Adverse human habits: smoking. Addictions of a person: smoking It's never too late to quit smoking
Smoking is the process of inhaling the smoke produced by the combustion of plant products. Smoking mixtures are usually characterized by narcotic properties (tobacco, weed, etc.). Despite the fact that everyone knows from childhood that this habit destroys the body and causes irreparable harm, the number of addicts is growing. The statistics are relentless: according to WHO, every 6 seconds in the world one person dies from diseases that cause bad habits - smoking takes millions of lives.
What is smoking, if not the real addiction that people face when they pick up a cigarette? Everyone who tried to quit could feel it - irritability, instability of the nervous system, a desire to inhale smoke as soon as possible, which is very difficult to fight.
But for some reason, people still smoke, despite the harm. The process brings satisfaction, relaxation, helps to calm down and cope with a stressful situation. Someone cannot concentrate without a cigarette, and for another, the process of waking up in the morning is impossible without a puff and a cup of coffee. All these people will have one thing in common - they are not able to control their addictive state, although everyone knows exactly what and how dangerous smoking is. People think that their terrible diagnoses will be bypassed, but this is not so.
Nicotine leads to the defeat of the nervous, respiratory and circulatory systems, digestion, feelings. Hydrocyanic acid has a toxic effect on the entire body. Poisons cause diseases of the heart, blood, blood vessels, neuropsychiatric diseases. Carcinogenic substances that penetrate the lungs and carry with the bloodstream to each organ provoke cancer.
Carbon monoxide leads to hypoxia and cell death, since erythrocytes under its influence lose their ability to transport oxygen.
An interesting fact about smoking is that it was originally a religious ceremony. With the help of smoke, spirits were expelled, rituals were performed. Today it is a widespread habit that, according to statistics, shortens life by an average of 14 years.
Why do you want to smoke?
Nicotine is a substance of psychotropic action, it leads to changes in the nervous system. The ingestion of nicotine into the body is accompanied by a weakening of brain activity in the first minutes - this is the reason for the appearance of a feeling of calm. After this, the stage of excitation begins, leading to emotional uplift, satisfaction.
The reasons for smoking are due to psychosomatics, that is, the relationship between the emotional and physical state of a person. In order to abandon an addiction, you need to figure out what exactly it replaces. Perhaps a cigarette smoker cannot find a way to relax in a different way, or his communication skills suffer. After a replacement for smoking is found, it will be less desirable, and it will be much easier to quit.
Habit formation happens quickly. When the level of nicotine in the blood decreases, the smoker has a strong desire to replenish it.
Addiction can be both psychological and physical. Considering the need for nicotine from the side of psychology, it must be said that a cigarette becomes a kind of ritual necessary for a break in work, for example, or for communication, to deal with stress, or in a situation requiring concentration.
In physical dependence, the need for a puff overrides all other needs - a person cannot think about anything else until he smokes.
Influence on the work of organs
Everything . The CNS is constantly exposed to the stimulating effects of nicotine. Due to vasospasm, blood circulation is disturbed, the nutrition of brain tissues worsens, thinking processes slow down, memory and concentration deteriorate. Oxygen, which is required for the normal course of all processes in the brain, is not enough. Sleep disturbances, headaches, severe irritability are frequent companions of a smoker.
The main part of the smoke enters the lungs, affecting the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose, larynx, trachea, and bronchi on its way. This exposure leads to the development of inflammatory reactions, so the frequency of colds and infectious diseases among smokers is much higher. After inhalation of smoke for 20 minutes, the cilia of the bronchial mucosa cannot work normally, which by movement remove dangerous substances penetrating inside. A change in the voice of smokers is associated with a narrowing of the glottis: the timbre of the voice changes, hoarseness appears.
There is a significant deterioration in well-being in the morning: there is a cough with dark-colored sputum, shortness of breath. This is due to a decrease in the elasticity of the lungs.
From the side of the circulatory system, the effect is to increase, malfunctions of varying degrees - up to a heart attack. In the process of smoking, the heart rate increases, returning to normal after 15-20 minutes. On average, the negative impact after a cigarette continues for another half an hour. If you smoke cigarettes with a time interval of less than 40 minutes, then a continuous effect is exerted on the body. Thus, the heart makes 10-15 thousand more beats compared to the norm.
Violation of the gastrointestinal tract is another consequence of a bad habit. Smoking leads to increased salivation. Saliva, saturated with nicotine, enters the stomach when swallowed. In the mouth, cigarette smoke irritates the teeth, leading to the destruction and yellowing of the enamel, leading to bleeding gums. Due to its impact, a feeling of bitterness persists, a plaque appears on the tongue.
Nicotine is the same, leading to their narrowing - the stomach suffers no less than other organs. Gastric juice begins to be produced in greater quantities, and its composition changes. The impact on the digestive system is manifested by a decrease in appetite, a slowdown in the processes of digestion of food. The consequences of violations of the functions of the gastrointestinal tract lead to the development of gastritis and ulcers.
The work of the sense organs worsens: the sense of smell, the perception of taste are disturbed. If you think about it, the pleasure of smoking is very doubtful. The addicts themselves are aware of this, but few are able to give up the habit when they want to smoke.
The harm extends to healthy people who become hostages of passive smoking. They are affected by all the same substances, so the dangers are similar to the active form of addiction.
Diseases caused by smoking
Habit is a provoking factor in the development of many diseases. These are oncological diseases of the lungs, oral cavity and respiratory tract, mental and cardiovascular pathologies.
In 90% of cases, lung cancer is associated with smoking. The formation of dependence during adolescence leads to structural changes in the respiratory system, which increases the likelihood of oncology, even if a person subsequently quit smoking.
Spasm of blood vessels, combined with stimulation of the formation of atherosclerotic plaques, as well as an increase in the level of hormones produced by the adrenal glands, leads to a direct threat to the life of people suffering from cardiac arrhythmias. The need of the heart muscle for oxygen increases, blood clotting increases, so the risk of thrombosis increases. The increased work of the heart leads to its rapid wear.
Another reason for the development of vascular pathology is a slowdown in the absorption of vitamins, in particular vitamin C, which causes the deposition of cholesterol.
The habit has a detrimental effect on the reproductive system of women and men. It is dangerous at any age. In young people who are addicted to smoking, the number of spermatozoa is 42% less, and their motility is 17% less compared to non-smokers. This leads to a decrease in the likelihood of fertilization of the egg, and in some cases to infertility. Smokers are more likely to be diagnosed with erectile dysfunction, which is also caused by vascular damage.
For women, nicotine addiction is even more dangerous, as it affects pregnancy and fetal development. Moms who smoke are more likely to have miscarriages and premature births. Oxygen deficiency leads to a disruption in the formation of organs and systems of the child, as a result of which both external anomalies and mental disorders can be observed - developmental delay. In addition, a failure of the menstrual cycle, hormonal imbalance is recorded. The destructive effect on the egg leads to the inability to become pregnant.
Women are especially affected by the changes that occur to their body: the skin quickly loses its elasticity, wrinkles appear on the face. Smoking ladies look much older than their age, only think about the reason for this after the appearance of pronounced changes. The situation is even worse for people who do not deny themselves alcohol - the combination deals a double blow to the organs.
Stages of nicotine exposure
The degree of destructive impact can be estimated from the first meeting with a cigarette. Multiple reactions of the body indicate that poison has entered it.
First there is a spasm in the throat, stomach, esophagus. There is nausea, vomiting, dizziness. The stage of excitation turns into pronounced inhibition and discoordination. It would seem, why smoke if the body is screaming for help. However, most people form a persistent habit.
As you get used to, the reactions become less pronounced, but the negative impact does not decrease. There is a feeling of euphoria. From this point on, giving up cigarettes becomes an increasingly difficult decision.
Over time, people realize the harm of the habit. Characteristic symptoms appear: cough, apathy, a person becomes very nervous when it is impossible to smoke. When changing the brand of tobacco products, discomfort can occur. People with addiction are characterized by neuroses.
Other types of smoking
Vaping leads to the same effects. After 8 seconds after the puff, nicotine penetrates the brain, and the destructive effect stops only after half an hour. E-cigarette blends are flavored, and inhaling the vapor is just as harmful as tobacco smoke.
Smoking marijuana also leads to inflammatory processes and becomes the cause of pathologies of the respiratory system. The consequences of hashish consumption are manifested by the development of pathologies of the cardiovascular system, oncology, and mental disorders. For women, these products are fraught with destructive processes that affect the ovaries and infertility. In men, there is a decrease in the quality characteristics of spermatozoa and sexual performance.
Separately, it should be said about smoking cigars. They are less harmful than cigarettes, but far from safe. The risk of lung cancer when using them is lower, but the likelihood of developing cardiovascular pathologies, atherosclerosis, cancer of the throat, and oral cavity remains. Similar prospects await pipe and hookah smokers.
Useful video
From the video you can learn about nicotine addiction:
Recovery of the body
Cleansing begins with the respiratory system: fresh air, ventilation, wet cleaning are needed. Of the medicines, activated charcoal is used to remove toxins from the intestines. ACC, Lazolvan help to improve the work of the cilia of the bronchi. Vitamin complexes are taken to restore protective functions.
It is important to tune in to the fact that it is difficult to quit. Smokers face a real withdrawal syndrome that torments alcoholics and drug addicts. This period can last for a long time - up to several weeks, although the peak falls on the first 1-3 days after the refusal.
In contact with
It is very difficult for modern man to resist the temptations surrounding him. One of these is a bad habit - smoking. For a long time, the problem of smoking has been of concern to mankind, and almost every person has tasted a cigarette at least once in his life. Recently, women and even children have become addicted to this pernicious occupation.
Why is smoking a habit? As a rule, a habit is called something that causes a strong mental or physical dependence in a person. Look at the heavy smoker. He will not be able to live a day without cigarettes, because he is dependent on them. Just the thought of a life without cigarettes can terrify him.
Reasons for smoking
Fashion for the use of cigarettes came from Western films, advertising, entertainment TV shows. A smoking man was considered the standard of male beauty, brutality and strength.
The lack of variety in leisure activities in a child or adolescent can also provoke the emergence of an addiction. A modern teenager is most often left to himself, because parents have to work. As a result, he has to diversify his life himself, and he decides to try something new, for example, a cigarette.
Many teenagers consider a cigarette an integral sign of adulthood and independence. It seems to them that when they smoke, they become mature and accomplished in the eyes of others. Friends also add fuel to the fire, constantly teasing the child, saying that mom and dad forbid him to smoke, calling him a sissy. But not necessarily a person can smoke in adolescence. There are times when an already formed adult person began to smoke. For example, in the presence of any stressful situations, he begins to look for ways to calm down and solve problems - and then cigarettes or even alcohol come to mind.
Consequences of smoking cigarettes
Unfortunately, few people admit that their bad habits are actually bad. Since smoking does not cause severe harm to others, it means that it is not as harmful as they say - this is the main argument of smokers.
Speaking about the consequences of smoking, doctors call a huge list of pathologies that can result from tobacco use:
- lung and oral cancer;
- myocardial infarctions;
- various diseases of the heart and blood vessels;
- diseases of the oral cavity;
- coarsening of the voice;
- obesity or, conversely, painful thinness;
- weakening of the immune system;
- lung diseases;
- diseases of the digestive organs.
And this is not a complete list of diseases that can occur in a person with a bad habit.
Women's smoking as a bad habit
Most women start smoking in their teens. As a rule, they are driven by the desire to lose extra pounds or become older and sexier in the eyes of their friends.
The impact of tobacco products on women's health:
- premature aging of the skin;
- presence of blackheads and pimples;
- dehydration of the skin;
- circulatory disorders, the appearance of varicose veins and dilated vessels;
- long regeneration of the skin after injuries and injuries;
- deterioration of hair, nails and teeth;
- diseases of the internal organs.
Myths about cigarettes
Trying to justify the presence of an addiction, people begin to come up with various myths that can somehow support them.
Myth #2: People who smoke are thin people. First of all, you need to look around - there are a lot of fat smoking people around. Believing that a cigarette dulls the feeling of hunger, a person provokes the appearance of gastritis or ulcers. And losing weight with smoking is the same as getting yourself an infection and melting away from it.
Myth #3: Cigarettes keep you warm! The smoke from a cigarette can really warm for a short time due to the content of substances in the composition that constrict blood vessels, increasing the pulse and increasing blood pressure. Is it necessary to start smoking for the sake of a moment of warmth with consequences in the form of hypertension?
Myth #4: "Light" cigarettes are almost harmless! Another lie. Switching to "light" cigarettes, the smoker begins to inhale deeper and smoke more, because there is a lack of nicotine. All this leads to a greater chance of acquiring cancer of the larynx and other respiratory organs.
Myth #5: Nothing will happen if I smoke. Common myth. Young people simply did not have time to acquire the diseases that smoking causes, and the old and the elderly have been treated for them for a long time and are unlikely to live a full life.
Smoking, as everyone has long known, is quite a bad habit. Despite this, the army of smokers is not decreasing, on the contrary, it tends to increase. Neither the convictions of doctors, who often smoke themselves, nor the adoption of laws at the state level help. Everyone will come up with an excuse for why he smokes. A huge number of smokers do not dare to get rid of this addiction, and in most cases, they cannot quit smoking on their own.
Negative effect on blood counts. It becomes too viscous, the possibility of developing thrombosis (blockage of blood vessels with blood clots) increases. The next stage is circulatory disorders and severe cardiovascular diseases.
It is better for people who do not part with a cigarette not to be in the sun for a long time, not to relax in resorts with a hot and dry climate, they should refuse to visit baths and saunas. High temperature and profuse sweating can play a negative role, which will end in blockage of blood vessels.
For women who like smoking, it is better not to take oral contraceptives and other contraceptives containing estrogens, in addition, women who smoke over the age of 35 and who have it are strictly forbidden to take contraceptives.
How to reduce the harm from smoking?
How to smoke and cause less harm to your health? Of course, nicotine kills slowly, gradually poisoning the body. He always makes the smoking lover choose who is to blame for his disgusting state of health, but never blaming himself. Many are familiar with the fast-acting side effects of tobacco smoke, which can pave the way for cancer.
You don't have to smoke on the go. A person breathes deeper and more often, heart work intensifies, the body needs to get as much tasty oxygen as possible, and the owner of this organism blows a huge portion of nicotine into it, thanks to which. Useful air can no longer find itself in the lungs, which feed instead on carbon monoxide, tar, cyanide and similar toxins.
The smoker should not hold the cigarette by the filter when smoking, because there are small holes in the paper through which air passes. This somewhat reduces the harm from a smoked cigarette.
No need to smoke in the apartment or in bed. First of all, it is a fire hazard. Plus, the smoker, inhaling the toxic chemicals left after smoking, can get seriously poisoned. If you really want to smoke at home, it is better to do it on the balcony or loggia.
You should not use the cigarette to the end, with each puff, the likelihood that the filter will be able to trap harmful particles of smoke is greatly reduced. Each puff must be counted. Experts came to the conclusion that the same cigarette can give different people completely different amounts of poisons and nicotine. If a smoker rarely puffs, he gets a little less toxins.
If the smoker does not plan to quit his addiction, then it is best to purchase an electronic cigarette. Taking this magic wand in his hands, he will never quit smoking, but there will be almost no minuses from this: there is no smoke, therefore, there is no passive smoking, the smoker is almost not afraid of getting sick with various diseases of those who like to smoke.
In the event that a person has decided to firmly get rid of a bad habit - smoking, he can be helped, which reduce the craving for smoking, contribute to the improvement of the oral cavity. It contains only natural ingredients, which allows their use without restrictions at any time. Sweets Nekurit will help get rid of addiction forever.
Watch the video to see why you should quit smoking.
Since 1988, May 31 has been World No Tobacco Day. Russia has been actively and noticeably involved in the fight against smoking since 2013, when the law “On protecting the health of citizens from the effects of second hand tobacco smoke and the consequences of tobacco consumption” was adopted. According to the Ministry of Health, since then, the number of smokers has decreased by about 10%.But, even if these figures are taken into account, the smoking part of society is more than 30 million people. Why do they all smoke? We deal with the clinical psychologist, writer and host of the TV channel "Doctor" Mikhail Khors.
It is well known that inhalation of smoke (any, not just tobacco) is harmful to human health. Obviously, from the daily inhalation of smoke, the physical condition worsens. And here it is incorrect to say that smokers are so stupid that they do not understand the dangers of smoking - there are many intellectually developed people among them. It is incorrect to call smokers weak-willed - many of these people are strong and strong-willed, showing character in other areas of life.
If you ask the smokers themselves, it turns out that they are more concerned not with health problems while smoking, but with a worsening psychological state without cigarettes.
Describing it, they mention such words as irritability, anxiety, discontent, tension. At a certain point, these states become so strong that the smoker no longer thinks about his health and buys cigarettes.
Why do smokers feel so bad without cigarettes?
They themselves answer this way: “I feel irritation and dissatisfaction because I am forbidden to do what I want.” But does a person always suffer if he is forbidden to do what he wants? Does he suffer so much that he forgets about logic and responsibility for his health? Forgets that he sets a bad example for his children? Of course not!
This situation really seems strange if we continue to treat smoking as a bad habit. “A person is used to bringing a white paper tube to his mouth, soaked and stuffed with all sorts of chemicals. This is his little weakness. And the fact that he has bad breath, yellow fingers, black lungs is his own choice,” we think.
However, it is clear that the approach to smoking as a bad habit is fundamentally wrong. Habits are behavioral automatisms that change quite often, easily, without much anxiety and irritation! Suffice it to recall how you changed to a new car, changed your place of work or residence ... Yes, out of habit, our body itself tries to behave in the old way: we can go to another metro station or try to find the clutch pedal in a car with an automatic transmission, automatically assuming that we are driving the previous car "with mechanics".
But all this does not cause strong emotions. Maximum - slight dissatisfaction. After a few days, we form new automatisms-habits and stop using the old ones.
Why is smoking not a habit?
To unravel this riddle, you can refer to the definition of the word "smoking" in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia. What do we see there? "Smoking is a form of addiction." It turns out that smokers are drug addicts. And a drug addict is a person who, without his drug, experiences “withdrawal” - a painful condition that is scientifically called withdrawal syndrome. And it is he who makes the addict use the drug, even if its harm is obvious.
You will be surprised, but heroin addicts describe withdrawal in a very similar way to smokers. Heroin addicts also experience irritability, anxiety, dissatisfaction and, at some point, an uncontrollable craving for their drug. Of course, their sensations are stronger and more intrusive, but in fact, the same suffering as that of smokers.
What does this knowledge give to smokers themselves? What to do with this addiction next?
Armed with this knowledge, any smoker, when quitting, can fight the addiction itself, and not his desire to smoke. Realizing and recognizing his dependence, the smoker may also understand that he is forced to smoke, as this "forces" him to do withdrawal symptoms.
It is very difficult to conquer your desires, almost impossible. And to defeat smoking, you need to understand that in fact you have no desire! There is withdrawal, weaning of the body from the drug nicotine. Yes, being in a withdrawal state is unpleasant, but if you perceive this state as a sign of recovery and the body's struggle for its independence, and not as your own desire to inhale poisonous smoke, then the withdrawal period is experienced much easier.
Advice to all smokers quitting smoking - stop using the phrase "I want to smoke." Watch your thoughts and your speech. Tell yourself that you want to be healthy, strong, smell good. After all, it was with these goals that you gave up tobacco! And that feeling that you used to mistakenly call your “desire to smoke” is not a desire at all, but a withdrawal from a drug addict. It will reduce its intensity within a few days, and after a couple of weeks it will be gone altogether!
Smoking is a social problem of society, both for its smokers and non-smokers. For the first - the problem is to quit smoking, for the second - to avoid the influence of a smoking society and not "get infected" with their habit, and also to maintain one's health from smoking products, since the substances included in the smoke exhaled by smokers are not much safer than if a person he himself smoked and took in nicotine and much more that is included in a lit cigarette.
Smoking is a type of household drug addiction. For many smokers, smoking becomes part of their "I", and this internal perception of oneself is sometimes very difficult to change.
However, smoking is more than a habit. All those forms of tobacco consumption that have become popular among the population contribute to the entry of nicotine into the blood.
After the penetration of cigarette smoke into the lungs, nicotine enters the brain in just seven seconds.
The inability to quit smoking is to blame for the body's already developed dependence on a daily dose of nicotine. The body is waiting for this dose and requires it, like the prescribed proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Smokers have a different metabolism, some “nicotine addiction” has developed.
Trying to quit smoking, heavy smokers very often at first begin to feel not better, but much worse: coughing increases, weakness, irritability, a tendency to overeat, women are drawn to sweets, and in immoderate amounts.
Public ignorance of this problem led to the idea of smoking as a "bad habit" in which the smoker was blamed because he could not stop smoking. However, the habit of smoking is formed only in 7-10% of persons who systematically smoke tobacco. The remaining 90% are diagnosed with tobacco dependence.
Individuals with a habit of smoking tobacco stop smoking on their own and do not need specialized medical care.
Harm of smoking
When a person touches a cigarette for the first time, he does not think about the dire consequences that smoking can lead to. Being careless about their health, the smoker considers himself invulnerable, especially since the consequences of smoking do not affect immediately, but after a number of years and depend on its intensity, the number of cigarettes smoked, the depth of inhalation of tobacco smoke, the duration of smoking, etc.
Most people are optimistic. Being healthy, they usually believe that they will always be in good health, and all sorts of diseases are the lot of other, weaker, more susceptible people. But, alas, such optimism cannot be considered justified if you do not take measures to prevent diseases, do not give up bad habits.
The smoke of cigarettes slowly undermines the health of the smoker. Scientists cite the following data: if tobacco tar is isolated from a thousand cigarettes, then up to 2 milligrams of a strong carcinogen is found in it, which is quite enough to cause a malignant tumor in a rat or rabbit. If we take into account that for this a number of people smoke up to 40 cigarettes a day and even more, then it will take them only 25 days to smoke a thousand cigarettes.
It cannot be said that the human body has a large margin of safety due to the presence of protective mechanisms in it that oppose the influence of foreign substances. However, some of these substances can still cause irreparable harm to health. When do they start smoking? Mostly at school age. Peaks refer to 14, 17 and 19 years. A slight decrease in the number of smokers is observed after 25 years. However, if men begin to sharply limit their consumption of cigarettes from the age of 40-44, and after 45 years they often completely refuse them, then in women this happens 5 years later.
Quitting smoking is not that hard. Going in for sports, traveling, and not having contact with smokers will help you get rid of tobacco and the threat of cancer, chronic bronchitis, and other diseases.
Composition of tobacco smoke. At the moment of tightening the smoke of a cigarette, the temperature at its end reaches 60 degrees and above. Under such thermal conditions, sublimation of tobacco and tissue paper occurs, and about 200 harmful substances are formed, including carbon monoxide, soot, benzopyrene, formic, hydrocyanic acid, arsenic, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, acetylene, and radioactive elements. Smoking one cigarette is equivalent to being on a busy highway for 36 hours. A cigarette usually contains several milligrams of nicotine. Only a quarter of this charge enters the smoke that a smoker inhales. And what is interesting: when there is little nicotine in a cigarette, the frequency and depth of puffs is greater, and vice versa. Smokers seem to seek to saturate the body with a certain dose of nicotine. Which one? Yes, the one in which the desired psychological effect is achieved: a feeling of a surge of strength, some calm. Carbon monoxide, or carbon monoxide, has the ability to bind the respiratory pigment of the blood - hemoglobin. The resulting carboxyhemoglobin is not able to carry oxygen; as a result, the processes of tissue respiration are disrupted. It has been established that when smoking a pack of cigarettes, a person introduces more than 400 milliliters of carbon monoxide into the body, as a result, the concentration of carboxyhemoglobin in the blood increases to 7-10 percent. Thus, all organs and systems of a smoker constantly sit on a starvation of oxygen rations.
The effect of smoking on the human body
Nicotine appears in the brain tissue 7 seconds after the first puff. What is the secret of the effect of nicotine on brain function? Nicotine, as it were, improves communication between brain cells, facilitating the conduction of nerve impulses. Due to nicotine, brain processes are excited for a while, but then they are inhibited for a long time. After all, the brain needs rest. By shifting the pendulum of mental activity that is familiar to him, the smoker then inevitably feels its reverse movement.
But the insidiousness of nicotine is not only in this. It manifests itself with prolonged smoking. The brain gets used to constant nicotine handouts, which to some extent facilitate its work. And now he himself begins to demand them, not wanting to be especially overworked. The law of biological laziness comes into its own. Like an alcoholic who, in order to maintain a normal state of health, has to “feed” the brain with alcohol, and a smoker is forced to “spoil” it with nicotine. Otherwise, anxiety, irritability, nervousness appear. Here, willy-nilly, you smoke again.
The respiratory organs are the first to take on a tobacco attack. And they suffer the most. Passing through the respiratory tract, tobacco smoke causes irritation, inflammation of the mucous membranes of the pharynx, nasopharynx, trachea, bronchi, and pulmonary alveoli. Constant irritation of the bronchial mucosa can provoke the development of bronchial asthma. And chronic inflammation of the upper respiratory tract, chronic bronchitis, accompanied by a debilitating cough, is the fate of all smokers. Undoubtedly, a connection has also been established between smoking and the incidence of cancer of the lips, tongue, larynx, and trachea.
In the last decade, scientists and practitioners have been increasingly concerned about the detrimental effect that the components of tobacco smoke have on the cardiovascular system. Damage to the heart and blood vessels in people who smoke a lot and systematically, as a rule, is a consequence of a violation of the nervous and humoral regulation of the activity of the cardiovascular system.
Numerous experiments have shown that after smoking a cigarette, the amount of corticosteroids, as well as adrenaline and norepinephrine, increases sharply compared to the norm. These biologically active substances induce the heart muscle to work at a faster pace; the volume of the heart increases, blood pressure rises, the speed of myocardial contractions increases.
It is estimated that the heart of a smoker makes 12-15 thousand more contractions per day than the heart of a non-smoker. By itself, this mode is uneconomical, since excessive constant load leads to premature wear of the heart muscle. But the situation is aggravated by the fact that the myocardium does not receive the amount of oxygen that it needs during such intensive work. This is due to two reasons.
Firstly, the smoker's coronary vessels are spasmodic, narrowed, and, consequently, blood flow through them is very difficult. And secondly, the blood circulating in the body of a smoker is poor in oxygen. For, as we remember, 10% of hemoglobin are excluded from the respiratory process: they are forced to carry a "dead weight" - carbon monoxide molecules.
All this contributes to the early development - coronary heart disease, angina pectoris in smokers. And it is quite justified among the risk factors for myocardial infarction, experts call smoking one of the first. This is confirmed by the statistics of industrialized countries: heart attacks at a relatively young age - 40 - 50 years old - occur almost exclusively in smokers.
In tobacco lovers, hypertension is much more difficult than in non-smokers: it is more often complicated by hypertensive crises, impaired cerebral circulation - stroke.
Smoking is one of the main reasons for the development of such a serious disease as obliterating endarteritis. With this disease, the vascular system of the legs is affected, sometimes up to complete obliteration (closing of the lumen) - vessels and the onset of gangrene. In people who do not poison themselves with tobacco, this disease is extremely rare. Compare 14% of cases in smokers to only 0.3% in non-smokers. These figures were obtained during examination of a large group of patients.
Nicotine and other components of tobacco also affect the digestive organs. Scientific studies and clinical observations undeniably testify that long-term smoking contributes to the occurrence of peptic ulcer of the stomach and duodenum.
In a person who smokes a lot and for a long time, the stomach vessels are in a state of constant spasm. As a result, the tissues are poorly supplied with oxygen and nutrients, the secretion of gastric juice is disturbed. And in the end - gastritis or peptic ulcer. In one of the Moscow clinics, a survey was conducted, which showed that 69% of patients with peptic ulcer disease had a direct relationship with smoking. About 90% of those operated in this clinic for such a dangerous complication as perforation of an ulcer were heavy smokers.
Middle-aged women could have much better teeth if they avoided smoking when they were young. According to research results, only 26% of non-smoking women over the age of 50 needed dentures. And among smokers, 48% experienced such a need.
Smoking adversely affects a pregnant woman. Inhalation of smoke from cigarettes and cigarettes is accompanied by its active effect on the vascular system, especially at the level of small vessels and capillaries that supply internal organs with oxygen and essential nutrients. Generalized vasospasm and deterioration in the functions of the lungs, brain, heart, and kidneys occur. An adult who is accustomed to smoking does not notice any unpleasant sensations, but the negative effect on the vascular system, gradually accumulating, will necessarily manifest itself in the form of hypertension, angina pectoris, and a tendency to thrombosis. During pregnancy, the negative effects of smoking appear much faster, and especially in relation to the developing child. It is shown that if the mother smoked during pregnancy, the weight of the newborn is less than the norm by 150-200 grams.
Trisomy, that is, the presence of an “extra” chromosome in the human genetic set, often leads to serious hereditary diseases. Scientists have long been engaged in the study of the causes of this phenomenon. Doctors from Columbia University in New York have found a clear link between smoking and trisomy in pregnant women. Statistical calculations have shown that the risk of this phenomenon in women who smoke is significantly higher than in non-smokers.
smoking body addiction nicotine
Conclusion
In conclusion, it must be said that nicotine is a slow-acting poison, it destroys the body from the inside, over many years. Not only that, because a smoker destroys not only himself, but also the people around him, because tobacco smoke contains about 200 harmful substances that poison a person and the environment.
Smoking severely undermines human health. Everyone needs to understand and realize this as deeply as possible. No one should voluntarily destroy his body.