Smoking Kills

We have been told countless of times that smoking is a huge enemy to man. But how wicked is this enemy one would ask? This question is carefully answered on every cigarette pack you buy from any shop in Nigeria; “The Federal Ministry of Health warns that smokers are liable to die young.” This shows that cigarette is the kind of enemy with ‘destruction’ written on its forehead. 

Some persons will say, pack well jor, because to them something must kill a man. These set of people draw inspiration from those who have smoked all their life and still enjoy longevity without any respiratory disease or even lung cancer. Well, as a matter of fact I have also seen some very old men who have been smokers all their lives and are still thriving in good health, at least outwardly. But that is a case of 1 out of 50 smokers.

A typical example was a famous American comedian, George Burns. This man lived up to 100 years even though he was a chain smoker. In fact at some point he said: "I smoke ten to fifteen cigars a day..."  But, this is a rare case. 

George Burns

Research has shown that on average, smokers die twelve years sooner than non-smokers.

Huh, now that’s scary! That's more than a decade! It means life for smokers is more than ten percent shorter than for non-smokers. This is a very big waste.

Am I just trying to scare you or is there an iota of truth in what you and I are discussing? It is as true as truth itself.

Looking for a sure way to prevent that imminent disease or death; there is nothing more potent than throwing that stick of cigarette in the trash can. Cigarette smoking is a risk factor to majorly all the leading causes of death globally. It is a major share holder in stroke, cancer (cancers of the throat, mouth, nasal cavity, oesophagus, stomach, kidney, pancreas, bladder and cervix), ischemic heart diseases (heart attacks and related artery disease), chronic lung diseases and lung cancer, just name them.

Dangers of smoking

According to research, People who smoke are up to six times more likely to suffer a heart attack than non-smokers, and the risk increases with the number of cigarettes smoked. Cigarette smoking causes an estimated 443,000 deaths each year, including an approximately 49,000 deaths due to exposure to second-hand smoke. (Read about second-hand smoking her).

The chance that a young person will live up to 80 is about 70% for non-smokers but only 35% for smokers. This means that a female smoker loss about 11 years while her male counterpart losses about 12 years of his life compared to a non-smoker. Sadly enough, most of our young people pride themselves in this habit and this means that there’s a problem.

In a research, the Vice President Emeritus, Epidemiology and Surveillance Research, American Cancer Society, Dr Micheal Thun, and his colleague, Dr. Jha made some salient observations about smokers I would want to share with you. Here are what they said:

1. Deaths from tobacco smoking continue to increase among women because women who smoke now smoke as much as men do. 
2. Death from all causes is at least 3 times higher for smokers than for non-smokers with at least  two thirds of all deaths in smokers directly related to smoking.
3. The rate of death from chronic lung disease (COPD) is rising among both men and women. They said that this rise in incidence is related to the changes in cigarettes over the years that encourage deeper inhalation; consequently delivering more toxins to the deep, peripheral regions of the lungs - the alveolar or air sacs.

Enough said. If you would take my advice, quit puffing that cigar. If you are a smoker in your late thirties stop the habit now and eliminate your chances of singing your last “goodbye world...” earlier than necessary.

 Now let’s conclude with this little maths.

QST: If Jamzu spends 5hrs each day smoking for 40yrs, how many hours did he spend smoking?

(Soln)

This just reminded me of those days in secondary school.

ASN: In one year Jamzu spent 1680 hrs smoking

In 40yrs, he spent 67200hrs smoking.

This is equivalent to 7years.

This means that in his 40yrs of life, Kamzu dedicated 7yrs for smoking. 

That was an example, now solve this...

QST: If Sisi Rainbow smokes a packet of cigarette each day for 40yrs, how many packets of cigarette would she have smoked? Find the equivalent amount in naira.