Before taking a puff, a drink or a shot – it is your decision whether you would like to make a healthy choice or go the unhealthy path. Making a healthy choice can be hard because of the pressure from your peers and the need to de-stress .
Are you willing to put your health at stake for a few minutes of fun and companionship?
Learning and understanding the health hazards of drugs, cigarettes and alcohol can help one make informed choices about your health.
The words ‘ SMOKING IS INJURIOUS TO HEALTH’ is written in bold on cigarette packets, movie halls and other public places. These are warnings that serve as reminders to the public about the hazards of smoking.
Nicotine, a highly addictive substance, is the main culprit in cigarettes and other forms of tobacco like E-cigarettes and shisha.
Do you know that nicotine enters your brain within 10 seconds of entering your body?
Nicotine is a drug that affects many parts of your body including your heart. Over time, a smoker’s body and brain gets used to receiving a steady and regular dose of nicotine. Their body will be able to build up a high tolerance to this drug so they will need to increase their frequency of smoking to keep up with this resistance. That is what leads to addiction. When regular smokers stop smoking they are sure to have withdrawal symptoms which include feelings of depression, trouble sleeping and feeling restless or jumpy. These withdrawal symptoms are the body’s craving for the drug that it has been deprived of.
For some people consuming alcohol is part of their daily routine and for others it is simply because they enjoy the taste among many other reasons. People generally tend to consume alcohol as a tool to socialise with their peers and companions during parties and at other times as a means to relieve stress. Being under the influence of alcohol causes you to lose your consciousness and gives you a false sense of being carefree and brave. For the younger crowd that mostly includes teens and college students, it is mostly about their curiosity to taste and experience the feeling of getting drunk. Young people often fall into the pressures of their peers and decide to join their friends for a drink so that they are not the odd one out. A fun evening with friends and alcohol can slowly and steadily become a habit that one cannot get rid of easily.
The value that a person attaches to using drugs is strongly influenced by the community in which the person lives. Drugs are commonly used by teenagers. The addicts are usually depressed and lacking positive human contact to sustain happiness that they resort to drugs in order to escape reality, some use it as a means for a pleasurable experience while others use it because they are curious to know how it feels. Peer pressure is once again another reason to fall into the trap of drug addiction.
We, the students at schools, are in a very powerful position to eradicate or at least reduce the serious problem of smoking and tobacco use.
Studies have shown that 90% of adult smokers begin smoking at or before the age of 18. Considering that cigarette smoking is at the epitome of all things cool and with easy access to cigarettes, the young generation finds smoking to be the easiest means of addiction. However, today schools in Dubai are encouraging students to preach smoking to be a hazard and not a ‘cool’ habit in order to ensure that students in the UAE do not fall into the trap of peer pressure and pick up this habit. Also selling any tobacco product to anyone below the age of 18 years is a violation of the Federal Anti-Tobacco Law, hence restricting access to easy availability of cigarettes. So as students, if we restrict the use of cigarettes and work against using them, we can easily reduce the number of nicotine addicts of the future.
While it is not harmful to occasionally consume alcohol, an occasional drink often leads to dependence and abuse. However, drug abuse must be absolutely and completely eradicated. The biggest reason why teenagers and the young generation resort to consuming alcohol or abuse drugs is due to peer pressure. It is no secret that every student must deal with peer pressure, so it takes a lot of effort and guts to have the ability to say NO! We can instead educate our peers on the ill effects of the misuse of alcohol and drugs explaining the adverse effects of its regular consumption and abuse respectively. Using skits, motivational speeches that challenge consumers, peer counselling and making posters that pictorially depict the ill effects of consumption can help consumers rethink their choices. In this world where students and adults feel pressured and stressed alike, it is important to understand that alcohol dependence and substance abuse can only make life more stressful for them as well as the people around them. As students we must abide by the law that restricts the age limit for access to alcohol and encourage others to do so too. Using social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter that will give constant reminders as well as do regular rounds of circulation of videos and messages against smoking, alcohol and substance abuse that will prevent students from following their peers and falling into the trap of addiction.
Educating the young generation of today about the adversities of smoking, alcohol and substance abuse and its long-term ill effects on our health is the best way to prevent consumers of the future. The young generation can become a standing example for the adult consumers of today. After all yoga, running marathons and relaxing with family are better ways to combat stress and relieve pressures.
As for keeping up with the pressures of your peers, keeping away from smoking, alcohol and substance abuse is the cool of this day!
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