Know A Teen Who Smokes? You Should Know These Facts

By Author: Nirmalya Mukherjee
Total Articles: 2
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The highlights of a Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) carried out in India bring out some truly alarming facts about the prevalence and use of tobacco products among school children aged 13 to 15. Almost 15 percent of the students use tobacco products in some form, with 4.4 percent of them smoking cigarettes. 24 percent of the students think that boys who smoke are more popular while 13.4 percent think that girls who smoke have more friends. In fact, 21 percent think that boys who smoke are more attractive and 15.6 percent believe that girls with this harmful habit are more appealing. Evidently, bringing about a big change in perception is absolutely critical. Action needs to be taken right now to encourage smoking prevention and to focus attention on the harmful effects of this habit which students often take up because they think it is ‘cool’ or ‘grown up’. Here are some terrifying facts you can communicate to teens to encourage smoking prevention.

Cigarette smoke contains about 4800 chemicals and nearly 70 of these are known to cause cancer. ...
... The nicotine found in cigarette smoke is an addictive substance that increases heart rate and blood pressure. Tar is another component of cigarette smoke that forms a thick deposit in your lungs, preventing it from functioning efficiently. Another component is carbon monoxide, also present in exhaust fumes, which reduces the oxygen circulating in your body.

• Smoking puts you at higher risk of developing chronic respiratory diseases like bronchitis as well as heart disease. These can impair your quality of life significantly and prevent you from doing the things and activities that your friends and peers can enjoy.

• Studies show that smoking is a contributory factor in infertility and it prevents wounds from healing quickly.

• Smoking increases your risk of diabetes by 30 percent to 40 percent. The more you smoke the greater the risk of this disease.

• Osteoporosis or bone weakening is a side effect of smoking. This habit decreases bone density and makes them more prone to fractures.

• Smoking contributes to aneurysms, which is a condition where blood vessels begin to bulge and ultimately burst, leading to death.

• Vision impairment can be traced back to smoking. Smokers are at higher risk of macular degeneration, cataracts and optic nerve damage, and any of these can cause blindness.

Everyone knows that smoking is harmful to health yet about a million smoking -related deaths occur in the country every year. About 12 percent of the world’s smokers live in India. Nearly 40 percent of the country’s children have already taken their first puff as an ‘experiment’ before they turn 11. These are reasons enough why smoking prevention should be taken up on a war-footing to prevent youngsters from falling prey to this harmful addiction. Spreading awareness about the ill-effects is the best way to do this. You can do your bit to help keep young adults away from smoking and tobacco products by enlightening the teens and adolescents in your neighbourhood, starting today.