Nicotine addiction is a problem that has tormented humanity for decades. Recently, it has become especially acute, since the dissemination of information, including advertising, occurs at lightning speed, and successful marketing moves lead to hidden advertising of cigarettes in books, magazines and films.
What is smoking
At first glance, this question may seem extremely banal, because any average student can say that this term implies the regular use of tobacco industry products. However, if you think about it, this bad habit has some features that make it unique and even more serious than any others.
Let's list some characteristics of this bad habit, so common in modern humanity.
The myth of physical pleasure
First of all, it should be noted that smoking does not bring any pleasure to a person. No smoker on planet Earth will say they really like the taste or smell of cigarettes.
Even the fact that smoking provokes a sharp vasoconstriction and instantly stimulates the brain cannot be called pleasure, because it is a shock for the body.
A few words about psychological pleasure
The vast majority of smokers justify their weakness by getting some other kind of satisfaction. The wording in this case may vary, but in the end everything comes down to a single aspect. Some say that they smoke to kill time, others - to suppress stress, others - to increase self-confidence. If you think about it, all these explanations can be reduced to the statement about getting some psychological pleasure.
Because all smokers are well aware of how devastating the effects of cigarette smoking can be, each time the so-called stress reduction procedure actually provokes a new shake-up for the body. Even if at a particular moment in time a person does not think about the dangers of the actions taken, there is already information in his memory, which the subconscious mind actively accesses. Thus, without even realizing it, when smoking, a person programs himself for stress.
What medicine says
From a medical point of view, the perniciousness of such a seemingly harmless habit has long been proven: blockage of blood vessels, stimulation of cancerous growths, weakening of the central nervous system, angina attacks, provocation of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract - these are only the most obvious and often detectedconsequences.
Spoiled teeth, suffering circulatory system, lungs of a smoker, photos of which can be seen on most packages of tobacco products sold in the Russian Federation and Ukraine, the UK and other countries, only increase this psychological stress.
Besides, we shouldn't forget about completely seemingly banal things: an unpleasant smell, which then worries smokers in society, social condemnation, which sooner or later one has to face. Even elementary traces of resins on the fingers lead the body to emotional arousal. Thus, any psychological pleasure is simply out of the question.
Distinct awareness of harmfulness
This topic has already been touched upon, but now it is worth paying special attention to it and considering it from a slightly different point of view. Every smoker is well aware that the actions he performs harm the body, but still does not give up the bad habit. Cancer and smoking are interrelated, according to the vast majority of physicians, this relationship is constantly illustrated, but even realizing the danger, people still do not quit smoking. What's more, the vast majority of people who find out about lung cancer are drawn to a cigarette as soon as they leave the office.
Thus, we can say that even an excellent understanding of the perniciousness of addiction does not help at all in the fight against it. Perhaps the reason lies in the gradual damage. The problem is that the effect of smoking on the body is almost impossible to trace - its condition is gradually deteriorating. If drug or alcohol addiction causes pain when you stop taking it, and in general it greatly affects the appearance of a person, then smoking seems completely harmless against their background.
The Origins of Smoking
If we turn to the history of this "illness" of mankind, we can find out that we owe the appearance of cigarettes to the Indians. It was they who were the first to wrap tobacco leaves in straw or other easily burning materials. It should be noted that initially smoking was not at all a way to have fun, as is commonly believed in the modern world. First of all, smokers pursued the goal of achieving a certain state. Tobacco smoking, like the use of coca tree products, was directly related to the ritual. The Americans, on the other hand, gave this action a completely different meaning, which has survived to this day.
The consequences of smoking cigarettes were not initially studied, so the first mechanical devices that appeared in the 1880s put production on the assembly line, after which the fashion for these products spread throughout the world. In this case, we should talk about fashion, the prestige of this habit, which was cultivated in society. The situation reached the point that smoking was recommended for medical purposes. Most often, this kind of advice was given by neurologists and psychoanalysts.
Tobacco prevention until the early twentieth century seemedhumanity as a completely useless, unnecessary waste of time. In addition, the negative impact of the use of these products on the body has not yet been accurately proven.
Cigarette Fashion
If initially the use of nicotine products was the prerogative of the male half of the world's population, then, starting from the 1920s, this habit began to spread among women. It was from this period that smoking began to spread at an astonishing rate across the globe. It is noteworthy that it was cigarettes that became widespread, and not cigars or smoking pipes, which previously occupied leading positions. The pipe was considered a sign of aristocracy, but so easily gave up its position to tobacco wrapped in thin paper.
Prevention of alcohol and smoking in the 20s was completely useless. Moreover, such events could be considered a kind of heresy. Mankind was too fascinated by this phenomenon, which seemed to be a refined luxury, to listen to the voice of reason, which, however, was mostly silent in this regard.
Smoking Control Methods
Today, in contrast to the time described earlier, the problem caused by smoking has become much more obvious, and therefore, people have begun to actively think about ways to deal with it. Cancer and smoking in the minds of a modern person are quite connected things, which most often leads cigarette lovers to decide to give up this bad habit.
Almost everyone starts by completely and abruptly quitting smoking, which is most often, but not always,ends in failure. The thing is that with this approach, a person programs himself that it will be difficult to change his lifestyle, and such actions will certainly require incredible volitional costs.
In this regard, organizations such as the Ministry of He alth began to carry out various preventive measures. Smoker's lungs, whose photos have become featured in every anti-tobacco brochure, can serve as a prime example of the ongoing campaign. Recently, a huge number of special social advertisements have appeared, designed to demonstrate the harmfulness of this habit.
It should be given credit that in the past few decades, smoking prevention activities have also begun to be actively carried out: all kinds of actions, conferences, flash mobs and much more. The position of the need to abandon a bad habit began to be actively conveyed to the public.
Special literature
This phenomenon is most common in America, where it is generally customary to write so-called guides to certain life situations. Of course, the call to stop the habit has spurred a wave of research publications and special programs designed to help smokers solve their problem.
The most famous author of this kind of literature in the world is undoubtedly Allen Carr, author of The Easy Way to Quit Smoking. The prevention of tobacco smoking was not particularly covered in the book, however, the information stated in the title was presented. Naturally, labor instantly began to be usedpopular, flying off the bookshelves in a matter of hours.
If you examine this kind of literature, you can come to the conclusion that all of it is built according to a certain scheme: it describes rather methods of dealing with an already existing problem. Nevertheless, there are authors who seek to prevent it, but this information is more likely to be contained in the literature devoted to a he althy lifestyle, and not directly to the fight against nicotine addiction of the world's population.
Educating the younger generation
Smoking prevention activities have become active in schools and universities around the world. Basically, this kind of fighting methods exist in two varieties: part of the curriculum and separate conferences and seminars. In the first case, special disciplines are introduced that demonstrate the benefits of a he althy lifestyle from childhood. Children are given a clear understanding of the harm caused by smoking to the human body in a structured way.
In the second case, individual events are most often held, to which specialists in the field of medicine, psychology and sociology are invited, which clearly demonstrate to the growing part of the world's population the perniciousness of this habit, thereby forming a worldview in which smoking will be exclusively negative character.
Of course, speaking of preventive measures, we should not forget about communication with parents, because they are the greatestauthority for the child in the process of forming his personality. Tobacco prevention, a conversation on this topic should be carried out primarily in a homely, confidential environment in which the child will feel as comfortable as possible. In addition, most researchers argue that the best precaution is to abandon the bad habit of the parents themselves.
Ask for help
Help in the fight, and sometimes prevent it, help experts in this field. Of course, everyone will have their own program for the prevention of smoking, and sometimes individually tailored to the client. Most often, this requires special analyzes, passing tests, waiting for the results of certain studies, but in the end, a smoker who wants to "quit" gets his own system of methods to combat nicotine addiction.
Radical measures
In those cases where the prevention of smoking does not help, many come to the use of radical measures: suggestion, hypnosis, coding. These types of anti-addiction remedies can most often be called effective, but they are extremely aggressive towards the body, and the slightest breakdown can lead to unexpected and sometimes serious consequences.
The easiest methods to fight
Few people think that in order to abandon a problem of this kind, it is absolutely not necessary to seek outside help. Since smoking cessation does not cause any physical discomfort, apart from dry mouth, coughing and hand tremors, which are caused byis the belief in the mandatory difficulty of weaning, all that is required is to make an internal decision. Once a clear position has been formed on the need for refusal, it can be decided whether additional measures are needed. If smoking prevention is being carried out, a memo can greatly simplify the task. Information in this case should be collected as capaciously as possible, but at the same time compactly. This should become a reminder of the main goal and task of the planned actions, become a constant motivation.
By the way, this technique is often used in hospitals and sanatoriums, and not only in relation to smoking - they fight alcohol and drug addiction in much the same way. Oddly enough, it really works: smoking prevention, in which the reminder is still involved, is more effective than without it.
