What caused me to stop smoking.

Although there has been a global decrease in prevalence recently, the smoking of tobacco still remains
popular. It defies reason because smokers are aware of the dangers of tobacco smoking but they
continue doing it., even when they do not enjoy it. Not a few times, progress has been made to
encourage individuals to make quit attempts. Quitters have to fight off constant urges to relapse into
smoking but with much willpower, it is possible to overcome the urge.

I had been a smoker for quite a long time. However, I decided to attempt to quit because of the
following reasons: the unpleasant smell of the tobacco smoke, social pressures, a ban on smoking at
home, cigarettes cost a lot of money, and health concern.

1. The unpleasant smell of tobacco smoke.

Cigarette smoke smells bad. It is irritating and uncomfortable. Interestingly, the smoke is so
concentrated that it lingers on the clothes and hair of the smoker for a very long time. Their breaths are
also almost permanently tainted by the smell. Not infrequently, tobacco smokers get signals from their
friends and family to smoke away from their presence. I decided to quit smoking so that I do not expose
my family and friends to the unpleasant smell of tobacco smoke.

2. Social Pressures

Social pressure can also help smokers quit the habit. The perfect example of this is influence from peer
groups. The process works in the same way individuals get influenced to smoke, albeit this time on the
positive. It is worth noting that smoking is as much a social problem as it is an individual problem.
Therefore, keeping company of non- smokers will eventually help individuals who smoke to break up
from the habit. Also, it has been proven that smoking limits the chances of individuals to get partners.
An online survey conducted by match.com and Pfizer revealed that almost 89% of the respondents
would not date smokers. Also, 51% of the respondents stated that they would be turned off if their date
took a smoke break during their date. With the fear of losing my friends, I decided to stop smoking.

3. A ban on smoking at home.

This is one of the major reasons why smokers quit smoking. It may either be formal or informal. Formal
bans take place in official environments. Informal bans exist in family and friend associations. Individuals
who want to obey the rules and to avoid strained relations with their associations get motivated by
these bans to stop smoking. At home, nobody smokes because we have an infant. As a result of that
ban, I had to stop smoking for the safety of the infant.

4. Cigarettes are expensive.

In an attempt to control cigarette smoking, many nations have imposed additional taxes on tobacco
products. This action has caused the prices of these products to rise. Statistics provided by the United
States Department of Health and Human Services, for example, revealed that lower income individuals
are more likely to make quit attempts or reduce their cigarette consumption as a result of an increase in
the prices of cigarettes. Individuals who smoke now have to spend a little more to acquire cigarettes, for
example. And the more one gets addicted to tobacco, the more cigarette one smokes. Therefore, chain
smokers end up having less money left in their pockets after satisfying their addiction. The high cost is
more clearly seen when one computes the monthly or annual expense on tobacco products. I was afraid
of exhausting all my savings on cigarettes. So, I quit smoking altogether.

5. Health concern.

Doubtlessly, smoking causes a lot of harm to the health of smokers. Much research has been done on
this subject. Tobacco smokers get predisposed to cancer, respiratory diseases, and cardiovascular
diseases. Recently, it was realized that tobacco smoking reduces fertility for both men and women.
According to the World Health Organization 2019 Report on the Tobacco Pandemic, every form of
tobacco is dangerous. Interestingly, even the least exposure time to tobacco is life threatening. Tobacco
smoking kills around 8 million each year. Of this number, over 7 million of the deaths are as a result of
direct smoking while around 1.2 million die as a result of passive smoking when they get exposed to
tobacco smoke. Statistics provided in the report provide that tobacco smoking kills half of its users. All
these harmful effects of tobacco on the health influenced my fear to continue smoking tobacco. I had to
stop.

Indeed, cessation of smoking goes a long way in decreasing the risk of individuals to develop tobacco
related illnesses and deaths. It also lessens financial burden caused as a result of expenditure on
cigarettes.
Reference

World Health Organization (2019). WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic, 2019: Offering Help to
Quit Tobacco Use.

U.S. Department of Health and Human services. (2020). Smoking Cessation: A Report of the Surgeon
General.

New Survey Reveals What Match.Com Members Think About Smoking Cigarettes and Dating. (n.d.).
(2014) Retrieved from
https://www.pfizer.com/news/pressrelease/pressreleasedetail/new_survey_reveals_what_match_com
_members_think_about_smoking_cigarettes_and_dating on June 8, 2020.