What You Need To Know About Smoking Cigarettes

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Nicotine Addiction

Quitting Smoking True or False

Smokeless Tobacco Fill-in-the-blank Quiz

Second Hand Smoke

TATU Trainings

Tobacco And Your Child's Health

Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation Program

Smoking - It's No Joke

Too many teens think that smoking is cool, makes them seem grown up, or makes them fit in with the crowd. Maybe you are one of them, and it's hard to blame you. Advertisements with Joe Camel or the Marlboro Man do make smoking seem cool, but here are some facts YOU need to know. Some facts that will make the idea of cigarettes being cool go UP IN SMOKE.

Did you know:

The average age for kids to start smoking is 12 years old. Most adults who have health problems because of cigarettes started smoking when they were YOUR age.
Each day, about 3,000 kids in America try their first cigarette. Each year, half a million Americans die due to a smoking related illness. Effects of smoking can make people die up to eight years earlier than if they never smoked.
Cigarettes have more than 4,000 chemicals in them. 43 of these chemicals can cause cancer.

Results of Smoking

Joe doesn't look so cool now, does he? This picture shows him after he has been smoking for thirty years. Can you list some of the problems Joe is having because of his years of smoking?

Joe Camel

1. Wherever he goes, Joe has to have a heavy, expensive tank of oxygen with a tube leading into his nose since his lungs are so damaged. (Smoking a pack a day for a year can leave a quart of tar in your lungs.) Smoking can cause many lung diseases including emphysema, bronchitis, and even cancer.
2. Joe always has a hacking cough because of his lung damage. How cool is that?
3. Joe needs a wheelchair to go places because he gets too out of breath just from walking.
4. Joe often has to go to the hospital, where he needs fluids and medicines through a needle in his arm. Because of the damage from smoking for so many years, his body has a hard time fighting off infections. Look at his skinny arms-- not quite as muscular as when he was younger before so much damage was done.
5. Worst of all, Joe has been smoking so long that he is addicted and can't quit, even though he sees how sick he is.

Prevent Problems

What can YOU do to prevent problems with cigarettes? Remember the four D's

1. Don't start. Even if your friends say it's cool, you know that it's not. They'll believe you a few years from now when they don't make the basketball team because they get out of breath too easily.
Even if you have started smoking, there are still things you can do to stop before more damage is done to your body. The next time you get an urge to smoke, try these things:
2. Deep breathing. This helps relax you, and also imitates the puffing you used to do with cigarettes.
3. Drink plenty of water. This helps your body get rid of the nicotine and other harmful substances found in cigarettes.
4. Delay. The urge to smoke will pass within 30-60 seconds, whether you smoke a cigarette or not. In that minute, start to do something else you enjoy instead of thinking about how much you need a cigarette.

Getting Help

If you've tried to stop smoking but haven't had any luck, don't worry- you don't have to end up like Joe Camel. Most people have to try a few times before they can finally quit, and here are some numbers of programs where you can find help (Indianapolis Area):

Reach for Youth, Inc. 317-788-4451
St. Francis Hospital - Smoke Stoppers for Teens 317-782-7986
Ruth Lilly Health Education Center 317-924-0904
American Lung Association of Indiana 317-573-3900
Riley Hospital for Children 317-274-2964
Community Hospitals, Indianapolis 317-588-7653
Smokefree Indiana Central Coalition 317-541-2084
STAR Alliance 317-974-2000
Marion County Commission of Youth 317-921-1280
Smoke Free Class of 2000 317-879-4100

References

American Lung Assoication Tobacco Free Teens. "Freedom From Smoking"

Journal of the American Board of Family Practice, Volume 9, Jan-Feb 1996. A Survey of Adolescent Smoking Patterns.

North Carolina Medical Journal, Volume 56, Nov-Dec 1996 Kids and Cigarettes Preventing Kids from Smoking

Produced by The Community Education & Child Advocacy Department at Riley Hospital for Children
with generous support from Wal-Mart Associates and Sam's Club Partners.