If you are looking for a common solution about how to carry cool attitude, how to build mature look, how to gain attention in the crowd and how to release out your tensions? Then you don’t need to worry about it and scratch your head because the councillor who will guide you to solve such problems is available everywhere. She is a slim lady often wrapped in fur coat, she will provide you the comfort that you expect from her but in return she may charge your life. Yes! I am talking about cigarette who is a councillor for some people, a stress buster, a loyal friend and weakness for many. This is a small piece on cigarette and its addiction and its love for younger generations as well.
I remember the day when few friends of my batch organised a discussion in my college. That day we had a discussion on the same topic as this article has. That was the first attempt to motivate me and my few friends to quit smoking. My friends, who were non-smokers suggested me to quit smoking cigarettes and warned me of dangerous diseases that i already knew. There attempt went all in vain. I was a chain smoker and was smoking from last 6 years. My friends used to call me brand ambassador of 'Club Smokerz', the club which was made on many social networking websites. I used be in air and like to throw attitudes by smoking cigarettes.
Like many smokers even I started smoking in my juvenile period. By the time I reached my adulthood I got addicted. I tried to quit but have returned to cigarettes because smoking is such a strong addiction. But when I calculated roughly the amount of money that I had spend on cigarettes, I found that if I would have saved that much money then i could have bought something that would worth more than a lakh. After that abrupt calculation, it was all important for me to leave such habits and then I started learning more about the side effects of cigarettes on myself and on other people as well.
It took months to convince myself about the fallouts and good part of the story is that after numbers of attempts, I left it. It all happened after I started thinking more logically and scientifically about the harms caused by the cigarettes and the amount spend on the cigarettes.
This essay carries some basic elements that may help one to ponder over such issues more logically and scientifically.
This essay carries some basic elements that may help one to ponder over such issues more logically and scientifically.
Reasons behind smoking
Smokers usually start smoking in their adolescent phase. The main reason behind it is that adolescents want to look mature. When they smoke they feel like gentlemen. Teens see their guardians, parents and other older people smoking in the vicinity and therefore, they smoke to look older. It is also seen that adolescents accept smoking cigarettes very easily if their peer groups smokes. Usually parents do not allow their kids to smoke. This results in increase in affinity towards cigarettes.
Young smokers often copy their favourite celebrities if he or she smokes on screen. Hollywood and Bollywood movies have shown this number of times. Youths like to carry attitude as their favourite stars do.
When adolescents turn adult then they find out the reasons behind smoking cigarettes. Some people release out their stress by smoking and some concentrate well when they smoke. Different people have different reasons. However, we may say that many people feel pressured and fail to deal with their personal, economic, social or mental problems. Therefore, they fag to feel relaxed in their hard times. People also try different addictions during their hard times like drugs, alcohol and so on but cigarettes lead them all.
Smoking reduces a person’s appetite. Usually when smokers quite smoking they put on some pounds. Some people smoke to control their weight. Female smokers are more likely to give such reasons. However, according to the specialists smoking damages ones taste and smell cells. This reduces their appetite and they loose some weight.
Nicotine – the real devil inside
Nicotine is an alkaloid poison that occurs in tobacco; Cigarettes contain nicotine that is a highly addictive drug. It is nicotine that helps smokers to continue smoking cigarettes. Nicotine is a stimulant drug that increases your heart rate and affects many different parts of your brain and body.
Cigarettes are intentionally designed to give you a fast nicotine hit. It takes just 10 seconds for the drug to reach your brain from inhaled cigarette smoke.
According to a study on nicotine exposure on the animals it is clear that the greater the dose of nicotine, the greater the biological effects upon the offspring. The study was conducted by Dr. T. S. Roy, Department of Anatomy, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India. He is the first to investigate actual physiological changes of the cerebral cortex of rats after prenatal nicotine exposure. This research provides an excellent biological model to support the many other studies linking increased hyperactivity, attention deficits, lower IQ, and learning disabilities in children with parents who smoked during pregnancy.
The Tar and nicotine levels are marked by "regular", "mild" and "lights". Philip Morris, the world's largest cigarette company that makes Marlboro and other brands warns the smokers by classifying cigarettes according to tar and nicotine level.
India is second largest tobacco producers after China. Still, the per capita smoking in India is the lowest at 119 cigarettes, against 1,790 in China and 2,193 in the US. However, in Indian Sub continent tobacco is also widely used in "bidis" and for chewing.
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Smoking is one of the unique habits that a mankind had adopted. In the early days people used to smoke for religious and ritual purposes. For instance, in Hinduism the followers of Lord Shiva smoke marijuana as to please their god because Lord Shiva used to smoke too. But in the present decades people smoke for pleasure.Like other aspects of life women are competing men in smoking as well. Smoking was earlier adopted by men; they used to smoke for the pleasure and for other personal reasons. However, the contemporary graphs show that the numbers of female smokers are increasing each day. Tobacco consumption was considered improper for women and children. In the early decades of the twentieth century, cigarette smoking had a clear male identity and very few women smoked cigarettes.
Now the question pops up "what made women smoke?" Different people come up with different reasons. Some says that like men even women wants to carry cool attitude and they don’t care of what society thinks of them. Another opinion says that the promotion of tobacco companies gives wrong pictures of fitness, stress buster, slim body and so on which attracts the female consumers of tobacco.
"If boys can smoke then why can’t us" says a student of a renowned university of India. Cigarette smoking is the latest trends of feminism in major institutes. This may be an outcome of rebellious attitude of feminisms against male chauvinism.
In the last few decades it is seen that female celebrities like Drew Barrymore, Julia Roberts and so on have encouraged young girls to accept such habits at ease. This may be another reason of smoking of rising in numbers of female smokers.
However, cigarette is more hazardous to women than men because when pregnant women smoke it harms them and their baby as well. Although cigarette smoke contains many highly poisonous compounds, the researchers hypothesise that the accumulation of carbon monoxide in the foetal blood stream could lead to serious reductions in oxygen to the developing infant. Therefore, haemoglobin that is suppose to be a carrier of oxygen carries carbon monoxide and forms carboxyhaemoglobin because carbon monoxide has strong affinity towards haemoglobin than oxygen. According to the researchers if a baby is born from a mother’s womb that is addicted to smoking during pregnancy is likely to be hyperactive.
Tobacco is used in various forms. In urban areas women take cigarettes while in rural areas women chew tobacco or smoke bidi.
Do you want to quit smoking?
Dr. Jonathan Foulds, senior lecturer in Clinical Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK Summary, in his essay "Why it is difficult to stop smoking " states that there are two main factors which determines whether or not a smoker will stop smoking are: motivation to quit and level of addiction to tobacco.
He further writes that motivation is necessary to atleast make an attempt to quit smoking but due to strong addiction people find it difficult to quit. One of the main problems for those trying to quit is the nicotine withdrawal syndrome such as:
- distressed or depressed mood
- insomnia
- irritability, frustration or anger
- anxiety
- difficulty concentrating
- restlessness
- decreased heart rate
- increased appetite or weight gain
The majority of people who try to quit smoking restart smoking cigarettes in the first few days, weeks or months. They find difficulties in quitting such habits because they experience tobacco withdrawal symptoms.
A smoker can be motivated by various ways. However, it is not likely to succeed always but it does in many cases. Smokers can be discouraged by motivation and can be influential if the ways include:
- awareness of smoking related health risks to the self and others
- the financial cost of tobacco and
- other social pressures to stop (e.g. public place smoking bans) or to continue smoking (e.g. advertising).
The nicotine addiction has spread widely and it is very difficult to have a control over it. However, selling cigarettes to minor is ban in many countries but there is no hard law to check it. Consumption of tobacco is more in developed countries than in developing nations.
Still hoping against hope I appeal to the smokers to ponder over this serious issue or atleast make an effort to quit. Atleast for this I can say 'nothing is impossible' that a regular smoker would not appreciate it.
I am a Patna based writer and an ex-smoker.
