HOW TO PREVENT SMOKING IN YOUTH AND ADULTS? - ARTE - 2024

To prevent smoking, it is important to avoid the first uses or, at least, to avoid that the first experimentations with tobacco do not go away and do not become an addiction.

Today, tobacco use is a serious public health problem. Since the 1960s, the dangers that this drug reports on the state of health have been known and exhaustively considered. However, at present the consumption of tobacco is highly widespread.

In this sense, preventive techniques and interventions take on special importance, since due to the acceptance that tobacco has in society, it is necessary to carry out a series of actions that enable people to reject tobacco use.

These preventive interventions are mainly focused on adolescence and early adulthood, since it is at these ages that most individuals begin to experiment with this drug.

A large part of young people who start smoking will end up consuming regularly and will develop addiction to this substance. However, if tobacco is not consumed during these ages, the probability of ending up as a regular smoker is greatly reduced. It is much better to be safe than trying to quit smoking.

For this reason, today there is a certain consensus that the target population in which preventive interventions should be carried out are made up of young people and adolescents.

The importance of preventing smoking

Tobacco use is a much higher public health problem than people think. In fact, smoking has been established in society for many years, so the consumption of this substance has been widespread for decades.

However, unlike what happened years ago, today the dangers and consequences of smoking are well known. According to the WHO, smoking would be the leading preventable cause of death and disease with more than five million deaths annually.

A study carried out in 2000 estimated how smoking could constitute 20% of annual deaths in Europe. Another national study estimated that the mortality caused by tobacco in Spain could rise to 55,000 deaths annually (16% of total mortality).

These data may seem very alarming, however, the prevalence of smoking has not yet been reduced, and people continue to smoke despite the potential consequences of tobacco use.

How to prevent smoking?

If you were to land on earth right now, you didn't know anything about tobacco and you finished reading what we have discussed so far, it would most likely not even cross your mind to light a cigarette.

However, in our society this does not work like that, since the number of people who end up using tobacco is very high.

This fact is due to two main factors: on the one hand, the lack of awareness of society regarding the dangers of smoking and on the other, the clear addictive component that tobacco has.

In this way, people, especially young people and adolescents, can begin to experiment with tobacco without being aware of the repercussions of smoking and without finding clear prohibitions that restrict tobacco use.

The other important factor that explains smoking is the high addiction that this substance presents. A person can experiment with tobacco when they are young, with the sole objective of knowing what it is or what it feels like to smoke a cigarette.

However, you will very surely not know that these first consumptions can become an addiction to tobacco, which will appear long before you want to realize it.

Therefore, to prevent smoking it is important to avoid the first uses or, at least, to avoid that the first experimentations with tobacco do not go further and do not become an addiction. How can we do this?

1- Report

The first fundamental point for any preventive intervention is to inform. There is some knowledge in society that tobacco use is harmful to health, but this knowledge is often vague or inconsistent.

"Yes, tobacco can cause cancer or make you tired sooner…"

This phrase will be known to everyone from a young age, now, is it enough to know this about tobacco to be aware that you should not smoke?

Probably not, since if this were the case, it would not be explained that today there are so many people who smoke and so many young people who are starting to do so.

Thus, providing information to young people about the real impact of tobacco on the body and the diseases that it causes, the rates of death it causes and the deterioration it causes in the body is vital to prevent smoking.

2- Psychoeducation

The second step that must be taken is to "psychoeducate", that is, to provide information about the psychological qualities of tobacco use.

This second point is especially relevant for individuals to know the addictive potential of tobacco and acquire greater respect for smoking. In fact, if only the information in the previous section is provided, the risk of ending up smoking still exists.

This happens because when explaining the characteristics of tobacco, one should not lie, so it will be specified that the consequences or diseases caused by tobacco appear in the long term.

Thus, when faced with this type of information, a young person can automatically develop the thought: "If I smoke a couple of cigarettes now, nothing will happen", "I'll stop doing it later and I'll have no problem."

Faced with this thought, an adolescent may start smoking from time to time, being convinced that it does so sporadically and temporarily but, when he wants to realize it, he will have created a clear addiction to tobacco.

Thus, it is especially helpful to provide basic knowledge about addictions, the addictive potential of tobacco, and what happens to a person when they start to smoke repeatedly.

3- Introduce the reasoning

Introducing the reasoning refers to leaving space for young people so that they themselves can value and judge the fact of smoking.

If information is provided in a restrictive way, commenting on terms and data in a rigid way and with the sole objective of "scaring" or prohibiting consumption in adolescents, they may adopt a rebellious response and do the opposite of what they are told.

This fact could be comparable to when a young person is told that he must study. He knows perfectly well that he should do it but, when imposed, he does the opposite as a sign of autonomy and rebellion.

Therefore, it is important to take into account the opinion of young people and adolescents about tobacco and what is stated in the informative content.

Through opinion, individuals can begin to reason and elaborate the information received. The options for rejection of the aforementioned will decrease, and it will be more likely that a clear rejection of tobacco will appear in the conclusion drawn by the young people.

4- Motivate not to smoke

As we have seen, the fact of informing is not enough since if a person wants to smoke, no matter how much they know that it is harmful to their health, they will end up lighting a cigarette.

Given this, it is very convenient to motivate the fact of not smoking in the same way that you can motivate yourself to perform any other action.

Society is used to motivating people to do things but very little not to do them, and often the latter are even more relevant.

Given this, finding reasons and objectives to meet through the absence of tobacco is essential to prevent its consumption.

5- Support by example

Unfortunately, supporting by example is something that many older adults cannot do towards younger children, as many adults use tobacco.

However, it is very important that the person in charge of carrying out the smoking prevention interventions (be it a teacher, father, mother, etc.) can lead by example and, therefore, not smoke.

Otherwise, all of the above may lose its value and cause no preventive effect but rather the opposite.

6- Instruct positive values ​​towards life

Instructing positive values ​​towards life, emphasizing the good aspects of living and the need to take care of health and value the life that one has is very positive to prevent smoking.

In fact, smoking can be interpreted as self-destructive or intentionally damaging to one's own health.

In this way, people who have positive values ​​towards life and value both their health and the very fact of living, will have greater mechanisms to avoid smoking and interpret tobacco as something highly harmful.

7- Perform physical activity

Carrying out physical activity, promoting healthy activities and adopting healthy lifestyles are the best way to avoid smoking.

In fact, a young person who practices sports or physical activity frequently, is motivated by their sports practice, and enjoys taking care of their physique and fitness, will surely refuse to light a cigarette.

In addition, having a healthy lifestyle, eating well, having an organized life and valuing physical health and taking care of oneself are especially relevant aspects to avoid tobacco use.

8- Teach to reject

Finally, another important strategy to prevent smoking is teaching people to say no. All of the above techniques may not be effective if, in a moment of social pressure, the young person is unable to refuse cigarettes and ends up using tobacco.

Thus, teaching to reject is a basic skill for everyone, not only to prevent smoking, but for proper intra and interpersonal development.

However, emotional education has not yet been well established in the educational systems of our society, so to prevent tobacco consumption it may be important to pay special attention to the person's capacities to reject and say no.

Consequences of tobacco

Tobacco is characterized by not causing diseases or important alterations in the short or medium term. Unlike other substances that can cause negative consequences quickly, tobacco requires a longer consumption to be highly harmful to health.

Regarding the long-term consequences, tobacco is associated with three main diseases: respiratory diseases, cancer and diseases linked to the circulatory system.

Of all of them, the one that seems to be the most important is the development of lung cancer. Cancer is not caused by tobacco itself, as it is generated by the body itself.

However, when the body metabolizes used tobacco, carcinogenic enzymes are activated, so smoking severely increases the risk of cancer. In addition, cigarettes often contain carcinogenic components such as tar, so smoking is very dangerous to get lung cancer.

In fact, the WHO estimates that tobacco use is responsible for 90% of deaths caused by lung cancer.

Another disease closely related to tobacco is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), due to the combustion that occurs when smoking.

The WHO estimates that smoking can explain 95% of the cases of mortality caused by COPD, so this disease could not be fatal if it were not accompanied by tobacco use.

Finally, tobacco acts as a vasoconstrictor throughout the body (except for the head), so its consumption can cause a large number of cardiovascular disorders.

References

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