Tobacco Addiction

Tobacco has been variously hailed as a gift from the gods, a miraculous cure-all for life's physical ills, a solace to the lonely soldier or sailor, a filthy habit, a corrupting addiction, and the greatest disease-producing product known to man. This diversity of opinion has continued unchanged for centuries and has appeared until very recently to be little affected by research results from more than 900,000 papers thus far published on the topic. It is common knowledge that cigarette smoking is the single major cause of cancer and cardiovascular disease in the United States, contributing to hundreds of thousands of premature deaths each year, yet one-fourth to one-third of American adults continue to smoke.

The dental profession has been repeatedly warned against the use of tobacco, perhaps accounting for the very low proportion of dentists (6-8%) currently considered regular users. More than 130 years ago, Boride was telling dental surgeons "the use of tobacco in any ordinary way, by the dentist, is a practice which we consider reprehensible in point of propriety and etiquette. It is in all cases offensive and disgusting." He emphasized that patients should not be forced to tolerate a dentist's "smoker's breath" or spitting. "How a dentist of any refinement can persist in such an infliction upon his patients is more than we can comprehend." Today, of course, we are more concerned about the health effects and addiction potential of tobacco use by our patients, but our concern is no less ardent.

It is especially important to understand that harmful effects of tobacco products are dose-dependent, that they depend more on abuse than on simple use. In this light its addicting aspects acquire ominous overtones. The nicotine found in substantial amounts in tobacco products is widely considered to be a powerfully addicting drug, so much so that its addictive processes and potential have been equated with heroine, morphine and cocaine. It's rapid absorption through the lungs of cigarette smokers is widely accepted, but its equally ready absorption through the oral mucosa under the alkaline conditions normally found in cigar, pipe and smokeless tobacco use is less publicized. Once in the blood stream, of course, nicotine acts on the central nervous and cardiovascular systems in identical fashion regardless of the method of absorption.

Tobacco has serious ill effects, which cannot be neglected. It contains nicotine, which is a harmful chemical, which makes you addictive towards a particular thing. Nicotine is an organic compound that is found naturally in the tobacco plant. It is composed of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen and belongs to a group of compounds called alkaloids. Plants usually produce these types of chemical poisons so that animals are deterred from eating them. In high concentrations, nicotine acts as a nerve poison and it is used in insecticides. However, in small amounts, nicotine is a stimulant that enhances brain activity and concentration and improves cognitive processing as well as a person's memory. On the downside, nicotine increases blood pressure and heart rate, causes you to breathe faster and less deeply and it constricts the arteries.

Tobacco is the single greatest cause of death in United States and worldwide. Usage of Tobacco mainly affects our hearts and Lungs. No doubt, that it damages our entire body system slowly but main areas are heart and lungs.
There are short terms and long-term effects of tobacco let us find out what are these short term and long-term effects.

Short-term effects
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 is a horrible addiction that affects millions of people in every walk of life. It does not matter if you are wealthy or poor, both the long term and short term effects of smoking will be a problem for the rest of your life.

Most people already understand how divesting the long team effects of smoking can be. These are the diseases that may not show themselves for years after you start smoking. These include cancers, premature aging, emphysema and other forms of cardiovascular diseases. While these can be devastating down the road, it is important to not over look what happens to the body minutes after you inhale cigarette smoke.

As soon as you take your first puff, your body will experience increased blood pressure and heart rate. This may over work your heart and lead to an increased chance of having a heart attack. The increased blood flow will force your arteries to narrow, which will reduce the amount of oxygen the blood will be able to carry. In turn the carbon monoxide levels in the blood will rise, creating an imbalance with the body's demand for oxygen.

As you can see smoking creates a chain reaction in the body, which is why it's so important to quit. Its true Nicotine is one of the most addictive drugs; however that should be an even bigger incentive. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to finally stop smoking. Now is the time to take action. You and your family will be thankful you did.

Long-term effects
It is now well documented that smoking can cause chronic lung disease, coronary heart disease, and stroke, as well as cancer of the lungs, larynx, esophagus, mouth, and bladder. In addition, smoking is known to contribute to cancer of the cervix, pancreas, and kidneys. Researchers have identified more than 40 chemicals in tobacco smoke that cause cancer in humans and animals. Smokeless tobacco and cigars also have deadly consequences, including lung, larynx, esophageal, and oral cancer. The harmful effects of smoking do not end with the smoker. Women who use tobacco during pregnancy are more likely to have adverse birth outcomes, including babies with low birth weight, which is linked with an increased risk of infant death and with a variety of infant health disorders. The health of nonsmokers is adversely affected by environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). Each year, exposure to ETS causes an estimated 3,000 non-smoking Americans to die of lung cancer and causes up to 300,000 children to suffer from lower respiratory-tract infections. Evidence also indicates that exposure to ETS increases the risk of coronary heart disease.

Cancers, Epilepsy, cardiovascular diseases circulatory problems are major long-term problems caused by tobacco addiction. The effects of smoking and tobacco are disastrous. According to the American Heart Association, non-smokers live on average about 14 years longer than smokers. If you are a smoker and you want to live a longer, healthier life; you should seriously consider quitting as soon as possible.