ESL 1060-006

Final draft Report paper

Kaige Wang

U0776448

Giving up smoking for health

Introduction:

Many people die from smoking in the world each year. According to the survey, “Cigarette smoking increases the risk for several types of cancer, including cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, esophagus, lip, pancreas, lung, uterine cervix, larynx, kidney and urinary bladder”. (Hays, R. D., Smith, A., Reeve, B. B., Spritzer, K. L., Marcus, S. E., & Clauser, S. B. 2008)). Most of these people died because of lung cancer. A lot of people still smoke even though it is widely known that smoking is the major cause of lung cancer. Some smoker also get heart disease due to smoking. In addition, cigarette smoking causes mental health problems, such as depression, manic, obsession and so on. Some smoker get a depression due to cigarette smoking. Because cigarette smoking is bad for people’s physical health and mental health, smoking cessation becomes an unavoidable issue. Giving up smoking brings many benefits to people’s health – it is better for physical and mental health. As a smoker, there are many physical and mental health problems.

Body paragraph:

“To put it midly, smoking is a major public health problem. It is also a personal health problem affecting nearly all of us in some way.” (Sloan, F. A., Smith, V., & Taylor, D. H. 2003. Preface vii) As to whether it is worthwhile giving up smoking, there is a long-running controversial debate. It is quite natural that people from different backgrounds may have divergent attitudes towards it, however, people can’t ignore a fact that many people die from smoking in the world every year. Smoking causes harm to people’s physical health and mental health. In order to keep healthy, people should know the harm of smoking and learn to give up smoking. It’s not only good for themselves, but also for others.

Cigarette smoking causes some problems of physical health to people. Lung cancer is a kind of frequent problems of physical health. According to the survey, “The risk of dying from lung cancer is more than 22 times higher among males who smoke cigarettes and approximately 12 times higher among females who smoke cigarettes compared with never smokers.” (Hays, R. D., Smith, A., Reeve, B. B., Spritzer, K. L., Marcus, S. E., & Clauser, S. B. 2008). Obviously, smokers get lung cancer more easily than non-smoker. As we know, lung cancer is a serious disease and still does not have efficient treatments because of limited medical level. Thus, most patients died in great pain. For example, patients always vomit blood when they have lung cancer. At the same time, patients feel ache all over due to spread of cancer cells in the body. In addition, Cigarette smoking can also cause sore throat, stained teeth and inappetence, etc. Therefore, Smoking is really bad for people’s physical health. Cigarette smoking also causes mental health problems. Depression, for instance, “has previously been shown to be associated with an increased prevalence of depression in early adulthood, higher comorbidity levels of poor mental health and poorer health-related quality of life, although little data are available for the elderly population. Research shows that depression and anxiety are common among smokers, but the direction of causality is still contentious”. (Cassidy, K., Kotynia-English, R., Acres, J., Flicker, L., Lautenschlager, N. T., & Almeida, O. P. 2004) So, smokers are more likely to fall into depression than non-smokers. Many people do not realize the importance of mental health, while in fact people’s mental health is as important as people’s physical health. Some smokers with depression choose to commit suicide as a way of escapism during bad times, which is a negative example. Some smokers relax through smoking while it increases the risk of getting depression, creating a vicious circle. Moreover, cigarette smoking results in obsession, manic, and paranoea and so on. Thus, smoking is harmful for people’s mental health. Cigarette smoking is one of the risk factors of heart disease. Advises Sharonne Hayes, M.D., a cardiologist and director of the Women's Heart Clinic at Mayo Clinic, Rochesterr said, "If you smoke, quit, that's the most powerful, preventable risk factor for heart disease." ( 《5 strategies to keep your Heart Healthy》 ) It is obvious that smoking is bad for people’s heart. Heart disease is really painful; it feels like the heart is being stabbed with a knife when people have this kind of disease. Heart disease belongs to chronic disease which means that people have to take medicines often. It is really dangerous when a person experience a heart attack; medicines are needed for the patient as soon as possible. At the same time, the person must get treatments quickly. Smokers get heart disease more easily than non-smoker, they should realize the harm of heart disease and learn to give up smoking.

Summary:

On the whole, smoking is extremely harmful and does no good. Cigarette smoking causes many diseases, such as lung cancer, depression, heart disease and so on. It is not only bad for people’s physical health, but also bad for people’s mental health. For people’s own health and the healthy of others, people should leran to give up smoking.

Reference:

1. Hays, R. D., Smith, A., Reeve, B. B., Spritzer, K. L., Marcus, S. E., & Clauser, S. B. (2008). 《Cigarette Smoking and Health-Related Quality of Life in Medicare Beneficiaries》

2. Sloan, F. A., Smith, V., & Taylor, D. H. (2003). Smoking puzzle: information, risk perception, and choice. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

3. Cassidy, K., Kotynia-English, R., Acres, J., Flicker, L., Lautenschlager, N. T., & Almeida, O. P. (2004). 《Association between lifestyle factors and mental health measures among community-dwelling older women.》

4. 《5 strategies to keep your Heart Healthy》