Smoking among college-age people continues to pay tobacco companies’ bills. Over the past six years, smoking rates among 18- to 24-year-olds have risen by 11 percent, from 25 percent to 36 percent.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 400,000 people die each year due to tobacco use, making it the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. More people die from tobacco-related illnesses than die from AIDS, alcohol, drug abuse, car accidents, murders, suicides and fires combined.
Cigarettes and other tobacco products are implicated in a number of serious illnesses. Amy Miller, a nurse practitioner at University Health Services, said lung cancer, chronic lung problems, heart disease, heart attacks and strokes are just a few of these serious conditions. There are also less well-known consequences.
“People who smoke develop gum disease and tend to end up with false teeth,” Miller stated. “There’s also a link between smoking and infertility, premature menopause, premature wrinkling of the skin and problems with impotence.”
Furthermore, smoking suppresses the immune system, making individuals more susceptible to respiratory infections.
Unfortunately, nicotine, a chemical found in tobacco products, is a highly addictive drug, making quitting very difficult.
“Cigarette smoke is a highly complicated pharmacological drug, and there are also other factors associated with quitting — from social factors to emotional factors,” said Erik Heiligenstein, clinical director of psychiatric services at UHS.
Miller said smokers should not be discouraged if past cessation efforts have not been successful.
“It takes people multiple times, the average being seven or more times, before people are successful in quitting,” Miller said. “Research shows that nicotine is much more addictive than heroin.”
Another difficulty involved in college students’ cessation efforts is the link between smoking and alcohol consumption.
According to Heiligenstein, nicotine dependence becomes complicated because some smokers, especially social smokers, associate smoking with alcohol, making quitting more difficult. People are much more likely to lapse when consuming alcohol.
There are many services available to students interested in quitting. Currently, University Health Services is beginning a new campaign encouraging smoking cessation.
The program involves both external services that will include posting promotional materials around campus and internal services to assist anyone looking for help.
Some of the services provided to students include cessation support groups, counseling with a clinician at UHS and access to medications that have proven beneficial to smoking cessation, such as Zyban, nicotine inhalers and nasal sprays.
Wisconsin also provides a free quit line, 1-877-270-STOP, that provides people with information, referrals to local programs and telephone counseling.
“The more you do, the better chance you have in quitting,” Heiligenstein said. “Your success rate goes up the more interventions that you do versus just quitting.”
Even though smoking cessation is a difficult task, the health benefits, both short-term and long-term, are immeasurable.
“The most important health change you can make at this point in your life is not to smoke,” UHS clinical services director Scott Spear said. “Wearing seatbelts is very important, helmets are very important, using condoms is very important, but your life expectancy is curtailed the most by having a history of being a smoker.”
