Heading out to town, whether that is for a work party or to have a night out with friends, can sometimes land you in a position where you are considering having a cigarette – even if you are not a massive smoker.
Below, providers of expert advice on quitting smoking, Nicotinell — explain why you should steer away from social smoking when you are out and about the town.
Are you a low-level or occasional smoker? Let’s have a look into what type of smoker you would be classed as. There are 3 main groups to be aware of:
1. The binge smoker — this is someone who will smoke a lot but only at certain times of the week, such as throughout the weekend.
2. The low-level smoker — this is someone who will either smoke a small number of cigarettes on a daily basis, or choose to only smoke occasionally.
3. The social smoker — this is someone who will likely smoke only when in social settings, such as at a pub or when hanging out with friends.
What Are The Risks Of Smoking Socially?
There is no safe level of smoking, even if you’re an occasional or low-level smoker. The health dangers are clear regardless of how often you’re smoking a cigarette.
iCanQuit underlined this statement and were developed by the Cancer Institute NSW, when looking at irregular smoking’s health effects.
The iCanQuit website also highlighted the fact that smokers who have between 1 and 4 cigarettes a day increase their risk of dying from lung or heart cancer by 3 times. Both light and intermittent smokers were also found to be at nearly the same risk of suffering from cardiovascular disease as those who smoked every day.
Around 39,000 people were involved in a nationally representative study that was published in the American Journal of Health Promotion which also linked health risks with social smoking.
In their research they found that 17 per cent said they were current smokers and 10% of the group classed themselves as social smokers. Regardless of the type of smoker though, around 75 per cent of the current and social smokers were found to have had high blood pressure and an estimated 54 per cent had high cholesterol. This is after the research team had adjusted for differences in factors which included demographics and obesity.
Assistant professor and lead author of clinical nursing at Ohio State University, Kate Gawlik stressed that “doctors and nurses need to educate patients that social smoking and vaping with e-cigarettes is still a major health risk and is not a long-term healthy choice”.
She also advised: “Not smoking at all is the best way to go. Even smoking in a social situation is detrimental to your cardiovascular health.”
If we split the effects had into genders, iCanQuit reported that occasional smoking males were 60 per cent more likely to die earlier than the non-smoking males. Meanwhile, females who were low-level smokers were found to typically lose between four and six years of their lives than non- smoking females.
The organization iCanQuit were keen to point out: “Even if you smoke or vape occasionally or just on weekends, you are still a smoker – and the health dangers of low-level smoking are serious and significant.”
I hope you enjoyed this blog post about the dangers of social smoking and risks when you smoke or vape tobacco products.
Interested in more articles about the dangers of smoking?
Read Related Resources:
• The Ways That Smoking Can Harm Your Appearance
• How To Continue Being A Socialite While Quitting Smoking
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