Why people in America smoke cigarettes despite their proven dangers

None of the much flaunted appeals of cigarette advertisers, such as superior taste and mildness, induce us to become smokers or to prefer one brand in preference to another. Regardless of the emphasis put on such qualities by advertisers, they are small considerations. Smoking is as much an emotional enjoyment as it is a physiological satisfaction. What is the nature of this psychological pleasure? It can be traced to the common desire for self-expression. None of us ever totally outgrows his childhood. We are continually hunting for the carefree enjoyment we knew as children. As we grew older, we had to subordinate our pleasures to work and to the need for continuous effort. Smoking, for numerous of us, then, became a replacement for our early habit of following the whims of the moment; it becomes a valid reason for interrupting work and snatching a moment of pleasure.
Smoking is frequently just a conditioned reflex.

Certain situations, such as coming out of the subway, beginning and ending work, voluntary and involuntary interruptions of work, feelings of hunger, and several others regulate the timetable of smoking. Frequently a smoker might not even want a cigarette chiefly, however he will see someone else take one and then he feels that he must have one, too. While too many people think smoking is fun, and a reward in itself, its more frequently accompanies other pleasures. At meals, a cigarette is somewhat like another course. In general, smoking introduces a holiday spirit into daily living. It rounds out other forms of enjoyment and makes them one hundred per cent satisfactory.

In addition, the fact that cigarette smoking is unsafe to your health is barely new information. Cigarette smoking is the single most unnecessary cause of disease and early death in the United States. So why do American continue to smoke? There are lots of reasons, you generally start for one reason or another and then it is really hard to quit. It is, but you can, lots of people do. Lung cancer caused by smoking is now the top female cancer killer, claiming 27,000 more women’s lives each year than breast cancer and more teenage girls (about 30 percent) are smoking now than they did 10 years ago. That’s a big increase. So why do people smoke? Nicotine acts in the brain where it can stimulate feelings of pleasure, and pleasure feels good! It as well will work as an appetite suppressant for various people; other people believe it relieves stress.

Moreover, smoking is one of the deadliest weapons of mass destruction and you can buy it at your nearest convenient store. It’s killing more than seven people every minute. That’s more than 3.7 million people each year. More Americans die from cigarette-related illnesses than car accidents, AIDS, alcohol, suicide, homicide and illegal drugs combined, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 80 percent of adult smokers started smoking before the age of 18. That’s 3,000 children that become regular smokers each day. Now more than five million children living these days will die prematurely because of a decision they will make as adolescents — the decision to smoke cigarettes. Fortunately, there are people out there trying to help others kick their bad habits. The effects of second-hand smoke, or passive smoking, has been debated and extensively studied, however they are still not completely clear. Major organizations, including the American Heart Association and US Surgeon General have stated that passive smoke poses a 30% increase in the risk of heart disease. One analysis of studies suggested that exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke might increase the risk of lung cancer in the nonsmoker by about 25%.

Moreover, smoking also harmfully affects male sexuality and fertility. Heavy smoking is normally cited as a contributory factor in impotence in men for the reason that it decreases the amount of blood flowing into the penis. One study noted, for instance, that among men with high blood pressure, smoking causes a 26-fold increase in impotence. Smoking also affects fertility. It impairs sperm motility, reduces sperm lifespan, and might cause genetic changes that affect the offspring.

Moreover, mothers who smoke while pregnant run a risk of ectopic pregnancy. This is particularly viable when the mother is a heavy smoker during the first trimester of her pregnancy. Ectopic pregnancy refers to the state wherein the embryo is embedded outside the uterus, which is different to what normal pregnancy should be. Generally, it is embedded in the fallopian tube. In this way, the fetus has to be removed for the reason that this kind of pregnancy will never survive. This fetus will never survive outside of the uterus where a fetus gets all the nourishment and protection that it needs. Prolonging this condition will only risk the mother’s life. Furthermore, smoking cigarettes during pregnancy increases the probability that the mother will develop complications in the placenta. Reports show that placental problems are in fact happening in about 1% of pregnancies. Another problem with smoking cigarettes during pregnancy is the deterioration of fetal growth. Moreover, cigarette smoking during pregnancy results in low infant birth weight. For several years now reports have shown that there have been important differences among babies with mothers who smoked cigarettes during pregnancy and those who have non-cigarette smoking mothers.

References:

• Smoking, Retrieved on March 13, 2007
• The Dangers of smoking
• Why Do You Smoke? National Institutes of Health