Re: I agree 110% that this is revolting.soleiltropiquesDecember 6 2013, 20:30:18 UTC
"I do strongly disagree with a smoker's choices to buy Big Tobacco products because they're paying for all of this. I get that there's a lot of shit people pay for where bad things happen-coffee, clothes (cotton), sugar, etc.-but what I don't understand is why people smoke when there aren't any health benefits. I don't think I ever will so that's up to the smoker. It's like looking at a slaughterhouse and wanting to become vegetarian; not exactly a feeling I could control."
Just to pipe in with some information, as I have worked for several years with researchers looking at this particular question.
The truth is, the reasons WHY people do thinngs are enormously complex. One thing I would respectfully point out however is that it is a vast oversimplification to refer to smoking as being a 'choice'. In fact, the reasons for many unhealthy states and behaviors (e.g. lack of physical activity) should come with such caveats.
This becomes apparent when one considers the fact that most adult smokers begin smoking when they are young (among adults who smoke, 68 percent began smoking regularly at age 18 or younger, and 85 percent started when they were 21 or younger (1)), and that various factors exterior to youth have been shown to affect their uptake of smoking (these include tobacco advertising (1), as well as exposure to smoking in films (4), and probably in television (5)), and that socioeconomic status has a marked effect on whether or not one becomes a regular smoker (i.e. with the less well off/poorer people smoking more) (2, 3).
Also, nicotine is highly addictive: "Nicotine is an addictive drug. It causes changes in the brain that make people want to use it more and more. In addition, addictive drugs cause unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. The good feelings that result when an addictive drug is present - and the bad feelings when it's absent - make breaking any addiction very difficult. Nicotine addiction has historically been one of the hardest addictions to break.
The 1988 Surgeon General's Report, "Nicotine Addiction," concluded that:
Cigarettes and other forms of tobacco are addicting. Nicotine is the drug that causes addiction. Pharmacologic and behavioral characteristics that determine tobacco addiction are similar to those that determine addiction to drugs such as heroin and cocaine." (6)
One study I read actually detailed the fact that in their study population (i.e. adolescents), "After first puff, the participants who initiated cigarette smoking during follow-up (initiators) progressed rapidly to inhalation, and symptoms of nicotine dependence developed soon thereafter, well before weekly or daily smoking".(7) In other words, nicotine dependence and loss of control over one's smoking in large part PRECEDED regular smoking.
Just some food for thought. :)
(1) American Lung Association: http://www.lung.org/stop-smoking/about-smoking/facts-figures/children-teens-and-tobacco.html#1 (2) Laaksonen M et al. Socioeconomic status and smoking. Analysing inequalities with multiple indicators. Eur J Public Health 2005; 15(3):262-9. (3) Hill S et al. Impact of tobacco control interventions on socioeconomic inequalities in smoking: review of the evidence. Tobacco Control 2013; Sep 17. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2013-051110. [Epub ahead of print] (4) Charlesworth A, Glantz SA. Smoking in the movies increases adolescent smoking: a review. Pediatrics 2005; 116(6):1516-28. (5) Gidwani P et al. Television Viewing and Initiation of Smoking Among Youth. Pediatrics 2002; 110(3):505-8. (6)American Heart Association. Why is it so hard to quit? http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/QuitSmoking/QuittingSmoking/Why-is-it-so-hard-to-quit_UCM_324053_Article.jsp# (7) Gervais A et al. Milestones in the natural course of onset of cigarette use among adolescents. CMAJ 2006; 175(3):255-61.
Re: I agree 110% that this is revolting.tifaDecember 7 2013, 02:51:56 UTC
Yeah, the addiction is definitely something I've observed in my own family but I don't know how people start and continue because, from what I hear, that stuff has a pretty harsh effect (on most). But I suppose the buzz/high(?) must feel really nice. But yes, thank you for the info :) It seems a lot of it is psychological too.
Re: I agree 110% that this is revolting.spartanwerewolfDecember 8 2013, 10:12:32 UTC
It is immensely psychological. I started at 14, thinking (because I was 14 and knew everything)I wouldn't get addicated, and even if I did, I'd just quit once I was 18. I finally wound up quitting last October (age 25). The physical cravings were not nearly so rough as the psychological ones eg: having a cigarette when you first get up, or after a meal.
I started again in June, having not smoked for eight full months. I bought a pack of cigarettes for when I very occasionally wanted one (like one every six weeks or so) and it was literally the *only* thing I could think about while I had it. It's very easy for the rationalization of "well, one more cigarette won't hurt" to turn into "another pack can't hurt" which turns into taking up smoking full time again.
I had intended to quit, uh, four days ago, but I was just in the States and cigarettes are comparatively cheap there -$55/carton as opposed to $88+/carton- so I bought one. You see how easily I rationalized that? "It's okay, because they're cheaper here than at home, and I'll quit when this carton's gone." It's a weird cognitive dissonance, and I can't explain it, even after smoking for ten years and quitting once.
Re: I agree 110% that this is revolting.moonshazDecember 10 2013, 05:59:16 UTC
I actually get exactly what you're talking about, even though I'm not a smoker! People with certain kinds of eating disorders go through the exact same kind of cognitive dissonance with their cravings. I'm a binge eater, and I go through that all the time.
I could have almost written parts of that myself, substituting words such as "cookie" or "snack" for "cigarette." If I had a dollar for every time I've told myself, "well, one more ___ won't hurt," "another ___ can't hurt," etc., I would be obscenely wealthy by now!
That's the insidious thing about addiction, whether it be to a substance or a behavior (and I believe binge eating disorder is a combination of both)--your brain can perform the most amazing gymnastics to get what it craves.
If anyone can ever figure out how to turn off that switch in the brain that makes us crave certain things so much that we literally talk ourselves out of doing what we know is best for us, that will be a miracle!
Just to pipe in with some information, as I have worked for several years with researchers looking at this particular question.
The truth is, the reasons WHY people do thinngs are enormously complex. One thing I would respectfully point out however is that it is a vast oversimplification to refer to smoking as being a 'choice'. In fact, the reasons for many unhealthy states and behaviors (e.g. lack of physical activity) should come with such caveats.
This becomes apparent when one considers the fact that most adult smokers begin smoking when they are young (among adults who smoke, 68 percent began smoking regularly at age 18 or younger, and 85 percent started when they were 21 or younger (1)), and that various factors exterior to youth have been shown to affect their uptake of smoking (these include tobacco advertising (1), as well as exposure to smoking in films (4), and probably in television (5)), and that socioeconomic status has a marked effect on whether or not one becomes a regular smoker (i.e. with the less well off/poorer people smoking more) (2, 3).
Also, nicotine is highly addictive: "Nicotine is an addictive drug. It causes changes in the brain that make people want to use it more and more. In addition, addictive drugs cause unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. The good feelings that result when an addictive drug is present - and the bad feelings when it's absent - make breaking any addiction very difficult. Nicotine addiction has historically been one of the hardest addictions to break.
The 1988 Surgeon General's Report, "Nicotine Addiction," concluded that:
Cigarettes and other forms of tobacco are addicting.
Nicotine is the drug that causes addiction.
Pharmacologic and behavioral characteristics that determine tobacco addiction are similar to those that determine addiction to drugs such as heroin and cocaine." (6)
One study I read actually detailed the fact that in their study population (i.e. adolescents), "After first puff, the participants who initiated cigarette smoking during follow-up (initiators) progressed rapidly to inhalation, and symptoms of nicotine dependence developed soon thereafter, well before weekly or daily smoking".(7) In other words, nicotine dependence and loss of control over one's smoking in large part PRECEDED regular smoking.
Just some food for thought. :)
(1) American Lung Association: http://www.lung.org/stop-smoking/about-smoking/facts-figures/children-teens-and-tobacco.html#1
(2) Laaksonen M et al. Socioeconomic status and smoking. Analysing inequalities with multiple indicators. Eur J Public Health 2005; 15(3):262-9.
(3) Hill S et al. Impact of tobacco control interventions on socioeconomic inequalities in smoking: review of the evidence. Tobacco Control 2013; Sep 17. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2013-051110. [Epub ahead of print]
(4) Charlesworth A, Glantz SA. Smoking in the movies increases adolescent smoking: a review. Pediatrics 2005; 116(6):1516-28.
(5) Gidwani P et al. Television Viewing and Initiation of Smoking Among Youth. Pediatrics 2002; 110(3):505-8.
(6)American Heart Association. Why is it so hard to quit? http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/QuitSmoking/QuittingSmoking/Why-is-it-so-hard-to-quit_UCM_324053_Article.jsp#
(7) Gervais A et al. Milestones in the natural course of onset of cigarette use among adolescents. CMAJ 2006; 175(3):255-61.
(Slightly edited for an attempt at clarity!)
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I started again in June, having not smoked for eight full months. I bought a pack of cigarettes for when I very occasionally wanted one (like one every six weeks or so) and it was literally the *only* thing I could think about while I had it. It's very easy for the rationalization of "well, one more cigarette won't hurt" to turn into "another pack can't hurt" which turns into taking up smoking full time again.
I had intended to quit, uh, four days ago, but I was just in the States and cigarettes are comparatively cheap there -$55/carton as opposed to $88+/carton- so I bought one. You see how easily I rationalized that? "It's okay, because they're cheaper here than at home, and I'll quit when this carton's gone." It's a weird cognitive dissonance, and I can't explain it, even after smoking for ten years and quitting once.
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I could have almost written parts of that myself, substituting words such as "cookie" or "snack" for "cigarette." If I had a dollar for every time I've told myself, "well, one more ___ won't hurt," "another ___ can't hurt," etc., I would be obscenely wealthy by now!
That's the insidious thing about addiction, whether it be to a substance or a behavior (and I believe binge eating disorder is a combination of both)--your brain can perform the most amazing gymnastics to get what it craves.
If anyone can ever figure out how to turn off that switch in the brain that makes us crave certain things so much that we literally talk ourselves out of doing what we know is best for us, that will be a miracle!
Reply
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