Although many MSU students may not consider themselves smokers, MSU health experts said that when it comes to social situations, students are more likely to pick up a cigarette than they typically would.
“When a (former) smoker gathers with other people that smoke, it can trigger a feeling to smoke,” said Nancy Allen, coordinator for the Health4U program at Olin Health Center. “A lot of MSU students who smoke don’t even identify themselves as smokers, only social smokers.”
Smoking one pack a day for one year leads to about 70,000 puffs, Allen said. However, there is a great chance that every puff embraced by a smoker is solely induced by his or her social surrounding, she said.
Health4U offers a program called U Can Quit that provides help to graduate student employees, staff, faculty and retirees who have had difficulties in quitting.
This is the first year for the program, which involves coaching along with usage of a medication called Chantix that partially blocks nicotine receptors and helps reduce the intensity of withdrawal symptoms, Allen said.
A smoker who has quit smoking can be triggered into picking up a box of cigarettes after watching another use a cigarette to help balance their emotions, she said.
The emotional balance of a smoker is much different than nonsmokers, said Rebecca Allen, health educator for Health Education Services. Their emotions are staggered and involve larger emotional crashes. The cigarettes help to stabilize this emotional roller coaster, she said.
“When you look at the population of students, about 81 percent of them don’t smoke,” Rebecca Allen said. “And out of the ones who do smoke, half of them classify themselves as social smokers, meaning a relatively small population of students have an addiction. We try to stop the addiction at a young age.”
Rebecca Allen serves as a resource for students who are looking to quit smoking.
“I talk individually with students confidentially who want to quit,” she said. “I get about 20 students each year.”
There are many different triggers when it comes to smoking, but one of the biggest triggers is probably social surroundings, Nancy Allen said. After falling into biological or psychological withdrawal, many people have little hesitation to start smoking again, she said.
Alexander Lee, an advertising graduate student, said he was addicted to smoking when he quit about three weeks ago.
“Your social life makes it harder to quit,” he said. “It is easier to quit when you are alone.”
Lee said he probably wouldn’t use a program like U Can Quit, since he doesn’t think there are steps to quitting. He said he simply chose to stop smoking.
“I just want to live longer,” Lee said.
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
