Startling Facts about Teenage Smoking
In the United States alone there is an average of three thousand new smokers each and every day of the year that are all under the age of eighteen. That adds up to around four and a half million underage smokers at any given time. That also adds up to a potential for lifelong addiction, subsequent health problems, and a significantly shorter life span.
The individual who smokes one pack of cigarettes each day is going to shorten their life by an average of seven to fourteen years depending upon their gender and overall lifestyle. This means that someone who begins smoking in their teens is looking at dying by the average “middle age” period of life, which translates from age 40 to 65 accordingly.
The quality of life for any smoker is always going to be lower due to the strains that the toxins contained in cigarette smoke will cause as well. Higher blood pressure and heart rate; chronic coughing; risks for stroke, cancer and heart attack; and even advanced macular degeneration are all common issues connected to a smoking habit.
These facts should all be presented to teenagers in order to help them to understand that smoking is not a glamorous, intelligent, or “cool” lifestyle choice. This is tougher than it sounds because it is estimated that the tobacco industry will direct around fifty dollars per person, per year on marketing cigarettes to their most likely clientele. Additionally, there are often many peer pressures that lead to the use of cigarettes as well.
It might be helpful then to discuss more than just the long-term health effects related to smoking and point out some of the more immediate problems that a teen smoker faces. For example, it is a good idea to point out that smokers have weaker athletic capabilities than non-smokers, that they have heavier menstrual periods and more severe cramping, that they are weakening their bones, and will usually have fairly bad breath due to the habit as well. It might also be valuable to point out that smokers have yellow teeth, stained fingers, and are easily identifiable from the smoky smell of their hair and clothes too.
Teens can be influenced by many factors before deciding to pick up that first cigarette. If it can be made very clear that the choice is one that will have more negative effects right away, and also in the future, it will go a long way to preventing them from considering it at all.
