Lesson video

Hello, my name's Ms. Mello and I'm going to be your teacher for today's lesson.

Today's lesson is called The Impact of Smoking and Vaping, and it fits into the unit risky substances.

What do I need to know about tobacco and vaping?

During this lesson, we are going to be talking about some sensitive content, so for this lesson, we recommend you have an adult with you.

If at any point during this lesson you feel worried or uncomfortable, it's really important that you stop the lesson and that you speak to a trusted adult.

Okay, let's make a start.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to describe the physical and social impacts of smoking, vaping and using nicotine products, and you'll be able to explain how best to say no to peer pressure.

Before we get started with today's lesson, we need to go over some ground rules.

These help to make sure that everyone feels safe and comfortable during today's lesson.

Laura says that we need to listen to others.

It's okay to disagree with each other, but we should always listen properly before we make any assumptions or before we decide how to respond.

When we disagree with someone else, it's important to challenge the statement and not the person themselves.

Next, we have Andeep.

Andeep says that we need to respect each other's privacy.

We can discuss examples, but we shouldn't use any names or descriptions to identify anyone, including ourselves.

If you want to share a story or an experience, we can refer to someone as my friend.

This means that we're not going to give away any identifying information.

Next, Izzy says that we can choose our level of participation.

Everyone has the right to choose not to answer a question or to join in with discussion if they don't feel comfortable, and we should never put anyone on the spot.

Finally, Jacob reminds us that we need to not have any judgment.

We can explore any beliefs and misunderstandings that you have about a topic without fear of being judged by others.

We're now going to take a look at the keywords for today's lesson.

Our first keyword is nicotine.

This is an addictive drug that cigarettes and some vapes contain.

Next, we have healthy choice.

This is a decision that contributes to physical and mental wellbeing, and finally, we have peer pressure.

This is when you feel pushed by friends to act a certain way, make choices or do things just to fit in with the group.

Today's lesson is split into three learning cycles.

Our first learning cycle is called What are the Health Risks of Smoking and Vaping?

Our second learning cycle is called What is the Social Impact of Smoking and Vaping?

And finally, our last learning cycle is called, How Can I Respectfully Say No?

Let's make a start on our first learning cycle.

What are the health risks of smoking and vaping?

The harmful substances in cigarettes such as tar and arsenic damage multiple parts of the body.

This can lead to several serious long-term illnesses, including at least 16 different types of cancer, including lung, throat, bladder, kidney, and stomach cancer.

It can also lead to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, often called COPD.

It can also lead to heart disease.

Smoking can also cause hypertension, which is high blood pressure, strokes, asthma, and it can also cause harm to reproductive health.

It can also cause diabetes and blindness or cataracts.

It can also cause decline in brain function.

There are lots of different health risks of smoking.

According to NHS England 2024, in the UK, 72% of lung cancer cases are caused by smoking.

We're now going to talk about how smoking damages the lungs.

When someone smokes, chemicals are inhaled through cigarette smoke.

The chemicals damage cells in the lungs so that they can't work properly.

Sometimes damaged cells divide abnormally, and this can create a cancerous growth.

We're now going to do a chat for understanding.

I'd like you to decide if the statement is true or false.

Smoking only damages the lungs.

What do you think?

Is this true or false?

Pause the video.

Talk to the people around you or have a think to yourself.

Well done if you said that this is false, but why?

You might have said that smoking damages multiple parts of the body, not just the lungs.

It can cause heart disease, strokes, several types of cancer and many other serious illnesses too.

Well done if you said something like this.

Several substances in cigarettes can put pressure on your heart and this can cause damage.

Dr. Elsie says that even inhaling the smoke from someone else's cigarette, which is known as passive smoking can damage the heart.

According to the British Heart Foundation, at least 15,000 people die from smoking related heart and circulatory diseases each year in the UK.

That's around 40 people every day.

We're now going to talk about how smoking damages the heart.

Nicotine increases blood pressure and damages artery walls, chemicals in smoke cause fatty deposits to build up in the damaged arteries.

These deposits make it harder for oxygen-rich blood to reach the heart and the brain, and over time arteries become clogged and can cause a heart attack or a stroke.

Let's do another check for understanding.

Which of the following statements about heart disease are inaccurate, so not true.

A, chemicals in smoke leave fatty deposits in the arteries.

B, passive smoking can't damage the heart or C, smoking can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

Which of those statements about heart disease are inaccurate?

Pause the video, talk to the people around you or have a think to yourself.

Well done if you said that B is correct.

It's not true that passive smoking doesn't damage the heart.

Passive smoking, so breathing in someone else's cigarette smoke can cause damage to the heart.

Well done if you remember this.

When someone makes a healthy choice to quit smoking, it can drastically improve their health.

It can improve their life expectancy by around 10 years.

It can lower the risk of different cancers, it can increase their energy levels.

It can improve their sense of smell and taste, and it can lower the risk of heart disease and strokes.

Quitting smoking can also improve someone's mental health.

Many people think smoking helps them cope with stress, but nicotine withdrawal actually causes the stress and anxiety that smoking temporarily relieves.

Dr. Elsie says that therefore quitting smoking can lead to lower levels of anxiety, depression, and stress, resulting in improved mood and a better quality of life for the person that's quit smoking.

Let's do another check for understanding.

I'd like you to tell your partner three reasons why quitting smoking is a healthy choice.

Pause the video and talk to people around you or how think to yourself.

You might have said any of the following.

It improves life expectancy.

It lowers the risk of cancer, increases energy, improves senses, lowers the risk of heart disease and strokes, and it improves mental health.

Well done if you said any of these three reasons about why quitting smoking is a healthy choice.

Vaping is considered less harmful than smoking, but it isn't risk-free.

Vapes can contain harmful chemicals that affect the lungs and heart when heated and inhaled.

Many of the long-term health risks of vaping are still unknown, meaning that it could be more harmful than we currently know.

For young people, vaping is especially risky as nicotine can harm the developing brain and make it harder to concentrate or sleep, which is really important for young people especially.

If you don't smoke, the NHS advises not to start vaping because of the possible health risks and risk of addiction, so the known health risks of vaping are breathing problems, coughing and wheezing, headaches, lung damage, mouth and throat irritation and nausea.

This means feeling sick.

Let's do another check for understanding.

Is this statement true or false?

Although we don't know the long term health risks of vaping, the short-term health risks are known and show that it's harmful.

Is this true or false?

Pause the video, talk to people around you or have a think to yourself.

Well done if you said that this is true.

<v ->It's true that although we don't know</v> that long-term health risks of vaping, we do know the short term health risks and we do know that vaping is harmful.

Well done if you said the same thing.

When someone makes a healthy choice to quit vaping, it can drastically improve their health.

It can improve their breathing, prevent any further damage from the chemicals inhaled.

It can prevent damage to brain development caused by the chemicals in vapes.

It can reduce stress and irritability caused by nicotine addiction and it can improve lung health.

These are all ways that quitting vaping can improve someone's health.

We're now going to do a check for understanding to see how you are doing.

I'd like you to tell your partner three reasons why quitting vaping is a healthy choice.

Pause the video, talk to people around you, have a think to yourself.

Well done if your answer included any three of the following.

It improves lung health, improves breathing, prevents further damage caused by the chemicals and it reduces stress and irritability caused by nicotine addiction.

Well done if you had any of these ideas.

Dr. Elsie says that snus and nicotine pouches are small bags containing tobacco or nicotine that are placed under the lip.

Nicotine is addictive and can affect concentration, mood and heart health.

Using these products can also lead to gum problems and tooth damage.

They're not safe for young people.

The healthy choice is to avoid them to protect your body and your brain.

In this illustration, you can see what some nicotine pouches can look like.

Let's do another check for understanding.

Is this true or false?

The healthy choice for young people is to avoid nicotine pouches and snus as they are harmful to health.

What do you think, true or false?

Pause the video, talk to the people around you, have a think to yourself.

Well done if you said that this is true.

<v ->The healthy choice for young people is</v> to avoid nicotine pouches and snus altogether as they are harmful to health and they can also cause addiction.

Well done if you said the same thing.

Let's move on to our first practice task and well done for your hard work so far.

I'd like you to give Alex and Izzy two pieces of advice each that they can give to their friend.

In your answer, I'd like you to cover the risks of smoking and vaping and why it's a healthy choice to quit.

Izzy says, my friend has been vaping recently.

They say that it's harmless, but I notice that they're coughing a lot and they get irritable when they don't do it, and Alex says, my friend has been smoking for a year.

They say it hasn't impacted their health and even if it has, there's no point in quitting now.

Can you give both Izzy and Alex two pieces of advice that they can give to their friend?

Pause the video and we'll go through some model answers in a few minutes.

Okay, let's see what you might have said.

To Izzy, you may have said that vaping can cause coughing, wheezing, nausea, or even lung damage.

The long-term health risks of vaping are also unknown, so vaping can be doing even more serious damage without us realizing.

You might have also said that making the healthy choice to quit vaping can prevent any further damage to health, improve lung health and reduce irritability caused by nicotine addiction.

You might have said to Alex that smoking does serious damage the lungs and heart.

Over time, this can develop into serious illnesses such as lung cancer and heart disease and that quitting smoking is a healthy choice and it can improve life expectancy and lower the risk of developing a serious illness.

Well done if your answers were anything like this.

We're now moving on to our second learning cycle.

What is the social impact of smoking and vaping?

Smoking, vaping and using nicotine pouches or snus don't just affect physical health.

They can also affect a person's relationships with the people around them and their social life.

This is because in today's society, they are less socially acceptable than ever before.

In fact, smoking is now less popular among young people than at any other time on record.

According to NHS England in 1996, nearly one in two young people or 49% had tried smoking.

In 2023, this was only about one in 10, so about 11%.

And most of those who tried it only experimented once and didn't do it again.

Let's do another check for understanding.

Can you complete the sentence with the missing information?

Blank is now less popular among young people than ever before.

For example, in 2023, only about blank young people had tried it.

Can you complete this sentence?

Pause the video, talk to people around you or have a think to yourself.

Well done if you said that the missing parts of the sentence was smoking and one in 10.

The complete sentence should now say that smoking is now less popular among young people than ever before.

For example, in 2023, only about one in 10 young people had tried it.

Well done if you got this right.

We are now going to talk about how smoking, vaping, snus and nicotine pouches can lead to social isolation.

Some physical effects that impact friendships are things like yellowed or stained teeth from smoking or snus.

Unpleasant smell on breath caused by all products and on clothes and skin caused by smoking, vaping and snus.

Breathlessness that limits abilities to exercise, which keep up with friends can be caused by smoking and vaping.

And nicotine withdrawal can cause irritability and mood swings, and this can happen with all products.

There are also social restrictions, so fewer public places allow smoking or vaping, limiting where people can go if they want to do this.

Users may only visit places that permit these products.

People who use nicotine products tend to spend more time with other users, which can narrow their social circle and the people that they meet and spend time with.

Smoking in particular is a big impact on the people around you, so for example, smoking leaves a strong lingering smell on clothes, skin, breath, and hands that many people find to be unpleasant.

Smokers often don't notice how strongly they smell because smoking dull their sense of smell and they become used to it too.

Secondhand smoke is in itself dangerous.

Secondhand smoke contains over 5,000 chemicals including 70 cancer causing substances and increases the risk of lung cancer, heart disease, and breathing problems in non-smokers.

As a result, many people choose to avoid spending time around smokers to protect their own health and to avoid the smell.

Let's do a check for understanding.

Which statements about nicotine products and social isolation are true?

A, only smoking causes unpleasant smells.

Other nicotine products don't affect how you smell.

B, secondhand smoke contains over 5,000 chemicals including 70 that cause cancer and C, breathlessness from smoking and vaping can make it harder to keep up with friends during exercise.

Which of those statements about nicotine products and social isolation are true?

Pause the video, talk the people around you or have a think to yourself.

Well done if you said that B and C are correct.

Secondhand smoke does contain over 5,000 chemicals including 70 that cause cancer, and it's true that breathlessness from smoking and vaping can make it harder to keep up with friends during exercise.

Well done if you got this right.

We're now moving on to our second practice task and well done for your hard work in this learning cycle.

Jay is smoking around his friends.

Label the image with the social impacts on Jay and the people around him.

Pause the video and we'll go through what you might have said in a few minutes.

Okay, let's see what your labels could have looked like.

The label for Jay might say he feels isolated from friends when he smokes.

Sophia thinks cigarettes smell bad, so she doesn't want to be around Jay.

Emily notices Jay's yellowing fingertips and Amira feels worried about being near secondhand smoke, so avoids being around Jay.

Well done if your labels looked anything like this or had some of the ideas from this learning cycle.

We're now moving on to our last learning cycle.

How can I respectfully say no?

During adolescence, many people experience peer pressure.

This is when others encourage you to do something that you're uncomfortable with or know that is wrong, like smoking, vaping or using other harmful substances.

At this age, the desire to fit in with your peers can feel particularly strong, making it harder to stand up for your own values and choices.

When friends or peers pressure you to do something against your better judgment, you might experience some conflicting emotions.

You might feel worried about losing friendships or being excluded and left out.

You might have a fear of being judged or made fun of.

You might feel discomfort because you know that it's wrong.

You could also feel confusion about how to respond without causing conflict, especially if the people peer pressuring you are friends or people that you care about.

It can be hard to say no when faced with peer pressure.

However, when we do say no, it's important to be assertive and respectful.

Aisha says that being assertive means having or showing confidence in what we say.

Practice saying no so that if you're faced with peer pressure, you can say it with confidence and be assertive too.

Let's do a check for understanding.

Sam is facing peer pressure to try smoking.

What different emotions might Sam be experiencing?

The people around her are saying, go on.

Just try it.

We all do it.

It's not that bad.

You have to.

What emotions might Sam be experiencing in this situation?

Pause the video, talk to people around you or have a think to yourself.

You might have said that Sam may feel uncomfortable as she knows that smoking is harmful and illegal for under eighteens.

She might also feel anxious that she'll lose her friends if she doesn't join in.

Well done if you had something like this.

Being aggressive means responding with hostility.

While peer pressure is wrong, reacting aggressively can make situations worse.

It can escalate conflict unnecessarily.

It can damage friendships.

It can make you look like the problem.

It can actually not communicate your message effectively.

Remember that if you need help and support in dealing with peer pressure, you can always speak to a trusted adult.

We're now going to look at some assertive strategies for saying no.

First of all, there's direct and polite refusal, saying something like, no thanks, I'm not interested.

Or that's not for me, but thanks anyway.

You can give a brief reason but you don't owe a lengthy explanation.

You might say something like, I'm not into that kind of thing, or It's not worth the risk to me.

You can also redirect the conversation.

You might say something like, let's do something else instead, or anyone fancy going to the park?

You can also use humor if it's appropriate and safe to do so.

You might say something like, I'm good thanks.

I prefer my lungs the way they are.

You can also remove yourself from the situation by saying something like, I need to head off now or I'm going to hang out with other friends instead.

You can also try the broken record technique.

You can keep calmly repeating your no without getting drawn into arguments.

You could say something like I've said, no thanks, or like I said, I'm not interested.

Real friends don't pressure others to do things that they don't want to do.

They respect your boundaries.

If someone repeatedly pressures you after you've said no, that's not friendly behavior, it's manipulative.

You might need to consider whether these relationships are healthy for you.

Let's do another check for understanding.

Which of the following is an aggressive way of saying no?

A, it's just not something that I'm interested in trying.

B, shut up as if I'd ever want to do that, or C, let's talk about something else instead.

Which of those is an aggressive way of saying no?

Pause the video, talk to people around you or have a think to yourself.

Well done If you said that B is correct.

By saying shut up, as if I'd ever want to do that, this is an example of an aggressive way of saying no.

Well done if you got this right.

We're now moving on to our final practice task and well done for your hard work in this lesson.

In the blank speech bubbles, I'd like you to write suggestions for how someone can assertively and respectfully say no to peer pressure.

The peer pressure speech bubbles look like this.

You should try this vape.

Come on, everyone is doing it.

Stop being such a baby.

In the blank speech bubbles, can you suggest some ways that someone can assertively and respectfully say no?

Pause the video and we'll go through what your speech bubbles might look like in a few minutes.

Okay, let's see what you might have said.

In response to you should try this vape, you might have said, no, thanks.

I'm not interested.

It's illegal for people our age anyway, and I don't want to risk it.

In response to, come on, everyone is doing it, you might have said something like, I'd rather not.

Vaping can damage your lungs, and I'm not into that.

Let's talk about else.

In response to someone saying, stop being such a baby.

You might have said something like, I've already said no, I need to head home now.

Well done if your answers looked anything like this or had some of the ideas from the standing cycle.

We're now going to summarize the key learning from today's lesson.

In today's lesson, we've learned that smoking, vaping and using nicotine pouches or snus are harmful to health.

For example, cigarettes contain dangerous substances like tar that can cause cancer and heart disease.

Making healthy choices such as quitting smoking or vaping benefits both our physical and mental health.

Using these products doesn't just affect the person using them.

They can also have social impacts such as unpleasant smells and social isolation.

If you face peer pressure to smoke, vape, or use any other nicotine products, saying no assertively and respectfully is important.

Real friends will respect your boundaries and your healthy choices.

During this lesson you might have found that you've got some worries or questions, and if you do, it's really important that you share them with a trusted adult.

There's also some resources on the screen that are there to help you too.

Well done for your hard work today.

I hope to see you again soon.