NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
Should Smoking be Banned? TOPIC STATEMENT: Should Smoking be banned? THESIS STATEMENT: Smoking causes a significant increase in brain atrophy as revealed from the CT scans of chronic smokers indicating that chronic smoking exaggerated age-related brain atrophy and must be banned from cafes and restaurants since passive smokers (people who do not smoke but) who inhale the smoke are also at risk in their health (Kubota et al. , 1987). RESTRICTOR SENTENCE: This paper will examine the overall cognitive effect of cigarettes on smokers and find the link between the smoking and quality of health.
Prospective memory plays a predominant role in everyday living. The ability to retain, recall and realize intentions is an important aspect of purposeful behavior in our everyday lives. Using a Prospective Memory Questionnaire (PMQ) may be a useful tool in finding a link between cognitive ability and smoking that does not involve too much laboratory control. The PMQ is a valid and reliable self-report measure that will require the smoking participant to recount errors for short and long term prospective memory, internally cued prospective memory, as well as a number of strategies to aid memory (Hannon, et. al. , 1995). Such kind of questionnaire has been used for researching links between ecstasy and other drug use to cognitive ability with successful results (Heffernan, et.
al. , 2001; Warning, et. el. , 2000). Smoking is popularly known to increase general arousal and improve the smokers ability to concentrate (Myrsten and Andersson, 1978). Many previous studies of the effects of cigarette smoking have shown a nicotine-induced enhancement of attentional efficiency (Frankenhaeuser et al. , 1971; Heimstra et al. , 1967). Wesnes and Warburton (1978) found that cigarette smokers performed more efficiently than non-smokers in neuropsychological testing for attention. Attentional processes are facilitated by cigarette smoking (Andersson and Hockey, 1975).
However, a significant increase in brain atrophy was revealed on CT scan of chronic smokers when compared to non-smokers indicating that chronic smoking exaggerated age-related brain atrophy (Kubota et al. , 1987). Neuropsychological assessment using a battery for evaluation of specific cognitive functions may include: (a) the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test 'PASAT' (Gronwall, 1977) for testing attention and (b) the Trail making test A. B 'TMa and The' (Reitan, 1969) for psychomotor performance. The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), on the other hand, measures global cognitive performance and is often used as a screening test for dementia. The MMSE includes tasks in comprehension, reading, writing and drawing.
Former cigarette smokers were significantly more aware than either never-smokers or smokers while never-smokers were more aware than smokers (Refer, 1992). Whereas Hill (1989) found no difference between older adult non-smokers and ex-smokers on cognitive functions, decrements were found for smokers on measures of psychomotor speed leading to the conclusion that current cigarette smoking negatively influences fast cognitive abilities. In a study conducted in 2003, heavy smoking is associated with cognitive impairment and decline in midlife (Richards, et. al. , 2003).
Multiple regression was employed to test the association between cigarette smoking and changes in cognitive test scores among male and female members of the British 1946 birth cohort aged between 43 and 53 years. Smoking was associated with faster declines in verbal memory and with slower visual search speeds. These effects were largely accounted for by individuals who smoked more than 20 cigarettes per day and were independent of sex, socioeconomic status, previous (adolescent) cognitive ability, and a range of health indicators (Richards, et. al. , 2003). According to a new study led by University of Michigan researchers just this year, years of smoking tobacco may actually dim the speed and accuracy of a smokers thinking ability as well as lower his IQ (Glass, et. al. , 2005).
The results of the study suggest two things: the existence of a direct relationship between smoking and neuro cognitive function among alcoholic men; and that smoking is associated with diminished thinking ability even among men without alcohol problems. The study utilized the Micro Cog Assessment of Cognitive Function, a well-established standard battery of tests that assess short-term memory, immediate and delayed story recall, verbal analogies, mathematical reasoning and visual-spatial processing. It took the participants nine years to actually complete the test. Scores for every test and a global proficiency score are based on the speed and accuracy of the participant's responses, adjusted for age and education level. The participants also took a short form of the standard IQ test, and their scores were adjusted for age. The study analyzed the participants's cores using two standard measures of long-term drinking and smoking behavior: lifetime alcohol problem severity (LAPS) and pack-years, a measure that takes into account the number of packs of cigarettes a person smoked each day and the number of years they smoked that much.
The National Tobacco Campaign based on the theme, Every cigarette is doing you damage released in December 1998 were quite successful that it was suggested that it should be broadcast year-round. Quit Campaign executive director maintains that the ads need to be on air 50 weeks of the year in order to be more consistently heard. It was so effective that 1 in 25 Australian smokers called the Quitline and from these callers, 29 % had stopped smoking after 12 months. Because of its success in Australia, the campaign has since been run in other countries such as the United States, Singapore, New Zealand and Canada (Kotler and Roberto 1989). More and more organizations have been involved in the campaign against the use of cigarettes. However, in order to be effective, it is essential to understand peoples perceptions of cigarette smoking.
Then and only then can marketers be successful in pushing their cause. Over seventy million people in the United States alone now use tobacco. Obviously, there must be some reason for this, in terms of pleasure, relaxation and social custom. American Indians traditionally smoked (and still do) a peace pipe. To them this was an act of mutual trust and had real symbolic meaning much the same as sharing a ceremonial glass of wine or a meal in other cultures. Today, although it is less ritualistic, there is a certain implicit friendliness in the custom introduced with the words.
Lets smoke a cigarette together. There is an established etiquette associated with cigarette smoking. It is considered very rude indeed to help oneself to a cigarette without offering the pack to ones companion. The young person, then, sees presumably intelligent, responsible people all around him every day smoking their cigarettes as if to do this were the most natural thing in the world. There are a lot of social campaigns that bring the problem out in the open. Yet these are often not discussed.
There are a lot of factors one has to contend with in sharpening society's awareness of a problem. Some of these are shaped by habits, interests, feelings, beliefs and perceptions. Marketers who dissuade people from smoking are, therefore, faced with the task of breaking down barriers of beliefs and deeply-ingrained values with regards to smoking. Smoking is popularly known to increase general arousal and improve the smokers ability to concentrate (Myrsten and Andersson, 1978). Many previous studies of the effects of cigarette smoking have shown a nicotine-induced enhancement of attentional efficiency (Frankenhaeuser et al. , 1971; Heimstra et al. , 1967). Wesnes and Warburton (1978) found that cigarette smokers performed more efficiently than non-smokers in neuropsychological testing for attention.
Attentional processes are facilitated by cigarette smoking (Andersson and Hockey, 1975). However, a significant increase in brain atrophy was revealed on CT scan of chronic smokers when compared to non-smokers indicating that chronic smoking exaggerated age-related brain atrophy (Kubota et al. , 1987). In a study conducted in 2003, heavy smoking is associated with cognitive impairment and decline in midlife (Richards, et. al. , 2003). Multiple regression was employed to test the association between cigarette smoking and changes in cognitive test scores among male and female members of the British 1946 birth cohort aged between 43 and 53 years. Smoking was associated with faster declines in verbal memory and with slower visual search speeds.
These effects were largely accounted for by individuals who smoked more than 20 cigarettes per day and were independent of sex, socioeconomic status, previous (adolescent) cognitive ability, and a range of health indicators (Richards, et. al. , 2003). According to a new study led by University of Michigan researchers just this year, years of smoking tobacco may actually dim the speed and accuracy of a smokers thinking ability as well as lower his IQ (Glass, et. al. , 2005). The results of the study suggest two things: the existence of a direct relationship between smoking and neuro cognitive function among alcoholic men; and that smoking is associated with diminished thinking ability even among men without alcohol problems. The study utilized the Micro Cog Assessment of Cognitive Function, a well-established standard battery of tests that assess short-term memory, immediate and delayed story recall, verbal analogies, mathematical reasoning and visual-spatial processing.
The Quit Smoking Campaign worked because it made use of fear in advertising the hazards of cigarette smoking. There are other organizations such as the Victorian Smoking & Health Program or Quit Campaign that has been working since the 1980 s to encourage Australians to give up smoking. They do this through statistical information. For example, data collected revealed that 1) smoking was a lifestyle issue for young adults at work. It was connected to social activities and friendship groups 2) smoking patterns change from school to work: a transition from occasional to habitual smoker tends to occur (Education Services Statistics A Powerful Edge Information Use in Society). Yet, these advertising campaigns have a long way to go even in promoting ads for people not to start smoking at all.
The young have their own rebellions and social status to deal with. The consumer perception process goes through the stimulus, perceptual screens. It needs to pass most of all, through the cognitive level of these young people. That is where they comprehend the stimulus and reaching reality. Furthermore, we must be realistic and acknowledge that there is more at stake than just scientific and philosophic arguments.
Generally speaking, the public health is at stake, specifically, the individuals health is at stake. It is possible to view the problem in several ways: We can accept the statistic that we are 1, 000 times more likely to get cancer in middle age if we start smoking early in life and become heavy or excessive smokers than if we do not do these things. We can accept the statistic that only about seven smokers out of every 100 develop any of these infirmities, or we might further suppose that we would incur come of these infirmities whether we smoked or not. We might take the position that since it is quite impossible at this stage of our knowledge of the effect pf cigarette smoking on the human organism to predict with any degree of certainty whether or not we might be one of the unfortunates, we would certainly be wise not to take the necessary risk which everyone agrees might be present in cigarette smoking In previous studies, greater cognitive decline occurred with higher cigarette pack-year exposure, a calculation involving the number of years someone has smoked and the reported average daily number of cigarettes. Mostly, the reason for the observed associations is unknown, and the researchers did not investigate the cause and effect aspect.
More in-depth studies are needed to verify if these or other factors are responsible for greater cognitive decline in smokers. Laboratory studies offer more control on confounding variables, but can be problematic in cases where there is too much control, as the normal processes involved in prospective memory will not be activated and one cannot be sure that the results obtained would have occurred in real life The position one takes here depends not so much on ones choice but for health reasons of everyone. The extent to which smoking should be banned in restaurants, bars and cafes, needs to be based on what is best for the general public. Looking at all these facts about smoking's effects on people, there is no doubt that this issue needs to be seen in a different perspective this time. It is no longer the smokers prerogative to smoke wherever he wants to. People go to cafes and restaurants to relax.
If they are to emerge from these places smoked and less healthy, then, it is just right to ban smoking entirely in restaurants. Or the next best thing is to isolate and designate a smoking area for all those who want to puff themselves to ill health. REFERENCES Andersson, K. and Hockey, G. R. (1975) Effects of cigarette smoking on incidental memory.
Report from the Department of Psychology. University of Stockholm, No. 455. Frankenhaeuser, M. Myrsten, A. L. , Post, B, and Johnson, G. (1971) Behavioral and physiological effects of cigarette smoking in a monotonous situation. Psychopharmacologia. 22: 1 - 7.
Galloway, A. Smoking ban expected to pass easily. Seattle Post-Intelligencer Reporter. Accessed 3 May 2006 at: web Glass, J M. , Adams, K.
M. , Night, J. T. , Wong, Maria M. , Potter, Leon I. , Buu, Anne, Jester, Jennifer M. , Fitzgerald H E. , and Zucker, R. A. (2005) Smoking is associated with neuro cognitive deficits in alcoholism. Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
Available Online. Reference number doi: 10. 1016 /j. drugalcdep. 2005. 08. 013. Gronwall, D. M. A. (1977) Paced Auditory Serial-Addition Task: a measure of recovery from concussion.
Percept. Mot. Skills, 44: 367 - 373. Hannon, R. , Adams, P. , Harrington, S. , Fries-Dias, C. , and Gibson M. T. (1995). Effects of brain injury and age on prospective memory self-rating and performance.
Rehab Psychology. 40: 289 - 297. Hefferman, T. M. , Ling, J. , and Schley, A. (2001). Subjective ratings of prospective memory in ecstasy users.
Hum Psychopharmacol Clin Exp. 16: 339 - 344. Heimstra, NW. Bancroft. N.
R. and DeKoek, A. R. (1967) Effects of smoking on sustained performance in a simulated driving test. Ann.
Nest York Acad. Sci. , 142: 295 - 306. Hill, R. D. (1989) Residual effects of cigarette smoking on cognitive performance in normal aging.
Psychol. Aging, 4 (2): 251 - 254. Kubota, K. , Matsuzawa, T. , Fujiwara, T. , Yamguchi, T. , Ito, K. , Wranahe, H. and Ono, S. (1987) Age-related brain atrophy enhanced h% smoking: a quantitative study with computed tomography. Tohoku J. Exp.
Med, 153 (4): 303 - 311. Kotler P. and Roberto, E. (1989). Social Marketing. Strategies for Changing Public Behavior. The Free Press (Macmillan, Inc. ), New York Myrsten.
A. L. and Andersson. K. (1978) Effects of cigarette smoking on human performance. In: Raymond E. Thornton (Ed).
Smoking Behaviour: Physiological and Psychological Influences. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, pp. 156 - 167. Reitan. R. M. (1969) Manual for the Administration of Neuropsychological Test Batteries for Adults and Children. Indianapolis, IN.
Renter, R. (1992) Differences in awareness and perceptions of smokers' behaviors. Psychol. Rep. , 71 (1): 225 - 226. Richards, M. , Jarvis, M. J. , Thompson, N. , and Wadsworth, M.
E. J. (2003), Cigarette Smoking and Cognitive Decline in Midlife: Evidence From a Prospective Birth Cohort Study, American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 93 (6): 994 - 998. Warning, M. , Frisk, J. E. , and Murphy, P. N. (2000). Working memory deficits in current and previous users of ecstasy.
Br J Psychol 91: 181 - 188. Wesnes, K, and Warburton, D. M. (1978) The effects of cigarette smoking gender and education. Ann. Neurol. , 27: 428 - 437 and nicotine tablets upon human attention. In: Raymond E.
Thornton (Ed. ), Smoking Behaviour: Physiological and Psychological Influences, Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, pp. 131 - 147.
Free research essays on topics related to: cigarette smokers, cigarette smoking, cognitive ability, cigarette, smokers
Research essay sample on Cigarette Smoking Cigarette Smokers
