“Smoking or health – you choose!” is the slogan of the World Health Organization and every conscious person. World No- Tobacco Day was established by WHO in 1988 and this action is held annually on May 31. The main goal is to draw attention to the tobacco epidemic and the deadly consequences that overtake smokers.
Oncologists first started talking about the harmful effects of smoking in 1988, noting the increasing mortality of heavy smokers from lung cancer. Concerned about this problem, experts began to offer tobacco users to spend one day without tobacco, free from addiction. This proposal was the first step in the fight against the harmful effects of tobacco.
As a result of a survey conducted by Rosstat in 2019, it was revealed that 24.2% of residents over the age of 15 suffer from addiction in Russia, which is 29.3 million people. According to WHO – 28.3% of Russians (34.2 million inhabitants), VTSIOM indicates 33% of smokers in Russia. At the same time, on average there are 4 times more smokers among men than women.
Everyone knows that tobacco smoke contains more than 30 toxic substances that negatively affect the human body:
– smokers are much more likely to develop myocardial infarction, stroke, peripheral vascular disease and the probability of developing these diseases increases in proportion to the number of cigarettes smoked, and the chances of a positive outcome of the disease are several times less than in people who are free from the habit;
– among people who use nicotine, mortality from cardiovascular diseases is 2 times higher;
– smoking can trigger the oncological process in any “weak” organ: bladder, blood, cervix, intestines, esophagus, kidneys and ureters, larynx, liver, mouth, pancreas, stomach, trachea, bronchus and lungs.
Tobacco addiction, as a rule, consists of two components: physical and psychological.
The physical component is caused by the specific action of nicotine, which disrupts metabolic processes in the brain in such a way that quitting smoking leads to the development of a painful condition (decreased mood, irritability, impaired concentration, a strong desire to smoke, increased appetite, etc.).
The psychological component is manifested by mental and behavioral stereotypes that cause an unconscious and uncontrolled desire to smoke. To eliminate the psychological component of tobacco addiction, psychotherapeutic correction is recommended. In the presence of concomitant neurotic, depressive disorders that make it difficult to quit smoking, medications are additionally prescribed.
Prevention of smoking is an urgent problem all over the world today. The basics of promoting a healthy lifestyle, according to the staff of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychosomatics, should be formed from a young age, namely within the walls of schools and other educational organizations.
The passion for smoking, as well as other bad habits and occupations, weakens if the child’s leisure is properly organized, idleness is excluded, he is fond of art, science, sports and is constantly enriched spiritually, intellectually, physically.
The fight against smoking should be started from school age, using various methods for this (conversations, lectures, films, posters) in order to develop a negative attitude towards smoking in the younger generation. It is important to actively carry out anti-advertising of smoking and advertise a healthy lifestyle. It is necessary to involve parents and various public organizations in this work.
MAY 31 – WORLD NO -TOBACCO DAY
