Worldwide, tobacco remains to be the most significant preventable cause of death and disease. Reflecting off of the drastic progress over the years of people who smoke, the existing rates can not be counted as a favorable outcome. In 2017, the current smoking rate has declined from 20.9 % in 2005 to 14.0% in 2017. “14 out of 100 U.S. adults aged 18 or older (14%) currently smoked cigarettes. This means an estimated 34.3 million adults in the United States currently smoke cigarettes. More than 16 million Americans live with a smoking related disease” (SITE CDC 1ST ONE ). As Americans, we see more children who are beginning to smoke at an early age or are being exposed to smoke unwillingly. (INSERT BILL)
When reviewing this topic, it is important to understand the root cause of smoking cigarettes as a whole. The most influential thing when dealing with cigarette smoke is focusing on the addiction that it creates, how harmful it is to the body, and the smoking cessation resources that are available. Smoking cigarettes is addicting, but this does not mean that all who smoke cigarettes become addicted. “Ninety percent of the population will try tobacco at least once in their lifetime, and about 90% of persons who become addicted will do so before the age of 18.” (SITE:Interrupting the disease of Tobacco addiction) Addiction to cigarettes is something that is treatable, as well as a lifestyle choice. It involves individuals to make multiple attempts at quitting as well as repeating interventions suitable for them.
Starting with the basics, cigarettes contain both tobacco and nicotine. Nicotine is an extremely addictive substance that when inhaled through the lungs, enters the brain within seconds. When nicotine is introduced to the brain, it alters its chemistry by changing the balance between two chemicals called dopamine and noradrenaline. When these receptors are triggered, your mood and concentration levels may alter. Many smokers find this enjoyable and obtain a “nicotine high” (SITE: why is smoking addictive) Some consider this high to be similar to that of caffeine. Allowing the individual to be more awake and alert, as well as reduce any stress or anxiety. With that being said, cigarettes act as an effective coping mechanism to help individuals struggling with many mental illnesses.
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When trying to look at this in the eyes of a smoker, why would someone give up smoking if the effect provides a pleasurable feeling. Regardless of the negative health consequences, smoking is not currently revealing a concern to people and seems to be distant in time. It would be beneficial to educate people who smoke on the events that are currently affecting them that they potentially don’t even know about. “Raising immediate concerns about smoking by tax increases, social marketing, and brief advice from health professionals can increase the rate at which smokers try to stop. Providing behavioral and pharmacological support can improve the rate at which those quit attempts succeed” (SITE: Tobacco smoking: health impact, prevalence, correlates and interventions)
While individuals understand the significant impact cigarettes have on their health, many people still continue to smoke. Cigarettes can lead to an extremely wide range of diseases that can eventually lead to death. Cigarettes contain concentrations known as carcinogens, that are extremely toxic to the human body. Many articles can conclude that smoking cigarettes compared to non smokers, eradicates ten years from their life expectancy. “Most smoking-related deaths arise from cancers, respiratory disease, and cardiovascular disease. Smoking is an important risk factor for stroke, blindness, deafness, back pain, osteoporosis, and peripheral vascular disease.” (SITE: Tobacco smoking: health impact, prevalence, correlates and interventions) It is important to comprehend the fact that regardless of the amount of years spent smoking, stopping smoking would still be valuable compared to not stopping at all.
It is very difficult to break the relationship an individual has with smoking cigarettes. Just like any substance, nicotine withdrawal has its downfall. A person must be ready to fight through these withdrawal symptoms and break bad habits because stopping smoking is associated with many health benefits. While many people believe “its too late to quit”, statistics prove otherwise. “Smokers who stop before their mid-30s have approximately the same life expectancy as non-smokers. After 35 years or so, stopping smoking recovers 2-3 months of healthy life expectancy for every year of smoking avoided, or 4 to 6 hours everyday” (SITE: Tobacco smoking: health impact, prevalence, correlates and interventions)
In current events, children who are seventeen and under are a very vulnerable population when it comes to being exposed to cigarette smoke. Whether they smoke independently or those of younger ages that are exposed to second and third hand smoke involuntarily. Children are exposed to smoke not strictly by parents but can be from other outlets such as in daycare, school, and even the mall. Cigarette smoke has the capability to linger onto clothing, furniture, and skin which exposes these children without even the intention of doing so. As stated before, considering the smoking rates have declined, still as many as half of children are chronically exposed to smoke and will have an impact on their health now and in the future. (SITE NY TIMES) In reality, this correlates to the revolving problem of cigarette smoking as a whole in adults which influences children whether they want to or not. “Society does not tolerate exposing minors to asbestos, arsenic, alcohol, or lead, yet it acts as if exposing them to tobacco smoke is something different.” (SITE NY TIMES)
Although much progress has been made around the world, there still is a lot of work that can be implemented to further improve this public health issue. Smoking cessation is a significant factor in reducing smoking related diseases and deaths. The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control controlled by the World Health Organization, offers a strategy known as MPOWER in order to reduce the amount of tobacco smokers. This strategy is composed of 6 components that include; “Monitor tobacco use and prevention policies, Protect people from tobacco smoke, Offer help to quit tobacco use, Warn about the dangers of tobacco, Enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship, and Raise taxes on tobacco” (SITE interpreting the disease of tobacco addiction) This type of representation examines this public health issue and concludes that there is a variety of guidelines and interventions. When deciding to quit smoking it is important to assess the individuals readiness to make a change. Once this is completed there are many interventions that can be implemented in aiding towards smoking cessation.
There are many different ways to go about quitting smoking. According to research there are individual interventions such as getting advice from your physician, pharmacotherapy, and behavioral support. If a person is a smoker and it reinstates this in their chart while visiting their healthcare provider, brief advice is something that has provenly increased the rate of quitting regardless of motivation to quit . This is something that seems like such an easy fix but is not reinforced by healthcare providers and/or nurses. Another intervention would be using medicine to help aid this process. Nicotine replacement therapy such as patches, gum, and sprays help the individual with smoking.
“A small proportion of people who use NRT to stop smoking continue to use it for months or even years after stopping smoking, but NRT appears to carry minimal risk to long-term users” (SITE: Tobacco smoking: health impact, prevalence, correlates and interventions). Something that seemed to coincide with using pharmacotherapy is behavioral support. This can be done either face to face or by phone via call, FaceTime, or Skype. A trained professional aids in smoking cessation and is able to provide sessions up to four weeks individualized for each patient. Doing this type of therapy with the pharmacotherapy has proven a 3-10 percent increase in quitting smoking. (SITE: Tobacco smoking: health impact, prevalence, correlates and interventions). Overall there are millions and millions of interventions that could be reinforced such as increasing tax, providing anti-tobacco campaigns, school based programs, and social competence training. Each individual is capable of these interventions but need to be educated on how to do so.
Given these points, smoking is a public health issue that is seen all over the world. With its efforts of decreasing rates, there still is a lot of work that needs to be done. People need to focus on the overall “big picture” and become educated on what cigarettes are doing to the human body as well everyone else exposed to second and third hand smoke. Interventions and resources are available that can be implemented with the right amount of time and research.
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