The Department of Health and the Tobacco Control Collaborating Centre has found that smoking a shisha pipe is as bad for people as smoking a cigarette. Below I have listed a few facts which I found really shocking, and thought I would share it with you just so you know more about it and so that you can be careful:
- people who smoke shisha (herbal tobacco) can suffer from high carbon monoxide levels
- one session of smoking shisha resulted in carbon monoxide levels at least 4 - 5 times higher than the amount produced by one cigarette
- high levels of carbon monoxide can lead to brain damage and unconsciousness
- A non-smoker who smokes shisha = less than 1% of blood not working properly
- A light-smoker who smokes shisha = 2-4% of blood not working properly
- A heavy-smoker who smokes shisha = 5-7% of blood not working properly.
I find it shocking that this research was conducted in 2009, and the amount of publicity and awareness that has been made regarding the subject has been minimal. I mean, this was the first I heard about it and we are now at the end of 2010! Perhaps this is because smoking is something that people just can't stop others from doing. Even if you know how bad smoking is for your health, which every smoker does, it still doesn't stop them doing it, so maybe it was thought that releasing this information at a high-alert level would be pointless.
Reading this information did make me think twice about smoking shisha, however it's something that I really enjoy and considering that I'm from a Lebanese background myself it's something that I am surrounded by quite often. The bottom line is that it's not going to stop me from doing something which I enjoy.
Do you think that the media does enough to inform the public about health risks such as these? Or do you think that even if these risks were made more publicly aware, would it make a difference?
If you want to read more info about the topic then you can do so here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8214097.stm
Hi Natalie, I tried to comment on this the other day but it doesnt seem to have worked.
ReplyDeleteI am with you on this one. I smoke cigarettes and have smoked shisha on holiday and with friends. I enjoy both and have no intention to stop even though I am aware of the consequences.
I was surprised to read that shisha can be worse for you than smoking. I had been told a few years ago that it was just as bad but not that it was worse.
I guess it doesn't get as much coverage or exposure because smoking cigarettes is much more widespread in the UK and seen as a 'bigger' problem.
Seeing a we are both studying PR at Solent, I would be very grateful if you would follow my PR blog at http://2plus2pr.blogspot.com/
Thanks
Hi Tom,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, there's just something about smoking shisha that makes it seem like its absolutely fine to do, even tho we now know it isn't!! This article that I got my research from was the first I heard about the issue which I found really quite strange, you would have thought that considering how much media attention smoking cigarettes gets, the media would have perhaps made more of a deal out of it than they did. I guess the same goes for smoking cigars too.... you never hear about how awful cigars are for you even though its one of the most common causes of mouth and tongue cancer. It seems like the media just picks and chooses what they want the public to believe and what they don't.
Of course I'll follow your blog, thanks for the comment!
This was interesting, I dont smoke at all but every now and then I think ill have a shisha. maybe once or twice a year which is hardly anything but after reading this it makes you think twice.
ReplyDeleteI always thought that this was a 'healthier' way of smoking but how wrong was I.
People should be educated more on this and I think that places that sell shisha should warn you if its dangers, in the same way tobacco companies have too.
People should definitely be more educated about the matter, the amount of people who I have told this to, about how bad for you smoking shisha is, and they still don't believe me even though I have the facts spelt out for them! It's almost as if people don't want to believe it, because for so many years they have been told that smoking shisha isn't harmful, so they think that these recently found dangers can't possibly be true.
ReplyDeleteI am jovial you take pride in what you write. It makes you stand way out from many other writers that can not push high-quality content like you. lounge bar Bromley
ReplyDelete