A single Puff in Childhood can make you a Smoker

Trying just a single puff of cigarette could lead to cravings three years on, a study funded by Cancer Research UK suggests.

The researchers fear the "period of dormancy" turns experimental teens into adult smokers.
The recent study discovered that teenagers who smoked a cigarette at the age of 11 were twice as likely to take up smoking within the next few years as those who did not try one.

The spark factors such as stress or depression could awaken those cravings again after up to three years of having that first cigarette, the study published in the British Medical Journal said.

The study included more than 2,000 teenagers of 11 to 16-year-olds at 36 schools in south London, surveyed for five-years. The 12% of 11-12 year old teenagers who admitted smoking just once were more likely to take up smoking when they were older compared with those who had never smoked, even after a gap of up to three years of not smoking.

The long term pupil study in Tobacco Control is the first to discover a smoking "sleeper effect" - where desire remains years after the first cigarette. This sleeper effect could be explained in several ways, researchers said.

They said that nicotine from just single cigarette could likely change the "reward pathway" in the brain - whereby chemicals are released which make you think you enjoy something.
Distinctly different from the first the other theory is that trying a cigarette may break down the social barriers that might prevent teens taking up smoking - such as fear of being caught or insecurity about how to smoke.

According to Cancer Research UK, around 14 per cent of 11-year-olds and 62% of 15-year-olds in England have smoked a cigarette.

Jennifer Fidler- the study leader, who is based at the Cancer Research UK Health Behaviour Unit at University College London, said: "We know that progression from experimenting with one cigarette to being a smoker can take several years,” Jennifer added further, “But for the first time we've shown that there may be a period of dormancy between trying cigarettes and becoming a regular smoker - a "sleeper effect" or vulnerability to nicotine addiction.”
Cancer Research UK- a cancer research and awareness-promotion group in the United Kingdom, said smoking-ban campaigns should focus on preventing children trying even one cigarette. Prevention messages should also be targeted at kids while they are still at primary school, warned the researchers.