite. Studies by the Cochrane
Collaboration, show that “The chances of stopping smoking were increased by
50 to 70%.” (Stead LF, 2008). However, awareness must be spread especially
among young people to stop them from attempting cigarettes and smoke by
launching campaigns. According to AbuDhabiWeek.ae, (2012), the Health Authority
– Abu Dhabi (HAAD) will be running booths in several places in Abu Dhabi
calling the residents to make the country 100 percent tobacco free.
In
conclusion, smoking is an addiction that is mostly hard to quit. Having to know
the danger caused by smoking, smokers are leading their own lives to death by
their own hands. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “On average, smokers die 13 to 14 years earlier than nonsmokers.”
Therefore, before the attempt to try a cigarette, people should think wisely
“Is it really worth the try?”
References
AbuDhabiWeek.ae. (2012). HAAD
Launches Anti-Smoking Campaign. Retrieved on 09 December 2012. From http://www.abudhabiweek.ae/city-latest/1-news/8561-haad-launches-anti-smoking-campaign.html
American Lung Association. (n.d).
Smoking. Retrieved on 08 December 2012. From http://www.lung.org/stop-smoking/about-smoking/health-effects/smoking.html
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. (2008). Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and Productivity Losses
--- United States, 2000—2004. Retrieved on 08 December 2012. From http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5745a3.htm
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. (n.d). Smoking and Tobacco Use. Retrieved on 08 December 2012. From http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/
Eldridge, L. (n.d). What are
Alveoli?. Retrieved on 09 December 2012. From http://lungcancer.about.com/od/glossary/g/alveoli.htm
Nicotine Replacement Therapy.
(n.d). Retrieved on 10 December 2012. From http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Smoking-Nicotine-Replacement-Therapy.htm
Schiffman, G. (n.d). Emphysema.
Retrieved on 09 December 2012. From http://www.emedicinehealth.com/emphysema/article_em.htm
Smoking Cessation Health Center.
(n.d). Smoking and Heart Disease. Retrieved on 10 December 2012. From http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/quit-smoking-heart
Snus News & Other Tobacco
Products. (2011). UAE - very sad - 40% of teenagers between ages of 13 and 15 smoke. Retrieved on 08 December
2012. From http://snus-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/uae-very-sad-40-of-teenagers-between.html
Stead LF, Perera R, Bullen C,Mant D, Lancaster T. Nicotine replacement
therapy for smoking cessation. Cochrane
Database of Systematic Reviews (2008), Issue 1. Art. No.: CD000146. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD000146.pub3.
Retrieved on 10 December 2012. From http://www.thecochranelibrary.com/userfiles/ccoch/file/World%20No%20Tobacco%20Day/CD000146.pdf
What is Carcinogen?. (n.d). Definition and Meaning. Retrieved on 08
December 2012. From http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/carcinogen.html
