This would be my first health teaching for the year in my blog.

I saw this pic in deviantart and I find it cute and amusing. Of course, it gives us a message too.

I first smoked last January 2006. I tried this sweet cigarette. It tasted good, really. But while I was puffing, I realized the effects of smoking that I have learned in one of my major subjects. It made me guilty. Since then, I never tried to puff again. My parents would kill me if they find this out.

Here are the Health Effects of Smoking among Young People that I found in this site:

• Among young people, the short-term health consequences of smoking include respiratory and nonrespiratory effects, addiction to nicotine, and the associated risk of other drug use. Long-term health consequences of youth smoking are reinforced by the fact that most young people who smoke regularly continue to smoke throughout adulthood.
  
• Cigarette smokers have a lower level of lung function than those persons who have never smoked.
  
• Smoking reduces the rate of lung growth.
  
• In adults, cigarette smoking causes heart disease and stroke. Studies have shown that early signs of these diseases can be found in adolescents who smoke.
  
• Smoking hurts young people’s physical fitness in terms of both performance and endurance—even among young people trained in competitive running.
  
• On average, someone who smokes a pack or more of cigarettes each day lives 7 years less than someone who never smoked.
  
• The resting heart rates of young adult smokers are two to three beats per minute faster than nonsmokers.
  
• Smoking at an early age increases the risk of lung cancer. For most smoking-related cancers, the risk rises as the individual continues to smoke. - This is the reason why my uncle died last year.
  
• Teenage smokers suffer from shortness of breath almost three times as often as teens who don’t smoke, and produce phlegm more than twice as often as teens who don’t smoke.
  
• Teenage smokers are more likely to have seen a doctor or other health professionals for an emotional or psychological complaint.
  
• Teens who smoke are three times more likely than nonsmokers to use alcohol, eight times more likely to use marijuana, and 22 times more likely to use cocaine. Smoking is associated with a host of other risky behaviors, such as fighting and engaging in unprotected sex.

So that’s it. Tell me, are you still going to try smoking or continue smoking?

*Credits to Kimdeal for the image.

1. toni wrote:
   January 20th, 2007 at 1:41 pm

   That image is really cute..it also brings sense.

   No to smoking! haha.
   But I don’t hate smokers. After all, it’s their own choice–my job as their friend is to remind them.

   I never tried smoking, because knowing myself..hindi ako makakatiis.
   Oh well.

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2. erised wrote:
   January 20th, 2007 at 4:23 pm

   hello! hehe. yes smoking is bad. i tried smoking once ages ago, great thing about it was i never really liked it. hahahaha. I tried yung chocolate pa and end up not liking it at all. good ano?

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3. Eja wrote:
   January 20th, 2007 at 4:24 pm

   I never had the thought of trying cigarettes even if the people around me does. Hay. It’s not that I hate them, I hate what they do. I’m just concerned about them and all you can do is reprimand them. I know I cannot change their decisions. I know smoking is bad for our health but I didn’t know it would be that BAD as I have read in this entry of yours. Hay. NO TO CIGARETTE SMOKING!

   BTW, will you allow me to put this article of yours on my web page? I’ll still credit you in any way (for letting us know about these kinds of stuff)even if you won’t allow me.

   Thanks!

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4. Shari wrote:
   January 22nd, 2007 at 2:06 pm

   Tried. Still wondering what people get from smoking, really.

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5. Dre wrote:
   January 22nd, 2007 at 3:38 pm

   Good thing I never had to deal with smoking. I just wish my dad would quit..

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6. OMGsunshine wrote:
   January 22nd, 2007 at 6:11 pm

   Teenagers pictured having a small stick on their hand, “hard-core”, out of the ordinary, “cool”. It somehow eases them out of stress but dont you think there are far more better things to do besides smoke? I cant stand people who smoke around me yet alone try to smoke myself. No to smoking, peace, love, happines, yo.

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7. Drex wrote:
   April 17th, 2007 at 6:36 am

   Ate Xy, remember me?

   I am Kenneth. Remember?
   I was “kenet.antukin.org”.

   Anyways, I’ve been looking for your blog. I just started blogging again. Hope to exchange links with you again.

   Anyways, I WILL NEVER TRY SMOKING, EVER. Ü

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8. THEA wrote:
   April 28th, 2007 at 2:12 pm

   Ang cute naman nung pic ate Xy. Ako din, nakapagtry na ko. =P kasama ko pa kuya ko nun. Grabe, sobrang ubo kaming dalawa >.< Simula nung gabing yun, sinabi ng kuya ko na hindi daw talaga sya magsosmoke dahil ang pangit naman ng lasa. >.< Tsaka, isa pa, masama talaga sa katawan, tsaka sa mga tao sa paligid mo.

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9. Anonymous wrote:
   May 7th, 2007 at 2:06 am

   My name is Ashley… I hate that “anonymous” crap… but yeah, I am Ashley.movexalong.com… yeah. I love the cartoon :D. pretty Teddy. lol. Alot of my family smokes… it’s crazy. Is it heredity or is it a “monkey see monkey do thing”? That isn’t in your list :/ hehe. comment back :).

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10. Kenneth wrote:
    May 14th, 2007 at 11:22 am

    I also heard that smokers, in a later stage, can’t even use anti-cough medicine because coughing is the only way they can remove the bacteria from their throat. And the way those old smokers cough, it’s so disgusting!

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11. ank8 wrote:
    July 29th, 2007 at 12:26 pm

    naku ate ang lungs mo!!
    ingat ingat

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