The concept of smoking as a habit
will remain one of those paradoxical issues of life. This is because there is
no known rational benefit to smoking and the prevailing messages indicate several
proven health defects that should make anyone run for their dear lives on
sighting cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Despite all that have been said
on why it is bad and wrong to smoke, it is intriguing that some people are
still living with this debilitating habit and in a bid to try and understand why
they do what they do and determine if their reasons hold water or not, researchers
from different parts of the world have at varying times asked them the question
- Why do you smoke?
Going through the diverse reasons
noted in relevant publications, we have put together the major reoccurring
reasons why smokers defy very obvious health warning messages to inhale hot
puffs of dangerous substances:
1. To ease stress and pressures and
feel relaxed. Smokers are able to derive this feeling because nicotine triggers
the release of dopamine in the brain - a chemical linked to feelings of
pleasure.
However, nicotine has also been
proven to be quite addictive as smokers start to make a mental link between the
act of smoking and feeling good. Because of this, smokers can also become
addicted to abstract things like the taste of cigarettes or the feeling of
smoking, as well as the nicotine itself.
2. To feel cool. The average
smoker took his/her first puff as a teenager. It is interesting that a large
number of people who fall in this category acknowledge they took up smoking due
to peer pressure where friends and/or family member are avid smokers and not
wanting to be left out, the person tags along with the chain of smokers.
3. As a reward. Most of us are hungry for reward. An average smoker after a great
achievement, love to reward themselves with one or two sticks of cigarettes to
congratulate and give themselves a pat at the back. According to the words of one smoker - The first and last
cigarettes in the day are especially significant rewards.
4. As a
drug. Most smokers use cigarette as a drug, cigarettes are deliberately
designed to give a fast nicotine hit. It takes just 10 seconds for the drug to
reach the brain from inhaled cigarette smoke, therefore giving smokers a sense
of immediate mental boost.
5. Peer pressure. This is one of the common factors
that cause people to smoke especially during the teenage years which represent the
time of life when young people rely mostly on friends of the same age for
social support and affirmation. Teenagers are easily lured into smoking by
their friends and since they don’t want to feel left out or seen as a slacker,
they easily dabble into it and then get addicted.
6. Genetic
Predisposition. Studies of addiction genetics have shown that if there is an
addiction such as smoking found along a person’s family line, he/she is likely
to be addicted to smoking as a result of possible subtle mutation in his/her
gene formation.
7. Rebellion. Between the ages of twelve and
sixteen, children really begin to push buttons in terms of rules and social
boundaries. One way of doing this is to smoke cigarettes despite – or perhaps
because of – pleas to the contrary, just to prove a point. Usually
parents do not allow their underage teens to smoke and this makes smoking very
attractive to them and it becomes exciting to get cigarettes and sneak away to
smoke without being caught.
8. Social Status. Social status is another weighty reason why
people smoke. Many smokers took that first puff only for the purpose of fitting
into a particular social circle/crowd and continue to smoke so as to sustain the
group's acceptance and enjoy the camaraderie.
9. Advertisement. Research
has suggested that, worldwide, tobacco advertising plays a role in the number
of people who start or stop smoking. The industry spends
a great deal of money on making cigarettes seem glamorous, appealing,
fashionable and attractive in order to lure people to desire smoking and they
end up getting stuck in the habit. Everyone wants to feel fashionable and
glamorous; therefore if smoking can help them achieve this, they don’t mind
getting into it.
10. Parental Influence. According to some studies, a parent's
choice to smoke can more than double the odds that the child will smoke. The
relationship between parents smoking
and their children smoking is blunt - Children of active smokers are more
likely to start smoking than children of non-smokers, or children of parents
who quit smoking.
We'll like you to be the judge. Are these reasons
substantial enough for anyone to carry on with a habit that can lead to an
early grave and leave behind grief-stricken family and friends?
Resources
http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/healthyliving/smokingandtobacco/whydopeoplesmoke/smoking-and-cancer-why-do-people-smoke
http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/smoking-cessation/10-reasons-people-start-smoking.htm
http://healthliteracy.worlded.org/docs/tobacco/Unit3/1why_people_smoke.html
http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/smoking-cessation/10-reasons-people-start-smoking.htm
1 comment:
as a reward is a good point. and many smoke when nervous too, to relieve pressure
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