Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Jennifer Benedict | It’s okay to butt out…to officially recognized the third Thursday of November as...... read more read more
Where there’s smoke, there’s more than just fire.
There’s also smoldering statistics.
Those data points indicate – according to the American Cancer Society - that cigarette smoking remains the most preventable cause of serious illness and death in the U.S.
The Great American Smokeout, annually held on the third Thursday of November, is an awareness campaign designed to help smokers ward off future health concerns by quitting their habit.
Just for the day.
“Quitting is not easy,” said Patrick W. Graves, Naval Hospital Bremerton tobacco cessation coordinator. “It’s hard for someone to give up any habit entirely. But for just today, just for this one day, a smoker can start the process. We’re here to help.”
One of the goals of the Great American Smokeout is to also remind tobacco users that their habit is not just relegated to themselves. Secondhand smoke has been proven to be impactful to others, due to the more than 4,000 chemicals - such as arsenic, formaldehyde and carbon monoxide - which are toxic and cause cancer.
“Secondhand smoke is a Class A carcinogen. That means anyone breathing in the exhaled smoke from a smoker inhales the identified cancer causing chemicals in cigarettes,” explained Graves.
Those compiled statistics aren’t just blowing smoke.
Approximately 480,000 fatalities in the U.S. every year are caused by smoking, as well as exposure to secondhand smoke.
It’s also estimated that of the nearly 612,000 people who will die in the U.S. from cancer this year alone, most of those are the result of lung and bronchus cancer. Three of every 10 cancer deaths are caused by cigarette smoking.
Graves knows his clientele. He knows smokers have heard their nicotine ingestion is not healthy. Yet many still rationalize their use.
“It’s just a social thing.” “I do it to calm my nerves.” “I only smoke on deployment.” “I want to quit but can’t quit right now because there’s too much going on in my life,”” said Graves, citing several of the pretexts he has heard over the years.
Graves affirms that the nicotine in cigarettes can have a formidable grip on many. Hence why the Great American Smokeout is designed to ask someone to not smoke for just that day.
“Nicotine is highly addictive. It’s up there in the big leagues with addictive substances like heroin, methamphetamines, cocaine and nicotine. Crazy, but it is,” exclaimed Graves.
Graves takes every chance he can to refute the notion of using any type of tobacco products. He readily realizes that quitting will take time, effort, and will power. The addictive lure is strong. He’ll engage with anyone who claims that the benefits outweigh the risks with their smoking habit.
“The benefits are a false flag, meaning people might feel like it does something that is really doesn’t do, like “calm my nerves or deal with stress.” When in actuality, the nicotine receptors in the brain have trained the individual to give the brain nicotine in response to a situation. If a smoker stops, life goes on and they actually become better managers of stress because they don’t have the stress created by the nicotine receptors,” explained Graves.
Graves also affirms that the majority of those who do smoke tried their initial cigarette well before adulthood.
“Which is why tobacco companies these days are marketing to the younger audience, especially with vaping products,” added Patricia Skinner, NHB Health Promotion and Wellness department head.
Vaping presents more cloudy concerns for healthcare officials. The inhaling and exhaling of aerosol – referred to as vape –contains highly addictive nicotine and other suspect ingredients. It’s been linked to such health issues as damaged respiratory system, weakened cardiovascular system, and high blood pressure.
Graves has been a staunch advocate on the perils of vaping - as well as e-cigarettes - use for years. Both are associated with hundreds – and counting - cases of severe lung disease, including multiple deaths.
“Vaping and e-cigarettes were invented to provide a safe alternative to cigarettes, but they are not safe,” cautioned Graves, stressing for any user to contact their doctor or medical department if they experience such symptoms as a persistent cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea, fatigue, fever, or abdominal pain. All those conditions can be attributed to vaping and e-cigarettes.
There is a slight difference between vapes and e-cigs. E-cigs are disposable or use disposable cartridges whereas vapes are refillable with a solution of the user’s choice. Yet both cartridges and vaping solution contain nicotine and other cancer-causing, harmful chemicals.
One of the newest vaping devices on the market is designed as a miniature gaming console which provides the user thousands of vapes.
“It has the sort of design to appeal to our younger population. Vaping in our schools is considered a big health, wellness and safety concern,” added Skinner, citing [yet] more statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that one in five high school students use e-cigarettes, with more than 460 e-cigarette brands on the market. There have also been 60 deaths due to vaping.
“Nicotine degrades performance, health and readiness for active duty personnel and also for our school age children,” stated Graves, specifically noting that using any nicotine product negatively impacts a person’s endurance, stamina, night vision, healing, fine motor coordination, stress management, and hydration ability.
NHB’s Tobacco Cessation program - the longest running and most successful in the Navy - has been managed clinically by Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Program counselors like Graves since 1998 when it was recognized that nicotine dependence was similar to alcohol, or any other substance and it needed to be treated as such.
“The fact that nicotine products are legal and directly attributable to so many deaths is amazing. It’s a threat to public health and it can degrade individual readiness,” said Graves.
Naturally, we'll end this with a statistic.
Over 1,000 people do stop smoking every day. That's because they've all unfortunately taken their last breath.
| Date Taken: | 11.21.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 11.22.2024 11:56 |
| Story ID: | 485951 |
| Location: | BREMERTON , WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 76 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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