Quitting - A Good Thing?

Sue Waggoner

Professor Keene

English 1302

27 October 2003

Quitting - A Good Thing?

While some who smoke may live to die of natural causes, generally that is not the case. Smoking has a profoundly negative effect on a person's social, health, mental, and economic life. "Cigarette smoking remains the primary cause of preventable death and morbidity in the United States" (Williams). While smoking may have a few benefits, the overall negative effect on one's health and others around them greatly outweighs those small benefits and not worth the risks involved.

Smoking can be a good way to strike up a conversation, and smokers often use cigarettes as a social tool to make friends. However, it also tends to give a person bad breath and lingering bad smell, that can be extremely noticeable to people who don't smoke. Additionally, the people they hang around with, those who they take their breaks with, and the restaurants they choose affect smokers in their social lives.

Smoke

Cigarette

I took this photograph.

Smokers often miss out on conversation when they go to a nonsmoking section, having to step away for a cigarette. Many nonsmokers hate hugging, kissing, or getting close to smokers because of the way they smell. A nonsmoker or ex-smoker does not have to deal with the generally negative social attitude towards smoking (Dardis).

Smokers have a propensity to be skinnier before quitting due to the smoking lifestyle and habits caused by it, which include smoking in place of eating or drinking. Smoking is also used as a version of stress relief, which can avert harmful behavior. However, that does not help build positive personality traits, nor does it induce development of other methods to deal with stress. Smokers often become grouchy when they do not have a cigarette. "Quitting smoking regularly causes short-term after-effects,