SMOKING

Introduction

Smoking is the practice in which a substance is burnt and the resulting

smoke breathed in to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream.
Most commonly the substance is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant
which have been rolled into a small square of rice paper to create a
small, round cylinder called a cigarette.

Tobacco smoke contains many harmful chemicals which are harmful to

both smokers and non-smokers. There are more than 7000 chemicals in
tobacco smoke among which at least 69 can cause cancer. This cancer
causing chemicals include the following

Acetaldehyde, Benzene, Cadmium, Polonium-210, Vinyl chloride etc.,

Problems caused by smoking:

Health problems caused by cigarette smoking

Smoking has been found to harm nearly every body organ and
diminishes a person overall health. Smoking is the leading cause of
cancer. It causes cancers of the lung, esophagus, larynx, mouth, throat,
kidney, bladder, liver, pancreas, stomach, cervix, colon, and rectum, as
well as acute myeloid leukemia.

Smoking causes heart disease, stroke, aortic aneurysm, chronic

obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma in adults.

Smoking makes it harder for the woman to get pregnant. A pregnant

smoker is at higher risk of miscarriage, having her baby born
prematurely with a low birth weight.
 Risks of tobacco smoke to passive smokers

Second hand smoke causes diseases and premature death in non-

smoking adults and children. Exposure to second hand smoke may
increases the risk of heart disease by an estimated 25-30%. Moreover it
increases the risk of stroke by 20-30%. It slows the growth of childrens
lungs and can cause them to cough, wheeze and feel breathless.
Approximately 7300 lung cancer death occur each year among adult
non-smokers in the U.S.

Financial cost of smoking

Smoking can create a tremendous financial burden for smokers and

their families. Smoking a pack of cigarettes a day costs about $100 a
week or $5200 a year. It also financial stress and reduces material
wellbeing. It leads to less money for basic needs. They have more illness
and disability which reduces employment opportunities and income.
Children in smoking households are twice more likely to experience
food insecurity than children in non-smoking households.

Social and personal impacts of smoking

Social stigma and isolation that is some smokers feel that they are being
looked down on. This social unacceptance is likely to increase as the
number of smokers continues to drop.
Types of smokers:

Stressed out smoker

Serial quitter
Committed smoker
Sneaky smoker
Rebel smoker
Social smoker

How do you stop smoking?

There is no magic answer to quitting but the following tips may be

helpful

Convince yourself that you really want to give up smoking and

that you will succeed.
Choose the time when you are not under too much stress.
Throw away all your cigarettes.
Make a point of telling people that you have given up.
Work out how much money you are saving and put that amount
aside each week.
Make a big effort not to smoke after meals.

Benefits of quitting

The good news is that there are great benefits from quitting smoking
with both immediate and long term gains. Few benefits of quitting are:

Financial benefits
Personal benefits
 Social benefits
Health benefits

Conclusion:

On the whole, smoking is really a bad habit and has numerous side
effects not only on smokers but also on non-smokers because Smoking
is injurious to health.