Women Smoking, Girls Smoking

Smoking's a hard habit to break because tobacco contains nicotine, which is highly addictive. Like heroin or other addictive drugs, the body and mind quickly become so used to the nicotine in cigarettes that a person needs to have it just to feel normal.

Some people, especially girls, start smoking because they think it may help keep their weight down. The illnesses that smoking can cause, like lung diseases or cancer, do cause weight loss - but that's not a very good way for people to fit into their clothes!

Much like the number of women who drink, the number of women who smoke has increased greatly in the last 50 years. Teenage girls are smoking at record rates and for a period of time the largest increase in the number of smokers was young women aged 17 to 19. It does not help that the tobacco industry is taking advantage of this with ad campaigns that target women.

This is bad because studies show that smoking is the contributing factor to 20% of new cancer cases and up to 25% of cancer deaths, just among women. At one point, lung cancer was expected to kill more women than breast cancer, however, now heart disease is the leading cause of death in women. In fact, smoking causes an increase in not only the risk of heart attacks, but also of strokes and other cardiovascular disorders.

If you are a mother and you smoke around your children, you are exposing them to second hand smoke, which will increase their risk of respiratory ailments and smoking while pregnant has shown to pose serious risks to the unborn. Babies of mommies that smoke tend to be smaller and weigh less at birth and don't catch up with their peers.

You also run the risk of complications during pregnancy when you smoke, such as miscarriage, premature delivery and neonatal death. The chance of having your baby die of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) can also be increased if you smoke.

Almost no smoker begins as an adult. Statistics show that about nine out of 10 tobacco users start before they're 18 years old. Some teens who smoke say they start because they think it helps them look older (it does - if yellow teeth and wrinkles are the look you want).

Others smoke because they think it helps them relax (it doesn't - the heart actually beats faster while a person's smoking). Some light up as a way to feel rebellious or to set themselves apart (which works if you want your friends to hang out someplace else while you're puffing away). Some start because their friends smoke - or just because it gives them something to do.

Staying smoke free will give you a whole lot more of everything - more energy, better performance, better looks, more money in your pocket, and, in the long run, more life to live!