How do you stop someone from smoking?

Will you step out to ask someone to stop smoking if they do it in public?

Smoking is bad for health. This is what we have seen printed on cigarette packets but still, people continue to smoke decisively. Have you heard of Chain smoking? Well, this is probably one of the most deadly types of smoking. I was stunned to see a basket full of cigarette packets at a washerman’s shop when I went to drop off my clothes at his shop. He appeared to be in his 50s, but a basket full of cigarette packs suggested that he was a chain smoker. Daily cigarette smokers keep smoking because they are physically addicted to nicotine – a substance that is naturally found in tobacco leaves. Because nicotine is one of the most addictive substances known to man, tobacco smoking is often very difficult to quit, often requiring repeated attempts at quitting involving various cessation methods. This is one case. Imagine how many people like him are putting themselves and others at risk of lung diseases by inhaling such dangerous nicotine. Smoking causes 7 out of every 10 cases of lung cancer. It is a lethal injection that people happily administer. Rather, it has become a fashion. Many feel shame in certain company of friends for not having a pack of cigarettes in their pockets.

According to a WHO official, “It’s absolutely rock solid scientific evidence that secondhand smoke causes heart diseases, myocardial infarcts, lung cancer, contributes to strokes.”

Tobacco smoke is comprised of a mixture of more than 4000 different compounds. Mainstream smoke, which is the smoke directly inhaled from the end of the cigarette into the smoker’s lungs, is hotter, denser, and contains more compounds than the sidestream smoke that emanates from the lit end of the cigarette. Mainstream smoke is the most type dangerous type of cigarette smoke although sidestream smoke has also been linked to significant illnesses. Many of the molecular compounds found in tobacco smoke form via the process of combustion as the cigarette burns between 600 F and 900 F. After the smoke is drawn from the cigarette, the particles rapidly increase in size due to humidification from the moist air in the upper respiratory tract. The mainstream smoke subsequently condenses as it heads into the lungs, leaving an estimated 50% to 95% of these molecules deposited into the bronchi, bronchioles, and alveoli.

Tobacco smoking is directly associated with multiple serious health problems that endanger and shorten the life of smokers and those subjected to cigarette smoke. For an active smoker, quitting smoking has proven to reduce the chances of developing a smoking-related illness.

Tobacco smoking is extremely hazardous to human health. For smokers, the rate of death from any cause is about 3-times those who have never smoked. The excess mortality of smokers is mostly attributed to vascular illnesses such as CAD, respiratory illnesses such as COPD, and at least 17 different classes of tobacco-smoking-related cancers. It has been demonstrated that smokers lose at least 10 years of life expectancy on average. Quitting smoking before the age of 40 has been shown to reduce smoking-related death by about 90%.