These days, the term smoking is generally associated with smoking a cigarette or a cigar. However, the idea of smoking substances has been known to exist as far as 5000 BC. It existed mainly in African and Indian cultures as rituals in various ceremonies. Over the years it has evolved from originally natural plant stems and leaves to pipes to now handy and simple cigarettes.
The main reason for a person to smoke is the short-lived good feeling that it gives the smoker. The substance giving this feeling may change but tobacco is the most common substance. Tobacco comes from the leaves of the plants belonging to the species Nicotiana. The chemical nicotine is what makes smoking tobacco enjoyable and addictive. Other substances include marijuana, steam; commonly flavored with tobacco or herbal fruits.
An increasing amount of youth start smoking at ages as young as 18 and continue smoking into their adulthood. This growth in recent years can be associated with the attractive advertisements of mainly cigarettes. Developing countries contribute the most smoking teenagers because of the lack of awareness of the health risks linked with smoking.
As a result of long periods of smoking, the chemicals in the tobacco smoke bank on the lungs, with time, turning into a tumour, resulting in lung cancer. Smoking is responsible for majority of lung cancer deaths. The rapid growth in the number of deaths due to smoking related lung cancer has to lead to many campaigns to stop smoking. Cigarette packets too carry health warnings to let people know the effects of smoking.
Smoking has been banned in certain countriesin public areas to get people to stop smoking. In airports, special smoking rooms are allocated for smoking persons. These efforts are to not only stop smoking people of the habit, but to cut down the number of passive smokers. Passive smokers suffer a greater risk as they do not have the advantage of the filter found in almost all cigarettes. This has resulted in many objections by passive smokers to stop smoking, not only in public areas, but everywhere in the country.
Some may say that the industry to stop smoking is growing as fast as the tobacco industry. Things like nicotine patches, and various types of treatments are being used to help people quit the habit and stop smokeing. Usually it takes a heavy smoker a few years to stop smoking completely, but with the help of these tools the period taken to stop smoking has reduced to months.
Leave a Comment