A new study finds that nearly one third of all college age students are smoking “shisha”. Shisha is a flavored tobacco, originating in the Middle East, that is smoked out of a “hookah” or water pipe. This new trend is giving health care professionals another new thing to worry about when it comes to the health of our young people. In the past, college aged people had been convinced that smoking the favored tobacco was much less damaging to their health than cigarettes. However, this new study proves that spending an hour sharing a hookah with a few friends is far more damaging, long-term, than cigarettes.
Hookah smoking dates back thousands of years, and has long been a prominent part of Arabic culture. However, in recent years, it has made its way over to the United States of America. Immediately, college kids began to pick up on the cool new trend, and local hookar bars were set up everywhere. These were places were kids could grab a coffee with their friends, study in between classes, and enjoy a relaxing smoke. Until recently, people who enjoy smoking hookah had no idea that the smoke they were inhaling was nearly 100-200 times as much smoke as you would get from a single cigarette.
“Although current water pipe use was reported across all individual and institutional characteristics,” reports the study, “fully adjusted multivariable models showed that it was most strongly associated with younger aged, male gender, white race, fraternity/sorority membership and nonreligious institutions in large cities in the western United States.” The study goes on to say that smoking hookah is as equally an addicting behavior as smoking cigarettes. It should be included with other types of tobacco consumption, including dip and patches, as one that can be incredibly harmful to a person’s long term health.
One of the reasons why hookah smoking has become so incredibly popular with young people is because, unlike cigarettes, it is something you do as a group of people. It is seen as a social endeavor, where you and a few friends can sit around and share the hookah smoking experience. As with many new trends, those who engage in it are not always fully aware of the consequences that it poses. As more and more information and studies are released on the harmful aspects of hookah smoking, people will begin to realize that it is not the harmless activity it is made out to be by so many hookah bar owners.
It is important that further testing on the dangers of hookah smoking be done so that people can make informed decisions on whether or not they would like to partake in it. The more we are able to understand studies like these, the better we will be able to educate young people so that they do not make misinformed decisions with their health. Hookah smoking is not as bad as other, harder drugs, that is true. However, it could lead a young person down the path towards worse drugs. If you or someone close to you is struggling from an addiction to drugs, it is important they attend a substance abuse treatment program to get help.