Cigarettes Smoking - Coursework Example

 Cigarettes Smoking Smoking cigarettes is harmful and often leads to addiction, which can ultimately lead to death and other health complications. Cigarettes have an addictive element in them known as nicotine and some other flavorful additives, which cause addiction. In the United States, cigarettes account for about 440, 000 deaths annually. There are many causes of smoking, which include, the body needs some nicotine especially in the case of addicts for physical reasons; secondly, for psychological reasons, which is one of the most important factor explaining why people smoke e.g. due to low self-esteem.

Either other people get attracted into smoking out of peer pressure especially the youth, or some people develop the habit because they were passive smokers at some point and finally turned into active smokers. Smoking cigarettes causes a number of health problems to the smokers. Firstly, they increase the chances of one developing heart disease, stroke, and cancer. For instance, smoking increases the chances of men suffering from lung cancer by 23 times, while in women it raises the chances by 13 times when compared to non-smokers.

In addition, smoking is a slow way of dying because of the harmful effects cigarettes have on the body. Other notable damages smoking has on the body include effect on the mouth, eyes, stomach and the pancreases and throat. Further, it is estimated that, on average smokers in America spend about $1000-$1500 annually in buying cigarettes. In addition, smoking causes weight loss for children born by mothers who are active smokers (Bernstein et al, 2005). Therefore, it is evident that smoking has both long and short-term effects on the health of smokers and non-smokers who get exposed to smokers through passive smoking.

Ultimately, if you want to live longer by an average of 14 years according to research, it is time you considered quitting smoking the soonest possible.ReferencesBernstein, I. M., Mongeon, J. A., Badger, G. J., Solomon, L., Heil, S. H., & Higgins, S. T. (2005). Maternal smoking and its association with birth weight. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 106(5, Part 1), 986-991.