[dropcap type=”default”]I[/dropcap]n celebration of World No Tobacco Day- 31st May 2017, the WHO took as its theme “Tobacco – a threat to development” which will propose measures that governments and the public should take to promote health and development by confronting the global tobacco crisis. As our contribution to this Implementation, The Rotaract Club of Achievers Lanka Business School ran a social media campaign on this day through Facebook which helped us to reach more than 14,000 people. This included six posters about drug prevention. The motive of this action was to spread awareness of tobacco smoking and drug effects which adversely affect our population today. We believe our small gesture towards this vision made an impact on all who we reached out to and to add to that here are some more details why smoking just isn’t worth it.
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Did you know?
- 1 in 5 adults and teens smoke.
- One person dies every six seconds from a tobacco-related disease which translates into more than 7 million people every year.
- Each year, primarily because of exposure to secondhand smoke, an estimated 3,000 non-smokers die of lung cancer.
- Tobacco smoking is the number one preventable cause of death.
Do you still wish to be a part of the 1.1 billion (2015 WHO facts) people in the world who smoke?
Before going into the gory details lets first understand what tobacco is, according to BeTobaccoFree.gov,
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Tobacco is a leafy plant grown around the world. In 2007, four countries—China, Brazil, India, and the United States—produced two-thirds of the world’s tobacco.
What makes tobacco irresistible to its users?
Tobacco is an addictive substance because it contains the chemical nicotine. Like heroin or cocaine, nicotine changes the way your brain works and causes you to crave more and more nicotine. This addiction to nicotine is what makes it so difficult to quit smoking and other tobacco.
Want to know more about this? When the tobacco product is used the nicotine is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream, thus entering the nicotine reaches your brain with a surprising speed of 10 seconds. It causes the brain to release adrenaline which is what creates the buzz of pleasure and energy.
The buzz fades quickly though and leaves you feeling tired, a little down, and wanting the buzz again. This feeling is what makes you light up the next cigarette.
Since your body is able to build up a high tolerance to nicotine, you’ll need to smoke more and more cigarettes in order to get the nicotine’s pleasurable effects and prevent withdrawal symptoms.
This up and down cycle repeats over and over, leading to ADDICTION. Addiction keeps people smoking even when they want to quit. Breaking addiction is harder for some people than others. Many people need more than one try in order to quit. Unfortunately, research suggests that the younger a person is when he starts to smoke the harder it will be for him to break his addiction.
Dried tobacco leaves can be:
- Shredded and smoked in cigarettes, cigars, and pipes
- Ground into snuff, which is sniffed through the nose
- Cured and made into chewing tobacco
- Moistened, ground or shredded into dip, which is placed in the mouth between the lip and gum
Out of which cigarettes are the most famous among users.
Were you aware of the fact that smoking tobacco can damage every part of your body in some way? It can lead to Cancer, Lung Disease, Asthma, Hip Fractures, Gum Infection, Blindness, Strokes and many more adverse effects.
Quitting smoking is hard, and many people take several attempts but what you have to remember is, you CAN quit. It is always helpful to consult your family doctor before you quit. make a quitting plan – and stick to it, avoid smoke triggers and try to stay busy during the process.
If you don’t smoke, seriously, why start?
Nearly all tobacco use begins in youth and young adulthood—88% of adult daily smokers smoked their first cigarette before turning 18. Approximately 18% of high school students smoke cigarettes. Nearly 10% use smokeless tobacco, and young people who use smokeless tobacco are more likely to become cigarette smokers as adults.
By helping teens and young adults avoid using tobacco, we will help them live longer and healthier lives. We can make the next generation tobacco-free. The adverse effects of smoking can be taken to the teenage population through sports initiatives, counseling, distribution of informative pamphlets and simply taking a minute to talk to your teenage son and daughter.
The world does not deserve to lose so many beautiful souls due to a bit of smoke, so quit today and don’t start because remember, we need you!
For more references – http://www.who.int/en/ | http://betobaccofree.hhs.gov/
RACALBS