General purpose: To persuade.
Specific purpose: To convince the audience not to smoke and to enlighten them on the dangers of smoking on their lives
Thesis statement: Smoking is a hazardous habit that is very common among the human population. Knowledge on the dangers of smoking and the difficulties that may arise due to smoking can help prevent people from smoking or even encourage smokers to quit.
Definition
Smoking is the inhalation of tobacco as a habit-forming activity to a point that the user develops dependency on this drug. Tobacco is quite different from other rugs since unlike, alcohol or bhang, it does not leave the user extremely elated. Actually, in the initial stages of consumption it is very irritable. Smoking is a habit that has received a lot of attention by the medical fraternity due to its very hazardous nature. Unfortunately, it is a drug that is legal in nearly all countries across the world. Some people smoke believing that it seems cool while others just develop the habit due to frequent association with smokers.
Why People Smoke
Transition
According to Thompson (2011), smoking is especially common among men due to the cultural belief that one appears more masculine when he smokes. Advertisements on smoking have also led many people to acquire the habit. The advertisements are normally very catchy and leave the viewer with a lot of curiosity. Once one starts smoking it becomes very difficult to quit this habit since nicotine is a very addictive drug. The brain can easily become dependent on this drug for normal brain activity to continue (Thompson, 2011). Therefore, once one is a smoker they quickly become hooked and eventually become chronic smokers. Another common reason why people smoke is due to boredom and peer pressure. Most smokers begin from a simple dare or just an experimental puff. Peers tend to carry out similar activities.
Main point
According to Kozlowski et.al (2001), when such young people have the means and time to partake in drugs, smoking is normally one of the cheap alternatives. Some people smoke due to the pressures and stresses that life exerts on them. Medical students are believed to smoke as a way of developing some calm in case one is afraid of blood, for example. Smoking is believed to ease one’s tension and to create a state of calm and serenity in one’s mind. One may also develop a smoking habit due to the aura that comes with the mood of partying or consumption of alcohol and other drugs (Kozlowski et.al, 2001).
Effects of Smoking
Transition
According to Boyle (2010), smoking has numerous effects on the normal body functioning. It especially affects the lungs. Smokers are known to develop breathing complications and varying lung diseases. This includes bronchitis, lung cancer and other lung diseases.
Main point
Smoking also affects the heart and some heart attacks have been linked to cigarette smoking. Smoking also affects numerous body organs such as the lips, mouth and throat. It may also affect limbs and cause development of gangrene hence leading to amputation of limbs. The effects of smoking do not just affect the smoker, but also his family (Boyle, 2010).
According to Bernhard (2011), smoking may affect one’s social relations since it quite an irritable habit. Furthermore, it usually turns to a very costly affair, especially once one is addicted. Marriage partners of smokers are forced to endure all these irritable features in their partners. Smoking also affects one’s sexual virility and libido. Smoking weakens the body organs exposing the body to numerous infections (Bernhard, 2011). This means that smokers are more susceptible to diseases. Smokers also suffer from ulcers in their mouths and throats. They are constantly uncomfortable yet they cannot stop the habit since nicotine is highly addictive. The picture below shows the effect of smoking on the lungs.
Statistics
Transition
According to the office on smoking and health (OSH), the statistics on smoking show that most of the smokers are men. In some countries most of the population are smokers, as was in Great Britain in 1948, where 82% of the men were found to be smokers. However, there has a gradual shift from smoking of cigars and pipes that were preferred back then to the common manufactured cigarettes available in the market today.
Main point
As time has progresses there has been a lot of sensitization on the effects of smoking. This has resulted in a reduced prevalence in the numbers of people who smoke among the general population. In Great Britain, the prevalence was fairly constant between 2007 and 2009 at a prevalence of about 21%. This reduced to about 20% in 2011. There has also been a shift in the balance between male and female smokers. Society has become more lenient hence women have now used this freedom to smoke as they wish. As per 2011, there were about 19% and 21% female and male smokers in Great Britain respectively.
Diseases
Transition
Smoking can cause numerous diseases to affect one’s body.
Main point
Cancer is one of the most dangerous diseases today whose cure is yet to be found. Furthermore, cigarettes contain numerous chemicals that can lead to cancer of the throat, lips, mouth, lungs, bladder among other body parts. Smoking predisposes one to various forms of cancer (Gupta, 1992). Lung diseases also affect most smokers due to the inhalation of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. One such disease is the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Steps in Smoking
Transition
A closer look into the steps in smoking might help to reveal why this subject is receiving so much attention.
Main point
Upon taking the first puffs of a cigarette, the heart rate increases. This is accompanied by an increase in the blood pressure. Blood vessels then narrow resulting in a slower circulation rate. The skin temperature is reduced as a consequence of this. When nicotine reaches the brain it stimulates the release of various neurotransmitters. This includes hormones such as dopamine that are responsible for the feeling of elation.
Conclusion
Initially, nicotine has negative side effects on smokers for example headaches and nausea. However, the smokers slowly become accustomed to the nicotine until they become dependent on a certain minimum level of nicotine that must be constantly refilled. Quitting smoking is very difficult and usually comes with very strong withdrawal symptoms such as severe headaches, lack of appetite and nausea.
References
Bernhard, D. (2011). Cigarette smoke toxicity: linking individual chemicals to human diseases.
Weinheim: Wiley-VCH.
Kozlowski, L. T., Henningfield, J. E., & Brigham, J. (2001). Cigarettes, nicotine, & health: a
biobehavioral approach. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage.
Thompson, D. L. (2011). Factors predictive of cigarette smoking among college female students.
S.l.: Proquest, Umi Dissertatio.
Boyle, P. (2010). Tobacco: science, policy, and public health (2nd ed.). Oxford [England: Oxford
Gupta, P. C., Hamner, J. E., & Murti, P. R. (1992). Control of tobacco-related cancers and other
diseases: proceedings of an international symposium, January 15-19, 1990, TIFR, Bombay. Bombay: Oxford University Press.
Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. Office on Smoking and Health (OSH). Retrieved
