3 ms·

Smoking makes you feel better in the short term because your body is jonesing for that nicotine, and dopamine gets released when you give your body the nicotine

Smoking makes you feel better in the short term because your body is jonesing for that nicotine, and dopamine gets released when you give your body the nicotine. Then you don't smoke, and you feel shitty until the next nicotine hit. You give a poor justification for an addiction, and the happiness is merely a result of the feedback loop of nicotine > dopamine > no nicotine > dopamine crash > nicotine > dopamine > etc. I'm bastardizing the chemical reactions, but you get the idea. I'm pretty sure medical science would say she is smoking because she's addicted. If she didn't smoke, she would be less likely to die of a fucking heart attack so she could actually work and be actually healthy. I'm not shitting on all poor people making poor decisions, just this lady who has at least one easily solvable problem (smoking while being a heart surgery survivor). Healthy living is not a luxury. Not drinking soda/eating junk food every day and walking are quite free if I recall...

saint_fiasco 9y ago
> Not drinking soda/eating junk food every day and walking are quite free if I recall... Even if we ignore for a moment that healthy food can be more expensive than soda and junk food, you have to take into account the necessary time investment. Those things take more time and time is money. One might reasonably argue that someone on disability payments should have more time than money, but habits like smoking and eating junk food were probably acquired when they were not on disability and needed to work as hard and as long as possible to make ends meet. No time for healthy cooking and exercise.
- fencepost 9y ago
  Don't forget economies of scale (or lack thereof). Many of these folks are in small towns shopping in small stores and paying high prices. If I have the storage space and cash, I can buy a 20 pound bag of rice on sale for $7 or less and use it over time - or I can go to Costco and get a 50 pound bag and maybe even make a little money dividing it up and selling it to my neighbors. If I'm living in a tiny shack with $1.50 to spend, I can instead pay $1+ for a pound bag of rice. A lot of other staples are like that - if you can get a little bit ahead just for a little while it can start a cycle that lets you keep getting a little bit better off as time goes by. That'll last until the emergency, which will put you right back down there gathering roots for $0.20/your. Oh, and the emergency that started this for some folks is birth, and there's no place they can even get to that has bulk items like that to start with.
thaumaturgy 9y ago
Ok, then. Try it. For the next six months, give yourself just $10 a day after basic expenses (rent, utilities), and be grateful that you've got that much. Your $10/day budget will have to buy you gas, food, entertainment, and anything else you want to spend money on beyond only the most basic of necessities. Your gym membership will need to come out of that budget, too. I've lived on a budget like this one. I know a few other folks on HN have similar backgrounds. That's why I tend to participate in threads like this one, because there are an astounding number of people that come out of the woodwork claiming that they understand a complex situation better than the people living in it. I'm not ignorant of the science and biochemistry behind nicotine use. I'm telling you that the only things that people like this really have are cigarettes, booze, and junk food (and heroin or meth, depending on the region), and you want to take those things away from them too, and for their own good in your opinion.
sctb 9y ago
Can you please stop? The problem with this line of commenting is that it's predictable, reductionist, and uncivil—not a good combination for Hacker News.
- nate_meurer 9y ago
  The parent comment is neither uncivil nor needlessly reductionistic. And why exactly does predictability constitute a demerit?
fencepost 9y ago
> I'm pretty sure medical science would say she is smoking because she's addicted. Maybe. How many cigarettes a week would be needed for that assessment? Because I'm pretty sure she's not nursing a pack-a-day habit. I suspect that avoiding heavy labor is just as likely to reduce her heart attack chances. For that matter, a healthy balanced diet would likely do even more to help. And where is she supposed to work? Let's see, poor education, limited access to bathing facilities, history of health problems, well into the age range where the college educated tech industry folks on HN complain about ageism and the difficulty of getting hired. Oh, and in a region of the country that's suffered from massive job and industry loss. I'm sure things will improve as soon as she stops smoking.

saint_fiasco 9y ago

> Not drinking soda/eating junk food every day and walking are quite free if I recall... Even if we ignore for a moment that healthy food can be more expensive than soda and junk food, you have to take into account the necessary time investment. Those things take more time and time is money. One might reasonably argue that someone on disability payments should have more time than money, but habits like smoking and eating junk food were probably acquired when they were not on disability and needed to work as hard and as long as possible to make ends meet. No time for healthy cooking and exercise.

fencepost 9y ago
Don't forget economies of scale (or lack thereof). Many of these folks are in small towns shopping in small stores and paying high prices. If I have the storage space and cash, I can buy a 20 pound bag of rice on sale for $7 or less and use it over time - or I can go to Costco and get a 50 pound bag and maybe even make a little money dividing it up and selling it to my neighbors. If I'm living in a tiny shack with $1.50 to spend, I can instead pay $1+ for a pound bag of rice. A lot of other staples are like that - if you can get a little bit ahead just for a little while it can start a cycle that lets you keep getting a little bit better off as time goes by. That'll last until the emergency, which will put you right back down there gathering roots for $0.20/your. Oh, and the emergency that started this for some folks is birth, and there's no place they can even get to that has bulk items like that to start with.

thaumaturgy 9y ago

Ok, then. Try it. For the next six months, give yourself just $10 a day after basic expenses (rent, utilities), and be grateful that you've got that much. Your $10/day budget will have to buy you gas, food, entertainment, and anything else you want to spend money on beyond only the most basic of necessities. Your gym membership will need to come out of that budget, too. I've lived on a budget like this one. I know a few other folks on HN have similar backgrounds. That's why I tend to participate in threads like this one, because there are an astounding number of people that come out of the woodwork claiming that they understand a complex situation better than the people living in it. I'm not ignorant of the science and biochemistry behind nicotine use. I'm telling you that the only things that people like this really have are cigarettes, booze, and junk food (and heroin or meth, depending on the region), and you want to take those things away from them too, and for their own good in your opinion.

sctb 9y ago

Can you please stop? The problem with this line of commenting is that it's predictable, reductionist, and uncivil—not a good combination for Hacker News.

nate_meurer 9y ago
The parent comment is neither uncivil nor needlessly reductionistic. And why exactly does predictability constitute a demerit?

fencepost 9y ago

> I'm pretty sure medical science would say she is smoking because she's addicted. Maybe. How many cigarettes a week would be needed for that assessment? Because I'm pretty sure she's not nursing a pack-a-day habit. I suspect that avoiding heavy labor is just as likely to reduce her heart attack chances. For that matter, a healthy balanced diet would likely do even more to help. And where is she supposed to work? Let's see, poor education, limited access to bathing facilities, history of health problems, well into the age range where the college educated tech industry folks on HN complain about ageism and the difficulty of getting hired. Oh, and in a region of the country that's suffered from massive job and industry loss. I'm sure things will improve as soon as she stops smoking.