Smoking has long been one of the most common bad habits for any human. As mentioned by Eurovap, There are a lot of factors that influence one from doing the habit aside from easy stress-reliever and peer pressure to look cool. Pollution in the cities might include tens of thousands of smoking and vape daily but it is to be noted that smoking can also be rampant in indigenous or Aboriginal communities.
Reasons for High Smoking Rates
According to the report of NSW for 2017 – 2018, Aboriginal people smokers range from ages 16 and up. The rate for these people to be serious smokers is 28.2 percent, which is around twice the rate for them to be non-smokers. For NSW, reducing that ‘serious’ number is a priority.
There can be many reasons why Aboriginal people take up smoking. Here are the following:
Smoking has become their social norm, wherein at an early stage and while still living in the community, they have to add the habit in their lifestyle.
Social disadvantages such as poverty, lack of education, and unemployment, may influence their decisions to adopt the habit.
Stress-inducing conditions such as housing situations, mental illness, and substance and alcohol abuse can enable someone to take up smoking for stress relief.
Smoking can be a gesture for grieving a loss.
Smoking can be a gesture of celebration and meant to be shared with others.
Smoking was never part of the original tradition of the Aboriginal communities. They adopted the habit of visiting foreigners hailing from progressive cities. Although a lot of people knew that the habit can destroy their health, they still do it anyway.
More than a third of the adults in Aboriginal communities suffer a decrease in health conditions and even early death. Smoking tobacco and other nicotine products contain more than 7,000 dangerous compounds that can contribute to impeding blood circulation and damaging tissues and organs.
Supporting Measures for Quitting Smoking
Quitting smoking is never an easy task because of the agents that stimulate addiction. Even Aboriginal people, with the many reasons they have, can find it almost impossible to quit totally if they wanted to. However, there is no shortage of help coming from all sorts of contributors.
Health Brochures from NSW
These are infographic materials that depict the dangers of smoking and the benefits of quitting.
NSW Aboriginal Quitline
This is a hotline for providing assistance to smokers who want to quit. It includes counseling from appropriate advisors, educational materials, and awareness training.
Helpful Websites
Websites like ‘iquitbecause’, ‘nosmokes’ and the ‘Quit for new life’ page offer tons of information and platforms to help you start and continue quitting the habit.
ATRAC Framework
This collaboration from health organizations aims to outline methods in controlling smoking in Aboriginal communities.
Conclusion
Once a person starts to like smoking, whether he/she is coming from a sophisticated upbringing or an Aboriginal community, he/she is susceptible to the addiction it brings. Quitting totally may be a hard task but there are alternatives available to ease the transition, like the popular vaping.
