9 | Support APC's anti-smoking campaign
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Asia Pacific College (APC) has recently developed an anti-smoking campaign that could potentially save the future, if not lives, of some of the students here in APC. It's a brilliant move considering how many Filipinos, and students in particular, are addicted to smoking.
First, let's find out why people love to smoke. Well, the reason? Nicotine. When you use tobacco products, nicotine is quickly absorbed into your bloodstream. Within 10 seconds of entering your body, the nicotine reaches your brain. It causes the brain to release adrenaline, creating a buzz of pleasure and energy. The buzz fades quickly though, and leaves you feeling tired, a little down, and wanting the buzz again. This feeling is what makes you light up the next cigarette. Since your body is able to build up a high tolerance to nicotine, you’ll need to smoke more and more cigarettes in order to get the nicotine’s pleasurable effects and prevent withdrawal symptoms. This up and down cycle repeats over and over, leading to addiction. Addiction keeps people smoking even when they want to quit. Breaking addiction is harder for some people than others. Many people need more than one try in order to quit.
The younger smokers are when they start, the more likely they are to become addicted.
But those aren't the only reasons, of course. Peer pressure. Most students, especially freshmen students, feel like they NEED to hangout with people to 'fit in'. It usually ends up with them trying to smoke and do other activities that are deemed inappropriate for their ages just so they would look cool in front of the 'cool kids'. Little do they know, that those things would be their downfall. Trust me, I have a friend (I won't name names though) that seem like he/she will follow this path of self-destruction. And it's not looking good for her. We do try to advice her but they just won't listen. I guess she's going to have to learn the hard way. But I pray not.
And that's why I'm glad that APC has started this campaign. I can only hope that more and more students finally stop smoking. Including those who smoke outside the building just because it's allowed. It relieves stress, yes. But stress is a part of life. It's better to embrace; live with it and die old than to conceal it with cigarettes and die young.
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