The Evidence Shows Smoking Is Dangerous, Why Do People Still Do It?

IThis is a very good question. Scientists and doctors have known since the work of Dr Richard Doll in the 1950s that smoking has very strong links to serious and life threatening diseases, particularly lung cancer. And many scientists and doctors still smoke!

Various studies throughout the 1950s and 1960s showed that smoking tobacco was linked very strongly with an increased risk of lung cancer but the research claims were countered by the tobacco industry, which stood to lose millions from a loss in revenue.

Since that time, the weight of evidence has grown but more people than ever are smoking. Young people, including children as young as eight smoke and the habit is a popular as ever.

The reasons for this are complex. Many people do not like to be told what to do by the government, smoking is still seen as being very fashionable and cool, and, once someone does start smoking, the addictive qualities of some of the components of tobacco make the brain and body so dependent, giving up becomes extremely difficult.

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The reasons given by people who continue to smoke are that smoking is stimulating and that it relieves tension, depression and even boredom. These are actually psychological effects, because smoking cannot provide stimulation and reduce tension at the same time.

People who smoke a certain number of cigarettes a day and at particular times e.g. after meals, have developed a habit. If they do not smoke at those times, they feel as if something is missing.

Young people may like to imitate their parents who smoke. Most of them think that smoking is a symbol of adulthood. Many smoke because they want to be accepted in a group of friends who smoke, while others start on peer pressure. The cigarette advertisements try to promote that smoking is a sign of maturity, social status, happiness and success.

A cigarette is a drug. A person can become addicted to it. People who try to quit smoking may develop withdrawal symptoms if they smoked heavily for a long time. These symptoms include a craving to smoke, becoming sleepless and irritable, numbness in the arms and legs, an inability to concentrate on there work and coughing more than usual.

The above mentioned symptoms make the people continue to smoke even though the symptoms usually disappear in short time.

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