Everyday when I come to office I have to hold my breath from rickshaw stand to DIU entrance. I feel really bad when I see that number of students are smoking on the foot path as if they are participating in a competition.The entire atmosphere gets smoky and difficult to take full breath. Some try to hide the fire in their hands but most dont care. I wish if I could smash those shops who are selling cigarettes and destroying our fresh blood.I know some are getting annoyed on me for making such comments but still I cant help saying this.According to the sales man "As ppl smokes so that we sell" and the customer says " as they sell we buy." and I think if there is no demand the production will automatically decline.
When your parents were young, people could buy cigarettes and smoke pretty much anywhere — even in hospitals! Ads for cigarettes were all over the place. Today we're more aware about how bad smoking is for our health. Smoking is restricted or banned in almost all public places and cigarette companies are no longer allowed to advertise on TV, radio, and in many magazines.
Almost everyone knows that smoking causes cancer, emphysema, and heart disease; that it can shorten your life by 10 years or more; and that the habit can cost a smoker thousands of taka a year. So how come people are still lighting up? The answer, in a word, is addiction.Once You Start, It's Hard to Stop
Smoking is a hard habit to break because tobacco contains nicotine, which is highly addictive. Like heroin or other addictive drugs, the body and mind quickly become so used to the nicotine in cigarettes that a person needs to have it just to feel normal.
People start smoking for a variety of different reasons. Some think it looks cool. Others start because their family members or friends smoke. Statistics show that about 9 out of 10 tobacco users start before they're 18 years old. Most adults who started smoking in their teens never expected to become addicted. That's why people say it's just so much easier to not start smoking at all.
By smoking, you can cause health problems not only for yourself but also for those around you.
The nicotine, therefore, makes it very difficult (although not impossible) to quit. In fact, on the dangers of smoking, millions of Americans have quit. Still, approximately 440,000 deaths occur in the U.S. each year from smoking-related illnesses; this represents almost 1 out of every 5 deaths. The reason for these deaths is that smoking greatly increases the risk of getting lung cancer, heart attack, chronic lung disease, stroke, and many other cancers. Moreover, smoking is perhaps the most preventable cause of breathing (respiratory) diseases
Smoking harms not just the smoker, but also family members, coworkers, and others who breathe the smoker's cigarette smoke, called secondhand smoke or passive smoke. Among infants up to 18 months of age, secondhand smoke is associated with as many as 300,000 cases of chronic bronchitis and pneumonia each year. In addition, secondhand smoke from a parent's cigarette increases a child's chances for middle ear problems, causes coughing and wheezing, worsens asthma, and increases an infant's risk of dying from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
Smoking is also harmful to the unborn fetus. If a pregnant woman smokes, her fetus is at an increased risk of miscarriage, early delivery (prematurity), stillbirth, infant death, and low birth weight. In fact, it has been estimated that if all women quit smoking during pregnancy, about 4,000 new babies would not die each year.
Exposure to passive smoke can also cause cancer. Research has shown that non-smokers who reside with a smoker have a 24% increase in risk for developing lung cancer when compared with other non-smokers. An estimated 3,000 lung cancer deaths occur each year in the U.S. that are attributable to passive smoking. Secondhand smoke also increases the risk of stroke and heart disease. If both parents smoke, a teenager is more than twice as likely to smoke as a teenager whose parents are both nonsmokers. Even in households where only one parent smokes, young people are more likely to start smoking.
Lets make a try to stop smoking
1. Set a Date to Quit Smoking
If you want to quit smoking, it helps to set a quit date, says Lindy Wolfenden, MD. Wolfenden is an assistant professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. She is also director of the outpatient pulmonary function laboratory at Emory Clinic. Setting a date to quit formalizes the attempt to quit. And while it may still take several attempts, the likelihood of permanently quitting goes up with each attempt you make.
When you choose a date to quit smoking, make it one when it is less likely you'll have added stress. Stress is a major roadblock to any behavioral change. That's especially true when you try to quit smoking.
Mark the quit date on your calendar. Experts recommend that as it approaches you stay mentally and emotionally focused on this date as a time for new beginnings and better health.
2. Expect to Feel Miserable
When you first quit smoking, it will be rough. You might feel miserable, irritable, even depressed.
For a few weeks, you might feel hungrier than normal. You may want to eat snacks all day long -- anything to occupy your hands and mouth. Once you get past the first few days, though, you will begin to feel more in control.
Keep sugarless gum or hard candy in your pocket during this time as a short-term "fix" when you crave a cigarette.
3. Remove Smoking Triggers
A smoking trigger is anything your brain has connected with smoking. Everyone's smoking triggers are different. Your smoking trigger may be the smell of cigarette smoke, your morning coffee, or spotting an ashtray.
4. Try Nicotine Replacements
"Nicotine replacements are medications that reduce a person's craving for smoking, include nicotine gum, patches, inhalers, and lozenges.
The replacement therapy works by putting nicotine in your system without the buzz that comes with smoking. Nicotine replacement therapy does not provide the same sensation as a cigarette. However, the treatments supply enough nicotine to halt withdrawal symptoms.
Chances for success are higher for those who use stop smoking aids, Schachter says. "Up to 50% of people who use nicotine replacement will stop smoking."
5. Ask About Drugs Approved by the FDA for Helping Smokers Quit
Schachter says there are two approved drugs available that can help people quit smoking. The first is Zyban. It's also known as the antidepressant Wellbutrin. Zyban helps some people quit smoking by reducing nicotine cravings. It may also curb your appetite.
Another prescription drug is Chantix. "It works indirectly on the metabolism of nicotine. This helps overcome the chemical dependency. Chantix blocks the pleasant effects nicotine has on the brain.
Both drugs have a "black box" label warning indicating the most serious type of warning in prescription drug labeling. The warning includes reports on symptoms such as changes in behavior, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, and suicidal thoughts (thinking about harming or killing oneself or planning or trying to do so) while taking either of these medications to stop smoking.
6. Know Why You Crave Cigarettes
If you are a smoker and have tried to quit before, you may feel guilty now. That's especially true for people with illnesses such as COPD or heart disease.Smokers are not self-destructive, lazy, or unmotivated. The cycle of quitting and then going back to smoking, due to the powerful addiction which creates strong cravings for cigarettes. Smoking again after stopping is not a reflection on the character of the person trying to quit.
Even those who have been able to stop smoking for years can get the urge to smoke again. And while no two smokers are alike, trying to quit smoking is guaranteed to increase feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression.
7. Get Support or Counseling
One way to deal with the stress of quitting -- and increase the odds that you'll quit for good -- is to consider group or individual counseling, according to Wolfenden. And, she adds, always talk to your physician to get the best help you can.
Quitting Cigarettes for Good
So if cigarettes are so addictive, can you quit smoking for good? Yes. Anyone who wants to quit smoking has a 3% to 5% chance of quitting, says Schachter. Most patients who do quit smoking have to try several times. But each time you try to quit, you have another 5% chance.
Your chances of stopping cigarettes once and for all adds up over time. For example, say you're on your fourth try to quit smoking. This means you may have a 20% chance of really making it.So please lets at least try to quit smoking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
