Are Your Children Smoking

Are Your Children Smoking?
By Benson Yeung

Horrifying Numbers About Smoking In The US That Every Parent Or Teen Should Know.

*4 in 5 adult smokers started smoking before or when they turned seventeen.

*7 in 10 adolescent smokers wish they have never started smoking.

*3 in 4 adolescent daily smokers who think they will not smoke in five years are still smoking five to six years later.

*7 in 10 high school students have tried cigarette smoking.

*1 in 3 high school students are current cigarette smokers.

*1 in 5 male high school students between the age of 12 and 17 have used some form of spit tobacco.

*1 in 5 high school students have smoked cigars and cigarillos on at least one of the past 30 days.

*1 in 17 middle school students have smoked cigars and cigarillos on at least one of the past 30 days.

*1 in 7 high school students currently use chewing tobacco or snuff

*Every day in the US, over 6000 teenagers try their first cigarette, half of them become daily smokers.

What are the implications of these numbers?

The younger someone starts smoking cigarettes, the more likely he / she is to become strongly addicted to nicotine, and the higher his / her risk of lung cancer and other smoking related illnesses.These include cancers in other locations of the body such as voice box, lip, tongue, mouth, throat, oesophagus. Smoking also contributes to development of some of these cancers: bladder, pancreas, uterus, cervix, kidney, stomach, liver and large bowel. Smoking also causes most of the heart diseases and strokes in adults, and shortness of breath, reduced lung function and tolerance to exercise in youth. Furthermore, young people who smoke often participate less in school sports and have lower self-image. This in turn can lead to the use of other drugs, getting in fights, carrying of weapons, depression and attempted suicides.

Where to get help?
Nicotine Anonymous operates in many communities and holds regular meetings. Attendance is free.
American Cancer Society offers telephone services to help smokers. They can be reached at 800-ACS-2345.

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Welcome to Keep Your Child Healthy

Dear reader,
I have been blogging and engaged in online publishing for a year now. I am now ready to come up with this new blog to serve you better. On top of my own posts, here you'll find writing and tips from other qualified medical practitioners. Some of them are freely sharing what they want to talk about. Others have had their arms twisted by your web-master (me) to churn out page after page of useful information.

All this is happening for this one particular purpose:
better health tips -> better knowledge about health -> better health habits -> better health

I should probably add that this blog also exists for my wish to involve similar minded physicians to build something bigger and better than my own blog. You can be reassured that all the articles you read here are written by medically qualified doctors and edited by myself, a specialist surgeon and an experienced online publisher.

Disclaimer:
Where as all effort is taken to ascertain the accuracy of the information provided here, the writers and publisher cannot be held legally responsible for the reader's loss in health in any form as a result of his / her personal application of this information.