How Smoking Impacts the Health of Young People
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- Date Submitted: 06/08/2011 08:10 PM
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How smoking impacts the health of young people.
Tobacco is a green, leafy plant that is grown in warm climates. After it is picked, it is dried, ground up, and used in different ways. It can be smoked in a cigarette, pipe, or cigar. It can be chewed (called chewing tobacco) or sniffed through the nose (called snuff). Nicotine is one of the more than 4,000 chemicals in cigarettes and its smoke. It is the chemical that makes tobacco addictive or habit forming. Smoking can become a life-long habit and it can be worrying for parents to think that their child might decide to smoke and become a dependant smoker. Research indicates that initiation into smoking behaviour is well established before the end of teenage years. Surveys of smokers show that approximately 90-per-cent begin using tobacco by the age of 20. The earlier the onset of smoking, the earlier the risk of smoking-related disease and the harder it is to quit.
Many young people today have an "invincibility complex," or the idea that they cannot be hurt by their actions. As a result many are blind to the smoking effects that could cause lifetime damage to their bodies. While they may know the harmful smoking effects, this does not stop the rise in young people smoking. It is a sad but true fact that youth and smoking is a crisis that needs to be dealt with.
The number one reason that many young people start smoking regardless of the smoking effects on their health is peer pressure. Someone they respect or wish to emulate gives them a chance to start smoking, and tells them they will be fine. The young people do not want to appear "uncool" and so they start smoking. Another reason that kids take to smoking is because of the advertising of the cigarette manufacturers. Cigarette ads are aimed at the young, making smoking look like the cool, popular thing to do. Things emphasised by cigarette ads are young adults who have a strong sex appeal, or things that appeal to young guys, like weapons and cowboys....
Tobacco is a green, leafy plant that is grown in warm climates. After it is picked, it is dried, ground up, and used in different ways. It can be smoked in a cigarette, pipe, or cigar. It can be chewed (called chewing tobacco) or sniffed through the nose (called snuff). Nicotine is one of the more than 4,000 chemicals in cigarettes and its smoke. It is the chemical that makes tobacco addictive or habit forming. Smoking can become a life-long habit and it can be worrying for parents to think that their child might decide to smoke and become a dependant smoker. Research indicates that initiation into smoking behaviour is well established before the end of teenage years. Surveys of smokers show that approximately 90-per-cent begin using tobacco by the age of 20. The earlier the onset of smoking, the earlier the risk of smoking-related disease and the harder it is to quit.
Many young people today have an "invincibility complex," or the idea that they cannot be hurt by their actions. As a result many are blind to the smoking effects that could cause lifetime damage to their bodies. While they may know the harmful smoking effects, this does not stop the rise in young people smoking. It is a sad but true fact that youth and smoking is a crisis that needs to be dealt with.
The number one reason that many young people start smoking regardless of the smoking effects on their health is peer pressure. Someone they respect or wish to emulate gives them a chance to start smoking, and tells them they will be fine. The young people do not want to appear "uncool" and so they start smoking. Another reason that kids take to smoking is because of the advertising of the cigarette manufacturers. Cigarette ads are aimed at the young, making smoking look like the cool, popular thing to do. Things emphasised by cigarette ads are young adults who have a strong sex appeal, or things that appeal to young guys, like weapons and cowboys....