Smoking, in today’s world, ideally refers to smoking a cigarette or sometimes a cigar. However, the idea of smoking substances has been known to exist as far as 5000 BC. Smoking was common during ceremonies especially in Africa and India. Over the years it has evolved from originally natural plant stems and leaves to pipes to now handy and simple cigarettes.
A temporary feeling of goodness felt is the main reason why a lot of people smoke. The substance behind this may vary but tobacco is the most favorite substance. Tobacco comes from the leaves of the plants belonging to the species Nicotiana. The chemical nicotine is what makes smoking tobacco enjoyable and addictive. Other substances include marijuana, steam; usually flavored with tobacco or herbal fruits.
An increasing amount of youth start smoking at ages as young as 18 and continue smoking into their adulthood. This increase in recent years can be associated with the appealing advertisements of mainly cigarettes. Developing countries contribute the most smoking teenagers because of the lack of awareness of the health risks linked with smoking.
As a result of long periods of smoking, the chemicals in the tobacco smoke deposit on the lungs, with time, turning into a tumour, leading to lung cancer. Smoking is the main cause for majority of lung cancer deaths. The rapid increase in the number of deaths due to smoking related lung cancer has to lead to many campaigns to stop smoking. Cigarette packets too carry health warnings to let people know the effects of smoking.
Many countries have banned smokingin public areas to get people to stop smoking. In airports, special smoking rooms are allocated for smoking persons. These attempts are to not only stop smoking people of the habit, but to cut down the number of passive smokers. Passive smokers suffer a greater risk as they do not have the advantage of the filter found in almost all cigarettes. This has lead to many protests by passive smokers to stop smoking, not only in public areas, but to stop smoking in general.
It could be said that the campaign to stop smoking is growing as fast as the tobacco industry. Things like nicotine patches, different types of treatments are now available to help people quit the habit and stop smokeing. A smoker usually takes a couple of few years to get rid of the habit, but with the help of these tools the time taken to stop smoking can be much quicker.