Causes, Effects, and Difficulty of Quitting Smoking

Introduction

Tobacco smoking is the practice of smoking tobacco and inhaling tobacco smoke (which includes some of the gaseous phases and other substances). A general explanation may include simple intake of tobacco smoke into the mouth, and then releasing it, or by the use of some tobacco pipes and cigars in which the additives are mixed and combusted up with the agricultural products and then ends up with poor health conditions (Wigand & Jeffrey, 2016).

The health issues that smokers face, including serious lung conditions, motives for smoking, the early age of smoking, making it difficult to avoid smoking, psychosocial reasons related to smoking, smoking in accordance with the elderly; the challenges encountered by them when they are too late to stop smoking, the social determinants of smoking-related wellbeing and how it is influenced by smoking and the importance for future practise in considering psychological health perspectives, are some of the key issues going to discussed in this paper.

Body

Smoking is a process where a material is burned and the resulting smoke inhaled into the bloodstream to be absorbed and taken in. Dried leaves are the most usual substance used in the tobacco, which is used by converting the tobacco into long round shaped cylinder by rolling it named as cigarette. Smoking generally has bad effects on health, various challenges is being possessed inherently through the intake of smoke on physiological processes such as respiration.

Tobacco smoking-related diseases have been appeared to kill around half of long-term smokers compared with the overall mortality levels faced by non-smokers. Vascular stenosis, lung cancer, heart attacks (Reitsma et al., 2017) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are some of the diseases that can be caused by smoking. Smoking most usually lead the way to heart and lung disease, hands and feet are most affected with first signs of smoking-related health problems that appear as numbness, also are the major risk factor for heart attacks, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema and cancer, especially lung cancer, larynx and mouth cancers, pancreatic cancer. Cigarette smoking raises both the danger of Crohn's disease and the extent of disease Progression (Nyboe, 2018).

Bladder cancer is also the number one cause. Tobacco smoke causes carcinogenic effects on body tissues which are exposed to smoke (Philippe, 2019). The risk factor also relates to periodontitis and tooth loss. The number of cigarettes taken on a day decides the effects on parodontal tissues. (Dreyer et al., 2017). Overall life expectancy is also reduced in long term smokers, with estimates ranging from 10 (Doll et al., 2004) to 17.9 (Johnston, 2016) years fewer than non-smokers. About one half of long-term male smokers will die of illness due to smoking (Ferrucci et al., 2014).

Most tobacco smokers appear to start smoking in adolescence or in early adulthood. Smoking has characteristics of risk-taking and uprising elements which also appeal to youth. The presence of models and peers of high standing may also encourage smoking. Since adolescents are more affected by their peers than by adults, it is not always successful for parents, schools and health professionals to discourage people from trying cigarettes (Harris & J.R., 2018).

Many people start smoking as a means to relieve themselves from the tension. Adolescent smokers experience more levels of stress as they develop daily smoking habits, and smoking abstinence leads to decreased stress. Nicotine dependence, far from serving as an aid to mood management, seems to intensify tension. Therefore, the evident soothing influence of smoking represents simply the reversal of the anxiety and irritability that happens after the nicotine loss.

Research points to several factors that contribute to adolescent tobacco addiction, from genetic characteristics (Genetic factors may make it difficult for teens to quit smoking) to parental and peer pressures, to challenging circumstances in life (O’Loughlin et al., 2019). First and foremost, nicotine is a highly addictive drug that affects people on a cellular level, meaning addiction is hard to overcome for both adolescents and adults.

Factors that make smoking difficult

Physical effects:

The consequences of nicotine — including the feeling of 'reward'—quickly wear off, encouraging smokers to continue to use tobacco to retake the feeling, and to avoid symptoms of withdrawal.

In cigarettes and other forms of tobacco, nicotine is the principal addictive substance. Nicotine is a medicine which attacks many parts of the body, including the brain. Over time, they get used to getting nicotine in the body and brain. About 80–90% of people who smoke regularly are nicotine addicts. It gets into the brain within 10 seconds after getting into the body. It causes the brain to release adrenaline and this creates a great of pleasure and energy. Yet the buzz is rapidly fading. Then a person may feel exhausted. (Villanti et al., 2011)

Signs of withdrawal is shown, when people stop smoking. Symptoms of withdrawal includes:

Dispirited or depressed, having difficulty in sleeping, feeling bad-tempered‚ edge ‚ grouchy; having trouble thinking; clearly and focused, feeling anxious and jumpy, slowing heart rate, feeling hungry or gaining weight, unpleasant, including irritability, cravings, problems with attention, disturbed sleep and increased appetite. Medication called nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) helps to have a relieve from the symptoms of withdrawal.

Behavioural factors:

Besides the physical factors that make it difficult for adolescents to avoid smoking, behavioural factors often have a role: adolescents also equate smoking, its smell and sound with a variety of habits, including alcohol usage and hanging out with smoking peers (Kim et al., 2019). The effect of peers on the smoking activity of adolescents seems to diminish with age (Bonilha et al., 2011). But when teenagers start smoking and whether their smoking rises to everyday use is a significant factor (Hong et al., 2013).

Smoking early in teenage years:

Research shows that the faster the adolescents begin to smoke cigarettes, the more likely they become nicotine addicts. (Pampel et al., 2015). According to a nationally representative health study, nearly 90 percent of adults who smoke are daily smokers during or earlier adolescence (Hong et al.,2013).

Concerns about weight gain:

For some adolescents, concerns about weight gain may be associated with the decision to begin smoking or with a reluctance to quit (Gilman et al., 2019). Females are less successful in stopping smoking even after they made a try.

Several domains of psychosocial risk factors are associated with cigarette smoking.(Brook et al., 2010) Which include: intrapersonal distress (e.g., depression), drug use (e.g. alcohol problems), family relationships (e.g. family conflict), adverse life experiences (e.g. low life satisfaction), financial stressors (e.g. financial strain), and contextual factors (e.g. community poverty). Intrapersonal trauma and psychological conditions are known to be linked with cigarette use. Among cigarette smokers, for example, depression levels are higher than in the overall population, and cigarette smoking is also seeming to be associated with anxiety disorders too (Zvolensky & Bernstein, 2015).

Problematic alcohol consumption by individuals (e.g. alcohol dependence and abuse) is a good predictor of cigarette smoking. Cigarette smoking is also caused by family dispute and having a partner who smokes cigarettes (McKee et al., 2013). Stressful life events and financial stressors also play a major role in cigarette smoking (Siahpush et al., 2016).

Older people who tend to smoke have more trouble with age-related illnesses including diabetes, osteoporosis, and related breathing difficulties. Smoking often interferes with the metabolism of medicines that are typically administered to older adults (Doll et al., 2014). Compared to non-smokers, older adult smokers are at greater risk of experiencing difficulties in everyday life, blindness and cognitive disability behaviours. They also have greater chance of reporting mental health problems such as depression (Silvestri et al., 2015). They also record worse family relationships than former smokers, and non-smokers. When older adults avoid smoking it not only raises their life expectancy but also enhances their general well-being (Gilliland et al., 2013).

When is it too late to quit smoking?

There is still hope among older adult smokers and it's never too late to leave. Cessation of smoking would significantly decrease deaths in later years, including those currently infected with a smoke-related illness. Recent studies have shown that older adults with coronary heart disease who avoid smoking could significantly reduce their risk of death in as little as 2 years. For 10 years of abstinence, quitting of smoking will also reduce the risk of lung cancer by around 50 per cent (Silvestri et al., 2015).

The approach of social determinants to tobacco use will include initiatives aimed at addressing inequities by enhancing the early life experience of people and their access to them and the quality of education and employment, and the physical world in which they work. Recognizing people's daily social interactions, physical environments, financial resources, and other material living conditions is also important.

Despite the sharp rise in restrictions over the last 15 years about the selling, promotion and public consumption of cigarettes, it is no wonder there is concern about smoking in the workplace. The connection between employment and smoking is not addressed whereas the link between smoking and poverty is well elaborated. According to the recent data, those who are unemployed are more likely to be smoked than who are employed or during the time of work. This comment clearly displays that work has a positive role in reducing the intake of smoking. Workers are provided with health-based support and other risk related communications by the occupational therapists as a part of improving the lifestyle. (Doll et al., 2014).

Certainly, poverty and social deprivation are two topics for which are arguments are greatly associated with. However, some other relationships of health and smoking may be out of impoverishment. Smokers experience a lot of health issues or being exposed to have poor health as earlier during their life stages (Silvestri et al., 2015),

Some positive methods that can be successful in reducing the smoking rate includes increasing the price for tobacco products, mass media anti-smoking campaigns, smoke-free initiatives, school smoking curricula, limits on the tobacco industry's marketing incentives, as well as social standards that contribute to smoking bans (Tob, 2012).

The health care professional 's position and image are important to the promotion of tobacco-free lifestyles and cultures. Health professionals can help people through their professional activities by providing advice, guidance and answers to tobacco-friendly questions and their health effects. They can serve as a media reference, educating the general public and policy-makers. Doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals in the everyday health care facilities need to treat nicotine use as part of their daily method of treatment (Baird, 2014).

Conclusion

In a concluding note, smoking specifically results in a high chance of respiratory problems, along with other curable and non-curable diseases. Most people tend to smoke at their adolescence because of the impact of others or only because of the pleasure that lasts for a few minutes, but when it progresses, they are not even able to quit smoking even at an older age because of the elevated levels of nicotine in their bodies.; but some of them thinks that it is the best way to get relief from the stress( which may be personal, job stress).

Rather than nicotine addiction, there are many other causes that find them hard to avoid smoking, such as weight gain issues, behavioural influences. Any psychosocial causes, such as depression, family conflict, and so on, are also linked to smoking. Smoking also has a greater impact on the social determinants of health, in particular in the fields of jobs and welfare, healthcare, social exclusion. Even though, all of the above-mentioned problems still exist, some others are still smoking. But making a clear vision on the health care prospects for the future can easily tackle this problem.

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