I don't, but my Roommate Smokes

Hi,

I stay with a person who smokes 10-20 cigs a day.
I was just wondering, how much will it effect his and my health (he smokes in the room only).

Any idea ?

 

There are a no. of different things you can do here, so selecting a single one out is a bit difficult.

1. Try to persuade your friend to reduce the amount of cigarettes he consumes in a day. Make him increasingly aware about the harmful effects of smoking. Folks smoking for long can't give it up like a shot. Persistent habits take time to diminish.
2. Changing room seems to me to be a good option but you can also try the other way around. Ask him to stay in a different room when smoking. Request politely; try not to get into a fight. Understand that your roommate needs some help (and maybe even professional counsel) with his problem of smoking. This can, in fact, be an opportunity for you to help him and develop a good friendship.
3. This last one really gave me the giggles. What makes you think starting smoking will solve the problem? Your friend's already endangered. Why do you wanna bring the misery upon yourself? Frankly, which heady person would want to do such a stupid thing? :O

How much will it affect his health depends on how much he smokes and how much he is naturally immune to it. But you are also the one being affected. I guess being in the company of a smoker is called passive smoking ….. not really sure. Anyhow, you are also inhaling the intoxicant partially and your lungs are getting damaged at a slower rate than his. Take a look at the pages below:
http://smokefree.gov/impact-on-others
http://www.quitsa.org.au/aspx/smoking_around_others.aspx
http://www.patient.co.uk/health/smoking-and-others-passive-smoking
http://www.angelfire.com/alt2/lindatran/smoking/effectothers.html
http://www.quitsmoking.com/content/an-honest-look-at-how-smoking-affects-everyone-around-you
Need more proof? I don't think you would.:/

As far as your poll goes, I would follow the second one because it sounds as practical and sane to me as much the 3rd sounds foolish and dumb. NOT TRYING TO BE RUDE HERE AND NO OFFENSE MEANT. But I would also work on the first choice simultaneously depending on how the case ahead was.

Nuff said I suppose. Hope this helps.

 

I'd either kick him out or move out.

Asking a smoker to quit is like asking a thief not to steal.

 

There are measures some govt.s have taken against this.
A popular one is selling packs of cigarettes with graphic images that typically picture a pair of sore lips, teeth stained with color of tobacco, distraught facial expressions indicating a high level of general irritability, jawline with fungal and blackhead marks, a deep hole in the neck or throat caused by smoking and smoke escaping through it etc. meant to deter smokers from buying them. The customary printing of warning message “Smoking kills/ is injurious to health.” in bold red text on the smoke packets doesn't seem to work anymore. I cringe sometimes by the very sight of such images.

Amazing though ….. the number of people STILL becoming addicts and getting killed due to lung cancer and other irrevocable diseases worldwide is alarming indeed! D:<

 

Tell them not to smoke inside, a couple of reasons.
1. It's no good for your health, you asked how much it will affect you, well in short "alot". there are plenty of sites that can tell you all about it.
2. It stinks, if he smokes inside you would be surprised if you took a wet cloth to the top of one of the walls how much it discolours the paint, if he wants to smoke thats his business but he has to realise your not choosing to smoke and shouldn't have to.
3. If he has a problem with this, accept it and move on, either move out or kick him out, it will only cause problems... if they are the sort of person who doesn't take into consideration other people and how their actions affect them, then simply put you don't want to be living with them.

Good luck, I use to be a smoker, the shit will kill you.

Hope some of this helps you make a decision.

 

“Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times.” - Mark Twain LOL

 

The health argument pretty much doesn't work on any smoker anymore. No doubt it saw a big drop-off when it first emerged that they were bad for you, but today there must be very few smokers who don't know what it can do to them. I had those conversations very often when I was still a smoker, and when I look back I was an arrogant douche about it.

"You know those things kill you?"
"Really? This one hasn't. It must be tame or something."

"Every cigarette you smoke takes six minutes off your life."
"Fine. Can I lose the six minutes you've taken to tell me about that?"

The fact is that smokers, even though they know the risks, keep smoking until they decide they'd rather not. If your roommate insists on smoking, then moving room or asking him to smoke somewhere else is likely your best hope. If he's a reasonable person, he should see that it presents a problem for you and look to make some compromise. If you're present when he is smoking, it can certainly be harmful for you, and if he continues to do it despite all of your reasonable protestations, you're living with a douche and moving is possibly the only way to escape it.

 

Another issue to raise with your roommate is that his smoking in the room is a potential fire hazard. A lot of people die every year because they perished in a fire caused by a lit cigarette due to carelessness, accident, or whatever.

You might also recommend the nicotine patch to quit or perhaps using the ecigarettes or vapor cigarettes indoors. He can continue to use traditional cigarettes outside, but out of respect to your health, he should use the smokeless cigarettes indoors with you.

 

Request him to smoke outside is that I suppose to do first.
Move out is my second.

Smoke from cigarettes is danger to people around than a smoker itself.

How so?
No filter and breath in naturally bring smoke go deeply inside.

 

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. @Content Maestro, thanks for all the infos.

I am happy to say that I could persuade him to smoke in a different room or outside. He has already started to smoke 50% of his cigarettes outside the room. You all Rock!!!! I guess my third option was really dumb, namely "Start Smoking", but I was so frustrated that too seemed a good idea to me then .

Thanks all, I am now trying to reduce his dosage, that seems to be the hard part though. He says that he smokes as he is tensed, and I am beginning to feel that he gets tensed when he is not smoking... its like going round in circles...

Once again thanks everyone for your wonderful suggestions and ideas!!

 

Welcome @trustjon.

Quite surprisingly, your 3rd option has received 2 votes as of now!!:O
Looks like even the thought of smoking starts screwing up one's brain sometimes.

 

I was smoking a lot 40 cigarets a day and i have quit several years ago. It is the best thing that i did. So dont start smoking, you will regret it. You don't need that. If you only know how is this stupid, giving money a multi million company to poison you? I know i was idiot for 10 years but not any more.

P.S. and they say it is hard to make money....

 

Just suggest that he smokes outside. If the smoke isn't reaching you though, you should be fine.

Or just get him an e-cigarette for his birthday!

 

e-cigarette is a cool idea!!! I was thinking of it but someone told me that Smokers don't like it...

 

Honestly, it'll not just be the best thing for you--but for him too. I was a smoker for 10 years, and I now haven't had a cigarette for almost 2.5 years.

Just make sure he gets a decent e-cig that's affordable and easy to customize (an e-Go C-Twist is a good, cheap one for about $30-50 and lets you adjust the amount of smoke he can draw from it from the heat setting), and e-cig juices with nicotine.

There are 5 strengths of nicotine for e-cigs. No nicotine, very low (9%), low (12%), medium (15%), and high (18%). I started with medium, and now I'm at low. Soon I'll go to very low, then no nicotine and maybe nothing at all! There's also great flavours like caramel, grapes, strawberry/vanilla, and even cigarette flavour for him to maybe try and get used to until he moves away from it.

I can almost guarantee I'd still be smoking cigarettes if I didn't have my e-cig, so do it for the both of you! My breathing is great now, and I have my sense of taste back, don't smell like crap and even the smell of cigarettes now disgusts me.

Good luck!

 

Thanks for the info @farenheit000

 

My pleasure, @trustjon!

 

I went through the same thing during my college days, but I used to go to another room when he smoked lol

 

Just tell him that doesnt like you that situation and suggest himto smoke outside of the room