what are the effects of smoking and why do people continue to smoke them?
Argumentive Essay
In my family, I watched my grandfather destroy his life due to smoking, and I have also heard stories about how his grandfather lived to be 70 years old while smoking 4 packs a day. When I heard this, I was shocked because I was informed as a young boy that cigarettes were labeled as “Death Sticks”. Even though my grandfather was aware of the harmful threats cigarettes could have on his body, he still inhaled the potent fumes. Processing this live information has led me to research the health risks that are involved with smoking. According to Adam Waxler from Health Guidance - “Obviously, smoking cigarettes is dangerous to your health. According to various studies on the effects of cigarette smoking, it is responsible for one out of every five deaths in the U.S. and is the most addictive and destructive over-the-counter drug known to man.”
You do not have to be a consistent smoker like my grandfather as stated above. The main question that was asked to me by my relative while doing my research was, “What if I were to smoke every once in a while-could the risks still effect me?” The answer is yes. “Even a few cigarettes can increase your blood pressure, and put you at a slightly increased risk of heart disease and stroke,” says Dr.Gupta from the CNN News Health section. The World Health Organization estimates, “that tobacco caused 100 million deaths over the course of the 20th century.” Cigarettes are bad for your body and could cause millions of problems in the future and present to die.
Cancer is on the rise in the year of 2011. Many people believe that cigarettes are the main cause for this horrible disease. The question that is frequently asked, “Are cigarettes the leading cause for cancer?” Cigarettes are the attributes cause for Cancer, but my grandfather never got it. While my grandfather did not get cancer, I noticed that many more people did not have the same luck. “There are about 200 different types of cancer” Cancer Research. For example, tobacco smoke that you breathe in may help to cause lung cancer. Over exposing your skin to the sun could cause a melanoma on your leg; however, the sun would not give you lung cancer and smoking will not give you melanoma. Cancer research in the UK says, “A carcinogen is something that can help to cause cancer. Tobacco smoke is a powerful carcinogen. But not everyone who smokes gets lung cancer.” So yes, cigarettes are attributes for cancer, but are not the main cause for cancer.
I have plenty of questions that I needed to be answered. One in particular, “Why do people smoke?” People smoke to relive stress or depression. It gives them a sense of control. The cigarettes helps calm the mind to make a reality that does not involve the problems of the present. In my survey one of my respondents explained: "It is not the taste that counts. It's that sense of satisfaction you get from a cigarette that you can't get from anything else." There are clearly numerous amounts of reasons to why people smoke but the most common it to deal with stress. Given that my grandfather was not granted the perfect childhood stress has become battle for him. Smoking gives him the relief he needs for just one moment, and in that moment his childhood never really exists to him.
What causes the addiction link found by smoking cigarettes, Nicotine. Nicotine generates similar pleasure to that produced by cocaine and heroin hence the addiction. As deadly as it sounds many Americans know of the addiction that follows while smoking, yet they still do it. According to the American Heart Association, “the nicotine addiction has historically been one of the hardest addictions to break." Think of nicotine as candy, you know it is bad for yet you consume it. The reason for this is an instant shot of pleasure, pleasure that could only be obtained by eating candy, and before you know it you are overweight. The pleasure that you encountered while engorging candy has made you blind to see reality. Not facing his past and covering it up with a smoke filled vision did not make my grandfathers pains go away. It was then he realized that this destructive habit he has picked up was making his pain worst. I know he knows what 7 packs of cigarettes can do to him, but once you start its hard to turn back.
Many Americans today are involved with smoking cigarettes, and to be honest many more will also. The risk factors of doing so are getting higher and higher. Even though the cause of inhaling this “Death Stick” is broad casted everywhere, it is useless given to the mass production of it. According to the Health Guidance,” For some reason, educating smokers about the effects of smoking cigarettes does not seem to strike any sense into them. For some smokers, thinking that smoking is directly related to lung cancer and eventually death is a myth yet to be proven. But whatever the reason smokers have, the facts speak for themselves. Making smoking cigarettes a habit that will, sooner or later, lead to death.” It is this same theory that led my grandfather to have a lung and heart transplant, luckily he lived and is currently a nonsmoker.
The reason I choose this topic was to show how serious smoking could be. Many people are aware of the effects of this potent fume but yet still inhale it. Smoking cigarettes is a habit that will lead to death. There are many reasons to why individuals smoke; some influenced by others, commercials, and emotional break downs. Before you decide to pick up a habit that could end your life remember you only live once.
Work Cited
Work cited-
Article 1-
Beil, Laura. "Nicotine's New Appeal." Science News 174.10 (2008): 28-32. Health Source - Consumer Edition. Web. 23 Mar. 2012.
Article 2-
DiFranza, Joseph R. "Hooked From The First Cigarette." Scientific American 298.5 (2008): 82-87. Health Source - Consumer Edition. Web. 28 Mar. 2012.
Articles
Article #1
Essential question for research: “What are the effects of smoking nicotine and how would a withdrawal from the substance affect the users mentality?”
Health Source - Consumer Edition says tobacco products (cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, pipe tobacco, and cigars) contain the chemical nicotine. Nicotine is as addicting as cocaine or heroin. Most people who quit smoking or chewing tobacco have unpleasant emotional, mental, and physical effects. This state is called withdrawal.
Nicotine affects the brain. It creates pleasure in the brain, and it improves your mood. When you quit smoking or chewing tobacco, you may have symptoms while your body is getting used to being without the nicotine.
Some people like the smell, and sight of a cigarette, and the of handling, lighting, and smoking cigarettes.
New research has overturned the dogma that cigarette addiction takes years to develop. Studies of adolescent smokers show that symptoms of addiction, such as withdrawal, craving for cigarettes and failed attempts at quitting, can appear within the first weeks of smoking.
To account for these findings, scientists have developed a new theory positing that the brain quickly develops adaptations that counter the effects of nicotine.
a 14-year-old girl told me that she had made two serious attempts to quit, failing both times. This was eye-opening because she had smoked only a few cigarettes a week for two months. When she described her withdrawal symptoms, her story sounded like the lament of one of my two-pack-a-day patients.
Vindication has come with time as teams of investigators led by Jennifer O'Loughlin of McGill University, Denise Kandel of Columbia University and Robert Scragg of the University of Auckland in New Zealand replicated all of my discoveries. A dozen studies have now established that nicotine withdrawal is common among novice smokers.
Of those who experience symptoms of addiction, 10 percent do so within two days of their first cigarette and 25 to 35 percent do so within a month. In a very large study of New Zealand youths, 25 percent had symptoms after smoking one to four cigarettes.
These results raise the question of how the nicotine from a single cigarette could alter the brain enough to trigger the onset of addiction.
. Amazingly, in the early stages of addiction a single cigarette can suppress withdrawal symptoms for weeks, even though the nicotine is gone from the body within a day.
PHOTO (COLOR): ADOLESCENTS can become addicted to cigarettes just weeks after beginning to smoke. One study showed that, on average, the youngsters were smoking only two cigarettes a week when the first symptoms of addiction appeared.
By Joseph R. DiFranza
Nicotine stimulates the craving-inhibition system until its activity far exceeds that of the craving-generation system. The brain attempts to restore its balance by rapidly developing adaptations that craving-generation system. (These changes are called withdrawal-related adaptations.)
Once the effects of nicotine wear off, the craving-inhibition system is no longer stimulated and returns to a lower level of activity.
Abstinence-related adaptations: A mechanism that mimics the action of nicotine by inhibiting craving. It develops in ex-smokers to counter the enduring effects of dependence-related tolerance.
Summary: In the two articles I noticed several things. The author was trying to prove that smoking cigarettes causes the smokers mentality to change. The first paragraph tells me what the smoker goes through in a withdrawal from nicotine and the way they act. When a child wants candy, but you say no and the child throws a fit. This is the same as when your body has a withdraw from a cigarette. Imagine that you had given the child the candy it would lead them to think that if they act up the candy would be theirs. Your body is like a child and if you spoil the child it will take control of your actions, thoughts, and words. The facts that really surprised me was when I read that a child only has to smoke 2 cigarettes to get hooked.
Hypothesis
Nicotine, the main ingredient in the cigarettes, travel to the brain within 8 seconds of the first inhalation. This information found online encouraged me to ask this question, “How does nicotine affect the users mentally? According to the American Cancer Society, each year 443,600 people (1,215 each day) in the United States die from the effects of smoking. What nicotine does to the brain is it gets lodged onto the brain receptors and activates areas of the brain involved in producing feelings of pleasure and reward. The age group that I am focusing on is teens. Finding this I expect most of my respondents to choose cigarettes over any of the other necessities of life.
Context-
The audience that I surveyed was teenagers. The reason I choose them was to obtain a clear understanding about a smoker’s mentality. When distributing my survey; however, I discovered My results were not valid. The reason I know this is because of the answers I got from my respondents. Most of them do smoke, which was a major setback. Discovering this I had to change my questions and age group. The group that I should focus on should be adults. I believe that adults smoke more than minors because they have access to this drug. Adults would better my research not only because they have the readiness of this drug; however, their addiction is much more developed than minors.
Data chart-
If you knew how many chemicals were in cigarettes would you still smoke them? |
Female 5 out of 15
Yes, Female 6 out of 15 No, |
Male 6 out of 15
No,
Male 7 out of 15
Yes,
|
Are cigarettes the main cause for cancers? |
Female 10 out of 15
Yes,
Female 15 out of 15
Yes,
|
Male 10 out of 15
No, Male 4 out of 15 Yes, |
How many packs a day do you or your loved one smoke a day?
|
Female 5 out of 15 smoked 3 packs a day
Feamale 10 out of 15 smoked 5 packs a day |
Male 10 - 15 smoke three packs a day
Male 5- 15 smoke 4 packs a day |
Because of smoking has it caused you any finical problems?
|
Female 10 out of 15
Yes,Female 3 out of 15
No,
|
Male 5 out of 15
Yes
Male 6 out of 15
No,
|
Hypothesis
Nicotine, the main ingredient in the cigarettes,travel to the brain within 8 seconds of the first inhalation.This information found online encouraged me to ask this question, “How does nicotine affect the users mentally.According to the American Cancer Society,each year 443,600 people (1,215 each day) in the United States die from the effects of smoking. What nicotine does to the brain is it gets lodged onto the brain receptors and activates areas of the brain involved in producing feelings of pleasure and reward. The age group that I am focusing on is teens. Finding this I expect most of my respondents to choose cigarettes over any of the other necessities of life.
My Story
I chose cigarettes as a topic to allow the world to see what I see. One fact you should know about me is that I do not smoke! Nor do I insist that you do. In my family, I watched my grandfather destroy his life due to smoking, and I have researched my topic online and had gotten many interesting facts, but when it comes to getting the truth about the puff stick I asked him. He has told so many stories about how his grandfather has live to be 70 smoking 4 packs a day. When I heard this, I was shocked because I was informed as a young boy that cigarettes were labeled as a “Death Stick”. Even though my grandfather was aware of the harmful threats cigarettes could have on his body, he still inhaled the potent fumes. I guess the real reason for choosing this topic is to see whether or not it’s the nicotine or himself making this brazen action to test life?
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