Addiction to Smoking: A Gift and a Curse

Introduction

Smooking has been a focus of debates for many years. It ranks highly among killers throughout the world, while billions of people have information on the dangers it poses, millions still engage in this related activities. The public knows smoking as an addiction, a form of rebellion, and a stress-relief tool. Yet, some people still see something good in it, despite its deadly effects. In this post, we explore the paradox of it: why people consider it both a ‘blessing’ and a ‘bane.’ We also look at why some smokers are likely to report positive consequences of smoking even though literature shows it has negative impacts on health, finances, and relationships.

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Why Smoking is Termed a Gift

Some people continue to smoke despite knowing its health risks, as they perceive certain benefits. For others, smoking connects to their feelings, personality, and psychological state. Here are a few reasons why some consider it a gift at times:

Stress Relief and Relaxation

Another well known reason for picking up the habit, and sticking with it, is stress. That relief when lighting up a cigarette can be very fast indeed. The nicotine in cigarettes affects the brain by controlling the release of dopamine, the body’s natural opiate. This temporarily relaxes the muscles and relieves stress, making smokers seem like the best companions during stressful times.

• Example: It emerges from smokers’ account that a drag of a cigarette after a stressful day is liberating. They come out saying things like, ‘’I feel like I can breathe again’’. It’s the soothing sort of activity, which can give a reprieve for one’s thoughts as such people may only keep reaching for it.

In the context of today’s increased stress levels this acts as a way to regulate emotions while being a short-term one at that. This leads to the second function of smoking focusing on the notion of pausing allowing an individual to remove the self from life for some time.

Increased Focus and Cognitive Boost

Self perceived benefits include atleast the assertion that smoking enhances mental function. But nicotine is a stimulant, so people feel more alert – more awake – than they would if they weren’t using the drug. This is even so for those who smoke in events that need focus such as reading or working. As the effects of this are thought enhancing, even though temporary, the smokers get that edge which may be important at a particular time.

• Example: Some people say they smoke to stay focused during long work hours or when facing tight deadlines.Thus, some of the reasons mention why people use cigarettes during work or study – this very ‘focus boost’.

However, these are benefits that do not last very long. In the long run the tolerance to nicotine builds and hence losing concentration without a cigarette becomes difficult, and that defines dependency.

Social Bonding and Identity

Self perceived benefits include atleast the assertion that smoking enhances mental function. But nicotine is a stimulant, so people feel more alert – more awake – than they would if they weren’t using the drug. This is even so for those who smoke in events that need focus such as reading or working. As the effects of it are thought enhancing, even though temporary, the smokers get that edge which may be important at a particular time.

• Example: Some people report that when they have to work long hours at the office or face tight deadlines, they smoke to stay focused.Thus, some of the reasons mention why people use cigarettes during work or study – this very ‘focus boost’.

However, these are benefits that do not last very long. In the long run the tolerance to nicotine builds and hence losing concentration without a cigarette becomes difficult, and that defines dependency.

Enjoyment and Pleasure

It involves a sensual process, with satisfaction coming from holding the cigarette and tasting the smoke. A layperson might not understand why people enjoy it, but pleasure often comes from activities they regularly engage in.this involves a process of lighting a cigarette, drawing a breath and then exhaling – many feel contented by such a process.

• Example: Young smokers, in particular, will discuss the satisfaction they obtain when they flick the switch on the lighter for the first time. It is easy for one smoker, for instance, to remark, ‘’I love the feeling of the smoke in my lungs’’, implying the actual pleasure that is acquired with each cigarette.

This sensory pleasure is part of the addiction which compels people to flock there to get their fix. It turns to be a reason to rejoicing even when the populace knows the potential dangers of this vice.

Temporary Weight Control

Many smokers claim that cigarette this helps with weight loss, though this is debatable. Nicotine reduces appetite, which leads some people to eat less when they smoke.This may be particularly advantageous for people having problems with overweight or eating disorders. It gains a cult status, for some, this becomes a way of dealing with hunger, albeit temporarily.

• Example: It is common to meet people who smoke just to compensate their hunger or smoke for the purpose of making them slim. “I smoke because it suppresses my appetite,” one is likely to respond.

But cutting weight with the help of it is unhealthily, and it leads to chronic diseases in the future. It may also turn into another reason why some people carry on smoking knowing the risks involved, because they think they are managing their weight.

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Why Smoking is Termed a Curse

As much as there may be perceived advantages in smoking there are very severe detrimental effects that stem from it. There is no question that it is deleterious to the smoker’s health as well as to the public health. The following are the main reasons why it is more often associated with curse.

Serious Health Risks

However, smoking undeniably harms health. It causes diseases like cancer, heart disease, respiratory issues, and stroke. Cigarettes expose the body to over 7,000 chemicals, 70 of which are toxic and cause progressive damage.

Fact: WHO defines this as the leading cause of preventable death and illness, killing over 8 million people annually. Lung cancer alone claims more than 1.8 million lives each year.

Still those who escape the disease risks they get other diseases like cancers, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and cardiovascular diseases. Smoking have severe effects on health and it result in damaging almost all the organs in the body.

Addiction

Nicotine is an addictive drug that causes dependency. Smokers become addicted and struggle to quit, even knowing the dangers. Lighting a cigarette satisfies the craving, but only for a short time. This cycle becomes hard to break. While quitting may seem easy, most smokers find it difficult and continue despite the harm.

Fact: Research shows many smokers want to quit, but only about 7% succeed without help.

Since nicotine is addictive, quitting isn’t easy. It takes willpower, and many experience relapses. This addiction traps people in a cycle of dependence.

Financial Burden

Tobacco smoking is one vice that costs a lot of money. A packet of cigarette ranges from two dollars to over ten dollars depending on the region. To those who smoke commonly, the expense is going to build up right away. Actually, if a person smokes one pack per day, he or she could use a few thousand dollars on cigarettes alone in a year.

• Example: A smoker who used $5 on a pack of cigarettes could easily spend $1,825 in a year. If accumulated over a decade the cost would surpass $18,000.

Tobacco related diseases are very expensive, which makes it costly for smokers, most especially if they have other expenses to cater for. Those money could have been used for beneficial purpose that are healthy and rewarding to the body and soul.

Environmental Impact

It cigarettes harms the environment in many ways. Cigarette butts make up about 30% of litter, even though they are small and take years to decompose. These butts contain toxic substances that pollute soil and water systems. Tobacco farming also causes deforestation and land degradation, damaging ecosystems.

Fact: The chief representative of the World Health Organization stated that people throw away about 4.5 trillion cigarette filters each year, threatening the environment and animals.

The harms the environment, but the issue doesn’t get enough attention, even as concerns about sustainability and pollution grow.

Social Stigma and Isolation

And while smoking rates have fallen in many countries, smokers are now much more likely to feel socially ostracized. Most workplaces and many other places now prohibit smoking, and non-smokers show less patience for those who smoke. Smokers often miss out on important social activities like dining out, going to pubs, or socializing at work.

• Example: There are Loud BPM, Smokers can only light up in cold weather or in special smoker zones and stand isolated fixedly. Such exclusion often results to detest, shame and this contributes to the creation of a new curse of smoking.

What was once considered a social pastime is a vice that separates people in one way or the other instead of assembling them.

Secondhand Smoke: Harm to Others

Side effects of smoking are dangerous, but secondhand smoke is even worse. It harms not only the smoker but also those nearby. Children, pets, and non-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke face higher risks of respiratory issues, heart disease, and cancer.

Fact: According to the American Lung Association, secondhand smoke kills over 41,000 non-smokers in the U.S. each year.

This is another reason it is seen as a curse. It harms others, including loved ones, who don’t even smoke.

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The Paradox of Smoking: A Gift and a Curse

Not surprisingly, smoking can all feel like a mixed blessing at the same time. The breaks throughout normal stress, fun and clarity of the mind can make the smoking seem like a positive thing. But these advantages are thoroughly negated by the long-term imperatives. The addiction, health risks, social awkwardness or even the harm you cause to the environment all make smoking more of a vice than a blessing.

• Psychological Comfort vs. Long-Term Harm: Permanent harm is done to the body through smoking enabling momentary solace and relief from stress. The comfort is momentary as the implications can go on for the rest of your life.
• Social Bonding vs. Social Isolation: On the one hand, it is an interdependent process that fosters closeness with other people; on the other hand, it is isolating, as it is becoming decreasingly acceptable. Smokers are isolated, people can relax where it is prohibited.
• Instant Gratification vs. Future Consequences: it is also a very prompt solution; it eases tension, creates focus and brings pleasure. However, whilst this may achieve the immediate and tangible positives, it knocks out the long-term gain as far as health and a financially productive individual is concerned and propels the individual or the holder right into the circle of an addict.

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Conclusion

Therefore let smoking be the charm and the disadvantage that comes with it. While it provides short term pleasures making it seem rather fulfilling by offering one the ability to manage stress, focus and bonding. However, the by-products- dependency, health issues, and social shame, are worse making this a curse. The temporary satisfaction it brings costs a lot for the body in the long run and the best thing one can do if a smoker is to quit smoking.

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