Nicotine: How Do Cigarettes Damage Health?
Nicotine: How Do Cigarettes Damage Health?
NICOTINE
Increases heart rate and blood pressure, and decreases circulation by constricting blood vessels this makes nicotine a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Promotes peptic ulcers. Releases hormones that affect the central nervous system. Interferes with nerve-muscle communication. Directly responsible for a host of other health risks related to sexual functioning, fertility, fetal development, miscarriages and neonatal deaths, and brain functioning. Gives your brain a quick sensation of pleasure and when it starts to wear off (usually within minutes after finishing a smoke) your brain starts wanting or craving more. NICOTINE CAUSES ADDICTIVE!
Practicing healthy behavior means (eg: exercising regularly, eating fruits and vegetables everyday) means little if you continue smoking
CARBON MONOXIDE
High enough concentrations it is deadly; in lower doses it causes shortness of breath and increased heart rate.
TAR
A solid form, sticky brown substance that causes yellowbrown stains on fingers, teeth, clothes and furniture.
RISKS OF SMOKING
CANCER
Smokers are more likely to get cancer than non-smokers. This is particularly true of
lung cancer, throat cancer and mouth cancer, which hardly ever affect
non-smokers. The link between smoking and lung cancer is clear.
Cerebral
the vessels to the brain can become blocked, which can lead to collapse, stroke and paralysis. If the kidney arteries are affected, then high blood pressure or
thrombosis:
RISKS OF SMOKING
It takes approximately
15 years
for
COPD
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a collective term for a group of conditions that block airflow and make breathing more difficult, such as:
ex-smokers before the risk of lung cancer drops to the same as that of a non-smoker.
Emphysema - breathlessness
caused by damage to the air sacs (alveoli)
for a non-smoker. Cancer can start in many areas of the mouth, with the most common being on or underneath the tongue, or on the lips. Other types of cancer that are more common in smokers are:
bladder cancer cancer of the oesophagus cancer of the kidneys cancer of the pancreas cervical cancer
times
difficulty getting pregnant, and are more likely to lose their baby to spontaneous abortion and stillbirth.
RISKS OF SMOKING Smoking during pregnancy also causes premature labour and delivery, cleft palate and cleft lip, low birth weight, and numerous childhood cancers. Smoke inhaled by young children of mothers who smoke is associated with an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), asthma, pneumonia and other respiratory illnesses, and ear infections.
RISKS OF SMOKING
CAUSED
BY
Smoking increases the blood pressure, thus causing hypertension (high blood pressure). Smoking worsens asthma and counteracts asthma medication by worsening the inflammation of the airways that the medicine tries to ease. The blood vessels in the eye are sensitive and can be easily damaged by smoke, causing a bloodshot appearance and itchiness.
Heavy smokers are twice as likely to get macular degeneration, resulting in the gradual loss of eyesight. Smokers run an increased risk of cataracts. Smoking stains your teeth and gums. Smoking increases your risk of periodontal disease, which causes swollen gums, bad breath and teeth to fall out. Smoking also affects your looks: smokers have paler skin and are 5 times more likely to develop wrinkles than non-smokers. This is because smoking reduces the blood supply to the skin and lowers levels of vitamin A.
SO, SMOKERS, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? QUIT SMOKING NOW!!!!!!!!