Smoking: Global Problem

The dangers of smoking are well known, yet many people continue with this habit. What are the causes of this? How can we reduce smoking in society?

Hi, I’m Dima and I’d like to share with you my thoughts on the problem.

Smoking is one of the most common problems people are facing today. Smoking is dangerous because it is killing people. When someone smokes a cigarette, they not only hurt themselves but everyone around them. Secondhand smoke carries the same risk to a nonsmoker as someone who does smoke.

Smoking can cause long-term negative effects on the body, including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Smoking can also harm adolescent and young adult brain development. In addition to these serious health consequences, smoking impacts the well-being of a person as well. It alters the sense of smell and taste. Furthermore, it also reduces the ability to perform physical exercises, influences the immune system, changes appearance like giving yellow teeth and aged skin. People who smoke get a greater risk of depression or anxiety. Smoking also affects their relationship with family, friends and colleagues. Smoking is also an expensive habit. People waste lots of money on cigarettes because of their addiction.

Nicotine, the chemical in tobacco, keeps people smoking because it forms a habit and is highly addictive.  It is the reason why people find it so difficult to quit smoking. Physical withdrawal from nicotine can impair your ability to think and make you feel negative emotions. Withdrawal can also cause headaches and trouble sleeping.

A lot of people pick up this habit because of stress, personal issues and many other reasons. Some people, especially teens would like to be cool like the the main characters of their favourite films. Teenagers create pictures in their minds that smoking is cool and start imitating these characters. Smoking is a very old habit. People smoked a lot for centuries, therefore I can say that this problem has been passed down from generation to generation.

The harm and dangers of smoking are evident, but society still have this addiction. Countries of the world try to prevent this habit in different ways, but this problem is still one of the biggest. Many laws that prohibit smoking in public places were adopted. But we still see many people in European countries who smoke in restaurants, in parks and in other public spaces. Commercials advertising cigarettes aren’t allowed at daytime but you can watch them at night.

New very big players in the smoking market appeared – the producers of electronic cigarettes. Most e-cigarettes contain nicotine and chemicals that are harmful. Vaping is less harmful than smoking, but it’s still not safe.

In my opinion the countries should have bigger influence on producers, and create stronger laws and the system of fines for smoking in public places. What is more, healthy lifestyle should be popularized. Stars and celebrities who are always copied by ordinary people, should demonstrate healthy way of life.

Since smoking affects every system in our body, finding a way to quit can help people live a longer and healthier life. It is essential for smokers to understand that it is never too late to stop smoking.