Category: Health and Wellness
HERE IS PROOF THAT SMOKING IS BAD.
According to the CDC report: A call to action, “Tobacco use, particularly cigarette smoking, is the leading cause of preventable illness and death in the United States. Each year, more than 400,000 Americans die too young because of smoking-related diseases. Today, nearly one in four U.S. adults and one in three teenagers smoke. Tragically, if current trends continue, an estimated 25 million people (including 5 million of today’s children) will die prematurely of a smoking-related disease.” http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statisti...
The website Above the influence reports that, “Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States. Between 1964 and 2004, cigarette smoking caused an estimated 12 million deaths, including 4.1 million deaths from cancer, and 5.5 million deaths from cardiovascular diseases. When smoking tobacco, the user inhales tar, nicotine, carbon monoxide, and 200 known poisons into the lungs. The nicotine in cigarettes is powerfully addictive.” http://www.abovetheinfluence.com/facts/d...#
WHY THEN DO PEOPLE SMOKE ?
People smoke because they can. The reasons vary from the inane to the sublime. Excuses such as: I enjoy the taste or it helps me relax are common, but there are those such as everyone in my family smokes or it’s my constitutional right. I feel the urge and I must fulfil it or I will start to feel sick should be the only real reason a person gives for smoking, because smoking is addictive. According to E Health MD, “A smoking addiction means a person has formed an uncontrollable dependence on cigarettes to the point where stopping smoking would cause severe emotional, mental, or physical reactions.”
They further report that, “Nicotine is the drug in tobacco that causes addiction. It is absorbed and enters the bloodstream, through the lungs when smoke is inhaled... Nicotine is a psychoactive drug with stimulant effects on the electrical activity of the brain. It also has calming effects, especially at times of stress, as well as effects on hormonal and other systems throughout the body. Although its subjective effects are less dramatic and obvious than those of some other addictive drugs, smoking doses of nicotine causes activation of "pleasure centers" in the brain (for example, the mesolimbic dopamine system), which may explain the pleasure, and addictiveness of smoking.”
http://www.ehealthmd.com/library/smoking...
BUT THERE ARE SOCIAL ISSUES AS WELL
“So smoking is bad and addictive, we knew that already. We still want to smoke.” This is a very common and well traveled line that is repeated across the country. It is also true. People do still want to smoke despite the health risks. Even after quitting with the help of physicians some former smokers will go back to smoking. The statistics on these are unclear because society doesn’t vie these as new smokers but just smokers. However if you ask a smoker if he has tried to quit he will usually give you a number between one and ten. Smokers do quit, often repeatedly but they return to their bad habit.
Non-smokers usually don’t care why or they assume it is because of their addiction but there are other mitigating circumstances that if you are not a smoker you might not be privy to. Here are some examples.
1. Routine: We take for granted how important our routines can be to us but take away the morning cup of Java from coffee drinkers and they will tell you just how important that ritual is to them/
2. Camaraderie: You try to socially isolate yourself from the group of people who have been your biggest supporters for any length of time. Try it! See what happens.
3. Freedom/Equality: This one may seem like a stretch but ask a smoker candidly and they will tell you that few things in life are done outside of necessity. To smoke is to make a calculated risk. It is similar to the choice skydivers make. They take a calculated risk and they will tell you also that they feel free. They get a sense of oneness. This is why smokers feel their civil liberties challenged when non-smokers protest.
I would like to think that it is not that complex but it is. Smokers connect socially to this vice and it is a painful separation for many to be extracted from these social interactions. Because it is not just the addiction but the social ostracizing that can be just as difficult and let’s face it Doctors don’t treat the social stigma of being a non-smoker. Non smokers are like untouchables. To smokers they are traitors and to non-smokers they are potential powder kegs. This is a hard way to live which is why so many people return to smoking.
WHAT SHOULD WE DO AS A PEOPLE THEN?
This is the part that ironically enough is the easiest of all. We need to act as a people. We should not view each other as smokers or non-smokers. We should not see each other as us against them. In our society it is currently okay to stereotype or discriminate against smokers. Non-smokers can say the harshest things to smokers about their condition and their vices under the assumption that, since what they do is unhealthy that it is okay to put them down.
The stigma a smoker bears is in that sense very similar to that of a prostitute. People will look down on sex workers because of the way they make their money without showing the least bit of compassion. It is in these instances that the Christian Principle of, “Love the sinner. Hate the sin” should be put into practice. We should remember that we are not what we do. We do what we do for reasons that may change if we are given an opportunity and showing compassion and empathy for another’s troubles is the best way to open up venues for change to those that are seeking them.
In a similar manner smokers should also be patient with non-smokers. Try to envision what your life without smoking might be like. Try to be respectful when practicing your habit. This is a choice you made for yourself. It is not fair to drag others into it unwillingly. The important thing to keep in mind is that we all must share a common space and the keyword here is share.
Thanks for reading!
I've heard from more than one source that it is not the tobacco itself that causes these diseases, but all the chemicals and additives the tobacco companies put in cigarettes and cigars. It's disgusting.
If anything, it's the cigarettes/cigars with additives that cause the problem, not the tobacco itself. that's why I buy only additive-free cigarettes and tobacco. The WHO, AHA etc. are all in with the big pharmaceutical companies. They want people to get their nicotine from them, not from smoking. I'm not sayying that going overboard is a good idea. Anything in excess is bad. But they're also very one-sided and don't show the benefits of nicotine. It has been used to slow the progress of Ultzheimer's and Parkinson's, as an aid to motor impairment in the mentally retarded, as a memory improver and it can prevent a certain type of lung cancer among workers who deal with asbestos. Second hand smoke is a myth. Of course, you may not like it due to it's smell and that's understandable. I'd also agree that it's a bad idea to smoke near someone with asthma. But in general, this is yet another campaign point for the antis. Oxford University, which, of course, is very reputable, says up to ten cigarettes a day is okay. But neither this study nor any of the others which portray smoking in a positive light, or at least which dispell many of the myths and propaganda out there are never discussed by the mainstream media. Here are some links to help you separate fact from fiction.
http://www.forces.org
this is a very sizable group and has national as well as international chapters. The site was much simpler when I first visited and all the studies, which the exception of the oxford one, were in one place. I believe this is still the case but it'll take a bit of digging around to find it. Still, if you do, check out the bibliography page, which has a list of studies and a short explanation of each one.
http://www.smokersclub.com
This is another site of users with a newsletter covering not only things like smoking bans but other ridiculous things put in place by government etc. It, like forces, has become international.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/1999/nov/21/smoking.tracymcveigh
This is the article about the Oxford study that I mentioned. It seems that diet plays a more important role in why so many smokers get sick than their actual smoking. It's also important, especially when talking about cancer, to examine several other factors such as environment, history of cancer in the family, diet, stress etc. then, if you want to look at smoking, see if the person smokes a ridiculously large amount or a normal one. many times, I've heard things like "my grandfather died of cancer from smoking" and when I asked how many cigarettes a day he smoked, the answer would be a pack or more a day! Obviously, that will have a negative affect on anyone. I'll be happy to delve more into the archives of forces International, but I think this is a good start.
while this is purely opinion and can't be proven, I'd also like to make the following point. These bans on smoking are just the beginning. Soon, they'll start on eating. just look at how many commercials for pills, diet plans and exercise machines are out there, especially the pills. How many people, particularly women, in america today can honestly say that they're happy with their weight? the media has insured that they'll find something wrong with themselves or feel self-conscious, even when there's no reason to do so. It seems that there's an unwritten law about eating something just because you like it. Everyone's jumping on the health band waggon, and while living a healthy life style is certainly a good thing, do you really want to see your choices get taken away not only in the foods available to you in restaurants and in supermarkets but in other important aspects of life? What if, for example, insurance companies refuse to take you because you eat a certain way or because you weigh too much, and I'm not talking about insanely overweight either but enough over your so-called norm that they can justify not supporting you? What if employers won't hire you or landlords won't take you in because of your eating habbits or "unhealthy" life style? again, I'm not talking about things like drugs or alcohol but simple things like not working out or staying up late etc. Think it can't happen? It's already happening to smokers. After the eaters, who knows what will come next? It's easy to pick on smokers just as it was easy to pick on communists. The antitobacco campaigns, the commercials over the last few decades have all placed a stigma on smoking, making it an easy target for people to hate. Just food for thought.
tif and time keeper I totally agree. you know that in california there are laws afoot to tax sugar? insurers want to have obese people pay higher premiums etc. etc.
I do not smoke, but don't care if you do. Life is a terminal illness. No one gets out alive. If inhaling a tobaco product helps you enjoy the stroll down the road of experience, knock yourself out.
Exactly. I would appreciate it if people didn't smoke around me, and if they feel they need to, at least open a few windows or something, but if that's what floats your boat, by all means, go for it.
According to my biology teacher, smoking a cigarette with no additives, whatsoever, just the natural tobacco in its purest form, is no worse for you than drinking a couple cups of coffee.
Well I'm glad to see some sense propogated on here, actually. When I read the title I first skipped it, but after a few posts had been added, went ahead and read expecting to wax pithy.
Take a bit of a stroll down memory lane to the Prohibition in the 20s and 30s. You had people working really hard to get rid of alcohol use, even to the point of making it illegal, and we know what happened as a result.
The problem is, what usually happens is people will try and legislate a behavior, or they will try and stigmatize it. There are letters from the sixties pointing out that the health risks weren't significant enough for tobacco itself; they must rely on the smell and create a culture that despises it.
I for one never light up a cigar or a pipe where there is a captive audience, aka not in my house or in a bus shelter. However, saying I can't in a pub is going a bit far. So, let the market decide, and if all these nonsmokers want pubs that don't allow smoking, fine, there'll be a market for it.
I realize this is just personal experience, but I think it illustrates the general nature and ill will of nonsmokers.
It was a hot sunny day, and I went to the park with a cigar. Didn't want to do it in my yard, because family was home. So, found me a place all secluded and downwind of where most of the population was, aka the wind was blowing away from them towards me. This means I could smell the fresh dog turds - I got second-hand body-waste-fumes I guess.
Anyway, I was peacefully enjoying my cigar when a lady came down from the other side of the park, with her dog, approached me and in a matronly fashion told me I was tobacco-poisoning her dog.
Well first, if it were poisonous, she would have walked her dog the other way. You walk deliberately away from, not towards, chemical agents that are poisonous. Even if she were doing her duty by her dog to tell me this, why didn't she leave the dog with someone else? And once she started, she got what she wanted; a crowd of onlookers ready to laud the poor martyr, and I was the evil villain for simply asking why she brought the dog downwind enough for it to be affected by the fumes.
This is how the nonsmoker population behaves. They have created the comradery they claim exists among smokers of all types, simply because they have villified us.
My daughter heard at school from her teacher that if she saw one parent smoke once, she would be 97% more likely to smoke. She indignantly told me this at age 11. Rather than counteract with smokers' rights propaganda, aka stooping to the schools level of tomfoolery, I explained the concept of gradients. I didn't give a full-blown explanation of what statistical analysis really is, but suffice it to say, I took a cup, and a quarter teaspoon, and asked her if they were both the same.
I asked if I put a quarter teaspoon of water in the cup, is it 97% full? No? Of course not. What we're dealing with, with the anti-smoking population, or the prohibition population of the 1920s, or the sex hygienists of the 19th century (Victorian England, Stockholms laws in the U.S.), is sounding scientific, just to feel good. They don't like something, so they come up with all sorts of figures and create connections rather than actually find them, so they can back up their preferences.
Gees, I wonder why didn't Apple's marketing people think of that: You use iTunes? Wonderful. Now you are 97% more likely to buy a Mac for your next computer. Except that Apple's marketing on some level knows what the difference between fiction / myth / moralizing and real data is.
I've personally never found smoking to be addictive, probably because I smoke so little. At most, I might have four cigarettes in a day. I usually have one or two. there have been times when I haven't smoked, but never because I wanted to quit for good. once was during a detox after getting off birth control. The other times were usually ebcause I didn't have any cigs left, didn't have the money for them and/or someone to take me to get them, because the weather was bad, because I was sick enough that it would hurt my throat or because I just wanted to clear out my nose. lol I can't say it's about routine in my case either, since I smoke at all different times. I honestly don't have a routine in anything, which is turning out to be a bad thing. I've also never given into peer pressure. I don't drink. I could be around tons of friends who are drinking and never touch a drop of alcohol. I certainly agreee about freedom though, and fully understand the problems we face as smokers all across the board. For me, it's all about enjoyment, the smell, the taste, the relaxation. This is probably why I could so easily switch to electronic cigarettes when I want/need to, even without the nicotine. the only thing the latter does there is to give it a nice throat hit. But if I had a choice to smoke horrible tobacco or to not smoke at all, I'd choose not to smoke. Same with coffee. I was able to switch to Teeccino (a noncaffeinated substitute) because I love the taste. ironically, caffeine, for me, was extremely addictive, so much so that, at the time of my stopping, I was having about four cups a day. That's equal to about 400 mg of caffeine, or more in my case, since I make it on the stove and was using 11 oz glasses not 6 oz. Now that my body is claened out, I will have coffee on occasion, but never like I did in the past. As for x-smokers, I don't mind them, so long as they don't start spouting bullshit at me. i hate hypocrits and many of them become that way, forgetting the pleasures of smoking and that they themselves once took part in it. Good comparason between smokers and prostitutes btw. I think both deserve respect, particularly the latter, since they really are putting themselves in danger without it being legalised and regulated for safety. Likewise, I fully agree that respect on the side of smokers needs to be there. If someone asks me nicely not to smoke in front of them, I'll respect their wishes. maybe, the smell makes them sick, maybe they're pregnant or maybe they just don't like it. I also think that restaurants etc. need to be able to make their own decisions about whether to have smoking and nonsmoking sections. I live in NJ, which is a horrible state for smoker's rights, and alot of businesses have closed down because of this all over the country. People need to work on better ventilation, not throw us out as if we were wild animals or infected with a contagious disease. on that note, I'm off for a cig. *smile*
The only thing I can't stand is when a smoker lights up in a car or a house with no doors or windows open, and doesn't give a damn what others think. If you're not like that, I have full respect for your smoking. Just keep an eye what else the tobacco might have in it.
The chemicals the tobacco companies add to cigarettes are probably twice as addictive as nicotine, if not more.
Hence, stick to cigars and pipes ...
I love the smell of pipe tobacco but could never get the hang of smoking a dry pipe. of course, it's completely different with a waterpipe, but then again, the tobacco isn't the same and neither is the draw. You simple inhale on it like a regular cigarette only harder and longer.
I think people have got the right to smoke if they want to but as long as they don't affecting others. I won't argue here about the health issues of smoking since I am not a doctor or scientist but I will say simple practical issues. If I am in a restaurant, pub etc and people smoke not only I can smell it but also after I leave the place my clothes will smell of smoke. Also in the past I played music in several restaurants where people were smoking and I couldn't sing because of the smoke. So I am glad that countries stop smoking in public areas because smoking will affect the non smokers as well.
In Cyprus the law about not smoking in public places started in January and also in the UK it has been going for a couple of years now I think so I am glad about these two countries especially as I move frequently between the two.
But I have to say that I like the smell of cigars and pipe. Also I find the cigarettes
that people role themselves not as bad as the cigarettes that are pre made.
Both my husband and I quit smoking and don't miss it.
I like having my home and clothes free of cigarette smoke.
People should have the right to smoke or not to smoke. I didn't like when I was told to quit, so I don't have the right totell smokers they should do the same.
Thank the Gods! A sane x-smoker! Now could you teach the rest of them how to act like that? *smile*
did you all know that the cigarette manufacturers are the only companies in the US who do not have to list the ingredients in their products on their packs? This should tell us something. It is also kwell known that they put stuff in them to increase the streength and power of the nicotine.
that's why it's important to insure that your cigarettes or tobacco come from natural sources with no doctoring. Most loose tobacco, no matter the brand, is additive-free. there are also other brands, made on native American reservations, which are pure tobacco. Many brands from Europe are the same but it's hard to tell with those since they sometimes change the formula for selling abroad and don't usually list themselves as free of aditives.
I actually quite like the smell of the all-natural cigars. If I could find one, I might actually try it. It's like anything....natural, and it's fine in moderation, but if anything is added, watch out!
Leo guardian and tiffinitsa, you both had fantastic posts. Very well written. I smoke cigarettes, and a good cigar once in a while, but, not indoors. I like my home to smell like incense and coffee etc, not old smoke. No thank you. I do like the smell of a pipe, and, a quality cigar being smoked is nice to be around, even if I'm not smoking one myself at the time. (and no, the two dollar pack of swishers etc are not quality cigars, although some seem to think so. Lol.)
hmmm. I'm not ready to argue about whether smoking is good or bad for our health. but while most the countries/doctors are saying that it's bad and bugging us to quit the smoking habit and collecting fine for smoking in publick places, why don't they ban the production? and why don't they safeguard their citizens?
I do smoke. I feel that gives me relaxation. but I don't have the habit of smoking in the bus stop or anywhere in the publick places. if I feel tensed, tired, thinking about something, or if I'm bored, I smoke. I admit I got addicted to it. I'm trying to quit of course. it's not because I'm scared of my death. it's purely because I'm spending more to this addiction.
As per india, 99% of women aren't smoking. but they do get heart attacks. why is that? so I guess heart attacks are not only because of smoking. it's due to various reasons.
so enjoy smoking. Keep that into a limit.
Raaj.