Reasons smokers find it hard to quit despite knowing the health risks involved

With the increase in efforts geared towards enlightenment on the health risks involved in smoking, it is quite worrisome to see that the rate of people smoking is increasing rather than declining.

Contents

1. Peer pressure 2. Addiction 3. Erroneous beliefs 4. Ignorance 5. To gain confidence or get out of depression

Hardly will you pass by a street or junction without coming across people smoking, so one is forced to ask why these individuals still smoke despite knowing the health risks associated with this act.

There might be a number of factors responsible for this ranging from addiction to peer pressure, erroneous beliefs and so on.

Discussed in this article are reasons smokers find it hard to quit despite knowing the health risks involved.

1. Peer pressure

A popular adage states that a sheep that moves with dogs will eat faeces and a dog that moves with goats will eat yam peelings. This means that we all reflect the company we keep.

An individual who moves with a company of smokers will surely be influenced by them. Even if such individual has the intention of quitting the habit, the mere fact that they still move with peers who are smokers will make such a decision unachievable.

2. Addiction

An average smoker is an addict because addiction is marked by the repeated, compulsive seeking or use of a substance despite its harmful effects and unwanted consequences.

Most smokers do not find it easy to quit because they are already addicted to it and they feel not smoking in a single day might make them go haywire.

What most smokers do not know is that there will never be a perfect moment to quit smoking unless they take control of their lives in order to get the desired changes.

3. Erroneous beliefs

The reason some individuals have decided not to quit smoking in spite of knowing the health risks involved is because of some erroneous beliefs.

Such beliefs include:

The assumption is that smoking is less risky when compared to behaviours such as alcohol consumption and drug use.
Smoking helps in terminating some illnesses
Smoking makes a person bold
Smoking helps one forget one’s problem, and so on
Occasional smoking doesn’t hurt

All these beliefs and assumptions are indeed erroneous because the pleasure smokers derive from smoking is nothing to be compared to the health risks involved in smoking.

You can also read up on some myths about smoking

4. Ignorance

According to the ancient Greek philosopher, Plato, it is better to be unborn than untaught, for ignorance is the root of misfortune.

Another possible reason some individuals refuse to quit smoking is because of ignorance. They have read the phrase “smokers are liable to die young” on the packet of the cigarette countless times but still do not quit the habit.

Thus, their ignorance is that which may eventually lead to their misfortune in the nearest future.

5. To gain confidence or get out of depression

The last and not the least reason smokers refuse to quit smoking despite knowing the health risks involved is in order to gain confidence or get out of depression.

There are a lot of challenges people face on daily basis and some individuals have resorted to smoking in as a means of these challenges or in order to overcome depression.

Some others do not quit smoking because they see it as a good supply of confidence and energy on daily basis.

If you have been struggling to quit smoking, read up on effective ways of quitting smoking

Regardless of the pleasure a smoker derives from smoking, research has shown that the health risks associated with this habit outweigh the pleasure.

Quitting smoking is possible if you are determined to do so and never expect a perfect time to quit this habit because there is never going to be a perfect time.

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ways of quitting smoking

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