Cigarette smoking causes an estimated 443,000 deaths each year in the United States, including approximately 49,400 deaths due to exposure to secondhand smoke, according to the National Cancer Institute. Of the more than 7,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, they report that at least 250 are known to be harmful, including hydrogen cyanide, carbon dioxide and ammonia. The reasons to quit are numerous and include fighting deadly diseases such as lung cancer.
Cigars, smokeless tobacco, pipes, hookahs and other smoking devices are all found to be harmful and addictive as well as cigarettes, the NCI reports. “There is no such thing as safe tobacco,” the website says.
John Jackson, assistant director of fitness & research at the University of Alabama offers a structured program, QuitSmart to help college students kick the habit. The program is offered in individual or group sessions, which offer a distinct social component to aid in the anxiety often accompanied with smoking cessation.
“QuitSmart is a smoking cessation program designed by Dr. Robert Shipley at Duke University,” Jackson said. “It is a packaged program that takes a lot of different resources and combines them. What makes this program unique is the use of nicotine fading.”
Nicotine fading is a process where a smoker switches to cigarette brands that contain less and less nicotine in an effort to gradually wean the individual off nicotine throughout the course of the program.
“The program also incorporates a relaxation CD and recommended exercises to help the smoker cope with the anxiety of smoking cessation,” Jackson said. “A lot of people equate stopping smoking with weight gain.”
Therefore, the QuickSmart program offers direction on introducing regimented exercise to counteract the weight gain associated with smoke cessation. Many individuals who partake in tobacco consumption cite nicotine’s ability to help them cope with social anxiety as a reason for continued tobacco use. This is where the offered group sessions of QuitSmart can offer a unique social component to relieve some anxiety and give the smoker the extra push they need to quit.
However, despite Jackson’s and other health-care professionals’ enthusiasm for the QuitSmart program, many smokers still attempt to quit through individual efforts.
“Everyone is moving towards self-directed cessation,” Jackson said. “People are finding their own resources and creating their own regiments to fit their needs.”
One of the self-directed resources many smokers flock to is sponsored by the Alabama Department of Public Health—the quit smoking hotline and website. 1-800-QUITNOW and alabamaquitnow.com are resources that offer information on the physical harms of tobacco and advice on how to quit.
The deadly effects of tobacco consumption on the human body may be common knowledge, but studies may over-generalize these effects and strictly equate them to lung cancer, even though tobacco smoke has shown to be extremely harmful to more than a smoker’s lungs.
“Studies show within the first couple puffs of a cigarette your blood vessels constrict to three times their normal size, which in turn cuts off your oxygen supply to the body,” said E.J. Drewberry, a fourth year Ph.D. student in biology. “Also, nicotine causes you have to a lack of oxygen in your body and raises your blood pressure, which damages your arteries and coronary tissue. Smoking also increases the risk you will die of a cardiovascular disease.”
The harmful effects of smoking can irreparably damage the smoker’s heart and circulatory system as well as lead to many types of cancer. These cancers include: mouth, throat, nasal cavity, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, kidney, bladder and cervix and acute myeloid leukemia, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Studies by the Center for Disease Control show that the majority of smokers include 21. 8 percent of adults aged 18 to 24 years and 24 percent of adults aged 25 to 44 years. These groups include most undergraduate and graduate college students. However, while age is a factor for smokers, so is education level.
49.1 percent of adult smokers have a GED diploma and 33.6 percent of adult smokers have nine to 11 years of education. The number drops significantly when looking at adult smokers with an undergraduate degree (only 11.1 percent,) and adults with a graduate degree only make up 5.6 percent of all smokers nationally.
A final interesting component in this study by the CDC is region. Overall in 2009, states with the highest prevalence of adult smoking were clustered in the Midwest and Southeast. In Alabama, 19 to 22 percent of adults smoke.
Is smoking all bad? Some students think not and are not ready to quit just yet.
“Occasionally I have the desire to quit smoking, and at some point, yeah, I will,” said Corey Fox, a junior majoring in philosophy. “Right now, I can’t really deal with the anxiety associated with quitting though.”
Fox has been smoking cigarettes for two to three years, and he said he is addicted. He typically smokes between half a pack to a pack and a half per day. Before moving on to Marlboro Skyline, his current brand of choice, he said he smoked tobacco pipes in high school with friends.
“The benefits of smoking are increased alertness, which helps you stay up late as a college student,” he said. “There is also a decrease in appetite and anxiety. It’s really relaxing and a good break from studying.”
For students who want to quit, there are many online resources in addition to Jackson’s QuitSmart program at the University. Visit smokefree.gov for details.
