Smoking
From the age of 18 it's legal for you to buy cigarettes. Smoking is an expensive habit though, and it's addictive, harmful to your body's health and unpleasant for those around you. Eventually, puffing on cigs can lead to a shorter lifespan and health complications later in life. Pretty dire stuff, yes, but those are the facts.
What's the appeal of smoking?
- Some people smoke because of stress (from school etc.) and the perception is that smoking makes you feel more relaxed. But actually, tobacco smoke contains the addictive drug nicotine, which is a stimulant rather than a stress reliever.
- You look more mature if you smoke, or at least that's the idea. It could be because you need to be at least 18 to buy a pack of smokes. But it’s against the law for shopkeepers to sell cigarettes to people under the age of 18.
- Peer pressure: because everyone else is doing it, pressure from others is the pushing factor to start smoking because of the the need to fit in with the crowd.
- You may encounter people who say they are 'social smokers', who enjoy smoking while socialising.
The effects of smoking
A lot of teens believe smoking won’t harm them. That's a bit unrealistic though, because cigarette smoke contains over 4000 chemicals. A lot of these are harmful to your health and harmful to other people around you who also breathe in the smoke. Many of the long-term effects of smoking might not show up until you’re older.
- Smoking any drug gets it to the brain quickly. When a smoker inhales, the nicotine will reach the brain in around 8 seconds.
- People who smoke die sooner than people who don’t smoke. On average they live ten years less.
- Many of the chemicals in smoke can cause cancer. This is when cells in your body grow out of control and cause tumours, which can lead to death. The most common form of cancer caused by smoking is lung cancer.
- Smoking is known to increase the risk of heart disease, which can cause heart attacks.
- Smokers can also develop problems breathing.
- The nicotine in tobacco smoke is addictive, and you can ‘get hooked’ on smoking and not be able to stop craving more cigarettes, even if you wanted to.
- Passive smoking. If you are a smoker, have some consideration and do not smoke around babies, children and non-smokers. Exposing others to your smoke exposes them to the same harmful sustances and effects.
Did you know?
When you take a puff on a fag you are inhaling smoke that contains chemicals found in insecticide, explosives and floor cleaner!
Should you avoid smoking?
Whether you avoid smoking or not is up to you to decide, now that you know that ways in which smoking can affect your health. But here are some other things about having a smoking habit that might interest you:
- Smoking can make you less appealing to hang around with. Smokers can have stained fingers and teeth, bad breath, smelly and smoky clothes, dry and wrinkled skin.
- Being addicted to smoking is expensive. On average, people with a smoking habit can spend around £500 on cigarettes every year.
- Young people who smoke are more likely to move on to experimenting with other drugs, like cannabis and cocaine, which are illegal and even more harmful to your health.
- Since the 1 July 2007, it is illegal to smoke in enclosed public places and work places, e.g. pubs, nightclubs, train stations, etc.
About quitting
If you smoke and would like to quit, first of all you need willpower to see it through and quit. The sooner you quit, the more likely your body can heal itself against the long-term harm smoking usually causes.
If you visit a one of the youth centres in the borough you will find a member of staff who is trained up in smoking cessation and ready to help you quit smoking. For details of the youth centres see the youth centre link below.
Also see:
Here are some sites where you can find more information about smoking and also support if you want to quit: