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The Break Down: One Cigarette, Two Cigarette, Three Cigarette, Four. Once You Have One, All You’ll Want Is More.

Lighting up the facts.

Myth: You can quit smoking easier the younger you are. Truth: According to the ALA, people who begin smoking at a younger age are more likely to be addicted to nicotine compared to people who begin smoking at a later age.

I would like to open your eyes. I want to let you know about the dangers behind cigarette smoking.

While some kids might say they do not smoke that much, the DO  found that 20% of teenagers who smoke cigarettes smoke 13-15 of them each day. Each cigarette you inhale negatively effects every organ in your body according to the CDC, yet young kids are doing it about 100 times in a week. The ALA announced, “Cigarette smoking during childhood and adolescence produces significant health problems among young people, including an increase in the number and severity of respiratory illnesses, decreased physical fitness, and potential effects on the rate of lung growth and maximum lung function.” Now, if I were to break down each of those categories, I could list a significant amount of problems smoking causes. For example, according to the CDC, smoking can cause cancer in most areas of the body. A few of those areas include the larynx, liver, kidneys, lungs, trachea, and many more. Here is a good picture to display some of these effected areas. 

To me, the most significant negative effect smoking can produce is death. Reported by the CDC, not only does cigarette smoking raise the chance to die from anything in woman and men, but also smoking matriculates more deaths than illegal drug use, motor vehicle accidents, fire-arm incidents, HIV, and alcohol abuse combined.

Here is a mental note to think about. Consider all of the charities to help raise money for woman with breast cancer. In the last couple of years, an important breast cancer awareness has been brought to our society’s attention. Now according to the CDC, more woman die from lung cancer than breast cancer each year and 90% of deaths from lung cancer are due to smoking. I would love to make smoking as big as the awareness of breast cancer because smoking issues are just as important. If these adolescents are more informed and charities are developed, together we can make progress on quitting this addiction.

What We Can Do To Make A Difference.

While the ALA found most young adults want to quit smoking, they claim they cannot. Many THINK they cannot, but they CAN. I believe with the right help, encouragement, love, and support, many smokers can overcome their addiction to smoking. There are many options you can utilize to HELP you quit smoking. If you need to hear support, call this number 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669) supplied by the Smokefree.gov. If you need advice at easy access, go online to any of the hyperlinks listed in my blogs as well as TobaccoFree.org  for FREE quitting tips.

With that being said, please realize that the DO recognizes tobacco as the number ONE leading PREVENTABLE cause of death. We can make a difference. Take a stand a make the right choice. Do not smoke.

Here is a video to assist you in quitting smoking right now. How to Quit Smoking Cigarettes | Easy Method

Work Cited

Children and Teens. American Lung Association, Feb. 2010. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

    <http://www.lung.org/stop-smoking/about-smoking/facts-figures/children-teens-and-tobacco.html>.

“Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking.” Smoking & Tobacco Use . CDC, n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

    <http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/effects_cig_smoking/>.

Reynolds, Patrick. “Quitting Tips.” PRI & The Foundation For A Smoke Free America, 1998. Web. 2 Mar. 2014.

    <http://www.tobaccofree.org/quitting.htm>.

“Talk to an Expert.” Smokefree.gov, n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.

    <http://smokefree.gov/talk-to-an-expert>.

“11 Facts About Teen Smoking.” DoSomething.org, n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

    <http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-teen-smoking>.

Images

By By JANE E. BRODY. Published: February 12, 2008.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/02/12/science/12brod.xlarge1.jpg

By natasha555: http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/224/c/8/smoking_cigarettes_by_natasha555-d46att5.jpg

By Wikimedia Foundation, Inc: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Risks_form_smoking-smoking_can_damage_every_part_of_the_body.png

Vidoes

By MC2Method: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbxZu6XlJIc

The Background: Bad Choices. Light Up.

Lets go lick some ashtrays.

Listen to me. As a future respiratory therapist, it frightens me to see that too many young adults do not care about the negative health effects smoking will bring upon them not only in the future, but immediately after their first hit. My purpose is to persuade young adults to not smoke and make them aware of the damages smoking can cause.

It was found by the DO, Do Something Organization, that every day 3,900 teenagers smoke their first cigarette. On top of that, about 24% of them will become a daily smoker. My question to you is what is gained from smoking when the end results are so brutal? Listen to me. You do NOT want to smoke. The CDC, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, has gathered information proving that in the United States alone, cigarette smoking has caused over 480,000 deaths in a single year. Do you want to become one of those 480,000? It only takes one and you are hooked..  

I was raised up in a cloud of smoke because both of my parents are heavy chain smokers. For years, I never cared that they smoked around me because I grew up with it. As I got older, I became more educated about what smoking is and what it was doing to my body; that is, killing me. The DO stated, “90% of smokers begin before the age of 21.” and the ALA, American Lung Association, shared, “In 2004, 11.7% of middle school students reported using any tobacco product.” Make a mental note that those kids are only about 11-14 years old. What is persuading them to start smoking? Peers? Family? Movies? Vidoes games? To me, the answer is all of the above. Both of my parents began smoking at the young age of seventeen, and have now been addicted to smoking for over thirty years. What scares me is the DO  found among these adolescents who begin smoking at a young age, 30% of them will continue to smoke and suffer a premature death due to smoking related diseases. I do not want to lose my parents early because of a bad choice they made as kids. Why will they not quit? Why did they even start in the first place? I believe that my parents as kids and many others did not receive the proper information on exactly what smoking would implicate upon them.

Please proceed to the The Break Down: One Cigarette, Two Cigarette, Three Cigarette, Four. Once You Have One, All You’ll Want Is More.

This is just a test for my assignment 4. Does the link work?

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