Why do people start smoking and continue smoking? Most of them start when they are teenagers for many reasons. They want to look “cool,” fit in with their peers, and are more likely to smoke if their friends and family smoke. Most adult smokers started smoking before they were 15 years old. Smoking creates an “image” that many teenagers associate with smoking. It’s being tough, cool, sexy, attractive or as a form of rebellion.
Why do they continue to smoke? They continue to smoke because it is habit forming. The chemicals, especially the nicotine reduces the withdrawal symptoms between cigarettes. Smoking is an addiction.
Teenagers can quickly become addicted to the nicotine habit. They begin smoking because their friends smoke, and continue to smoke especially in certain situations. Teenagers smoke if they are talking on the phone, after eating, with caffeine products or alcohol, and just sitting around with their friends. They don’t necessarily notice a “craving” just smoke automatically in certain situations.
Stress also can cause a teenager to smoke, or if they are angry, depressed, or bored. It gives them an emotional boost if their feelings are unbalanced. Third, it is physically addicting because of the nicotine in the cigarette smoke. This nicotine addiction starts immediately after a teenager starts smoking regularly. Teenagers are aware of the dangers, but increasingly more are starting to smoke in their early teens.
What does smoking do to your body? It damages small blood vessels, restricts the flow of blood to hands and feet, and could even cause gangrene and amputation. If you smoke you are ten times more likely to die early from stroke or heart disease. Smokers suffer from severe bronchitis and emphysema more often than non-smokers. Smoking affects your breathing and you don’t have to have bronchitis or emphysema. There is a decrease in lung capacity and a smoker will have a harder time with physical activities such as swimming, jogging, playing sports, or working out in an aerobics class.
Smoking is the main cause of throat, lung, and mouth cancer. It really does harm your body! What else does smoking do? It makes you smell bad. Smoke clings to your hair, clothing, and especially your breath. Think about kissing an ashtray, that’s what it is like to kiss a smoker. If you are a smoker, chances are, you’ve gotten used to the smell of the tobacco and don’t even notice it anymore. Remember other people can still smell it.
Smoking turns your fingers and teeth yellow, makes your skin age faster, and affects your complexion. As well as the health concerns, think of how much money you would save by kicking the habit.
The good news in all of this is your body can repair itself quickly if you stop smoking. Nicotine will leave your body in less than two hours; the deadly carbon monoxide leaves the body’s blood stream after twelve hours. All other by-products of nicotine are gone within two days! It only takes two months for the circulation in your arms and legs and even better news, your lungs start to repair themselves in about three months. After a person has stopped smoking, they will notice their sense of smell and taste returns, you enjoy your food more, and your skin will lose the grayish cast that all smokers’ skin has.
Best of all, your body will be free of stale tobacco smell, and your chances of getting heart disease or skin cancer starts to fall.
Maybe your teenager thinks they are immune to all of these symptoms by smoking “light or filtered” cigarettes. There is no evidence of any kind that shows a reduction in health risks by smoking light cigarettes. They are just as addictive as a regular cigarette, they will still cause heart and lung disease and they still contain as much nicotine and tar. You aren’t saving your body from health risks by smoking these cigarettes.
The important thing to do is to talk to your teenagers, keep lines of communication open, and try to point out the dangers in pre-teens and teens beginning to smoke.
July 29, 2007
Cigarette Smoking and Teenagers
Backpack Safety for Teenagers
Children start carrying backpacks to preschool. Three years old and encouraged to bring a backpack to school! This sets up a pattern that is followed all through school. Sure, the little girls look so cute with their pink princess backpack as they get on the bus, but the bag normally comes home as empty as it went.
Backpacks can be useful for school-age children and useful for teens. They come in many sizes, shapes, and colors and allow teens to express their individual personalities. They’re also practical with the many compartments that help them tote notebooks, books, papers, lunches, and the many other items that teens need to carry. Backpacks are considered safer to carry than a shoulder bag or purse because the strongest muscles in the body support the backpack. The shoulder muscles, back muscles, and the abdominal muscles are used to support the weight of a backpack.
It’s recommended that teens carry no more than 15% of their body weight in their backpack. They can cause muscle and joint strains, and back pain if the backpack is too heavy or not used in the right way. Shoulder, neck, and back pain can result in carrying a too heavy backpack. When your teen is carrying a pack that is too heavy, they may overcompensate by bending at the hips, or arcing the back to be able to carry it. This compresses the disk in the spine to compress and teens could start having back and shoulder pain.
Teens sometimes try to carry their whole locker with them during school. They either don’t have enough time to go to their lockers between classes. On the other hand, they just don’t want to visit their locker. They may also have personal belongings, laptops, DVD players, and CD collections.
If your teen wants to carry their backpack over their shoulder, they may end up with more problems. It can cause them to lean to one side to compensate for the added weight and cause them to develop upper and lower back pain, neck pain, and strain their shoulders. Improper use of the backpack can also encourage poor posture. Girls are more at risk for backpack injuries because they are smaller and try to carry loads in their backpack that are too heavy for them.
Tight narrow straps can interfere with circulation when they dig into shoulders and can cause nerve damage. Weakness in the teen’s arms and hands, tingling, and a numb sensation can also be caused by too tight, too small straps on a backpack.
Those large backpacks can also be a hazard to other people. Your teenager probably doesn’t realize how big their pack is and it can harm someone, especially in confined spaces, like the aisles of a bus. They’re also a tripping hazard and injuries have been reported by other teens falling over backpacks that are extending into aisles either in classrooms or buses. The risk of falling for someone wearing a backpack is greater because your sense of balance is altered, especially while climbing stairs.
Some hints to helping your teen avoid physical problems and still carry their essentials in a backpack. First, buy a backpack that is lightweight to start with. Leather may look cooler but they will add extra weight that your teen doesn’t need to carry. A lightweight canvas or nylon bag is recommended. They should be equipped with two padded, wide shoulder straps that won’t dig into their shoulders. A waist belt can also help by spreading the weight more evenly over the body. It also doesn’t hurt to find one with a padded back that will give them extra carrying comfort. In addition, a backpack with multiple compartments is good for dividing the weight more evenly.
Some teens that carry, a lot of belongings sometimes will use a pull behind pack similar to pull behind carry-on luggage. These may ease the back pain but are harder to get upstairs, or roll outside. Some schools discourage use of rolling backpacks because of the tripping hazard they present in the halls.
As a parent, if you are aware of the health dangers involved in carrying a backpack, you can be proactive in finding the right one for your teen and making sure they don’t overload it.
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