Why
You Should Not Smoke ?
Introduction :
One of the most common problems today that are killing
people, all over the world, is smoking. Many people start this horrible habit
because of stress, personal issues and high blood pressure. Some people began
showing off or some people wanted to enjoy it . One cigarette can result in
smoking others, which can lead to major addiction. When someone smokes a
cigarette they are not only hurting themselves, but others around them. Smoking
does many horrible things to the human body that most people are not aware of.
Almost everyone knows that smoking causes cancer, and heart disease; that it
can shorten your life by 10 years or more; and that the habit can cost a smoker
thousands of dirham’s a year. So, why people are still smoking? The answer is
obviously, addiction. Smoking is a hard habit to break because tobacco contains
nicotine, which is highly addictive.
Definition :
Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and
the resulting smoke breathed in to be tasted or inhaled. Most commonly the
substance is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant which has been rolled into
rice paper into a small, round cylinder called a "cigarette". This is
primarily practiced as a route of administration for what has come to be termed
"recreational drug use" because the combustion of the dried plant
leaves releases active substances into the body. In the case of cigarette
smoking these substances are contained in a mixture of aerosol particles and
gasses and include the pharmacologically active alkaloid nicotine; the
vaporization creates heated aerosol and gas to form that allows inhalation and
deep penetration into the lungs where absorption into the bloodstream of the
active substances occurs. In some cultures, smoking is also carried out as a
part of various rituals, where participants use it to help induce trance-like
states that, they believe, can lead them to "spiritual
enlightenment".
Cigarettes are primarily industrially manufactured but
also can be hand-rolled from loose tobacco and rolling paper. Other smoking
implements include pipes, cigars, bidis, hookahs, vaporizers, and bongs. It has
been suggested that smoking-related disease kills one half of all long term
smokers but these diseases may also be contracted by non-smokers. A 2007 report
states that, each year, about 4.9 million people worldwide die as a result of
smoking.
Smoking is one of the most common forms of recreational
drug use. Tobacco smoking is today by far the most popular form of smoking and
is practiced by over one billion people in the majority of all human societies.
Less common drugs for smoking include cannabis and opium. Some of the
substances are classified as hard narcotics, like heroin, but the use of these
is very limited as they are usually not commercially available.
The history of smoking can be dated to as early as 5000
BC, and has been recorded in many different cultures across the world. Early
smoking evolved in association with religious ceremonies; as offerings to
deities, in cleansing rituals or to allow shamans and priests to alter their
minds for purposes of divination or spiritual enlightenment. After the European
exploration and conquest of the Americas, the practice of smoking tobacco
quickly spread to the rest of the world. In regions like India and Sub-Saharan
Africa, it merged with existing practices of smoking (mostly of cannabis). In Europe,
it introduced a new type of social activity and a form of drug intake which
previously had been unknown.
Perception surrounding smoking has varied over time and
from one place to another; holy and sinful, sophisticated and vulgar, a panacea
and deadly health hazard. Only relatively recently, and primarily in
industrialized Western countries, has smoking come to be viewed in a decidedly
negative light. Today medical studies have proven that smoking tobacco is among
the leading causes of many diseases such as lung cancer, heart attacks, COPD,
erectile dysfunction, and can also lead to birth defects. The inherent health
hazards of smoking have caused many countries such as Singapore to institute
high taxes on tobacco products and anti-smoking campaigns are launched every
year in an attempt to curb tobacco smoking.
Topic sentence :
I am
sure that you know that smoking harms your body. Then why do you continue
smoking? Maybe you do it because you haven’t really become conscious about all
the effects that smoking has. There are a lot of reasons why you shouldn’t
smoke. Some of them are that smoking affects your health, that you spend a lot
of money on cigarettes, and that when you smoke you are not respecting people
around you.
The
first reason why you shouldn’t smoke is that smoking affects your health. If
you smoke, your physical condition will be negatively affected, so it will be
very difficult for you to succeed in sports. Also, smoking produces lethal
diseases like cancer and reduces the length and quality of your life. Maybe you
don’t notice all the physical effects of smoking immediately, but you surely
will be sorry one day. A large 2013 study of women in the United Kingdom found that 2 out of 3
deaths in smokers who were in their 50s, 60s, and 70s were caused by smoking.
The researchers observed that continuing smokers lose at least 10 years of
their lifespans, but added that smokers who quit before age 40 were able to
avoid 90% of the early deaths caused by continued smoking. If the women quit
before age 30, they were able to avoid more than 97% of these early deaths. Smoking
damages the airways and small air sacs in the lungs. This can cause chronic
coughing, wheezing, trouble breathing, and long-term (chronic) lung disease.
More than 90% of deaths due to chronic bronchitis and emphysema – together
these are known as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – are caused by
smoking. Today, more women than men die from COPD, and evidence suggests that
women are more likely to get severe COPD at younger ages than men.
The risk of COPD goes up with the number of cigarettes
smoked each day and with the length of time a woman has been smoking. Female
smokers aged 35 or older are almost 13 times more likely to die from emphysema
or bronchitis than those who have never smoked.
The lungs grow more slowly in teenage girls who smoke.
And adult women who smoke start losing lung function in early adulthood.
The
second reason why you shouldn’t smoke is because of all the money that you spend
on it. Maybe you start smoking only when someone offers you a cigarette, but
there will be a day when you will feel the need of a cigarette. By this time,
you will pay whatever to smoke, and each time you will smoke more, so you will
spend more money. All the money you would spend on cigars could have be spent
in something better, don’t you think?. The tobacco
industry is one of the most profitable businesses in the US, making billions of
dollars every year. But the costs of smoking are far higher than the income
from cigarette sales. The US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
estimated that in 2004, smoking led to health costs and productivity losses
totaling an average of $10.47 per pack sold and used in the US.
More recent numbers show that annual smoking-attributable
economic costs in the US are estimated to be between $289 to 332.5 million.
This total includes:
$132.5 to 175.9 billion for direct medical care of adults
$151 billion for lost productivity due to premature deaths
$5.6 billion for lost productivity due to exposure to
secondhand smoke
The
last reason why you shouldn’t smoke is out of respect for the people around
you. When you smoke, you not only harm yourself, but you also harm all the people
around you. So you mustn’t be selfish; you should at least avoid smoking in
front of people who don’t smoke. Also, many people don’t like the cigarette’s
smell, so they won’t enjoy your company. If you are a non-smoker but are
exposed to secondhand smoke on a regular basis, your body will still absorb
nicotine and other harmful substances. Smoke contains more than 4000 chemical
compounds, of which 250 are toxic and more than 50 are known cancer-causing
agents. These dangerous substances linger in the air for approximately 4 hours
and breathing in these particles for only minutes can harm you.
Exposure
Time to Secondhand Smoke and Effects:
5
minutes – stiffens the aorta as much as smoking a cigarette
20-30
minutes – causes excess blood clotting, as well as increases the build up of
fat deposits in blood vessels, increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke
2
hours – increases the chance of irregular heart beat (arrhythmia) and can
trigger a fatal cardiac event or heart attack.
In
addition, the longer you are around secondhand smoke, the greater the level of
harmful substances in your body. As a result, you might have an increased risk
of developing smoking-related disorders, including:
Lung
cancer and lung disease, including COPD, emphysema, asthma, and chronic
bronchitis. Nonsmokers who live with a smoker have a 20% to 30% increased risk
for developing lung cancer, heart disease, eye
and nasal irritation; increased risk of sinus and respiratory infections.
Conclision :
I
have said just some reasons of why you shouldn’t smoke, so I hope that now
those of you who smoke are able to think a little and try to make a smart
decision. In addition to all the reasons I’ve said, I would like you to think
about how much you love yourself and then whether you want to continue harming
yourself. Think also about all the people who love you, like your family who
doesn’t want to see you suffering or sick. If you decide to continue smoking,
what a pity. But if you decide to stop smoking, congratulations! Remember that "If
you can dream it, you can do it."
Smoking is a habit which individuals find difficult to
quit. Many people make preparations for months in their effort to get rid of
the habit, Many teenagers smoke because of depression and stress, but they
should know by now that smoking kills you from the inside the are many ways to
solve problems like those but one of them is not smoking. It's just madness and
it will give you cancer. People like teenagers don’t think. Smoking is bad for
you and always try to avoid what your friends say about smoking, just say
Alhamdulillah by what Allah has given to you, So Alhamdulillah for everything,
and please stop smoking.
References
·
Wiedemann HP.Highlights from Medical Grand Rounds: Passive Smoking: Nuisance or Health Risk? Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine
1989;56(2):115-116 Accessed 9/20/2013.
·
United States Environmental and Protection Agency. Secondhand Tobacco Smoke and the Health of Your Family.
Accessed 9/20/2013.
·
Centers for Disease Prevention and Control. Smoking &
Tobacco Use. Secondhand Smoke. Accessed 9/20/2013.
·
Centers for Disease Prevention and Control. Smoking & Tobacco Use. Health Effects. Accessed
9/20/2013.
American Heart Association. Smoking & Cardiovascular Disease (Heart Disease).
Accessed 9/20/2013.
