Life is precious, don’t smoke it away

A recent community-based study done by some Indian medical college students on prevalence of tobacco smoking says that reasons to smoke are mostly psychological. It further elaborates that three factors that lead young people to pick up the habit of smoking are: peer pressure, following the example of siblings and parents, and employment outside home.

The study revealed that peer influence is paramount during adolescent stages and young people with greater numbers of peers who smoke are more likely to take to the addiction themselves. The study also revealed that around 68% of current smokers think that smoking causes weight loss.

Similarly, around 32% of smokers expressed that since they were unable to cope with stress and unwelcome pressure on their mind, they just de-stressed themselves by lighting a cigarette. What was astonishing is that 92% of current smokers are well aware of the fact that smoking cigarettes or using tobacco in any form causes cancer, and yet they indulge in this life-threatening habit, why? Because they do not know a way to get out of this.

According to psychologists, most of the addicts are quite immature in nature and suffer from insecure personalities. They have a general lack of confidence due to various psychogenic problems that they face, especially those from their immediate family.

A detailed research done by behavioural scientists in the US proves meditation as an effective addiction recovery technique. It was observed that those who were taught how to meditate had lower levels of relapse and more positive outcomes after release than those who received only conventional recovery treatments. Hence it would not be difficult to recognise the value of Meditation for elimination of smoking habit and introduce this theory and practise as a subject in our education system.

There may be many people who may pose a question as to why meditation. Because it has been proved that it rewires critical pathways in the brain thereby increasing self-awareness in a person which allows him/her to focus on any number of things at a time. Remember. Calming the mind for a few minutes may provide the distance needed to make a reasonable and healthy decision about whether to light a cigarette or find a meditation centre.