In brief: “In these days, where there are so many smoking cessation methods, smoking cessation aids and anti smoking campaign it is really amazing why smokers do not quit the smoking habit (i.e. addiction). This article reviews the reasons why do people smoke cigarettes.”
Some facts and statistics about smoking
Cigarette smoking has created global health crisis of infinite proportions. It is proved that smoking is the leading cause of many serious diseases. The diseases caused by smoking include – lung cancer, heart attack, vascular stenosis, birth defects and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. More and more governments are trying to make people aware regarding the consequence and the risks of smoking.
Smoking today has become a part of everyday life in most people’s lives. There are about 1.1 billion smokers in the world today. This is a very high number considering the harm that smoking does to one’s body. This number is expected to rise to 1.6 billion by 2025. So, why do people smoke although knowing the health risks?
The three Reasons why people smoke cigarettes?
The reasons for smoking cigarettes are explored in depth by world’s scientists and doctors. There are three reasons why most people start (and continue) to smoke cigarettes including:
A. Social reasons
B. Psychological reasons
C. Physiological reasons
These reasons depend a great deal on the age of the person. Let’s look on each reason to define what makes them smoke and why people start to smoke a cigarette?
Social Reasons of Smoking
Why do people start smoking? Smoking is not just an individual health behavior but it is seen as a group phenomenon. Almost ninety percent of smokers start smoking when they were minors. The main problem is that young people underestimate the addictive power of nicotine. There are several reasons why teenagers start smoking including peer pressure:
1. Smoking Environment – Many children are living in an environment where they see relatives – i.e. parents, brothers and siblings smoking. They start smoking to act like them or they smoke if their friends have tried it.
2. Rebellion – Other children smoke to act out of rebellion against their parents or any person of authority.
3. Low self esteem – Some people smoke because of the low self esteem. They want to be a part of “in crowd” or want to be accepted by their peers.
4. Smoking cigarettes is legal – In addition to the above reasons, smoking cigarettes is legal and the smokers do not feel that they are using a dangerous addictive drug.
Psychological reasons of smoking
If asked a smoker for the reason why he/she smokes, most of them replied that it increases their concentration and helps them to relax. Small majority reply that they actually enjoy the habit of smoking.
Here are some of routines related to the smoking habits. Let’s look on the smoking cigarettes habit – A lot of smokers smoke in any daily action or situation! They smoke when they are:
• Happy OR sad
• Exited OR relaxed or bored
• Nervous OR calm
• Tired or too energetic
• Frustrated OR normal
• A smoker smokes at various point of time like when eating dessert, after eating or during drinking alcohol.
These are interesting facts about smoking cigarettes. ..
Physiological reasons of smoking
Tobacco contains many toxin chemical substances including nicotine. Nicotine is a highly addictive drug which enters the smoker’s bloodstream through his lungs when the smoker inhales smoke. It is a stimulant that increases the activity in the brain just like coffee. Nicotine works differently for different parts of the brain. When body gets used to nicotine, then it needs certain level in order to function normally otherwise one would feel snappy and edgy.
These are the reasons why so many people find it so hard to quit smoking. Even if they quit, most of them relapse due to nicotine dependency and other social/psychological reasons.
