No matter how you do it, there is no safe way to smoke. Replacing a cigarette with with a pipe, hookah, or chewing tobacco doesn’t help you avoid the health risks associated with smoking. The only aspect that people look at when they think of smoking is that it kills you. Many don’t realize the fact that smoking also has life-threatening effects. People who smoke are burning their lives away. Smoking not only harms your health, it empties out your wallet as well.
To begin with, smoking is destructive to a person’s body. According to cdc.gov, “Smoking can cause cancer almost anywhere in your body. Your blood, esophagus, kidney, liver, oropharynx (includes parts of the throat, tongue, and the tonsils), stomach, and lungs are only some of the organs that are affected by smoking.” People who smoke don’t realize that smoking is a major addiction that once started, takes extreme effort to stop. The only thing they know is that they’ll quit later.
Many of the body systems are affected by smoking. The respiratory system becomes damaged when you inhale smoke. The nervous system is affected by nicotine. Nicotine, found in tobacco, is a mood-altering drug that makes you feel energized for a little while. As that effect subsides, you feel tired and crave more. Nicotine, in the cardiovascular system, causes blood vessels to tighten, restricting the blood flow and increasing a smoker’s risk of a stroke. In the reproductive system, women who smoke experience complications of pregnancy, including miscarriage and premature delivery.
Cigarettes contain about 600 different ingredients. When lit, they produce more than 7,000 chemicals. Many of these chemicals are poisonous and about 70 of them can cause cancer. As stated by healthline.com, “Smoking is one of the leading causes of preventable deaths in the world.” Smoking endangers your health equally deteriorating your wealth.
“Smoking is a waste of money,” says Janet LeRoy, a 3rd grade teacher at Leal Elementary School in Urbana, IL, who had family and friends who died due to smoking. “I’m furious that I have to pay higher insurance rates to cover the many, many people who can’t pay for the issues they bring on themselves from smoking.” If you smoke a pack a day, you’ll spend more than $5,000 a year on cigarettes. That money could be used for much more convenient things in life.
LeRoy continues, “If I were ‘Queen of the World’, I would put a $10 tax on all packs of cigarettes. I wouldn’t allow any assistance for the poor if they smoked. If you have money for cigarettes, you don’t need my help – make a choice.”
Although many smokers don’t realize the hazardous effects smoking can have on a person’s body, some of them do. Osamah Odeh, a lawyer and a smoker explains. “I know that smoking raises blood pressure and weakens the immune system. I wanted to quit smoking a long time ago, but I thought it wouldn’t be a good idea to try and quit while in law school. Quitting isn’t easy and will add additional stress on top of the pressure of school and work.” He proceeds, “Now that I’m finished with school, I made a promise to myself to quit very soon.”
“Quitting isn’t easy.” Dr. Murad Kayed, a urologist and an ex-smoker, agrees. “The key to quitting is no procrastination; only motivation. Once you say you want to stop smoking, you have to stop smoking. Delaying will only make it harder.” Even though this is true, people who stop smoking will experience temporary congestion and respiratory pain because their lungs are beginning to clear out. Some smokers who want to quit might try, but as soon as they feel the pain and start coughing uncontrollably, they’ll probably take out a cigarette and light it on the spot. Only determination can help them then. “When I stopped smoking I noticed that my personality started to change for the better. I became healthier and I didn’t have bad breath anymore.” Dr. Kayed says. “I felt victorious because of the fact that I abandoned a bad habit.”
Smoking has severe effects on the human body. It’s an addiction that more than 1 billion people around the world possess. It’s deadly to a person’s health and it damages their wealth. Although it may be hard to quit, smokers should be encouraged by the fact that they can live a longer, healthier, and happier life once their smoking habits cease to exist. Don’t let smoking be the reason you wake up in the morning. Let the reason be that you conquered smoking once and for all.
Mariam Odeh
Unis Middle School Journalist