Think You’re Safe Cause You Only Smoke Socially?

Think You’re Safe Cause You Only Smoke Socially? You’re Dead Wrong!

“I only smoke when I go out, so that doesn’t count” – how often have we heard this from friends who are social smokers – people who can smoke the occasional cigarette and not get addicted. Every smoker wishes they could do that, instead of being enslaved to their cancer sticks! But don’t get too envious; studies show that even occasional smokers don’t get off scot-free as there is no “safe” level of smoking.

How Even The Occasional Cigarette Can Damage Your Health

 If you’re a smoker, you know just how much it affects your health because everyone from your aunts and uncles to your non-smoking friends and even your building watchman has warned you about it! However, people who only smoke occasionally believe that their smoking habits have a negligible impact on their health. This type of thinking is particularly dangerous because it means that occasional smokers don’t see the need to quit smoking.

Respiratory Problems

“Approximately 11% of people with respiratory problems are occasional smokers”

Smokers are obviously at a higher risk for respiratory problems – the more a person smokes the greater their risk! While regular smokers have a high risk of respiratory issues, occasional smokers too are at risk. A study on people with problems such as infections, asthma, and a chronic cough found that 26.5% were regular smokers while 11 % were occasional smokers. If you are an occasional smoker, you are also more likely to experience breathing difficulties while exercising so chuck that smoke if you want to kill it at the gym!

Reduced Fertility Levels

“Infertility studies suggest that 20% of the infertile men smoke daily while 7.8% smoke occasionally”

 There have been several studies on the effects of smoking on fertility levels and every study shows that sperm concentration and motility is significantly lower in smokers compared to non-smokers. However, recent tests suggest that smoking even one cigarette a day or less can decrease sperm concentration. One such study on infertile men showed that while 20% of the participants smoked daily, 7.8% of them smoked occasionally.

Poorer Physical, Mental, And Emotional Health

“Occasional smokers report poorer physical, emotional and mental health as well as lower vitality levels and social functioning”

You might think that social smoking has little or no effect on you, but studies show that smoking affects physical, mental, and emotional health – even if it is the occasional smoke. Studies show that occasional smokers report poorer physical, emotional and mental health as well as lower vitality levels and social functioning. Obviously smoking even that occasional cigarette just isn’t worth it, so quit already!

Early Death

“Compared to non-smokers, people who smoke less than one cigarette a day on average over their lifetime have a 64 percent higher risk of an earlier death”

Scientists estimate that a single cigarettes reduces lifespan by 11 minutes. This means that even if you have just one cigarette every Friday and Saturday night, at the end of the month, you would have cut your lifespan by over an hour! Studies show that people who smoke less than one cigarette a day on average over their lifetime have a 64 percent higher risk of an earlier death as compared to people who have never smoked.

The Slippery Slope: How Social Smoking Can Lead To Smoking Addiction

“60% of youths that smoked occasionally (at least one cigarette a month) had one or more symptoms of nicotine addiction”

 Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances known to man but it affects different people differently. Earlier it was believed that nicotine dependence is a gradual process that occurs only after a person has been smoking daily for a prolonged period. However, recent studies show that nicotine addiction can start within a few days and after just a few cigarettes. Another study showed that approximately 60% of youths that smoked occasionally (at least one cigarette a month) had one or more symptoms of nicotine addiction. Even if you only smoke occasionally, it’s possible for you to become addicted to it. At present, we do not know how readily a person can become addicted to nicotine until after they are addicted and so it’s best to just quit completely.

Even if you are a social smoker, you might still find it hard to quit completely. You can use these incredible anti-smoking creatives to motivate yourself to quit. If you are a big-picture thinker, you can read about how tobacco use threatens global health and development. You might realize suddenly that you are more addicted to your cigarettes than you realize and if that happens, you need to just quit cold turkey!