
Did You Know?
About Tobacco
Tobacco can be smoked, chewed, dipped, and snuffed. All of these forms
of tobacco use are dangerous and can affect your health.
Nicotine, the substance found in cigarettes and other tobacco products
is highly addictive. Research shows that the nicotine in tobacco is just
as addictive as other drugs such as cocaine or heroin.
Nicotine is both a stimulant and a depressant. That means at first,
it will increase your heart rate and make you feel more alert (similar
to the effects of caffeine found in coffee and cola). Then it can cause
you to crash, feel tired and depressed. Feeling down and tired makes you
crave another cigarette to feel alert again, creating an addictive cycle.
Tobacco Fast Facts
- Girls and young women who are physically active or involved in sports
are less likely to use tobacco.
- Physical activity is an ideal substitute for tobacco use. It is a
healthier means to address many of the reasons why youth start smoking
such as curing boredom, maintaining a healthy weight and managing stress.
Physical activity also helps build self-esteem and foster positive social
connections.
- Each day, between 82,000 and 99,000 young people around the world
start smoking.
- Approximately 19.5 % of girls and young women (grades 6-9) have tried
tobacco.
- Approximately 48 % of girls and young women (grades 10-12) have tried
tobacco.
- Almost 20% of Canadian teenagers (age 12-19) currently smoke either
daily or occasionally.
- Roughly 75 % of adolescent females report obtaining their cigarettes
from social sources (friends, family etc.) versus 60 % for males, who
tend to buy cigarettes directly through retail outlets.
- Youth smokers make more attempts to quit smoking than adult smokers.
- Smoking rates for youth climbed in the early 1990s, but have been
slowly declining. In other words, if you stay tobacco-free or quit now,
you’ll be in good company.
- Most people who become smokers first take up smoking in their teens.
One of the major reasons teens start to smoke is peer influence. Over
70% of teens say that having friends who smoke and/or peer pressure
is the reason they started smoking. Other reasons why teens say they
started smoking:
- “My parents smoke.”
- “I just wanted to try it.”
- “Smoking keeps my weight down.”
- “It gives me something to do when I hang out with my friends.”
Sources:
Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sports and Physical
Activity. (n.d.). Active & Free: Young women, physical activity
and tobacco. Retrieved from http://www.caaws.ca/activeandfree/e/index.cfm
Canadian Lung Association. (n.d.). Teens and smoking. Retrieved from
http://www.lung.ca/protect-protegez/tobacco-tabagisme/facts-faits/teens-ados_e.php
Health Canada. (2010). Summary of Results of the 2008-09 Youth Smoking
Survey. Retrieved from http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hc-ps/tobac-tabac/research-recherche/stat/_survey-sondage_2008-2009/result-eng.php
Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical
Activity
N202 - 801 King Edward Avenue
Ottawa, ON, Canada K1N 6N5
Phone: 613-562-5667
Fax: 613-562-5668
www.caaws.ca
|