The crack of a lighter, a deep puff, and painful problems fly away in rings of smoke. A stylish pack of cigarettes, a glamorous lighter, a souvenir ashtray have become attributes of a woman's image and lifestyle. Women smoke outdoors, in the park, in cafes, on the playground, in the office, in the cinema and on billboards.

At the same time, doctors and public organizations urge women to abandon this habit, arguing with statistical data on female mortality and oncology. We know that smoking is dangerous, but the number of women who smoke continues to grow.

Smoking, considered a purely male occupation, with the flourishing of women's emancipation, became widespread in Europe, America, Russia and, gradually, all over the world. Tobacco manufacturers, who receive billions of dollars in profits from the sale of tobacco, cigars, cigarettes, and accessories for their use, have developed and introduced into all layers of society a special subculture that forms the image of a successful, strong, sexual hero.

Once exclusively male, smoking became female

Well informed but stubborn

In recent years, cigarette advertising campaigns have focused more on women. Today in Russia 30% of women smoke, many of them started smoking at the age of 12. Public organizations, frightened by the statistics, are actively promoting a healthy lifestyle. Almost every woman who smokes is informed about the dangerous changes in the body that tobacco smoking causes. Doctors have proven that tobacco smoking is the cause of many diseases, such as cancer, asthma, disorders of the cardiovascular system, and a host of hereditary diseases. In 96.99% of cases of lung cancer, smoking is the cause of the disease, which is not surprising - after all, tobacco smoke contains more than 40 substances that cause cancer. More than 500 thousand women die from the effects of smoking in developed countries every year.

Only 35% of women quit smoking.

Unconscious motives and imposed stereotypes

Smoking changes a woman very quickly. The skin turns yellow and ages because its cells do not receive enough nutrients. Teeth, nails and hair deteriorate, and an unpleasant odor appears. Immunity is sharply reduced - acute respiratory infections, and flu epidemics are no longer spared. The general state of health worsens - increased fatigue, shortness of breath, vegetative-vascular dystonia interfere with leading an active and fulfilling lifestyle. But according to the same statistics, only 35% of women quit smoking, and the remaining 65% continue to destroy themselves every day.

• Firstly, this is the unconscious desire of a woman to compete with a man, realized in the development of "male" attributes and habits.
• Secondly, this is the implementation of styles and images introduced by advertising of tobacco companies - a successful and sexy woman "from the cover".
• Thirdly, it is compensation for the complex of self-doubt, and the desire to control one's life - through the violation of "prohibitions".
• Fourth, it is a way of responding to stress, formed in childhood (with early weaning from breastfeeding, or nipple abuse).

The decision to quit smoking is a step towards improving the quality of life

How to quit smoking? Take the first step

The decision to quit smoking is one of the most important in a woman's life, and when we make it, we make a choice of quality of life. The decision lies in the same plane as choosing a permanent life partner, having a child or buying a house. In order to rise to a new level of quality of life, it is necessary to go through several steps up the ladder of changes.

1 First stage - studying and accepting oneself. Here it is necessary to understand what exactly smoking tobacco does to the body and quality of life. It is important to realize how much internal ideas about oneself - appearance, state of health, attitudes of others correspond to the actual state of affairs. To get started? - just take a sheet of paper and bend it in half. On one side - describe your self-image, for example: “I am perfectly healthy”, “My skin looks amazing”, “Teeth, of course yellow, but they can be whitened” and so on. Then, on the second side, it is necessary to describe the look at yourself with someone else's eyes as honestly as possible. “My husband doesn't like what smells bad from me”; “I often stay on sick leave - the boss is unhappy with me”; “I cannot explain to my son why I cough in the morning”; “I smoke 40 cigarettes a day”; “My lungs are clogged with resin,” “I cannot lose weight,” and so on. Without an objective look at yourself, you can't go further. You can use a mirror, go for a run after the bus, call honest girlfriends, friends and parents for a frank conversation. When the information has been collected, we unfold the sheet and proceed to introspection. The first step makes it possible to understand yourself - your capabilities and limitations. Here are the facts, causes and consequences of smoking and the impact of cigarettes on life.

2 Second stage poses a choice - how to live on? At the second stage, an important decision is made - a healthy, fulfilling life, or a life-long sacrifice of oneself to the spirit of the tobacco leaf. If you did a good job at the first stage, and the difference between the desired and the actual is obvious, the choice is obvious: “I quit smoking!”.

3 Third step cleanses the body and mind. First of all - cigarettes, a lighter, an ashtray - are solemnly sent to the trash can, in front of the whole family. When the decision is made, it makes no sense to quit smoking, gradually reducing the number of cigarettes. Cleansing herbal preparations, a bath, vitamins will help get rid of physical dependence. In extreme cases, a treatment prescribed by a toxicologist, a nicotine patch or chewing gum. Psychotherapy sessions, hypnosis, meditation, new healthy habits will help get rid of psychological dependence. At this stage, it is important to immediately take up an active sport - running, cycling, skiing, tennis. Exercise will very quickly bring the body into shape, cleanse the lungs and train the heart. Regular activity is best combined with a contrast shower - it will restore the immune system, improve skin condition and vascular tone.

4 Fourth step - improving the quality of life. Quitting smoking has already brought a lot of opportunities - there is free money and time. The body feels much better - lightness has appeared, bouts of weakness and dizziness have passed, shortness of breath and morning cough no longer bother me. Taste and sense of smell sharpened, and men began to pay compliments. This step offers new opportunities - hobbies that previously could not afford. For example, diving, skydiving, cycling, mountain climbing. The desire to smoke will still arise - in moments of stress, sadness, or when there is nothing to do. Yoga and Qi Gong will help to cope with stress and bring body and soul into a harmonious state. Instead of a cigarette - breathing exercises, herbal tea, walking the dog, and tennis with friends.

5 Fifth step - an overview of the past and an open look into the future. The ladder of changes led to the goal - life has already changed. At the last stage - even if you try to inhale out of curiosity - the cigarette becomes a source of unpleasant sensations. Acrid smoke, unpleasant persistent odor from the fingers, aftertaste and nausea are what a cigarette actually does to a healthy body. The fifth step gives you the opportunity to highly appreciate yourself and your capabilities. An opportunity to feel strong and free. It is the one who controls himself and his life.

Text: Sofia Kremleva
Photo:EAST-NEWS

I myself do not smoke and cannot stand tobacco smoke, so the question “ what if my girlfriend smokes?"I consider it especially relevant.

In general, a smoking girl, no matter how beautiful she is, automatically loses a significant part of her attractiveness in my eyes. Maybe that's why I never had a smoking girl. But, there was still some experience :-)

It is important to understand why a person smokes. Since there are many reasons for this. For example, you can smoke from nothing to do. When there is a lot of free time and nothing to do. Or you can start smoking for the company. Or someone might think it's fashionable. Especially in adolescence, at school, in other educational institutions. Some people smoke because it calms the nerves. There can be many reasons. And it will be a big plus if you find out the reason for smoking from your girlfriend.

In any case, never make a scandal about it. And in any other way. This is very unproductive and will only turn the girl against you.

So, let's try to parse the solution to this issue, how to make a girl quit smoking? There are several options. Let's call them the soft version, the hard version, or you can just break up with the girl, which is also not the worst way out in certain situations.

What to do if a girl smokes

Soft option

You tell the girl that you don't smoke. You explain to her that it is harmful. Especially for a girl, since it will affect the offspring in the most negative way, not to mention her own health. You add that all these smells are unpleasant to you at the bodily level, that you get less pleasure from, from kissing and, accordingly, from her. You suggest quitting smoking.

If the first option did not affect it, then the next one can be applied.

Hard option

You explain to her once again your position, which is given above, but much tougher. No scandal. Then, when she starts smoking, you show your negative mood. That she would understand that it is precisely because of smoking. Conversely, when she does not smoke and takes longer breaks, you behave in a big plus.

Over time, she will become uncomfortable reaching for a cigarette, as this immediately provokes your coldness towards her.

Compromise option

You negotiate a temporary switch to an electronic cigarette. This is already a much better situation, since electronic devices are many times more harmless and they will not smell like a regular cigarette. And, perhaps, by switching to e-mail, over time your girlfriend will stop smoking altogether.

Remember that in such matters your girl greatly influences. If your life friend listens to your opinion, consults with you, then convincing her to quit smoking will not be difficult.

And, on the contrary, if you are under her thumb, you are unlikely to do anything :-)

My experience

As I said before, I do not smoke myself and I have not had a serious relationship with smoking girls. However, with those friends with whom I talked, I asked them not to smoke in front of me. And they did everything so that I did not feel discomfort in connection with this. The girls, by the way, understood, and went to meet me.

Sometimes there are girls who smoke relatively infrequently. Nice cigarettes. And they make sure that there is no smell from them.

If you fail to convince or make your girlfriend quit smoking, and it really annoys you, maybe part with her altogether? This is also a solution to the problem. Think, a person does not listen to you, he sees that it is important for you, and your communication suffers from this, he still continues to smoke. You can find yourself a cool, non-smoking girl.

If you decide that you are ready to break up with a girl, then this may be another motivation for her.

Tell your friend that you better break up. Calmly explain the reason and tell in detail why you decided so. If she loves and values \u200b\u200byou, she will not allow your couple to break up because of her smoking. And he will try to quit. Otherwise, the conclusion is even more obvious: she smokes, does not listen to you, and is ready to leave.

In any case, the choice is yours. And there are many personal nuances to consider here as well. Good luck!

- Today it is a common phenomenon on the streets of cities. Unfortunately, this fact suggests that the symbol of femininity and purity, the symbol of the mother, is being lost. A cigarette in a girl's mouth, a woman looks at least ridiculous, I'm not even talking about the harm it brings to the female body.

In this article I bring to your attention a letter from Uglov Fedor Grigorievich addressed to a smoking girl, and in general to all young people.

F.G. Uglov Is a world famous surgeon, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, doctor of medical sciences. It was just a great Russian man. He was the world's oldest practicing surgeon. He was the chairman of the Union for the Struggle for Popular Sobriety. He died at 104 years of age.

So read "Letter to a smoking girl"

I meet hundreds of your smoking peers on the streets. I have operated hundreds of people for lung cancer. And hundreds - I did not make a reservation - hundreds had to refuse, because nothing could be done ... There is nothing more difficult for a surgeon than refusing to help a patient due to his own impotence. And more than once I had to admit my powerlessness when it came to saving the affected lungs and the lives of long-term smokers.

In recent years, a large number of female smokers have entered the operating tables. I'm not scaring you. Smoking is "voluntary". Just since you started reading my letter, let me tell you your opinion, so that later your despair does not break my heart. The opinion of not only a surgeon (unfortunately, unable to visually show you on these pages a cancerous tumor that suffocated the lungs), but also a person who knows the value of suffering.

Hundreds of people passed through my hands and my heart, suffering precisely from the fact that they could not part with their addiction in time. The complaints are the same and begin with the phrase: "Something is wrong with my lungs ..." Once a good friend of mine turned to me with the same words. We agreed to meet, but he came only a few months later. When his chest was opened on the operating table, it turned out that everything had already sprouted with metastases and there was nothing to help him. It's hard to find out that the patient is dying. It is even harder that this is your close friend ...

These lines addressed to you will contain facts and figures found by my associates. But I, the surgeon, can imagine with particular clarity what is behind these numbers and percentages.

No, I will not frighten you with the already commonplace examples that a drop of nicotine kills a horse - you are not a horse, you are a human, or that 20 daily smoked cigarettes shorten life by 8-12 years; you are young and life seems endless to you. According to British doctors, each smoked cigarette costs a smoker 15 minutes of life. It's no big deal if you're only twenty. What do you care about the fact that the hard-core get lung cancer 30 times more often than non-smokers, and the cause of this terrible disease in 95-98 cases out of 100 is smoking. American cardiologists cite the following figures: the average age of those who died from heart attacks is 67 years, smokers - 47. You are only twenty years old, and up to forty-seven more ... Of course, it will not scare you. And still…

With great chagrin, I see how the girls are smoking near the school, holding a cigarette in their fists (as they say, "in a pioneer way") so that they cannot be seen from the windows. I regret to learn that they have learned by taking the teacher as a model.

The pain grips my soul from the fact that in the student dormitory girls are going to smoke and chat about future marriage. I can assume that marriage is not yet visible in your plans. And therefore I will tell you about something else.

Sociologists conducted an anonymous questionnaire, in which they asked: why do you smoke? 60 percent of the girls answered: it is beautiful and fashionable. And 40 percent smoke because they want to please boys. Let's admit. And we will even "justify" them in some way. Because the desire to please is inherent in you by nature. But we will justify temporarily: it is not out of place to know the opinions of the boys.

256 young men were interviewed. They were offered three questions and, accordingly, three possible answers: positive, indifferent, negative.

First question:
“Girls smoke in your company. How do you feel about this? " - 4% positive, 54% indifferent, 42% negative.
Second question:
“The girl you are friends with smokes. How do you feel about this? " - 1% positive, 15% indifferent, 84% negative.
Question three:
"Would you like your wife to smoke?" - A storm of protests! Out of 256, only two said they didn't care. The rest strongly objected.

Now let's think together. You are far from the operation. You are not going to get married. Everything is fine and you smoke. Where did this come from? In my opinion, people smoke in those companies where they gather for a fun pastime. A cigarette in your hands is like a signal: you are modern. This means that you treat both love and friendship with a great deal of frivolity.

Boys with smoking girls behave more relaxed, and girls, in their naivety, believe that they are successful, hardly thinking that they are temporary fun. Yes, yes, you, smoking girl - temporary fun. It seems to me that by lighting a cigarette, you reduce the price of yourself, humiliate your dignity, becoming not modern in the true sense of the word, but rather frivolous and more accessible. Who instilled in you the "fashion" of this terrible habit? Who programmed you for a lesson in which your youth does not allow you to see the whole catastrophe awaiting you?

Don't be angry, but I'll try to draw your future as it appears to me. And if you doubt it, look around, look at the smoking women older than you.

Smoking will make your voice hoarse, gradually blacken, teeth will deteriorate. face will take on an earthy hue. Your sense of smell will sharply suffer and taste sensations will worsen. You've probably already noticed how often smokers spit. I don’t know if you had time to notice that a smell constantly comes from the mouth of a smoker… This smell is so unpleasant that do not be surprised if one of your fellow guys avoids you. You will wake up with a bitter mouth and a headache from coughing all night. Very early on, your skin will become wrinkled and dry. Female smokers at the age of 25 look much older than their nonsmokers. This is the real price of your smoking! You will not attract, but, on the contrary, alienate any serious guy.

Try to imagine yourself next to a non-smoker of the same age. And if this comparison doesn’t scare you or you don’t see the difference between you, let me tell you that your appearance is not the main indicator.

The sooner you start smoking, the more dangerous the effects of the poison are for you. And if you become addicted to smoking long before age-related changes begin in you, then the development of the body will go slower. Under the influence of nicotine, a persistent narrowing of the blood vessels occurs (the oxygen content in the blood decreases due to the combination of blood hemoglobin with carbon monoxide - one of the components of tobacco smoke). When smoking under the influence of high temperatures, 30 harmful substances are released from tobacco: nicotine, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, nitrogen, carbon monoxide and various essential oils. Among them, benzopyrene is especially dangerous - one hundred percent carcinogen ("carcinogen" - in Latin - cancer).

If you are curious, you might be interested in the data of American researchers. They found a significant amount of polonium-210 in tobacco smoke, which emits alpha particles. If you smoke one personally, you will receive a dose of radiation seven times higher than that established by the international agreement on protection against radiation.

Nicotine is a drug. This is the only way it is called by the highest body of world medicine - the World Health Organization. This means that every year it will be more difficult for you. Tobacco, narrowing blood vessels, not only causes increased work of the heart, but also impairs and destroys the activity of many body systems.

You lit a cigarette ... Then everything goes according to the well-known scheme. Nicotine briefly causes blood vessels to dilate, increasing the blood supply to brain cells. This is followed by a sharp spasm of blood vessels, as a result of which various brain disorders appear. Further. Nicotine disrupts the functions of the nervous system, lungs, liver, digestive organs, gonads.

It is irrefutably proven that you will get sick three to four times more often than your non-smoking girlfriends. The time will inevitably come when you will feel bad and constant malaise will turn your life into a burden.

But let's talk about something else. Maybe you will be interested to know that women suffer heavily from smoking because of the more delicate structure of the body, which by nature is designed for procreation. For a long time, there have been facts showing that hard-core smokers cannot give birth to children, since there have been profound changes in the embryonic apparatus. The most common complication of smoking is premature termination of pregnancy - up to 36 weeks. Smokers have it twice as often. It does not bother you to know that women who smoke are much more likely to have prematurity and less weight of a newborn (yes, a newborn, your baby, which you probably don't think about, but your smoking will affect its viability). Smokers have a higher percentage of stillborn children and more often pathologies during childbirth. And the undoubted fact is that smoking has an extremely negative effect on the development of an already born child. Knowing this, it makes sense to think about marriage, about a husband who will wait for a son, but may not have a son ... And the day may come when the doctors will say to you: "Unfortunately, you will never be able to give birth."

It's hard for you to understand now. But my experience suggests hundreds of such cases. A critical moment is imperceptibly approaching, after which she can no longer give birth, although for this she is ready for anything, for any operation, for any sacrifice. And believe me, you will not be an exception: nature created you to be a mother. And no matter how you swagger today, she will make you live in the interests of children.

Trust me, a cigarette can cripple your life. Yours first. And when they prove to you that smoking is to blame for everything, you will curse yourself and your whole life. Think about the fact that you will not have children. And the husband can leave you. He will go to a less worthy one than you, just because of the right to be called a father. Believe me, he can do this, because paternal feelings are no less strong than maternal ones.

And if you smoke while pregnant, then know that it has been established by experiment: as soon as a pregnant woman smokes, in a few minutes nicotine enters (through the placenta) into the heart and brain of the unborn child. And you unwittingly poison him with this poison. Scientists have traced the developmental features of children born to mothers. These children, observed up to 5-6 years of age, lagged significantly behind in their physical and mental development. By the way, among children whose fathers are heavy smokers, malformations are observed twice as often.

And all the time your child will be sick. Both pneumonia and bronchitis await him. In despair, you will look for reasons, not knowing that they are in you. Even if you smoked in the hallway, on the staircase, even a tiny fraction of the smoke entering the room will be enough for your child to suddenly rise in temperature.

In mothers who smoke, one hundred percent of children smoke. And your child, who considers you to be the most intelligent, affectionate, kind, seeing you with a cigarette, will also start smoking. This means that you programmed him in advance for the same torment that awaits you.

My experience tells me a scary case involving teen smoking. In one of the boarding schools in the morning they could not wake up the boy. He died at night. An autopsy showed that he had a bad heart - because he learned to smoke early, he smoked a lot, and on the eve of his death, as the guys said, he got a full smoke.

In families where parents smoked, but then stopped, nevertheless, 67 percent of boys and 78 percent of girls start smoking.

I have long noticed that near shopping centers, markets and other crowded places you can constantly see women and girls smoking on the sidelines, and in numbers far exceeding the male smoking community, why is this happening? One gets the impression that now the number of women who smoke is rapidly approaching the number of men who smoke, and the male part of the population now, on the contrary, tends to quit, and those who do not smoke and are not going to start.

Unfortunately, in the entire history of the tobacco industry, women have always been the main goal of tobacco manufacturers, this is especially noticeable in advertising, by entering “cigarette advertising” in Yandex, you can see for yourself, 90 percent of advertising posters use the image of a beautiful smoking girl. Someone might say that this is to attract men, but then why portray a girl smoking?

In our time, the tobacco industry mainly uses to attract new customers, but at the beginning of the century psychoanalysis was connected for these purposes in order to add women to cigarettes.

The owners of the tobacco industry, which experienced rapid growth in the first two decades of the 20th century, were well aware that women made up half of their potential buyers. It was clear that cigarettes should stop being just a male product. At the same time, cigarette manufacturers feared that their attempts to impose smoking on women might spark public outcry. Advertisers and marketers understood that for smoking to become a truly widespread habit, it was necessary to change the culture. Beginning with American Tobacco's 1928 "Choose Lucky Over Sweet" advertising campaign

(Lucky - from the name of the Lucky Strike brand of cigarettes), advertising of cigarettes for women was associated with style and beauty. Cigarettes have not only become an accessory for a beautiful woman, but have become a symbol of style as such. Moreover, in the 1920s and 1930s, this style was associated with the struggle of women for equal social and political rights with men. An important role was played by the fact that female smoking became an attribute of the "good life" - the fruit of the American culture of consumption. Advertising images suggested that cigarettes are a symbol of chic, beauty, independence and equality.

President of American TobaccoGeorge Washington Hill believed that mass advertising is only one of the marketing tools. For marketing to be effective, additional technologies must be used. Hill invitedEdward Bernays,nephew of Sigmunt Freud. Bernays' work at American Tobacco illustrates a new approach to promotion. In 1929 he wrote a public relations program for American Tobacco. "Educational work," Bernays believed, was to help deal with the criticism that Hill's advertising campaigns were repeatedly attacked, and also to convince consumers that smoking is not dangerous to health.

Bernays also shared ideas with Hill on how to "improve customer experience with Lucky Strike and increase sales." For example, he suggested posting news articles in the press that would talk about cigarettes, women, beauty and smoking accessories, as well as photographs on these topics: “These will be feature articles for fashion magazines, which will talk about an elegant woman must have a cigarette case and a mouthpiece attached to her toilet. Photos will be attached to the articles. The propaganda will be woven into the article ... ”This does not remind you of anything ...

Bernays drew attention to the fact that slimness came into fashion in the 1920s, so advertisements claimed that Lucky Strike cigarettes helped to stay in good shape. With the support of Parisian fashion designers and photographers, Bernays sent hundreds of photographs of skinny models in haute couture to the press.

To enhance the effect, he attracted doctors who wrote articles on the harmful effects of sugar on the body. Bernays, without mentioning his ties to American Tobacco, organized a conference on the evolution of the beauty ideal. The artists who attended the conference claimed that "the American ideal of beauty is a slender woman." Bernays also conducted a poll - a quick and flawed opinion poll. In his hands, the survey was not a means of researching public opinion, but a tool for its formation. This time, Bernays secured the favor of department store managers: a survey showed that having a slim figure is more profitable than a full one. "According to this Lucky Strike poll," Bernays said in a press release, "a slender, fashionably dressed saleswoman makes more money for herself and her employer than her fat friends."

March of smokers

Hill began looking for new, more aggressive methods to change public opinion about female smoking and create massive demand for cigarettes among women. Bernays recalled: “Hill called me:“ How can we get women to smoke on the street? They smoke at home. But heck, they spend most of their time outside, we are losing half of the market, we have to get them to smoke outside. Do something. Take action! ””.

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Young women marched down Fifth Avenue, a dramatic symbol of emancipated maidens and violent suffragettes. Their feat was reported by many newspapers, resulting in a wave of national debate. Women's clubs condemned the disappearance of the tacit bans on public smoking of women, and feminists welcomed changes in social norms. There were reports of women smoking on the street from all over the country. Bernays wrote: "I realized that long-term customs can be destroyed through the powerful, dramatic message spread by the media."

Green light

Bernays quickly realized the impact cigarettes can have on the viewer in a film. Bernays knew that films could shape cultural stereotypes and consumer desires long before product placement became a major marketing and promotion tool.

He wrote (anonymously, of course) an article addressed to directors and producers in which he examined a number of dramatic episodes that can be played using a cigarette: “The cigarette becomes the main actor in a silent scene or in a conversation. With its help, you can express as much meaning as you cannot convey in words. "

Bernays compiled a list of situations in films when you can use a cigarette. He argued that by operating with a cigarette, you can portray different types of personalities and different emotions. Numerous psychological images can be created using a cigarette. The shy hero lights a cigarette to pull himself together before the first meeting with his future father-in-law. The offender smokes avidly to calm his nerves or conscience. But perhaps the most dramatic scenes are those in which a cigarette is not lit. How much sense can be conveyed by a scene when the smoker is too agitated to smoke! A player who has lost the last thousand dollars in a casino takes out a cigarette with trembling hands, which falls to the floor - we understand that he is in despair. The deceived husband, abandoned by his heartless wife, reaches for a cigarette, but drops the pack, which speaks of his loss. The enraged swindler, deceived by his partner, angrily breaks the cigarette, as if it were the body and soul of his former friend, whom he thus avenged. A cigarette put in the hands or mouth of a good actor can become an expression of meaning in any genre, from a funny comedy to a heartfelt tragedy.