It is a normal occurrence to a person nowadays to see around them people smoking in the streets, restaurants, or even at homes. While many are aware of the health impacts of smoking, people still smoke because it relaxes them and it is a vice that could not be easily removed from a person’s system. As a result of this impassive behavior, the trends of smokers and those who are inflicted of smoking-related illnesses continue to increase each year with deaths recorded due to chronic smoking. However, there have also been cases wherein smoking is seen as a remedy or even cure for several ailments. Studies have even proven the benefit of smoking to its users even if the dangers would double once smokers become chronic users. Regardless of the perceived benefits of smoking, smoking can still be dangerous to the body which is why it is crucial to reduce the number of smokers in the public.
In the 2012 survey done by Gallup Poll, smoking had declined throughout the 1970s with only 20% adults admitting that they had smoked in the past week. The decline trend could be seen between the early 1970s and the 1980s, dropping up to almost 15% in the period. However, by the 1990s up to the present, it has slowly decreased and maintained the average 20% decline. Despite the decline throughout the periods, it was visible in the polls that the number of smoking Americans had been visible in certain groups: mostly from the young adults ages 18-29, especially with college non-graduates and those staying in either East or West. The Gallup Survey also showed that the smoking trends would be influenced by educational attainment as smoking rates would be higher for those who have low educational attainment. The study had also noted that public policymakers, despite the decline in numbers for those who smoke throughout the country. It also showed that consumers nowadays are assessing the capacity of these cigarettes they use of influencing their health, which shows the decline. However, the assessment had also revealed that it is likely that the rate may decrease due to the information released pertaining to the effects of smoking .
While the rates of smoking continue to change throughout the years, there are still smokers who continue their habit because of the perceived benefits it has to their bodies. In the article released by LiveScience, there are at least five perceived benefits to smoking. First and foremost, smoking lowers the risk of knee-injury and the possibility of replacement surgeries to smokers. A study from the University of Adelaide in Australia had discovered that smokers are saved from the risk of knee-replacements considering they rarely jog and force their bodies to move their bodies roughly. Knee-replacement surgeries tend to be common amongst athletes, joggers and the obese due to heavy training or their weight. Researchers have also developed that smokers tend to develop strong resistance to osteoporosis as nicotine helps prevent cartilage and joint deterioration, which is common with patients of osteoporosis. The next benefit deals with the reduction of Parkinson’s disease. Studies, such as the May 2010 study in the Journal of Neurology, revealed that smokers had developed their own reactive mechanism to protect them from Parkinson’s. However, the researchers had also indicated that they are not certain as to how it is possible considering that cigarettes contain chemicals that would influence nerve damage. Nonetheless, they had revealed in the study that the longer the smoker has been smoking, the stronger their defense is for Parkinson’s. However, if they quit smoking, the protection slowly weakens significantly.
Another considerable benefit of smoking is that smoking can reduce the possibility of obesity. In the July 2011 study written in the Journal of Physiology and Behavior, nicotine is a known appetite suppressant, which dates back since the 1920s. The indigenous tribes in the United States had influenced this belief as many of their people were smoking to make them thinner or fit. In the 1920s, companies began to use advertisements showcasing the capacity of smoking to make women, and men thinner. In the 2011 study, it revealed that many smokers tend to continue smoking because they are weary of the possibility of gaining a lot of weight after they quit given the number of peers showing weight gain after quitting smoking. However, it is visible that the idea that nicotine can aid in weight control is still complex as nicotine is also a stimulant, triggering the person’s response when it comes to food. It also makes food less appetizing, curbing hunger and the appetite. While doctors may argue against using smoking as a means to stop weight gain, it still proves hope that nicotine (and indirectly, smoking) could be a safe diet drug to expound on by experts.
Smoking is also seen as a means to lower the cases of deaths due to heart attacks. In this end, studies have showed that smokers who tend to develop heart attacks do not have high morality rates than those of non-smokers. It is also seen that smokers have more favorable chances of getting success in the two known therapies to aid in the removal of plaque from the arteries, namely the fibrinolytic therapy or medication and angioplasty, which uses balloons or stents to remove plaque. Finally, smoking actually helps drugs such as clopidogrel work for patients of heart ailments and diseases. Clopidogrel is used to inhibit blood clotting, which is proven in the 2010 study of a group of Korean researchers. In the study, the researchers stated that if a smoker tends to smoke 10 cigarettes a day, it would activate proteins like cytochrones, that would convert the clopidogrel into an active form that would enable it to work better for the body .
The five identified potential benefits of smoking may have some merits, however, the studies themselves saw that it is not advisable to use smoking as an alternative cure or supplement for medications, considering the capacity of cigarette ingredients to be fatal if exhumed for a long period of time. In the factsheet provided by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking opens smokers into high possibilities of health risks and ailments, recording up to 443,000 deaths per year in the US. Deaths due to smoking is also recorded as the major reason for deaths in the country, followed by HIV victims, drug addics, accidents, and murders. It also produces 90% of all lung cancer deaths for both men and women, making smoking the major reason for deaths in the country. Smoking also increases the risks of smokers to complications by as much as 23 times than normal inflictions of these complications. Smoking is also the number one cause of deaths for Americans as it contributes to the development of coronary heart disease, which is affected by smoking by up to 4 times than regular CHD. The possibility of inflicting cardiovascular diseases due to smoking is due to the capacity of smoking to reduce blood circulation throughout the arteries, creating peripheral vascular diseases and aneurisms that may force the heart to shut down.
Smoking also increases the risks of developing respiratory diseases such as emphysema, bronchitis, tuberculosis and chronic airway obstruction, which is caused by the damaged airways influenced by nicotine. With the reduced capacity of the airways and the alveoli (small air sacs) to sustain air, smokers tend to find themselves out of breath and also influence the function of their hearts. Cancers can also be developed due to smoking given the nicotine and tobacco component of most cigars, making it possible for smokers to contract cancers such as leukemia, cancer of the cervix, kidney cancer, lung cancer, and also cancer of the pharynx. Smoking women are also at risk with smoking, especially pregnant women. Smoking is proven to cause infertility, pre-term delivery (early or immature delivery), still birth, sudden infant death syndrome, and possible physical defect for babies from pregnant women. Smoking can also cause postmenopausal women to have weaker bone density than non-smoking women. Fractures and bone disorders are also common with women who smoke .
Smoking can be considered a social symbol in the world at present as many people see it as a vice or a means to help them cope up with whatever they have in mind. Studies show that smoking can indeed be beneficial, given the capacity of smoking to influence one’s appetite, resistance to certain types of complications, and supplementing given medications for ailments. While the studies are considerably new and controversial, it influences people’s hopes in developing new means for medicine in the current century. However, it is still undeniable that smoking is very dangerous to one’s health given the content of these cigarettes to influence one’s resistance to its ingredients. It may seem that the rates of smokers have decreased throughout the years, the dangers of smoking still lingers to many, especially for those prone in developing cardiopulmonary, cardiovascular and respiratory complications. It is crucial to act upon the reduction of smoking in society as it not only endangers the smokers, but also the public (especially children from smoking women) as smoking can weaken their immunity in contracting fatal diseases that can ultimately cause death.
Works Cited
Saad, Lydia. "One in Five US Adults Smoke, Tied for All-Time Low." Gallup Polls. 22 August 2012. Web. 10 May 2013.
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking." Smoking and Tobacco Use: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2010. Web. 10 May 2013.
Wanjek, Christopher. "5 Health Benefits of Smoking." LiveScience. 19 July 2011. Web. 10 May 2013.
