Smoking is bad for your health - a phrase we commonly hear and say, but sadly many still continue to smoke.
So, why is smoking a bad habit?
Based on the World Health Organization, smoking means being in possession or control of a lit tobacco product. All forms of tobacco are harmful, and there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco. Cigarette smoking is the most common form of tobacco use worldwide.
Tobacco kills more than 8 million people globally every year. More than 7 million of these deaths are from direct tobacco use and around 1.2 million are due to non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.
In the Philippines, people still smoke even if it poses a lot of health risks and diseases such as stroke, heart disease, emphysema, various cancers and nicotine addiction. Based on the 2015 Updating Survey of the Nutritional Status of Filipino Children and Other Population Groups, 23.3% of Filipino adults (20 years old and above) are current smokers or those who smoke daily or on a regular basis of at least one cigarette a day. What is alarming is the prevalence of current smokers among adolescents 10-19 years old at 5.5%.
To raise awareness on the ill effects of smoking, as well as to encourage smokers to give up the habit, June was declared as National No-Smoking Month through Presidential Proclamation No. 183, s.1993.
Health risks of smoking. Cigarette smoking harms nearly every organ of the body, causes many diseases and affects the overall health of a person. Smokers are more likely to develop heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease such as lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cancer.
Becoming pregnant may be hard for women who smoke and affect the baby’s health before and after birth. Other health risks include reduced fertility for men, tooth loss, cataracts, type 2 diabetes mellitus, inflammation and decreased immune function and rheumatoid arthritis.
These health risks are not limited to smokers but also to those who inhale second-hand cigarette smoke.
Smoking and covid-19. The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease that primarily attacks the respiratory system. Smoking impairs lung function making it harder for the body to fight off COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases. Smokers are at higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 outcomes and death.
Now is the time to quit smoking!
Quitting smoking lowers your risk for smoking-related diseases. It will help your lungs and heart to work better and add years to your life. It is better to quit now than quit later after developing the abovementioned diseases.
Aside from improving your physical health, quitting smoking will also boost your mental health and wellbeing. It can improve mood and help relieve stress, anxiety, and depression.
Quitting will not only help you, but will also help protect your loved ones, from exposure to second-hand smoke.
If you need professional help in quitting smoking, you may call the Department of Health’s Smoking Cessation Program “Quitline”, 165-364. The hotline is free for Metro Manila callers only and long-distance charges will apply for provincial callers. You may also text ‘stopsmoke’ to 29290-165-364. Support and guidance to quit smoking will be given via call or text message. You may also visit their website to check other institutions offering the program: https://www.doh.gov.ph/smoking-cessation-program.
If you have not tried smoking, do not start. If you are a smoker, quit now. Live a healthy life to help prevent lifestyle-related non-communicable diseases. Do it for yourself and for your loved ones. Save your life, quit the smoking habit! (TAR/MEVF/NNC-NCR)
References:
https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/11-05-2020-who-statement-tobacco-use-and-covid-19 https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/effects_cig_smoking/index.htm
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/quit-smoking/stopping-smoking-mental-health-benefits/
