World No Tobacco Day: Smoking: Why Quitting Is Hard and How To Do It?

Smoking kills about 13 lakh people in India but still a large chunk of people continue the usage of tobacco. But have you ever wondered what makes it so hard for people to quit? Or what are the options if you want to quit? We answer all your questions in this video. 

According to the World Health Organisation, Tobacco is one of the major causes of death and disease in India and accounts for nearly 1.35 million deaths every year. 

Why Do People Smoke or Take Tobacco?

People claim to use tobacco for a variety of reasons, including stress relief, pleasure, and social situations. Peer pressure, parental influence, media influence, genetic factors, stress factors, and other factors also list the reason for people's inclination towards smoking and consuming tobacco. 

What Happens when a person inhales Ingredients of Cigarettes? 

Within 10 seconds of your first puff, ingredients in cigarettes reach your brain, heart, and other organs, causing harm to every part of your body.

While cigarettes are the most dangerous tobacco product due to their high rate of use, addictiveness, and toxic mix of chemicals, any tobacco product you inhale could damage lung tissue. Cigarette smoking increases the risk of COPD and can lead to cancers of the lung, oral cavity, and larynx, among other things.

Tobacco smoke also causes irritation of the trachea and larynx (voice box), reduced lung function and breathlessness due to swelling and narrowing of the lung airways, and excess mucus in the lung passages.

Effect of chemicals in tobacco smoke on Human Body

• Nicotine causes veins and arteries to constrict. This can harm your heart by making it work harder and faster.

• Your blood will slow and oxygen will be reduced to your feet and hands.

• Carbon monoxide prevents your heart from the oxygen it requires to circulate blood throughout your body. Your airways swell over time, allowing very little air into your lungs.

• Tar is a sticky substance that, like soot in a chimney, coats your lungs.

• The hair-like cells in your airways are paralysed and killed by phenols. These cells sweep the lining of your airways clean and protect them from infection.

• Tobacco smoke contains tiny particles that irritate your throat and lungs, resulting in a smoker's cough.' This causes you to produce more mucus and harms your lung tissue.

• Ammonia and formaldehyde cause irritation in the eyes, nose, and throat.

• Cancer-causing chemicals cause your cells to grow abnormally or too quickly. This can lead to the formation of cancer cells.

Effect of inhaling Cigarette Smoke

Not only cigarettes are harmful for people who are smoking but for people who are around them and inhale the smoke. Breathing secondhand smoke disrupts normal functioning of the heart, blood, and vascular systems, increasing the risk of a heart attack. Even short term exposure to secondhand smoke can harm the lining of blood vessels and cause blood platelets to stick together more.

Statistics on impact of cigarette  in India

According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey India, 2016-17, nearly 267 million adults (15 years and older) in India (29 percent of all adults) use tobacco. The most common type of tobacco use in India is smokeless tobacco, and popular products include khaini, gutkha, betel quid with tobacco, and zarda. Tobacco smoking methods include bidi, cigarette, and hookah.

Tobacco use is one of the most serious public health threats worldwide. It not only results in the loss of life, but also has significant social and economic consequences. In India, the total economic costs attributed to tobacco use from all diseases in 2017-18 for people aged 35 and up were INR 177 341 crore (USD 27.5 billion).