Main factors of Smoking Among Youngsters

Young generation is fond of smoking. Youngster makes this habit to attract the attention of society. They get stress-free and feel happy while smoking. One major factor of smoking in among youngsters is group conformity. Smoking is the most important preventable health dilemma in the world. The most important way to stop the endemic of smoking would be to stop the influx of new smokers i.e. mainly teenagers. When youngsters aged 13-14 yrs try their first cigarette, most of them are not aware of the possible risk they are exposed to. Among young people, the short-term health consequences of smoking include respiratory and non respiratory effects, addiction to nicotine, and the associated risk of other drug use. Long-term health consequences of youth smoking is reinforced by the fact that most young people who smoke regularly continue to smoke throughout adulthood

In spite of all the health warnings, youngsters continue to get enthusiastic on tobacco. Even though they all know that it's bad for them. It can be concluded that a shallow knowledge of the health risks is not enough to convince youngsters to not smoke. Cigarette smokers have a lower level of lung function than those persons who have never smoked. Smoking reduces the rate of lung growth. Smoking hurts young people's physical fitness in terms of both performance and endurance, even among young people trained in competitive running. Teenage smokers suffer from shortness of breath almost three times as often and produce phlegm more than twice as often as teenagers that do not smoke. Teenage smokers are more likely to have seen a doctor or other health professionals for an emotional or psychological complaint. Teenagers who smoke are three times more likely than nonsmokers to use alcohol. Smoking is associated with a host of other "risky" behaviors, such as fighting and engaging in unprotected sex.

Lots of people are putting their health in risk by smoking. Smoking is like a fatal disease but youths still sense proud of smoking. Another reason to make smoking as a habit is feeling of insecurity. They want to smoke to resolve mental stress and other emotional problems. They are fully conscious of its dangerous effect that tobacco is highly addictive, and people who have smoked for many years show a higher death rate then non-smokers. Smokers lose an average of twenty to twenty five years of their lives compared to most non-smokers. Youths tend to overlook or believe they will never get lung cancer or heart problems. When people smoke a tobacco product, they breathe in the smoke, which contains nicotine as well as over five hundred chemicals.

Today, smoking issue is heated up among different segments of our society. People are more concerned about the health of nation's youth because they are the future. Through smoking, most young people show their power and importance. They smoke ultimately to express the thought that they move into adulthood. Some may smoke to adhere to their social group and develop their social network.

Smoking is hazardous and the dangers of smoking are serious. A smoker inhales a substance containing 43 cancer-causing (carcinogenic) compounds besides four hundred other toxins including nicotine and tar. Nicotine leads to a smoking addiction. Tar clogs the lungs and inhibits the body's capacity to breathe; it causes lung and throat cancer, heart disease, emphysema, bronchial and lung disorders. Through passive smoking, even non-smokers (particularly children) are at risk of getting these illnesses. A pregnant woman who smokes increases the chance of her baby dying from SIDS, being underweight, and having behavioral problems. A recent report has shown that smoking tobacco and nicotine is the world's leading cause of death and disability -- more than HIV, AIDS, or famine.

The report also estimates that smoking-related illnesses cause 30 million deaths per year. Smoking a cigarette raises the blood pressure by 5-10 mm Hg for about 30 minutes. If this is combined with drinking a cup of coffee, the effects are bigger and last longer. Despite this, numerous epidemiological studies have found that people with hypertension are not more likely to be smokers than those with normal blood pressure, and conversely, that smokers are not more likely to be hypertensive than non-smokers. One possible explanation for this might be that smokers tend to weigh less than non-smokers, and that the effects of obesity and smoking on blood pressure cancel each other out. But even when smokers and non-smokers of the same body weight are compared their blood pressures are the same. This is probably because the blood pressure measurements are usually made when people are not smoking. If you smoke a pack a day, it will raise your average daytime pressure by about 5 mm Hg, even though your doctor may not detect this during an office visit. The important thing about smoking is not what it does to your blood pressure, but that it greatly increases your risk of heart disease.

Smoking Rehabilitation Center

India:

1) Asha De- Addiction Centre, Plot # 451, Road # 86, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad.
Phones : 040-32516767, +91 98484 82506- Dinesh
E-mail : ashadeaddiction@yahoo.com

2) Rehabilation & Research centre for Alcohol & Drug Addiction. 176-A, M.L.A Colony, Road No.12, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad - 500 034, ( Andhra Pradesh). INDIA
Tel: +91 40 2339 6339/ 2332 7973 ,
Fax: +91 40 2330 2230
E-mail : info@hopetrustindia.com
hopetrustindia@yahoo.com

International:

1) Canyon Manor Mental Health Rehabilitation Center, Canyon Manor 655 Canyon Road Novato, California 94947.
2) St John's Rehabilitation Centre Umuogbe Umuanuma Nguru Mbaise P.O Box 1189, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria.
3) Chi Lan Rehabilitation Centre, 110 Shek O Road, Hong Kong.Ph: 2965 2500 ( Control Room ).

The harmful outcome of youthful tobacco use has received much attention, as they should. It is clear that for some young people smoke significantly and negatively alters their lives and those of their families and communities. According to youth group, smoking relieves their work pressure and mental fatigue. They prefer to smoke to focus more on their job and some may get success in their career. However, they all have the same opinion about its hazardous consequences and always try not to be chain smoker.

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