Smoking

Tobacco has been used as a mood-altering substance for centuries. It has been chewed, sniffed and smoked. Today it is most commonly used in the form of cigarettes. Tobacco comes from the plant nicotiana tabacum. The reason tobacco is used by so many people is because it contains a powerful drug known as nicotine that is not only addictive, but gives you a pleasurable sensation. The 'habit' itself is also addictive.

Cigarette smoke contains thousands of chemicals, many responsible for its powerful addictiveness. When tobacco is smoked, nicotine is absorbed by the lungs and quickly transported into the bloodstream, where it is circulated through the brain. This all happens very rapidly, so fast in fact, that nicotine reaches the brain within 8 seconds after someone inhales tobacco smoke. Nicotine can also enter the bloodstream through the mucous membranes that line the mouth (if tobacco is chewed) or nose (if snuff is used), and even through the skin.

Nicotine acts as a stimulant on the central nervous system and also has many metabolic affects. It increases the metabolic rate, raises blood pressure, changes muscle tension and affects certain brain chemicals and hormones. These and other metabolic changes create a pleasurable sensation in the smoker that is felt as relaxation. This "pleasure sensation" is one of the elements that makes tobacco so addictive.

Another factor is that the 'tolerance' to the effects of nicotine develops very quickly. Tolerance means the smoker needs to smoke more to get the same response as they once got from smoking less--a smoker may start out only needing to smoke 5 cigarettes a day; as tolerance develops that same smoker will need to smoke 10 cigarettes a day to maintain the high from nicotine. Once you become addicted, your body depends on the presence of nicotine. Some scientists have stated that the addiction to tobacco is harder to break than the addiction to heroin.

Once you try to stop smoking, withdrawal symptoms occur. These include: anger, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, headache, rise in blood pressure, stomach pain, and most of all--an intense craving for nicotine.

Nicotine is actually a deadly toxin. If a single pinhead-sized drop of liquid nicotine was put into your bloodstream, it would be fatal.

Smoking has a nasty effect on nutrition, too. Smokers break down vitamin C twice as fast as nonsmokers. Vitamin C is believed to be one of the most powerful antioxidants for humans. Other vitamins and nutrients that the body needs are also depleted by smoking.

The good news is that this addiction can be overcome. The health benefits of stopping smoking begin almost immediately. In just 24 hours after you stop smoking, your blood pressure and pulse return to normal. Within a week, your risk of heart attack begins to decrease. Breathing becomes easier and your senses of smell and taste begin to return to normal.

Smoking Stinks

Do you like to be taken advantage of?
Do you like to be lied to?
Of course not, but that's what's happening to many teens when it comes to the subject of smoking tobacco. The tobacco companies employ some of the best advertisers in the business to work their magic. And they have been very successful. They have taken a product that is unhealthy and expensive and made it look glamorous and attractive. Teenagers are one of these advertisers' big targets.
Cigarette smoking is promoted even though every cigarette contains thousands of chemicals, most of which are harmful. Do you really want to inhale cyanide, formaldehyde, methanol, acetylene and ammonia? You should know these chemicals are deadly; ask your chemistry teacher if you are a student.
The tobacco companies show us only the "cool" part of cigarette smoking. We've all seen "the beautiful people" or the attractive actors in magazines and billboards, all with cigarettes in their hands. But what these tobacco companies do not show us are smokers who are older, wrinkled, coughing or even on oxygen from years of smoking cigarettes. Most people would like to stop smoking but don't have the ability to kick this very addictive habit.

Do your parents smoke? How about your best friends--are any of them smokers? That is still no reason you should take up this dangerous habit. Don't feel pressured to smoke simply because everyone else seems to be smoking. Most teens never intend to become addicted, but it happens rather innocently. They may begin by smoking a cigarette offered to them by a friend. They may then buy a pack once in a while. Before long, they can't get by without smoking. They have become addicted, and will find it extremely difficult to break that addiction.

Smoking will affect your participation in sports, too. Teen smokers find it hard to engage in physical activity when doing so results in a pounding heart and shortness of breath. They are also more apt to get colds and pneumonia, not to mention heart disease and cancer in later years. Teen guys who smoke two packs a day may experience impotence by the time they turn 30.

If you're already a smoker and you want to stop, you can. Find your own incentive to quit--for instance, to compete in sports, or because it makes you hair and hands smell like smoke. Once you've determined this incentive, try to keep it before you all the time. Find a friend who will support you when you feel like you have to have a cigarette. Some teens choose to quit all at once--going "cold turkey," while others find it easier to level off slowly. Talk to your parents if you can. If you can't, talk to friends that have quit, or your health care provider who may have ways to help you stop smoking.

Facts on Youth Smoking, Health, and Performance

(From the CDC--Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Among young people, the short-term health effects of smoking include damage to the respiratory system, addiction to nicotine, and the associated risk of other drug use. Long-term health consequences of youth smoking are reinforced by the fact that most young people who smoke regularly continue to smoke throughout adulthood. (CDC. Preventing tobacco use among young people--A report of the Surgeon General. 1994, p. 15)

Smoking hurts young people's physical fitness in terms of both performance and endurance---even among young people trained in competitive running. (CDC. Preventing tobacco use among young people, p. 28)
Smoking among youth can hamper the rate of lung growth and the level of maximum lung function. (CDC. Preventing tobacco use among young people, p. 17)

The resting heart rates of young adult smokers are two to three beats per minute faster than those of nonsmokers. (CDC. Preventing tobacco use among young people, p. 28)

Among young people, regular smoking is responsible for cough and increased frequency and severity of respiratory illnesses. (CDC. Preventing tobacco use among young people, p. 9)

The younger people start smoking cigarettes, the more likely they are to become strongly addicted to nicotine. (CDC. Preventing tobacco use among young people, p. 9)

Teens who smoke are three times more likely than nonsmokers to use alcohol, eight times more likely to use marijuana and 22 times more likely to use cocaine. Smoking is associated with a host of other risky behaviors, such as fighting and engaging in unprotected sex. (CDC. Preventing tobacco use among young people, p. 36,104)

Smoking is associated with poor overall health and a variety of short-term adverse health effects in young people and may also be a marker for underlying mental health problems, such as depression, among adolescents.

High school seniors who are regular smokers and began smoking by grade nine are:
2.4 times more likely than their nonsmoking peers to report poorer overall health.
2.4 to 2.7 times more likely to report cough with phlegm or blood, shortness of breath when not exercising, and wheezing or gasping.
3.0 times more likely to have seen a doctor or other health professional for an emotional or psychological complaint.