www.bewet.fora.pl

kenyarichieh

Even though the percentage of American adults who smoke has stalled at about 20% in recent years, smokers are smoking fewer cigarettes than they used to (an average of 13 per day, down from 21 in 1980). And a growing proportion of smokers―roughly 25%―don’t smoke every day. One government study found that as many as half of American smokers either don’t smoke daily or smoke fewer than six cigarettes a day.
Phil Hodges,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], 46,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], an office worker in Washington, D.C., has his first cigarette of the day with his morning coffee. He has a second at work at 6:30 a.m., others at 8:30 and 2:30, and one after he works out at the gym, standing outside in his shorts and T-shirt. “I think it’s a mental reward,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],” Mr. Hodges says, explaining his urge to light up occasionally. Researchers used to think light and intermittent smoking was a transitional phase for smokers on their way to quitting or ramping up to a more serious habit. But a few recent studies suggest that it’s a new, stable pattern particularly among young, college-educated smokers.
An analysis of smoking patterns during the 1990s, published in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research last year,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], found that 18-to-29-year-olds were twice as likely as those aged 50 to 64 to be nondaily smokers. Many experts expect that pattern to continue. “Young people who have grown up with a smoke-free home, school and workplace environment may stabilize at a much lower dependence level than those without such restrictions,” the researchers wrote. Light smokers are still putting their health at risk, however.
“People shouldn’t fool themselves that just a couple of cigarettes won’t kill you,” says Thomas R. Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who helped bring smoking rates in New York City down to 15% from 21% when he was the city’s health commissioner from 2002 until last year. “The bad news here is that really good studies show that just a very small number―three, for example―drastically increases the likelihood of heart attack and stroke.” Why keep smoking at all, then?
Some experts blame the addictive power of nicotine, even at low levels, that leaves some smokers struggling to kick the habit. But others note that some intermittent smokers can go for days without a fix, particularly if they are accustomed to smoking only in certain circumstances. And some may be using nicotine patches, gum or lozenges to help quell their cravings. A study of 6,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],500 smokers in the U.S., U.K.,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Canada and Australia, published in the journal Addiction last year, found that one-third of those who used nicotine-replacement products were not attempting to quit, but to abstain temporarily or cut down.