Who Needs a Cigarette?


by Hidie Snookes - Date: 2006-12-05 - Word Count: 567 Share This!

With so many folks in the Western world giving up the fags, the big tobacco companies are now focusing on the Third World Market, where the education on the harms of cigarette smoking is much less. Fortunately, even in poorer communities, there are more and more opportunities to access information via the World Wide Web, even if there might be 50 people queuing up to have a surf on one old PC. The people of the world have a right to know about the dangers of nicotine.

So what's the fascination and why do so many of us smoke anyway? Why do we need a cigarette? Well, there was a time when smoking was kind of the "chic" and fashionable thing to do in many social environments. Young lads thought that smoking made them look tough and masculine to the ladies, and the girls often smoked to fit in with the crowd. Sadly, there are still many youngsters that pick up the habit today even though their parents generation are giving it up in large numbers.

Cigarette packets now warn of the risks of smoking, but the shock element of this seems to have lost its impact in recent years. Still, all is not lost, and it's becoming harder to smoke in public places these days and there are more and more campaigns to help folks quit than ever before.

One of the main reasons it's so hard to stop the smoking habit is the physical attribute. This can be related to the nicotine cravings that many people have when they have not had a cigarette for a certain period of time. The temptation of having a single cigarette is enough to make you want give up 'giving up'. Many times I attempted to stop for another day, but at lunch time I just cracked and had to beg for a cigarette off of a work mate.

Armed with the knowledge that cigarette smoking is one of the leading causes of heart disease, strokes, and lung cancer, did little to deter me when I was a chain smoker. It doesn't get much crazier than that. I mean, where's the healthy fear in all of this?

The risk becomes even higher if cigarette smoking is combined with alcohol as folks tend to smoke twice as much with glass in hand. Many doctors give advice to ex-smokers suggesting they avoid alcohol temporarily after quitting, since drinking alcoholic beverages seems to induce relapses in cigarette smoking.

The chemical affect of the drug doesn't have to work very hard to keep most smokers addicted. It will have you will reinforce your perceived satisfaction with just about every drag through your thoughts and words, and your will power goes straight out of the window after a glass or two of your favorite alcoholic tipple.

But if you sit down and seriously think about the harms you're doing to yourself through smoking, then doesn't it make sense to try and stop? If you slip, and have a cigarette, don't beat yourself up. Try to think of those cigarette cravings as an opportunity to quit. Look at them as a natural part of the healing process. Fight FOR you health and not AGAINST the drug. Fighting for something is a lot more successful than fighting against it. Try to look at what you will gain by not smoking and not what you will lose.

Who really needs a cigarette? Absolutely no one!


Related Tags: heart disease, lung cancer, strokes, tobacco companies, nicotine cravings, risks of smoking

Hidie Snookes is a proficient author and writes for Health Gusto dot com where she has pieces on Nicotine Addiction and Stop Smoking Today. She also has many other health related articles on the site.

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