Only 50% UK smokers enjoy smoking

Only 50 percent of people who smoke, enjoy it.

London: A survey carried out by Cancer Research UK has revealed that only 50 percent of people who smoke do so because they enjoy it. The surveyors said that only half of the people polled said that they enjoyed smoking, while 47 percent said that they smoked to cope with stress.

They said that other reasons told by the participants were weight loss, the fact that smoking aids their social life, and that it offers pain relief. The findings came to light on the same day when a study conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that fewer people agree with the smoking ban in pubs than in restaurants. According to the surveyors, 75 percent of those polled said that they agreed with the ban in pubs, compared to 93 percent who said they agreed with the ban in restaurants. In the ONS survey, about 31 percent the smokers questioned said that they wanted to give up, but, rather than citing health reasons, they said that it was because they could not afford to smoke or considered smoking a waste of money. The study also showed that nearly as many people believed road accidents were the UK`s leading cause of death before 65, as opposed to smoking. However, in reality, less than 3,000 people die in road accidents each year as compared to 33,000 from smoking-related illnesses. "This study has shown there are key differences in motives for continued smoking. We need to look at these motives more closely to see how relevant they are when it comes to giving up smoking successfully," the Independent quoted Dr. Jenny Fidler, one of the paper`s authors, as saying. Jean King, of Cancer Research UK, added: "Understanding why people smoke is vital if quit smoking programmes are to be more successful. These results highlight just how complex the nicotine addiction is." ANI