Adinda Putri Hariani

1406569232
Why People Keep Smoking?
Many people are smoking these days; men, women, poor people,
rich people, and not only adults, but also teenagers and children. This
habit has become a part of our culture since long ago, and now it is
become one of the most complex problem that society want to remove.
Yet, whats the problem with smoking and cigarettes? Smoking can be
dangerous for health, not only smokers health but also people
surroundings. Marjorie Jacob in From the First to the Last Ash: The History,
Economics & Hazards of Tobacco from healthliteracy.worlded.org says,
About 53,000 people die from second hand smoke every year.
Cigarettes can kill thousands people and distant us from healthy air which
is a human rights. On every single cigarettes packs and advertisements
in this country are written Rokok membunuhmu which means cigarette
kills you. Smokers know all about the dangers and the warnings. But they
are just ignoring it and keep smoking. For old smokers, they have addicted
with nicotine, therefore they hard to stop. But there are always new
smokers.
Most smokers start smoking from very young age, so new
smokers come from young generation. The times which start smoking
seems from school age, like from high school and junior school, even
elementary school. From M Reza Sulaimans Lihat Anak SD Merokok,
Ridwan Kamil Khawatir Pergeseran Usia Perokok health.detik.com, In
Indonesia on 2013, 18.3% smokers were in 15-19 age range, data from
Riset Kesehatan Dasar(Riskesdas).And now we questioned how could they
start smoking from very young age? There could be many factors which
influenced them. Teenage and also pre-teenage is time to find ones
identity, smoking is a way to find something out. Environments are the
biggest factor for someone to get influenced, for example from people
surroundings. A family which has smoking parents, hence the child get

wrong example and want to imitate his or her parents. Friends can be bad
influence too. When someone is joining in a circle of smokers, he or she
may trying to smoke so she feels accepted by them, otherwise some
friends invite him or her to smoke. Moreover, advertisements also
contribute to make youth become smoker. From time to time, cigarettes
company advertisements increase and become more vary. These media
advertisements can attract youth to smoke cigarette.
Then, young smokers become adult. For adults, cigarette may be
an escapement and entertainment. When someone gets stress because of
some problems, she or he may found smoking as refreshment. This may
be a kind of energy recharge to go through all those problems. Polly Kerr
in article Why is smoking so addictive? says, However, nicotine also
temporarily reduces stress and can make you feel more content. This is
because it causes a chemical called dopamine to be released dopamine
is associated with feelings of pleasure. This also contributes to making
nicotine highly addictive because after a while, nicotine reduces your
brains ability to get these same feelings. Therefore, you need more
nicotine,

and

hence

more

cigarettes,

to

get

the

same

effect.

Consequently adults become addict to cigarette because of this effect.

People who smoke cigarette usually are men, but in recently
women do it as well. Women also have their own reason for smoking
cigarette. Some woman really obsessed with perfect body. The perfect
body that have attached with women image is slim body. So, women use
cigarette as their diet method. There is many other methods to diet. But
how can cigarette become one of the methods? However, smoking can
press appetite. Somehow, smoking is lessening ones sense on taste and
smell, so the appetite pressed. They think smoke cigarette is easier than
other method such as controlling your calories or doing some training.
Healthy method to diet is taking too much time and money, also the low
rate of success. Because weight control with smoking is effective, women
who diet with cigarette become dependent. They afraid they will gain
much weight if they are stop smoking, so they keep smoking. Some

research also proofed that after stop smoking someone usually gain much
weight, because their sense of taste and smell become much better.
Consequently, there are many reasons why people smoking
cigarette. It mostly starts from very young age. Teenager also preteenager start smoking because of influences from their surroundings,
such as from their family whom they often see smoking, from friends so
the kid feels accepted by the friend, and also from the increase of
cigarette advertisement. Then, adults smoking cigarette to refreshing,
because adults get more stress and problem and smoking can give them
pleasure sensation so the stress is reduced. And also, women have their
own reason for smoking cigarette which is to control weight. Women are
obsessed with slim body, and healthy diet is troublesome because it is
taking much money and time also have low rate of success. Moreover
dieting with smoking cigarette is easier because it can pressed appetite
effectively. However, whatever the reason still smoking is bad for human
because it cause more harm than good. It damages our lungs, brain, and
other body functions. So smoking should have been stopped.
References:
Jacobs, Marjorie. (1997). From the First to the Last Ash: The History,
Economics & Hazard of Tobacco. Retrieved November 6, 2014, from
http://healthliteracy.worlded.org/docs/tobacco/Unit3/1why_people_sm
oke.html
Kerr, Polly. (2012, January 1). Why is smoking so addictive? Retrieved
November 6, 2014, from http://www.bupa.co.uk/individuals/healthinformation/directory/s/why-smoking-addictive
Sulaiman, M Reza.(2014, May 5). Lihat Anak SD Merokok, Ridwan Kamil
Khawatir Pergeseran Usia Perokok. Retrieved December 4, 2014, from
http://health.detik.com/read/2014/05/20/125311/2587005/763/lihatanak-sd-merokok-ridwan-kamil-khawatir-pergeseran-usia-perokok