Smoking is harmful to you and those you expose to your secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke is the smoke that comes from the lit end of your cigarette and exhalation from the smoker. A teenager with parents who smoke is more than two times as likely to smoke as a teen with nonsmoking parents, according to facts provided by the National Cancer Institute.
Nicotine
Smoking tobacco products can lead to physical addiction because they contain nicotine. Nicotine readily absorbs into your bloodstream and activates the release of adrenaline and dopamine, according to information provided by the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse. Adrenaline stimulates the central nervous system, raises your blood pressure, and increases your respiration and heart rate. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that affects the way the brain controls reward and pleasure.
Morbidity
Smoking tobacco causes fatal health conditions, such as cancer, heart disease and lung disease. According to information provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and responsible for approximately 443,000 deaths annually. The National Institute on Drug Abuse warns that babies exposed to second-hand smoke have increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome. The institute also notes that smoking caused approximately 12 million deaths between 1964 and 2004, including 4.1 million from cancer, 5.5 million due to cardiovascular diseases, 1.1 million from respiratory diseases, and 94,000 infant deaths to mothers who smoked during pregnancy.
Pregnant Women
Smoking tobacco while you're pregnant increases the risk of miscarriage. Your baby is also more likely to be stillborn, premature and have a low birth weight, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Low-birth-weight babies are at greater risk for a number of health conditions than infants with a normal birth weight. It cautions that maternal smoking may lead to learning and behavioral problems in your child.
Teens
Almost a quarter of the high school students in the United States smoke cigarettes, according to Medicine Plus, a National Institutes of Health website. It reports that adolescents who start smoking before the age of 21 have the most difficult time quitting. About 30 percent of teen smokers do not quit and end up dying early from smoking-related disease.
Costs
Cigarette smoking costs U.S taxpayers and businesses more than $193 billion every year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. It breaks down this figure as $97 billion in lost productivity and $96 billion in health care costs. It estimates that an additional $10 billion dollars are spent annually on health expenditures caused by secondhand smoke.
