Your grey matter matters.

Grey is the color of neutrality, it has been sandwiched between two extremes, black and white since forever.

The two extremes, of being a wretch and a holy person.
The good news is humans are not black and white, we have both inside us, a little bit of black and a lot of white and vice versa.

Consequently making shades of grey.

The is a matter of our mind to become one at a time consciously.

A part of our brain does this thinking for us, we have to nourish it and protect it from potential damage.

That part being Grey matter.

The outer part of our brain is wrapped up by this.

What exactly is this, and why does it matter?

If you don't want to end up being stupid in a conversation(like me) or during decision making then read further.

So this grey matter is involved in learning, memory, reasoning, decision-making, and information processing.

It is developed fully when you turn 8 and after that, its volume in your brain starts to diminish gradually.

However, its density increases over time and it can be confined to a small area, unlike your childhood brain.

More denser grey matter means more Intelligent quotient(IQ) in a person.

Think of this as a computer for your brain where most of the technical and logical work happens.
And computers need a constant supply of electricity just to turn it on.

The electricity of the grey matter is oxygen, its neurons will die otherwise and people will have to deal with your stupidity and obsessively compulsive decisions.

You must be thinking what is the logic of the cigarette picture on the top when the conversation is going quite biological?

I don't smoke.

And by the way, if cigarette damages a man's lungs then surely the same goes for women.

When I read the keyword #grey for this contest grey matter popped up in my mind and then I decided to make Cigarette a villain.

We all have seen a smoker around us, recall any middle-aged smoker Labour help you had to get inside your home.

Last year we had one and his stance was: give me just tea and I'll be fine with my cigarettes to do the manual work for the rest of the day. I don't need any food.

The other time we had called a man to do some sewerage work outside and before we could ask him his charges, he said just buy me a pack of cigarettes. I will do your work for two hours.

Cool Man.

Then we have this old lady who visits us from time to time and asks for pennies. I feel bad if I have to send her empty hands, my family bashes me if do the opposite.

However, her sons have told my brother to not give her money. Because she just smokes. My mother had seen her going to a shop right after leaving our house to purchase her drugs.

So impulsive of them to think no other way than this tobacco pipe to survive their day.

Guilty pleasure I get when I give her money, no matter what she does with that, I don't give her charity, she comes.

Is it wrong to give her money?

We are not giving her any now, but if she comes someday secretly maybe I will.

Anyhow, come back to grey matter and cigarettes.
You see how these people are obsessed with this. That's how nicotine makes them feel happy (as a result of dopamine hit) right after taking a few puffs.

(I came to know recently that you can't light a cigarette in your hand, you have to put it inside your lips first, burn it, take a puff, and then boom, you are burning in hell while trying to look cool, sastay angrez).

But this pleasure is short-lived, the blood rush is for a few minutes and you are back to square one.

Now you want to feel good again and you light the pipe and drag in that smoke.

This cycle continues and you are now addicted to smoking if you don't have other productive activities in your life to get natural dopamine/reward.

All those who smoke(chain smokers) are just doing the bare minimum to survive, and have stopped learning new things in life.

Smoking damages your grey matter seriously, and your oxygen supply is hindered, so reducing its density and your intelligence.

Grey matter makes up 40% of our brain and is crucial for intellectual activities.

• Exercise, brainstorming, reading, and meditation boost its density.

• If anyone is interested in taking care of their grey matter they can start it in Ramadan. It is a full month of fasting from dawn till dusk.

• You have to take a break from smoking in this window too. So automatically you have to avoid addictive things to observe fasting.
  It is to purify our blood and detox it from rotten things.

No oral intake from dawn till dusk

For instance: I'm planning to reduce my two cups of tea intake to only one. Caffeine is the sister of nicotine and causes grey hair too. I have seen it in all the tea lovers around me.

I have heard that those people who are highly educated and intelligent have grey hair.
When I was twenty my hair turned grey after a tough exam of BSc that lasted for one week consecutively.

Two months of exam preparation, reading small font sizes of zoology books, and endless strong cups of tea.

I saw the mirror after a month and I was like what the hack?
Though I barely survived that exam, it happened only once in my whole academic and gave me the gift of grey hair.
So unfair, they should have made me a topper at least.

Anyhow, Embrace your grey with dignity and don't smoke for heaven's sake👐