Yet, Another Reason to Stop Smoking

Yet, Another Reason to Stop Smoking | Charlotte Behavioral
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October 7, 2015Chato StewartBlog

NO Clean Air–doesn’t seem fair.

NO Clean Air–doesn’t seem fair.  How can we expect youth, who are the future leaders, to make it to adulthood without their fundamental human rights being respected?  All of us, young and old, have the fundamental human right to breathe. All of us have absolutely no control over what family we are born into. One that may expose us to clean air or one that may expose us to toxic air.

Smoking among people with a serious mental health diagnosis is higher than the general population.  This is from a study (published in 2012 and updated in 2013) which gives you an idea how serious an issue this addiction is for people living with mental health diagnosis such as: bipolar, depression or another mental health disorder.

“Adults with mental illness 70 percent higher than for adults with no mental illness”- Smoking among U.S. adults”

Adults with some form of mental illness have a smoking rate 70 percent higher than adults with no mental illness, according to a Vital Signs report released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in collaboration with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The report finds that 36 percent of adults with a mental illness are cigarette smokers, compared with only 21 percent of adults who do not have a mental illness.¹ ~ Press Release Smoking among U.S. adults

As adults–we do have a choice to SMOKE (or not)! So what if we smoke right, it can’t be as bad for us as being mentally symptomatic all day? Maybe, we feel a cigarette or e-cigarette (research is still out on any health value), is better than puffing down a pack or two a day to help our mood or depression.  Even the CDC understand that “Adult smokers with mental illness are also less likely to quit smoking cigarettes than adult smokers without mental illness.“
Great, you can do what you want, but you know the realty is: smoking is is bad for your health and leads to many health issues; most notably death.  Quitting is hard yet it is worth it. Clean air is worth it.
A choice to breathe…clean! A choice to breathe healthy air that doesn’t pollute/endanger our body. A choice to breathe healthy air that doesn’t pollute/endanger our environment. A choice to breathe healthy air that doesn’t pollute or endanger our children. Of course, breathing is a very personal matter.  Long-learned habits of living can be changed. Remove smoking as a coping skill and replace it with something healthy…walking, writing, drawing, something that inspires you. Smoking is no longer a lifestyle, it’s like recovery or addiction and should be treated as such. Remove all temptations yet, don’t give up if you have a relapse.
Smokers and non-smokers alike, we all have new things to learn every day. (Myself very much included.) Things that can help improve our health. Things that can help us feel better and feel happier.
Can each of us learn positive-coping-skills that contribute to our over-all mental, physical and emotional health?? (Sure we all can!)  Can we better model as humans our basic fundamental human right of living: breathing? (Sure we can!) Can we respect young life and their basic fundamental human right to grow up? (Sure we can!)
Breathing is a basic bodily function. Breathing clean…a skill: we may have to take time to learn how. Children: another reason to stop smoking and breathe clean!
~ 
Peer Consumer Ambassador
Chato Stewart
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¹ 9/30/2015| Press Release Smoking among U.S. adults | http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2013/p0205_smoking_mentally_ill.html | Vital Signs
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