In some of my earlier posts, I talked about using certain nutritional and hygienic practices to maintain quality levels of health. In this post, I’m going to address another strategy of equal importance; living a substance-free life. The term “substance-free” means to live a lifestyle abstaining from alcohol, smoking, drugs, and any other harmful and unethical substances.
I’ll start off with addressing cigarettes and alcohol. The problem with these two things are that not only are they perfectly legal and easy to gain access to, they’re also heavily advertised to people of all ages and walks of life. Also, a big percentage of people smoke,and almost everybody drinks alcohol, so this sends a message that might as wellsound like “The media is always advertising these things, and tons of people use them, so they must be perfectly alright. I might as well fit in and join the crowd.” However, parts of the media have been addressing how unhealthy cigarettes are and the damage that they cause, so that’s a step in the right direction.
Some people will just start out smoking one or two cigarettes here and there if they’re with friends who smoke. But even that’s a problem because the tobacco companies purposely fill cigarettes with nicotine and other extremely addictive chemicals. So even if you just start out small, it won’t take much time until you’re craving cigarettes more and more to the point where it becomes a full on addiction. Here’s a website that offers a quick summary of the health consequences of smoking: http://doingyoudamage.com/. Also, long-term smoking will cause permanent harm to your voice making it sound very raspy and unhealthy and will increase the rate at which you age. Overall, the tobacco industry is filled with greedy corrupt murderers. Think really carefully before making the choice to support them while harming your body and health in the process.
Next we have alcohol, which is even more highly advertised than cigarettes. I believe that advertising, as well as how it’s displayed in the media, have caused it to be almost a mandatory part of life and part of the general culture. People are usually in shock and disbelief when I reveal that I don’t drink, because it’s so rare to find people this day and age who don’t. I’ll start out by saying that light social drinking every now and then is alright, perhaps some organic wine at a special event. But in my opinion, things like liquor and beer should never be used. I know it’s a way for a lot of people to have fun and feel good. But it’s not worth the potential risks and the health consequences. The biggest risks for drinking include drunk-driving car accidents, which rank high on the list of leading causes of death in this country. And also, the risk of sexual assault, which is also a very common occurrence, especially amongst college-aged people. The media will sometimes talk about those risks, but it often fails to list the health consequences. To learn more about the health consequences of alcohol, check out these links: http://www.greenfacts.org/en/alcohol/l-2/04-health-effects-alcohol.htm,http://alcoholism.about.com/od/health/Effects_of_Alcohol_Health_Effects_of_Alcohol.htm,and http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000281.htm. And also, don’t forget all of the empty calories. Drinking frequently, especially beer, is a quick way to gain excess weight.
I know that it can seem tempting to drink because of all the media advertisements and the fact that almost everyone else is doing it, but you don’t have to listen to that. And it pays off a lot if you don’t.
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