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NICOTINE
“a poisonous alkaloid that is the chief active principal of
tobacco and is used as an insecticide”.
-
Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary
Part
One: Nicotine Addiction
From
the American Heart Association:
Nicotine
attaches itself to you physically. When a person smokes a
cigarette, the body responds immediately to the chemical
nicotine in the smoke. Nicotine causes a short-term increase
in blood pressure, heart rate, and the flow of blood from the
heart. It also causes the arteries to narrow. Carbon monoxide
reduces the amount of oxygen the blood can carry. This,
combined with the effects produced by nicotine, creates an
imbalance in the demand for oxygen by the cells and the amount
of oxygen the blood is able to supply. Smoking further
increases the amount of fatty acids, glucose and various
hormones in the blood. There are several ways that cigarette
smoking may increase the risk of developing hardening of the
arteries and heart attacks. First, carbon monoxide may damage
the inner walls of the arteries that encourages the build up
of fat on these walls. Over time, this causes the vessels to
narrow and harden. Nicotine may also contribute to this
process.
Smoking also causes several changes in the blood. They include
increased adhesiveness and clustering of platelets in the
blood, shortened platelet survival, decreased clotting time,
and increased thickness of the blood. These effects can lead
to a heart attack.
The
1988 Surgeon General's Report, 'Nicotine Addiction,'
concluded that:
·
Cigarettes
and other forms of tobacco are addictive.
·
Nicotine
is the drug that causes addiction.
·
Pharmacological
and behavioral characteristics that determine tobacco
addiction are similar to those that determine addiction to
drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
The
social attraction of smoking is perhaps the most insidious
prong of the nicotine addiction. Until recently, even after
the dangers of smoking were well known, smoking was widely
seen as essentially harmless; though this opinion is now held
by fewer people (and I'll wager that most of them are still
smoking), it has not disappeared. We still often hear smoking
defended with the argument that the sale, purchase, promotion
and use of tobacco products are legal activities nearly
everywhere in the world. While true, this statement obscures
the question of the safety of smoking and fails to raise other
explanations for its legitimate status, such as the financial
contribution, which the tobacco industry makes to the world
economy.
Greater
public awareness of the harm that smoking does is now altering
its image as sexy, cool, adult and fashionable.
Give
it a minute's thought: do you really like smoking, or
do you just like your smoker image and the props associated
with it, the cigarette, the nifty smoke rings, the ash; the
holes in your clothing, yellow stains on your teeth or the
nasty taste and smell on your breath?
The
minute you quit smoking your life changes drastically. Your
identity as a smoker is gone; the crutch which helped you
handle situations is kicked out from under you; your body and
mind begin to play quite clever tricks on you to get their
drug. All these changes can be nearly overwhelming, but the
important thing to remember is that things will get better
as you learn new and better ways to live your life
Ok,
just how does smoking harm my health?
LUNG
CANCER
risk increases roughly 50 to 100 percent for each cigarette
you smoke per day;
HEART
DISEASE
risk increases roughly 100 percent for each pack of cigarettes
you smoke per day;
Switching
to filter-tip cigarettes reduces the risk of LUNG CANCER
roughly 20 percent, but does NOT affect the risk of HEART
DISEASE;
Smokers
spend 27 percent MORE time in the hospital and more
than TWICE as much time in intensive care units as non
smokers;
Each
cigarette costs the smoker between 5 to 20 minutes of life;
A
smoker is at TWICE the risk of dying before age 65 as a
non-smoker!!
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What
are some of the less publicized health risks of smoking?
Smoking
greatly increases the risk of developing emphysema, stroke,
heart attack, lung cancer, etc. In addition, there are several
less publicized health conditions which are linked to smoking:
A/
Blindness
B/
Chronic Pulmonary Disease
C/
Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disorder (GERD)
D/
Smokers face or wrinkles
E/
Skin Cancer
F/
Cancer of the Mouth
G/
Cancer of the penis
H/
Psoriasis
I/
Delayed wound healing
J/
Buerger's
disease
K/
Diabeties
L/
Bowel disorder (Crohn's disease)
What
if I quit ... will I ever get better?
Within
20 minutes of your last cigarette:
·
blood
pressure drops to normal
·
pulse
drops to its normal rate
·
body
temperature of your hands and feet increases to normal
Within
8 hours:
·
carbon
monoxide level in your blood drops to normal
·
oxygen
level in your blood increases to normal
Within
24 hours:
·
chance
of heart attack decreases
Within
48 hours:
·
nerve
endings start re-growing
·
your
abilities to smell and taste things are enhanced
Within
seventy-two hours:
·
bronchial
tubes relax, making breathing easier
·
lung
capacity increases
Within
two weeks to three months:
·
circulation
improves and walking becomes easier
·
lung
function increases by up to 30 percent
Within
one to nine months:
·
coughing,
sinus congestion, fatigue, shortness of breath decreases
·
cilia
re-grow in lungs, increasing ability to handle mucus, clean
the lungs, and reduce infection
·
the
body's overall energy level increases
Five
years:
·
lung
cancer death rate for average ex-smoker decreases from 137 per
100,000 people to 72 per 100,000 (... almost half!)
Ten
years:
·
lung
cancer death rate for average ex-smoker drops to 12 deaths per
100,000 (... almost the rate for a non-smokers and a full
order of magnitude less than a smoker)
·
precancerous
cells are replaced
·
other
cancer rates (e.g., mouth, larynx, oesophagus, bladder, kidney
and pancreas) decrease as well
In
addition: ex-smokers tend to live longer than continuing smokers.
Stopping smoking decreases the risk of lung cancer, other
cancers, heart attack, stroke, and chronic lung disease.
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Frequently
asked questions
Why
is quitting smoking so difficult?
You
have probably quit smoking before, and you have probably gone
back to the habit. Whether you lasted an hour or a year, you
no doubt learned a basic truth: breaking away from tobacco
products can be, at best, unpleasant, and at worst, a living
hell. The memory of that unpleasant experience may have left
you with a fear of trying again.
Understanding
the source of your physical and emotion reactions can help get
you through those difficult early days. Quitting smoking will
be one of the hardest things that you will ever do. This is
because smoking is actually a three-fold problem: you have
developed psychological, social, and physical needs for the
drug nicotine.
As
a smoker, all your emotions were medicated with a
nicotine-packed cigarette: you relaxed with nicotine; you
laughed with nicotine, wept with nicotine, digested with
nicotine. You used smoking to pass the time, ready yourself
for a crisis, calm yourself after one, even (ironically) to
catch your breath during a difficult task. You began your day
by dosing with nicotine, your drug of choice and ended it the
same way. No wonder that, suddenly deprived of all that, your
mind and body go wonky for a little while.
Cigarette
tests are carried out by machines that hold the cigarette and
draw air through them in 2-second puffs once every minute
until the cigarette is burned down to the filter.
What about weight gain?
When
people stop smoking, they commonly gain weight. Most people
think that they are substituting food for cigarettes. This is
partially correct. Smoking is usually a different form of oral
gratification that obviously does not involve the consumption
of calories. However, smoking does have another effect - it
actually increases caloric requirements. A person who smokes
requires approximately 10% more calories to maintain their
body weight than when they are not smoking. Therefore, if a
person maintains constant food intake and exercise and stops
smoking, their body weight is expected to increase between 5%
and 10%. An excellent way to help counter this is to exercise
consistently. For example, start walking 30 minutes a day
three to four times a week - a very feasible goal. Another
approach is recording your food intake and make a small cut to
compensate.
OK,
I quit. Why do I feel worse?
As
your body begins to repair itself, instead of feeling better
right away, you may feel worse for a while. It's important to
understand that healing is a process - it begins immediately,
but it continues over time. These 'withdrawal pangs'
are really symptoms of the recovery process.
Immediately after quitting, many ex-smokers experience 'symptoms
of recovery' such as temporary weight gain caused by fluid
retention, irregularity and dry, sore gums or tongue. You may
feel edgy, hungry, more tired, or more short-tempered than
usual; you may have trouble sleeping or notice that you are
coughing a lot. These symptoms are the result of your body
clearing itself of nicotine, a powerful addictive chemical.
Most nicotine is gone from the body in 2-3 days.
DISCLAIMER
STATEMENT:
The information in this manual is for general purposes only,
and should not be construed as definitive or binding medical
advice. Because each person is medically different,
individuals should see their doctor for specific information.
On
the other hand ... why do I feel so potent?
Smoking
robs the bloodstream of oxygen, causing constricted blood
vessels and reduced blood flow to the fingers and toes, the
brain, and hmm, other extremities!! Men who quit smoking have
erections which are comparatively larger, firmer, and of
longer duration than when they smoked. Enjoy.
How
long will the physical withdrawal last?
Physical
withdrawal symptoms last anywhere from between 48 hours to two
weeks. This can vary from person to person depending on the
amount that you smoked and your physical and psychological
make-up. Many in the group have found the physical effects
typically last between 3 to 7 days. Unfortunately, you will
probably not arise on the 15th day after stubbing out your
last fag to find yourself completely disinterested in
nicotine. Even once the drug is out of your system, you will
have desires to smoke which will feel very much like
withdrawal symptoms. They are not. Know that your mind
is playing tricks, and fight the urge!
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