Effects of Smoking
Smoking is a habit of burning special plans, such as tobacco, and inhaling their smoke. Tobacco smoking is an addiction that is common for both adults and young persons. Young people are more vulnerable group since most smokers are starting this practice in their youth. One of the most accepted causes of acquiring the habit of smoking in early years is the peer pressure. Tobacco smoking leads to nicotine addiction and results in various health problems. Moreover, non-smokers also become endangered to negative effects of smoking standing near people who smoke. This effect is called passives smoking and is associated with a range of serious health complications. Tobacco smoking accounts to the most preventable deaths in the world. I have experienced the negative effect of smoking in my personal life. My father is a heavy smoker.
My family life changed significantly since my father began smoking cigarettes. Earlier, he would spend a lot of time with our family and often give gifts to my brothers and me. However, later everything changed once he got a promotion at his job and he stared drinking. However, this new habit of his did not have a strong effect on the life of our family. He did not start binge drinking but rather took small amounts of alcohol while going out with his colleagues. Nevertheless, his drinking has a different impact on him, as he also began smoking. Few weeks later, I noticed several cigarette ends in the trash bin. My mother insisted in him quitting this vicious habit but this had no effect on my father. Eventually, he became a heavy smoker, buying a pack of cigarettes a day. Four years later, smoking led to health deterioration as my father began hacking badly. Although not immediately, he went to the doctor to have his health checked. The doctor insisted on quitting smoking as this habit degrades the health of his lungs. The substances contained in the tobacco smoke are carcinogenic. Their effect on human lungs is devastating. Surprisingly, even being aware of the possible precarious outcome of smoking, my dad did not quit. By the time I enrolled at college, my father’s smoking problem became even worse.
He could no longer attend his job because he spent much of his time on visiting hospitals. Moreover, medications required a???? enormous amount of his money and the family money. Therefore, my mother had to begin working more to be able to pay for the piling bills for father’s treatment. I had to go for a part-time job on weekends to gain some additional income to cover all the expenses. The most sorrowful part, however, was to see my father suffering from his health conditions. He suffered from breathing complications and, later, form pancreas cancer. Additionally, he was subjected to the increased risk of heart problems (Peto and Lopez 286). However, we could have evaded all these problems had my father stopped smoking. He ignored the request from my mother and us. He also did not give ear to the doctor’s recommendations. I think that his problem is not unique, and many other smokers experience the same hardships.
One of the obstacles to fighting the problem of smoking in society is that organizations do not address it effectively. Some companies merely recommend their employees to refrain from smoking at workplace. However, smokers usually tend to ignore these recommendations and find ways to satisfy their nicotine addiction (Peto and Lopez 284). Even if they do not smoke during their work, it does not mean that they would stop doing that after work. Moreover, banning smoking at workplace does not eliminate the risk of passive smoking.
Cigarette smoking has a serious impact on society. Parents who smoke are more likely to die than non-smokers and leave their children orphans. Therefore, growing number of parent smokers increases the risk of the increase of homeless children who have lost their parents. In economic terms, tobacco smoking problems produce the need to fund researches and interventions aimed at treating smoking-related health problems (Moskowitz, Lin and Hudes 250). Individuals diagnosed with cancer of the respiratory apparatus spend enormous sum of money for medications and treatment. Furthermore, smoking can be a reason to lose one’s job.
Heavy smokers who have to visit hospital are often absent at work. They underperform or have no time to complete the assigned projects. Thus, their employers may choose to fire them due to not performing their duties (Peto and Lopez 284). Nicotine also has strongly negative affect during pregnancy (Castles et al. 210). Miscarriages are often the result of female smoking during pregnancy. Moreover, the health of the unborn baby is greatly deteriorated and create numerous complications, such as underweight. Underweight newborns are more vulnerable to numerous health problems, diseases, and chronic illnesses, and thus, require special medical attention (Castles et al. 210).
To my mind, organizations should adopt more effective approaches to fighting with smoking. Strict rules and rules should be employed to employees regarding tobacco smoking in the company workplace (Provan et al. 135). Companies should establish special places for smokers in order to prevent non-smokers from inhaling harmful substances. Thus, such practice will lower the negative effects of passive smoking. Another efficient way of dealing with this problem is to conduct interventions addressing the dangers of this bad habit. Companies may initiate collaboration with healthcare organizations and provide opportunities for anti-smoking education in order to increase awareness of the risks of tobacco smoking (Provan et al. 135). It has been estimated that individuals often begin smoking due to not realizing the potential consequences of this practice. Therefore, special trainings or seminars can significantly reduce the rates of smoking within he organization (Moskowitz, Lin and Hudes 250). Such activities can also trigger the word-of-mouth effect, which is powerful social factor. The educated employees will share the information with other employees, their friends and members of the family. One of the most crucial aspects of any anti-smoking campaign is educate youth and children on the consequences of smoking.
The companies should also adopt regulations that prohibit the recruitment of smokers (Provan et al. 135). This practice may decrease the amount of smokers in the company. Moreover, it may be a serious reason and motivation for smokers to choose to quit their habit. An important factor of this approach is the shift in perception of smokers in society. If big and respectable companies would stop hiring smokers, non-smoking employees would become role models for others (Provan et al. 135). It also can be considered as a more positive approach to fighting smoking as it produces the employees have a sense of shame of their harmful habit and may eventually incline them to quit (Provan et al. 137).
In the information technology era, anti-smoking campaigns should also consider the possibilities and benefits that social media have to offer. It has been proven that social media may have a tremendous effect on forming social views and perceptions. There are millions of people who use social networking websites every day, both adults and young people (Provan et al. 135). The advantage of utilizing social media is that it can target a wider population as it can be spread globally (Provan et al. 135).
The abovementioned examples show the negative effects of smoking on the lives of families and society as a whole. As illustrated on the example of my father, people who are close to smokers may suffer as much as the smokers themselves. This problem is associated with great sums of money spent on treatment. Smokers may lose their work and their family has to experience financial difficulties. Therefore, there is a need to implement more effective approaches to address the issue both within organizations and globally. There are still enormous amount of employees who are heavy smokers, just as my father. The approaches illustrated in this essay, may be used to increase effectiveness of anti-smoking campaigns, such as creating special areas for smokers and educating employees on the threats of this habit.
