EFFECT OF SMOKING

TO TEENAGERS
1) Health Problems
The Nemours Foundation notes that young
smokers get sick from respiratory health
problems more often than nonsmokers.
Respiratory stress from smoking causes a higher
incidence of colds, flus, acute bronchitis and
pneumonia for teens.
Teenage smokers may also develop chronic
bronchitis, a health problem that can be fatal and
often leads to more serious lung disease

2) Financial Problems
Smoking cigarettes costs money. The American Lung
Association says that a pack-a-day habit can cost $1,825 to
$3,650 per year. A daily habit can divert teens' money from
jobs and savings. That doesn't count the expense parents can
incur when teens come down with a preventable illness.
3) Dependency Problems
The danger of nicotine dependence is very high among
teenagers. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that
most smokers who begin tobacco use before age 21 never quit.
This makes their financial burden a lifelong prospect, and the
chances of dying from smoking cigarettes about 50-50,
according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

3) Social Problems
As the evidence about the harm of secondhand smoke grows,
smokers are increasingly becoming segregated from
nonsmokers. The danger of isolation threatens teenage
smokers, who make up only 20 percent of their age group, as
calculated by the Centers for Disease Control. Their
interaction with the other 80 percent of the population may
be limited.
Tobacco use may bar them entirely from sports and other
activities that prohibit smoking. Employers realize that
smokers take more work breaks and are sick more often, so
employment opportunities may become limited, as well.

4) Legal Problems
It is illegal to sell cigarettes to minors in all states, and teen
tobacco use itself is illegal in some areas, according to the
American Cancer Society. Implicating adults in a crime may
have personal repercussions. Violating teen smoking laws
can result in community service sentences, participation in a
mandatory drug-abuse program and even driver's license
suspension.

Ways to stop smoking

1)
)

Parents
parents should also be taught how to tactfully
impose their disapproval of smoking on their
children to avoid parent-child conflicts that could
cause further rebelliousness in teenagers. parents
need to monitor the movement of children to
restricting social functions that could encourage
smoking such as concerts and fairs and removing
common loitering spots.

2) Advice from specialist

Consulting your physician or a specialist can aid you get the help
that you need to have to be effective. He can advise you about
prescription drugs available to assist you and may well even
suggest issues such as antidepressants to assist with emotional
withdrawals. Aside from informing you of various smoking
cessation drugs, he or she can also let you know about support
groups and other resources in the community that may well be
valuable.
3) Alternative treatment
There are a wide range of alternative treatments that can help a
smoker quit the habit, including hypnotherapy, herbs,
acupuncture, and meditation. For example, a controlled trial
demonstrated that self-massage can help smokers crave less
intensely, smoke fewer cigarettes, and in some cases completely
give them up.

4) Government
Implementing comprehensive school-based programmes to
stop smoking which should consist of efforts to increase
smokingrelated knowledge and awareness, behavioural
interventions, school-based health clinics, school policies
of smoking restriction and more effective enforcements.
5) Campaign
Increasing collaboration of all parties in coordinating antismoking activities frequently over a long duration. These
may include educational health programmes, helpline
programmes, promotions, contests, stop smoking centres,
No Tobacco/No Smoking Days or events. Involvement of
all community members should perhaps be made
compulsory or obligatory.