SteemAlive Presents: ProWritersHub - Three or more reasons why I do not Smoke! by @ojerindejoel.

INTRODUCTION: Before I go ahead to answer all that is required of me, I need to clamor it to our ear that Smoking is very bad and none of its benefits as claimed by smokers should be enough to make one go into it. Flee smoking, it kills.

What is Smoking?

While growing up, I do think, or let me say I only know or see people smoke cigarettes, but not until after I did my research before I know that smoking is more than that.

Smoking is the act of burning a substance and then breathing the resulting smoke into the bloodstream.

The substance in this context is most times dried tobacco plant which will be rolled into a small rectangular rounded paper known as cigarette and just like I had said earlier, not only tobacco plant is been smoked, some other substances such as cannabis, opium are being smoked.

The smoke smoked delivers some active substances into the lungs from which the active substances are absorbed into the bloodstream and the body tissue.

What do I mean by active substances? Active substances are substances that are biologically active i.e., a substance that affects the human body either positively or negatively, in the case of smoking, the effect is NEGATIVE.

Another thing I think many people don’t know is that you don’t have to be the one smoking before you can have all these active substances present in your body, if people around you smoke, you are likely going to acquire them likewise.

This is actually what is called passive smoking. Why or how is this possible? You should know that smoke is a gas and can be transferred through the air which we breathe in.

Parent with little children has to take note of this as passive smoking can really harm little children. A child that is exposed to passive smoke can develop chest infections, persistent cough, or meningitis.

I say this so that you will know how to curb people around you to stop smoking and not use their so-called enjoyment to cause you some diseases.

History of Smoking

Let’s talk briefly about the history of smoking.

As early as 5000BCE, smoking was practiced by the shamans whenever they are having their shamanistic rituals, it was also practiced by Babylonians, Indians as well as Chinese as part of their religious rituals.

In the 17th century, tobacco smoking was allowed in many nation forces and this is because it was asserted that its regular use of it will allow soldiers to withstand more tremendous hardship. As of the 20th century, smoking has extended from the forces to the adult population of numerous western nations.

What make people to start smoking.

Despite the constant reminders that smoking is harmful to the body, many people do not quit and some people are even just getting into the act. Just as there are different people, there are also different reasons why people get into the habit of smoking and I am going to mention some.

📌 Peer Pressure: Peer pressure has caused not only the individual greatly but the world at large. The influence of one’s peers like social groups with the same interests or social status or experiences can make an individual start smoking and not just smoking but some other habits.

📌 Parental influence: Parental influence or relationship is very essential to a child that is just growing up. A child who has experienced his or her parents smoking will likely smoke when he or she grows up. A child that is allowed to see films that portray smokers as healthy people will likely go into the act when he or she grows up.

And so, parents must know that not raising their child in a smoking environment is not enough to not raise their child as a smoker, but they must be fully committed to instilling and teaching the child how bad and intolerable smoking is.

📌 Media influence: Just as said earlier, the media plays a significant role in portraying the image of a smoker. So it has the ability to compel people to start smoking. Moreover, the fact that a significant number of film characters are smokers has made many teenagers believe it is a trend that should be inculcated.

📌 Stress Factors: Many people smoke to numb themselves to relieve their stress and while cigarettes can for a short time provides them with this, they get more addicted to it as nicotine is very addictive.

What are the health implications of smoking.

Smoking is one of the leading causes of so many PREVENTABLE diseases which has consequently led to so many PREVENTABLE deaths. Smoking has the ability to damage every part of the body and below are some of the diseases which in turn destroy the body part that smoking brings about.

From my research, more than 70,000 people in the United Kingdom die from smoking with much more living battling debilitating illnesses related to smoking. It is asserted that smoking increases one’s risk of developing over fifty (50) serious health conditions from which some are very fatal and bring about irreversible damage to one’s health.

In the United States, over 480,000 deaths are caused as a result of smoking each year.

📌Cancer: Out of every 100 cases of cancer, smoking is liable for 80 cases which are 80%. I mentioned earlier that smoking can damage any part of the body, this is so true as smoking can cause cancer in different parts of the body such as

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I think all these themselves should be enough to make one flee from smoking.

📌 Smoking can damage the heart and affect blood circulation negatively which can result in the following health conditions

• Coronary heart disease

• Heart attack: This is due to blockages and narrowing of one’s arteries

• Stroke: This occurs when the supply of blood to the brain is blocked due to blocked arteries.

• Damaged blood vessels

• Damaged arteries that supply blood to the brain.

📌 Smoking is capable of damaging the lungs which can also bring about the following conditions

• Pneumonia

• Diabetes

• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that is accompanied by bronchitis and emphysema. This disease makes it hard to breathe.

📌 Smoking has the power to deteriorate respiratory conditions like asthma and common cold.

📌 To the men out there, smoking can cause impotence as it limits the blood supply to the male sexual organ, and it can also reduce fertility in both men and women.

📌 Other health effects include, tuberculosis, eye diseases, weakened immune system, tooth loss, etc.

How common is it in your area. Which group of people mostly smoke.?

Despite the so many bad health effects, smoking is still being practiced by over 1 billion people from which one-third (1/3) of these drug abusers are adults.

Where I live now, smoking is not really practiced, or let me say that it isn’t practiced openly at least to my level of exposure, I rarely see people smoke. This is a result of laws guiding the use of those substances that are smoked.

But where I stayed before, they have no regard for those laws and the act is being perpetrated seriously, especially in motor parks, smoking has become so many of the drivers and conductor’s food. Early in the morning, you see them smoke, afternoon, the same thing and likewise in the evening.

This act is mostly perpetrated by adults mostly men though many young children and youth are now practicing it as the last time I went to see some people in the area.

Not only has civilization been bringing about many positive improvements to the world, but accompanying the positive improvements are negative side effects. This can be seen in the case of children smoking nowadays.

According to my research also, young adults which are people between the age of 16 to 24 are said the be the set of people that smokes the highest and it decreases among people from the age of 60 and above.

Three Reasons Why It Is Difficult to Quit Smoking

Quitting smoking is not easy and this is because of the following reasons,

• The presence of NICOTINE: Nicotine is one of the active substances in a cigarette that is harmful to both the physical and psychological parts of the human body. Nicotine is what made it hard for people not to stop smoking.

• The mental triggers: Another reason why it is hard to quit smoking is due to the old habits either consciously or unconsciously that smokers exhibit. Whenever a smoker is trying to quit, he will be feeling restless about not doing what he is used to doing and this might trigger that old way.

• Another reason why it is hard for a smoker to stop smoking is that he or she might have made many friends and while trying to stop smoking, they are still exposed to these friends and so they might want to get into it back

How to stop smoking?

Before I round this topic up, I believe it will be good to list some ways with which smokers can stop smoking.

• The first point I am going to mention is that as a smoker that really wants to quit smoking, you must move or stay around people that don’t smoke. Just as peers can influence one to acquire bad habits, peers can also help one to cultivate good habits.

• You must keep your hands busy, many of the time, smoking is done by people when they are less busy or bored and so, by getting engaged in many activities, one will forget about smoking

• Furthermore, A smoker that really wants to quit must find a reason to motivate him or her. Having an end goal from wanting to be healthy to not exposing his or her child will keep him or her motivated and not make him or she lose focus no matter what comes his or her way.

• Lastly, that kind of person needs to be thinking positively, at some point, you might want to go back however, you need to look back and see how far you have come and so, you must keep moving forward.

Tell us at least 3 reasons why you do not smoke

As for my reasons for not smoking, I believe the preceding sections have actually answered that, but I will still talk more about it.

📌 First of all, I wasn’t exposed to smoking while growing up as my parent are disciplinary parents. They trained me in the right way to grow and they never portray smokers as good people. There is a bible verse that says Trains up your child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it which I believe was their watchword while they were raising me and my siblings.

📌 Putting aside that I was raised well, as a grown-up, there were times and there will still be times when I will have to make a decision myself. We need to know that not all smokers are not raised well but some people missed it while deciding for themselves.
Knowing all the bad health implications of smoking, why would I embark on that dangerous journey.

📌I decided not to smoke so I can live a healthy and lengthen life, decrease my risk of diseases, and many more.

📌 Lastly, I chose not to smoke so as not to become a nuisance to people around me. If I can’t better their life, I shouldn’t be a problem to them.

And that is it for this post, Thanks for reading!

Wish you the best of luck in the contest🤗