Paradox: everybody knows that smoking causes cancer and many other diseases but still smokes cigarettes one after another. Man suffering from overweight is also aware about potential health problems but he still fails to get rid of some kilograms and refuses of any physical activity. This negative reaction has been even scientifically researched and a number of reasons why people fail to get rid of bad habits have been identified. Here are some of them:
* Inborn disobedience;
* Need for social recognition;
* Failure to understand the risks;
* Individual point of view and ability to rationalize harmful habits;
* Inborn turn for addiction.
It seems that people are more willing to destroy themselves than become immortal.
After a study which involved 1,200 participants, researcher Cindy Jardine says: “We found out that most of the people continue risky behavior because of being afraid of changes. Clearly understanding the causes of their risky actions, they tend to ignore them and live at this moment without planning much about the future.”
Another reason of such behavior is that some of dangerous habits have become socially acceptable and fashionable. People don’t want to stand out from others, so continue smoking or driving drunk. Another fact is that they have a wrong model of life, like grandmother who had been smoking all her life and died just after reaching the age of 90. Bad habits may also be tolerated because of the social and physical environment. If a man has friends who spend all night in the disco, all day in the sun and smoke continually, he is likely to start doing so.
“There is no vaccine against bad habits, only our strong will can help” says Cindy Jardine.
U.S. researchers have estimated that smoking, poor diet, lack of exercise and other things that can be controlled by us kill one million of Americans during the year. Last year:
* Tobacco killed: 435,000 people.
* Unhealthy diet killed: 400 000 people.
* Alcohol killed: 85,000 people.