Light it Up!

How come people are still lighting up? Almost everyone knows that smoking causes cancer, emphysema, and heart disease, which can shorten your Life by 10 years or more and the habit can cost a smoker thousands of dollars a year. The answer is, Addiction.

Smoking is a hard habit to break because Tobacco contains nicotine which is highly addictive. Tobacco products are made entirely or partly of leaf tobacco as raw material, which is intended to be smoked, sucked, chewed or snuffed. All forms of tobacco like cigarettes, pipes, cigars, hookahs and smokeless tobacco are all hazardous. All of it contains the highly addictive psychoactive ingredient, nicotine. Like heroin or other addictive drugs, the body and mind quickly become so used to the nicotine in cigarettes that a person needs to have it just to fell normal.

People tend to smoke for several reasons. Some people think it looks cool, other people smoke because of the influence from family and friends. Most smokers start using tobacco at a young age and continue throughout adulthood. Statistics show that about 9 out of 10 tobacco users’ start before they’re 28 years old. And most adults who started smoking in their teens are expected to become addicted. That’s why people say once you start, it’s hard to stop so you better not to start smoking at all.

The body doesn’t need tobacco the way it needs food, water, sleep and exercise. There are no physical reasons to start smoking.

Tobacco use is one of the main risk for a number of chronic diseases. Many chemicals in cigarettes like nicotine and cyanide are actually poisons that can kill in high enough doses. The body goes down on the defense when it’s being poisoned. Those first-time smokers often feel sick or even throw up the first few times they try tobacco and often feel pain or burning in the throat and lungs.

People who smoke can develop skin problems like psoriasis and are more likely to get wrinkles and yellow teeth. They also lose bone density which can increase the risk in osteoporosis. And they can have an increased risk of infections like bronchitis and pneumonia. Many of these diseases limit a person’s ability to be normally active and they can be fatal. Smokers also tend to be less active than nonsmokers because smoking affects lung power.

Over the long term, Smoking leads people to develop health problems like cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease, stroke, emphysema or the breakdown of lung tissue and it can lead to death.

More than 4.2 million students are cigarette smokers in 22 countries in the Western Pacific Region and one out of 12 students aged 13-15 years in almost 23 Countries have used some form of Tobacco. This is the alarming statistics that came from a news report published by the World Health Organization (WHO).

In the report of Youth and tobacco in the Western Pacific Region, the global youth survey (GYTS) 2005-2014 presents an overview of youth tobacco use in Region. Globally, tobacco claims 6 million lives each year. Thirty percent of all tobacco-related deaths occur in the western Pacific Region.

In the 22 countries surveyed 44.1%of students or 28.8 million were exposed to second-hand smoke at home. Prevalence ranged from a low 29.7% in the Republic of Korea to a high of 76.6% in Tuvalu. It is estimated that one out of 100 students has smoked on 20 0r more days in a month. Nearly three quarters 74.9% are aware of the dangers of second-hand smoke. One out of four students still needs to be sensitized and many still suffer from harmful second-hand smoke in public places, schools and homes. Eight out of 10 students who watched television, videos and movies reported seeing tobacco use in the media. While available data are limited, results indicate that tobacco marketing at points of sale is noticed by 10% to 60% of students. Smoking before age 10 is common. In 80% of the countries, early initiation rate is higher than 10%.

Majority of current smokers wish to quit and have tried to quit smoking.

Monitoring youth uptake of tobacco use is of critical importance in all countries of the Western Pacific, as the tobacco industry continues to target young people. Tobacco surveillance and monitoring are essential components of international policies to tobacco control. We must remain vigilant to ensure that the future of our youth won’t be marred by tobacco. The report highlights the need for continued vigilance and robust actions to protect youth from tobacco harms. Prevention of tobacco use among youth is essential to reduce the increasing global burden of non -communicable diseases.

The only thing that really helps a person to avoid those problems associated with smoking is staying smoke-free. It will give you a whole lot of more. More energy, better performance, better looks, more money in your pocket and in the long run, a more life to live. This isn’t always easy especially almost everyone around you is smoking and offering you cigarettes. And you may feel the pressure. But at the end of the day it’s all about your choice and your decision. The only thing that I can give you is to think of the consequences.