Articles » Smoking Facts
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Why Is Cigarette Smoking Habit Forming?
Nicotine is one of the most well known components of inhaled cigarette smoke. But is it addictive? Yes and no. The details that make clear that paradoxical statement are interesting.
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The role that long-term, heavy smoking plays in developing lung cancer and heart disease are widely known. But it also plays a significant role in damaging dozens of other body systems and overall health.
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One of the common effects of quitting smoking is weight gain, usually from 5-10 pounds, sometimes more. But, though common, it's not inevitable. Weight gain from a stop-smoking program can have a number of causes.
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Using Rewards As A Smoke-Free Motivator
As human beings, many of our decisions in life are guided by what is known as the pleasure principle. In other words, if it feels good, we are likely to continue doing it; if it feels bad (physically or mentally), we are less likely to keep doing it or to try it again. So in order to quit smoking successfully, it's important to make the process of quitting, and life thereafter, as positive and pleasurable as possible.
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The Nasty Truth About Cigarettes
More than 700 chemical additives are found in cigarettes. Some of them are classified as toxic and are not allowed in food. Once lit, a cigarette reaches a temperature of nearly 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. This high heat helps release thousands of chemical compounds, including poisons like carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide, at least 43 carcinogens (substances that cause or promote cancer), and numerous mutagens (agents that can cause mutations in cells).
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Is There A Link Between Smoking & Depression?
Today little information suggests that nicotine use directly causes depression. Most evidence indicates that it is nicotine withdrawal that provokes depression. A young adolescent with depressive symptoms would likely be tempted to use nicotine as a self-medication. This could explain why people who are depressed take up smoking at a higher rate than others.
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How To Deal With The Psychological Dependency Of Smoking
Although all forms of dependency on cigarettes have a certain chemical basis, unless you are a heavy smoker (pack a day or more) the chemical basis is not likely to be particularly strong. Discomfort or annoyance when you can't smoke, such as during an airplane trip, or the need for a cigarette in certain social situations is mostly psychological.
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Helping Your Child Overcome The Peer Pressure To Smoke
One of the most common reasons kids smoke is to fit in with their friends. If the group they hang out with smokes, they'll probably feel pressured to try a few cigarettes. At first, most kids only smoke because of this peer pressure. But over time, kids learn that smoking helps them relax, and they start to smoke as a way of coping with anxiety and daily stresses.
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Cigars: Are They Just As Dangerous As Cigarettes?
Many people who smoke cigars are surprised to find out that they are addictive. But when you consider the fact that a typical cigar contains as much nicotine as at least three or four cigarettes, it's not a surprise any longer. This nicotine is exactly the same type of nicotine found in cigarettes. It's absorbed into your body in the same way - through the inhalation of smoke.
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A Look Inside The Body Of A Smoker
Blood Vessels: Your blood pressure increases by 10 to 15 percent every time you light up, putting additional stress on your heart and blood vessels and increasing your risk of heart attack and stroke. Smoking increases your risk of Berger's disease, which cuts off virtually all the circulation in your extremities. Severe cases require amputation.
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A Scary Look Inside The Body Of A Smoker
Let's take a look at what happens inside your body each time you light up. Think about how quickly tobacco smoke can produce harmful effects.
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2 Reasons Why You Started Smoking In The First Place
As the saying goes, "Hindsight is 20/20 vision." Most people who smoke wish they had never started. If you were able to go back in time to when you first tried a cigarette, what would you do? Chances are good that you wouldn't even take one single puff.
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The common belief is that lung cancer only affects people who smoke. The truth of the matter is that even innocent people exposed towards the smoke that is generated from smoking. This is often referred to as passive smoking where the burned tobacco leaves would generate harmful fumes that would immediately affect the open lungs of people who are exposed to them.
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Smoking is a global problem. It is estimated that one in three adults smoke, with over 1 billion people smoking worldwide. The majority of these smokers reside in countries on the low end to the middle of the socioeconomic spectrum. Of this majority, about 80% live in low and middle-income countries. The total number of smokers worldwide is expected to keep on increasing each year.
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Smoking cigarettes has been identified as the most important source of preventable morbidity and premature mortality worldwide. Smoking costs the United States over $167 billion each year in health-care costs including $92 billion in mortality-related productivity loses and $75.5 billion in excess medical expenditures.
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The Deadly Facts About Smoking
Its a proven fact that the instant you stop smoking your body begins to repair its self. Within the first 20 minutes after you quit your pulse rate will return to normal, blood pressure stabilizes, your heart rate drops, and the blood circulation to your hands and feet returns to normal.
