動物から学んだ禁煙のヒント＜英語版＞

日本語版はこちらから

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Did You Know? A New Way to Talk About Risky Habits
Recently, TV news reported that drug abuse is growing in the United States. The number of people harmed by drugs has doubled in ten years, reaching 100,000!

This reminded me of my time as a high school teacher. I often had to warn students about smoking, which is also dangerous and addictive. I showed them scary videos and invited speakers to tell them how even one cigarette could harm their health. Most students didn’t smoke, but some still did.

Then I found something interesting in a famous book called “King Solomon’s Ring” by an Austrian scientist. He wrote about how young animals sometimes do something surprising – they go close to dangerous animals that might eat them, run away at the last moment, and then do it again and again. It’s like they enjoy playing with danger!

This gave me a new idea for talking to my students. I told them: “Most of you stay away from cigarettes because you know they’re bad for you. But sometimes our brains actually make us want to try dangerous things. It’s an old part of our brain, like what those young animals have. So two things are important to remember: first, smoking is harmful, and second, you might feel drawn to try it exactly because it’s dangerous.”

Many students seemed to really understand this explanation. By the time I left the school, not one student was found smoking.

Could this way of talking work for the bigger problem of drug abuse? After all, any solution must understand why young people take risks in the first place.

Until next time,
Jiro