Effects of Smoking on Students
Smokingis increasingly becoming rampant among students. The vice is spreadmajorly through peer pressure. Students are unknowingly introducedinto it by colleagues who turn a blind eye to the numerous harmfuleffects of smoking. The detrimental effects are numerous and includesocial, psychological and physical.
Thenegative social consequences of smoking revolve around stigmatizationbecause of the under stable negative societal perception of smokers.While the habit of smoking cigarettes is legal, the society frownsupon the habit. As such, people that smoke is not free to do sowherever they please. Some states have created legislation that banssmoking in public places. For a social activity such as smoking, thatis self-defeating. Students that smoke are often ostracized as aresult. Since they cannot smoke in public, they end up formingcliques that approve of the behavior (Magid et al.). Over time, theseparticular groups of students become detached from the generalpopulation of the educational institution. Most of the time, theireducation suffers as a result. Even after they leave school, smokingis not allowed in many social gatherings among adults. It isimpossible to get and sustain any true joy from the habit of smoking.
Smokinghas a psychological effect on the smoker student smokers are notexempt Nicotine is the active ingredient that causes the body torelease dopamine, a feel-good hormone, every time it enters the body(Magid et al.). When a person smokes, the body builds a tolerance forit. As such, a person will need more and more tobacco to feel thesame ‘high.` This is called addiction. At times, this addiction totobacco smoking may lead to addiction to other drugs as well such asmarijuana. It is negative because the person who is hooked on thedrugs reaches a point of total dependency on smoking. At that point,the person will find it tough to function normally without smoking.It affects a student’s productivity because the person the studentaddict will always make decisions that favor partaking of the drug,despite the adverse health effects.
Smokinghas a terrible impact on the physiological health of a person thisis even more so for students who are mostly teenagers and youngadults (Bridges and Raloff). The situation is exacerbated by the factthat young people have bodies that are not entirely developed and assuch, are fragile. For starters, since the product is inhaled, therespiratory lining capacity of the smoker is reduced significantly.Habitual smokers cannot perform demanding cardiovascular activitiesa situation which greatly diminishes the quality of life that thestudent smoker will enjoy. In addition to that, smokers also have thepropensity to develop cancers around the areas that are in constantdirect contact with the smoke. For example, sheesha smokers are at aheightened risk of developing throat cancer. People that smokecigarettes are the main culprits of lung cancer. The statistics painta grim picture. People that smoke marijuana have negative long-termside effects such as loss of short-term memory (Rajaoui). The gist ofthese assertions is that there is no physiological benefit of smokingdrugs particularly by students.
Smokingis detrimental to the education of young students due to theoverwhelming consequences of it. Even if there were a cost-benefitratio, the cost of smoking far outweighs the benefits. Therefore, itis important to keep in mind the negative results of smoking (Egbe,Catherine et al. 184). Not only does it rob the individual of theirhealth, but it also hampers their success in education.
Works Cited
Bridges, Andrew, and JanetRaloff. "Most Students Wrong On Risks of Smoking Occasionally".Science News forStudents. N.p., 2015.Web. 4 Apr. 2017.
https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/most-students-wrong-risks-smoking- occasionally
Magid, Viktoriya et al. "NegativeAffect, Stress, and Smoking in College Students: Unique AssociationsIndependent of Alcohol and Marijuana Use". NCBI.N.p., 2009. Web. 5 Apr. 2017.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19523773
Rajaoui, Rajaoui. "TheCauses and Effects of Smoking among Students". BusyTeacher. N.p., 2017.Web. 4 Apr. 2017.
http://busyteacher.org/16649-the-causes-and-effects-of-smoking-among-students.html
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