Health Effects of Smoking

When a person picks up their first cigarette odds are they are between the ages of 10 and 20. Most people in that age range don’t take into account the long-term effects of positive nor negative habits unless they have a role model that is teaching them by example.

Fifty percent of those that try a cigarette each day will become regular smokers and it is unlikely that they did it thinking that they would be drug addicts in just a few short weeks. Even with the commercials and media showing the health effects of smoking people still don’t take it into consideration before lighting up. The mentality that, “It will never happen to me.” seems to be the predominant thought in most young adults.

Thinking about smoking seemed to be on a day-by-day basis. Over time a person will gradually smoke more and more as their nicotine addiction grew. As stress is intensified in young adults they tend to smoke even more complicating matters worse. Now they are building psychological addictions along with the physical addiction. Next thing they know is that 5, 10, or more years have passed and they have been smoking the whole time. They are hooked and wish they never started in the first place.

It is at this point smokers understand and see that smoking is harmful. It is physically harmful to everyone who comes in contact with it and it affects our economy as well – such as lost productivity and health related costs. Billions of dollars are spent buying cigarettes each year and billions are spent diagnosing and treating smoking related illnesses that kill nearly half a million people each year in the United States.

Yet they rationalize their behavior until something finally pushes them over the edge. Whether it be a newborn child, finances, a smoking related death, health problems, or some other life altering event. Smokers do believe that smoking is harmful but until they are confronted with something that will cause them more pain than quitting they won’t look at it in a realistic way – they will be in denial. Just like with any change you need to find something better to replace the habit you want to give up. Quitting smoking will have its challenges and you may not be able to undo all the health effects of smoking but you may be able to slow down the clock from ticking down on your life. Remember on average, each cigarette you smokes takes 11 minutes off your life.

After you quit smoking you are going to want to continue to make smart choices. There are certain things to do and things you should not do. For starters you want to avoid things such as fast food, alcohol, and eating to much ice cream. All these things can lead to cravings and they can also lead to a larger waste line.

Eating fruits and vegetables can actually help keep your cravings down and satisfy your appetite to boot. After quitting smoking your body is going to go through several adjustments and your metabolism is going to slow down and you may see a change in your appetite. Eating healthy low sugar foods can help keep your body strong by providing the nourishment you need. Always remember that when quitting smoking you are making a lifestyle change and the goal is to kick the habit for good and to heal the damage smoking has done to your body. Eating healthy helps and it will keep you from adding too many of the extra pounds.

The ultimate goal is to adopt a healthy eating routine which consists of the basic food groups. But during those times throughout the day between meals it is always a good idea to have something good to munch on when you get hungry. Minimize eating binges by eating 5 to 6 times per day while watching the number of calories consumed. When you do this you will be careful of the foods you eat so the majority of it is good for you. You don’t want to quit smoking only to have to go on a diet!

According to the American Lung Association, among adults who smoke, 68 percent began before the age of 18, and 85 percent started when they were under 21. This it is pretty significant – somehow a drug that isn’t supposed to be aimed at our youth is being picked up by them. Why is this?

Reasons People Start Smoking

Remember back to the days you began smoking; chances are you can link it to one of four distinct causes. 1) It was the cool thing to do. 2) Symbolized adulthood. 3) Peer pressure. 4) Your role models smoked.

If you think about it what was the first legal mind altering drug you could buy at the age of 18? Cigarettes, right! Of course we didn’t think of it as a drug back then and many don’t in this day and age. But nicotine is a drug and does affect the brain just like many other drugs.

Here is how nicotine works – when you smoke a cigarette the nicotine is absorbed by the lungs and quickly moves into the bloodstream, where it is circulated throughout the brain. In fact, this happens very quickly – within 8 seconds of taking a puff off your cigarette. Once in the brain, nicotine actives areas that are involved in producing feelings of pleasure by raising the levels of dopamine. This is one of the main reasons why people start smoking. The feeling of pleasure outweighs the nasty taste and burning sensation as one begins to smoke.

Dopamine, which is sometimes called the pleasure molecule, is the same neurotransmitter that is involved in addictions to other drugs such as cocaine and heroin. Researchers now believe that this change in dopamine may play a key role in all addictions. This may help explain why it is so hard for people to quit smoking.

As it is teens start smoking because it seems to be the cool thing. Even with what we know today they continue to do it. Every day, almost 3,900 young people under the age of 18 try their first cigarette. Nearly 1,000 of them will become regular smokers and 50 percent of them will die from their smoking habit. The sad thing is our teens view smoking as being cool, they think it symbolizes adulthood, or they feel pressured to smoke from their peers. If we are to be successful against keeping our young adults from smoking we must teach them the truth and we must change the way they perceive smoking. Lastly, we must become the role models they need and if you are smoking then you need to quit. You can’t tell them one thing and do the other, it just doesn’t work. We need to teach by example.

To avoid gaining weight when you quit smoking, you need to become more physically active and improve your eating habits before you quit. Physical activity helps to control your weight by increasing the number of calories your body uses. Making healthy changes to your eating habits will prevent weight gain by controlling the amount of calories you eat. Try to reduce your chances of gaining weight by being more physically active and improving your eating habits before you quit smoking.

Become More Physically Active

Becoming physically active is a healthy way to control your weight and take your mind off smoking. In one study, women who stopped smoking and added 45 minutes of walking a day gained less than 3 pounds. In addition to helping control your weight, exercise increases your energy, promotes self-confidence, improves your health, and may help relieve the stress and depression caused by the lack of nicotine in your body.

You can become more physically active by spending less time doing activities that use little energy, like watching television and playing video games, and spending more time doing physical activities. Try to do at least 30 minutes of physical activity a day on most days of the week. The activity does not have to be done all at once. It can be done in short spurts — 10 minutes here, 20 minute there — as long as it adds up to 30 minutes a day. Simple ways to become more physically active include gardening, housework, mowing the lawn, playing actively with children, and taking the stairs instead of the elevator.

Improve Your Eating Habits

Try to gradually improve your eating habits. Changing your eating habits too quickly can add to the stress you may feel as you try to quit smoking. Eating a variety of foods is a good way to improve your health. To make sure you get all of the nutrients needed for good health, choose a variety of foods from each food group each day. The Nutrition Facts Label that is found on most processed food products can also help you select foods that meet your daily nutritional needs.

For a healthy diet make sure you:

• Eat plenty of grain products, vegetables, and fruits.
• Choose lean and lowfat foods and low-calorie beverages most often. Choose lowfat dairy products, lean meats, fish, poultry, and dry beans to get the nutrients you need without extra calories and fat.
• Choose less often foods high in fat and sugars and low in nutrients.

Water is essential to life as we know it. To be more specific our bodies contain nearly 60 percent of water. If we were to break that down a bit we would see that lean muscle tissue contains about 75 percent water by weight. Blood contains almost 70 percent water, body fat contains 10 percent water and bone has 22 percent water. Skin also contains water. The human body is about 60 percent water in adult males and 55 percent in adult females.

As an ex smoker I know I was not living a healthy lifestyle and I did not come close to drinking the recommended 6 to 8 glasses of water a day. Many health nuts recommend that you drink a gallon or more depending on your activity level but how can water help you quit smoking?

For starters, when you drink plenty of water it will help you to feel full, that way you won’t tend to over eat when you get hungry. Many people worry about the weight gain after quitting smoking and this is one way to minimize that. Also keep in mind that the average weight gain among people who quit smoking is only 5 pounds.

Water also helps to rid the body of toxins and nicotine by detoxifying the body. Drinking water can also help with the cravings by giving your hands and mouth something to do.

No matter if you are quitting smoking or not it is a good idea to consume plenty of water each day. Water regulates body temperature, helps organs absorb nutrients better, moisturizes the air in the lungs, and transports nutrients and oxygen in the cells. Make quitting smoking about turning over a new leaf where you are changing your life as a whole. More than quitting smoking you are learning to live a healthier life and one of the best things that you can do for your body is to feed it what it needs, WATER.

There are many, many techniques that people have come up with over the years to help quit smoking. As I was looking for additional information on the topic I came across a book called Switch down and Quit: What the Tobacco Companies Don’t Want You Know about Smoking. The book was not what I expected. What I thought I was in for was some juicy details on how these cigarette companies get people hooked. Well the book has plenty of stories about that since the authors used to work for them but the gist of the book is about how different brands of cigarettes along with different sizes and labels actually vary in the amount of tar and nicotine they contain. So for example, a smoker who smokes a pack of Marlboro Red a day is more addicted to nicotine than someone who smokes Marlboro Lights. The reason being Reds contain more nicotine per cigarette than Lights.

The theory of the book is that you can systematically switch brands and label of smokes, depending on your level of addiction, from a high nicotine smoke to a lower nicotine smoke. Over time as your body adjusts to the lower nicotine eventually when you finally quit smoking you will be on a cigarette that delivers a small dose of nicotine. They claim this makes quitting much easier. I can see how but one problem I find with the book is that they claim that there are no psychological effects of smoking and I disagree. I think over time people use smoking as a crutch and thus develop psychological attachment to smoking.

If you are considering quitting smoking and not sure if this method is for you is still doesn’t hurt to try. Chances are you have tried other ways and failed. The key is to keep trying. If you smoke more than a pack a day you are over 16 time more likely to die of lung cancer than a nonsmoker. The more you smoke the higher the odds. Is this what you want for you and your family? Dying from lung cancer is a painful and sometimes a very quick death, within a few months of finding out.

Smoking can affect the health of your mouth and throat. Not only does smoking cause odor and discoloration but it can lead to mouth cancer and many other cancers. The longer you smoke and the more you smoke will greatly impact the risk of developing mouth cancer.

Thousands of people die each year from some form of mouth cancer and thousands more are being diagnosed. Don’t think it only happens to the old because it doesn’t.

Smoking can also lead to gum disease (periodontal disease) and increased tartar on the teeth, which harbors plaque. This can cause serious destruction of the tissues around the teeth, which can result in tooth loss as well as pain. Smoking can also delay the healing of any injured tissues in the mouth, such as ulcers, or following oral surgery.

When you quit smoking you can greatly reduce the chances of developing mouth cancer. After 5 years the risk is cut in half. Learn more about your options to quit smoking.

The health effects of smoking are serious. Many people think that they can get away with smoking and die at a nice old of 70 or 80 but the fact of the matter people are dying in their 30’s and 40’s. Smoking is like playing Russian roulette with your life. You don’t know how long you will live if you continue to smoke. Statistics show that people who smoke die early. They die from the harmful damage that smoking does to the body. Chances are you won’t see it coming and you may not get a second chance. Now is the time to quit smoking!

A recent article published by MedicalNewsToday.com has much to say about the effects of smoking throughout the world. According to the World Health Organization a person dies, on average, every six seconds from a tobacco related illness. That is over 5 million people each year! They also stated that 50 percent of current tobacco users will die of a tobacco-related illness. Not only do smokers die early they also deprive their families of income, raise the cost of health care, and hinder economic development.

I just don’t get it how our nation can allow smoking to continue. Why are other addictive drugs illegal and nicotine is not. Just because smoking doesn’t lead to violent crime like other drugs may should not be a reason. The fact is nicotine addiction adversely affects our society and the world. Five million people die each year!!! The new people that are taking their place are our children. What’s it going to take for you to wake up and quit smoking?