Smoking

[lost_in_this_world]

I started smoking and I don't want to. but its not that easy in the culinary world and everyone smokes where I am.

[CatherineM]

Same thing happened to my son when he went into the Navy. He had to find something else to do on breaks. They couldn't smoke in the kitchen obviously, but that's what they did when hanging out outside. He got one of those video games, and it took up both hands. He got some second hand smoke around his buddies, but didn't pick it up himself. They'd reach into their pockets for smokes and lighters, and he'd reach for his game. Sometimes he'd watch a movie on it, but he said the games were better because he had to use his hands actively.

[T-Bone _]

ALL the cool kids smoke.

[Veridicus]

[quote name='lost_in_this_world' date='21 October 2009 - 09:34 AM' timestamp='1256135695' post='1988964']
I started smoking and I don't want to. but its not that easy in the culinary world and everyone smokes where I am.
[/quote]

Yeah that smells of elderberries. Restaurants are the worst. When I was in high school I worked at a sit-down restaurant where most of the staff were 20 to 30 year olds that had worked there since they dropped out of school. Everyone one of them smoked. I mean every single one except me and another student. The smokers got to take extra breaks. I didn't take any breaks because the breakroom was so horribly smokey. And I got caught just standing back there talking I would get ragged on. That place was really set up for its employees to pick up the habit. Pray, pick a quit date, and stick to it while praying more.

[dominicansoul]

my granddad smoked, drank hard liquor, was so mean he took down a raging bull with his bare hands, and beat up a whole bunch of people in his life time, breaking a few of his own bones and getting his head whacked with a two-by-four...

he lived to be 99 years old...with no health complications, old age did him in...

so, i have no problem with you smoking...but, you probably have to add all that other stuff in if you want to live to be 99...

[Nihil Obstat]

Is it possible to get addicted on enough second hand smoke?

[T-Bone _]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' date='21 October 2009 - 11:21 AM' timestamp='1256145664' post='1989054']
Is it possible to get addicted on enough second hand smoke?
[/quote]

I think it is. Although second hand would be easier to quit, as you don't have the need to do something with your hands.

[aalpha1989]

Are you chain smoking?

Smoking in moderation is not a sin. It's like eating chocolate cake; if you aren't doing it enough to lead to real health complications there's no problem, it's just a luxury. If you're chain smoking there's a problem (but chain smokers don't generally develop lung problems until at least 20 years of chain smoking).

[Jesus_lol]

well, leprosy takes a good 20 years to show up, but at that point you are royally screwed. not exactly a point in its favour.

[quote name='dominicansoul' date='21 October 2009 - 11:20 AM' timestamp='1256145613' post='1989053']
mygranddad smoked, drank hard liquor, was so mean he took down a ragingbull with his bare hands, and beat up a whole bunch of people in hislife time, breaking a few of his own bones and getting his head whackedwith a two-by-four...

he lived to be 99 years old...with no health complications, old age did him in...

so, i have no problem with you smoking...but, you probably have to add all that other stuff in if you want to live to be 99...
[/quote]

i also wanted to note that this post is awesome.





some people have crazy immune systems and could abuse their bodies as much as they want and still outlive most people. but a good rule to follow, if you haven't personally defeated a polar bear in hand to hand combat, you are not awesome enough to get away with smoking.

Edited October 21, 2009 by Jesus_lol

[aalpha1989]

The thing is, you have to have been chain smoking for all twenty years. If you stop your lungs start to regenerate and you're totally fine. Smoking definitely decreases lung capacity, but that is really the only noticable symptom, and even that goes away when you quit.

[Jesus_lol]

im pretty sure that info there is false aalpha. unless you count having your lungs filled up with cancer as a "reduction in lung capacity"

[aalpha1989]

[quote name='aalpha1989' date='21 October 2009 - 02:12 PM' timestamp='1256148728' post='1989080']
(but chain smokers don't generally develop lung problems until at least 20 years of chain smoking).
[/quote]

When I said this I was referring to lung cancer, among other things. Lung cancer cannot and will not develop if one smokes in moderation.

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='aalpha1989' date='21 October 2009 - 01:26 PM' timestamp='1256149597' post='1989089']
When I said this I was referring to lung cancer, among other things. Lung cancer cannot and will not develop if one smokes in moderation.
[/quote]
Aren't risks somewhat proportionally increased, even smoking in moderation?

[aalpha1989]

If one smokes in moderation (meaning socially... not chain smoking and not becoming addicted) then, no, risks are not significantly increased.

But really everyone should just smoke pipes, cause they're awesome and you don't inhale them.

Edited October 21, 2009 by aalpha1989

[Jesus_lol]

also cigars, always loved the smell and taste of a good cigar. no inhaling there. however over use can get you all sorts of mouth cancer, teeth staining, etc.

[picchick]

No matter how you look at it, smoking is not good for your body. The risks are significantly raised when one starts to smoke.

Smoking in moderation may not be a sin, but it does not mean it is healthy. To compare it to chocolate cake is giving the wrong impression. Eating chocolate cake has its fat and whatnot but it does not have the same effects on your body as does smoking.

[url="http://www.quitsmokingsupport.com/whatsinit.htm"]http://www.quitsmokingsupport.com/whatsinit.htm[/url]

Here is a list of things in a cigarette.

Even in healthy people, it could raise blood pressure, decrease smell and taste sensations and addiction. Why would you want to wait 20 years for something to happen? Smoking in moderation will not stop emphysema or lung cancer. Those diseases do not differentiate between chain and moderate smokers.

[Veridicus]

[quote name='aalpha1989' date='21 October 2009 - 01:12 PM' timestamp='1256148728' post='1989080']
Are you chain smoking?

Smoking in moderation is not a sin. It's like eating chocolate cake; if you aren't doing it enough to lead to real health complications there's no problem, it's just a luxury. If you're chain smoking there's a problem (but chain smokers don't generally develop lung problems until at least 20 years of chain smoking).
[/quote]

It's not exactly like eating cake. It would be impossible for a single piece of cake to give you atherosclerosis, diabetes, etc. Smoking a single cigarette can give you cancer (although it is a [b][i]mininscule[/i][/b]probability). Cancer is all about carcinogens hitting the right nucleotide base pair at the right time and then not being repaired before cell division. It's physics. Smokers don't generally get cancer until later in life because the genetic mutations caused by smoking carcinogens are typically not in oncogenic genes...it's just a matter of time before this happens and it could happen with very little carcinogen exposure or you could be expoded for 100years and not get cancer. It is also important to realize that lung cancer is not the only cancer positively correlated with smoking. Bladder cancer, mouth cancer, etc. are also linked. The COPD and cardiovascular symptoms of smoking are far more likely to occur than the lung cancer...and these effects are more like eating cake.

Addictive substances like nicotine physiologically change the neuronal connections in specific regions of your brain.

In a spiritual sense, I would personally try to distance myself from anything that limits the strength of my will. It is possible to smoke an occasional cigarette without getting addicted...but the vast majority of smokers are addicted. I would not want to be any more attached to unhealthy 'things' than I had to be. I would never want to have to take a break from reading a theology book so I could go take care of an addiction/compulsion on the back porch of my apartment.


Just some thoughts.

[Jesus_lol]

considering its supposed to be as addictive as heroin, and as hard to quit... that there should be a warning sign.
it has virtually no positive benefits, horribly unhealthy, causes cancer, is unattractive and will deteriorate your body, is nowadays very uncool, and happens to be ridiculously expensive.

[virginiancatholic]

Someone's grandfather smoked and lived to be 99. My grandmother smoked, worked a great deal of her life, brought up 10 children, and was never sick a day in her life until she wound up on a ventilator for the last 3 years of her life, unable to move from her bed and sounding like Darth Vadar the whole time. Her mother lived to be 96...she lived to be only 76. Watching someone die because they cannot breathe is frightening and painful for your family and you kinda owe them something.

Also, in response to Alpha's post, you can certainly develop lung cancer and other lung related problems even if you smoke only a little or receive second hand smoke...which is why they are now telling pregnant women and children to avoid second hand smoke.

Addictions are always dangerous and often excessively easy to fall into. Be careful.

Edited October 21, 2009 by virginiancatholic

[aalpha1989]

I do have studies (by the American Cancer Society, no less) I could cite saying that moderate smoking and second hand smoke do not significantly increase risks of any health problems, but I don't really see the point. It's kind of a common sense issue.

One cigarette could give you cancer? I actually laughed out loud... I know you said miniscule, but still... can't happen.

I know people who smoke cigarettes socially (not me, I smoke a pipe), and they definitely don't take a break from reading theology to go fulfill an addiction. As a matter of fact they never go out of their way to smoke. They just have a cigarette when they're out with friends. To quote G.K. Chesterton...

"Americans are the people who describe their use of alcohol and tobacco as vices."

Still true today.

Picchic did have a point about the cardiovascular conditions, but, again, that only happens if one is smoking immoderately. Moderation means "not too much, not too little". If you are smoking so much that it affects your heart rate permanently then you are smoking too much. If you have on occasional cigarette with friends, there's no problem. That's what moderation is.

It is accurate to compare one cigarette to one slice of cake. Both are technically "bad" for you... if you indulged yourself in either immoderately you'd die from resulting health complications... but it is not a sin to indulge yourself every once in a while.