Post by judyb on Jul 14, 2011 4:45:27 GMT -5
nicotine attaches itself to you physically. From the American Heart
Association:
Nicotine Addiction
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 further increases the amount of fatty acids, glucose,
and various hormones in the blood. There are several ways that
cigarette smoking may increase the risk of developing hardening of the
arteries and heart attacks.
First, carbon monoxide may damage the inner walls of the arteries that
encourages the buildup of fat on these walls. Over time, this causes
the vessels to narrow and harden.
Nicotine may also contribute to this process. Smoking also causes
several changes in the blood. They include increased adhesiveness and
clustering of platelets in the blood, shortened platelet survival,
decreased clotting time, and increased thickness of the blood. These
effects can lead to a heart attack.
The 1988 Surgeon General's Report, 'Nicotine Addiction,' concluded
that:
* Cigarettes and other forms of tobacco are addicting.
* Nicotine is the drug that causes addiction.
* Pharmacologic and behavioral characteristics that determine
tobacco addiction are similar to those that determine addiction to
drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
For additional information on this subject, contact your local
American Heart Association office or call 1-800-242-8721.
The social attraction of smoking is perhaps the most insidious prong
of the nicotine addiction. Until recently, even after the dangers of
smoking were well known, smoking was widely seen as essentially
harmless; though this opinion is now held by fewer people (and I'll
wager that most of them are still smoking), it has not disappeared. We
still often hear smoking defended with the argument that the sale,
purchase, promotion and use of tobacco products are legal activities
nearly everywhere in the world.
While true, this statement obscures the question of the safety of
smoking and fails to raise other explanations for its legitimate
status, such as the financial contribution which the tobacco industry
makes to the world economy.
And, greater public awareness of the harm that smoking does has not
greatly altered its image as sexy, cool, adult, fashionable. Books
such as Christopher Buckley's Thank You For Smoking and movies like
Reality Bites (where the sole non-smoker is Ben Stiller's dorky
outsider character) override those public service announcements and
notices on
the sides of cigarette packages in the minds of the tobacco industry's
most important consumers: adolescents and teens. (Incidentally, we
have it from a very reliable source that the people who make a certain
brand of popular cigarettes featuring a certain dromedary on the
package paid for the actors in Reality Bites to smoke their
cigarettes. And for more
proof of this common industry practice, here's an interesting letter
tinyurl.com/yup3u ( from one of America's top action stars.)
Give it a minute's thought: do you really like smoking, or do you just
like your smoker image and the props associated with it (the
cigarette, the nifty smoke rings, the ash; the holes in your clothing,
yellow stains on your teeth, nasty taste on your breath)?
The minute you quit smoking your life changes drastically. Your
identity as a smoker is gone; the crutch which helped you handle
situations is kicked out from under you; your body and mind begin to
play quite clever tricks on you to get their drug. All these changes
can be nearly overwhelming, but the important thing to remember is
that things will
get better as you learn new and better ways to live your life. And
everyone can learn; a few hundred of us at AS3 alone will testify to
that!
(Paraphrased from 'The Cigarette Papers' by Dr. Stanton Glantz)
According to researchers, nicotine stimulates the Hypothalmus to
produce the same chemicals it does in stressful situations:
corticosteroids. This makes one feel less anxious, and yet possibly
more focused. Add nicotine to a stressful stiatuion, and you get more
than a regular dose.
Over time (and number of cigarettes), the hypothalmus adjusts. Now,
"without" a cigarette, you're getting less than average
corticosteroids, but smoking brings you back up to a normal level,
maybe not even surpassing what a non-smoker gets, but compared to a
lowered baseline it feels good.
After quitting, over time the hypothalmus adjusts back. The
research doesn't say how fast.
Association:
Nicotine Addiction
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 further increases the amount of fatty acids, glucose,
and various hormones in the blood. There are several ways that
cigarette smoking may increase the risk of developing hardening of the
arteries and heart attacks.
First, carbon monoxide may damage the inner walls of the arteries that
encourages the buildup of fat on these walls. Over time, this causes
the vessels to narrow and harden.
Nicotine may also contribute to this process. Smoking also causes
several changes in the blood. They include increased adhesiveness and
clustering of platelets in the blood, shortened platelet survival,
decreased clotting time, and increased thickness of the blood. These
effects can lead to a heart attack.
The 1988 Surgeon General's Report, 'Nicotine Addiction,' concluded
that:
* Cigarettes and other forms of tobacco are addicting.
* Nicotine is the drug that causes addiction.
* Pharmacologic and behavioral characteristics that determine
tobacco addiction are similar to those that determine addiction to
drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
For additional information on this subject, contact your local
American Heart Association office or call 1-800-242-8721.
The social attraction of smoking is perhaps the most insidious prong
of the nicotine addiction. Until recently, even after the dangers of
smoking were well known, smoking was widely seen as essentially
harmless; though this opinion is now held by fewer people (and I'll
wager that most of them are still smoking), it has not disappeared. We
still often hear smoking defended with the argument that the sale,
purchase, promotion and use of tobacco products are legal activities
nearly everywhere in the world.
While true, this statement obscures the question of the safety of
smoking and fails to raise other explanations for its legitimate
status, such as the financial contribution which the tobacco industry
makes to the world economy.
And, greater public awareness of the harm that smoking does has not
greatly altered its image as sexy, cool, adult, fashionable. Books
such as Christopher Buckley's Thank You For Smoking and movies like
Reality Bites (where the sole non-smoker is Ben Stiller's dorky
outsider character) override those public service announcements and
notices on
the sides of cigarette packages in the minds of the tobacco industry's
most important consumers: adolescents and teens. (Incidentally, we
have it from a very reliable source that the people who make a certain
brand of popular cigarettes featuring a certain dromedary on the
package paid for the actors in Reality Bites to smoke their
cigarettes. And for more
proof of this common industry practice, here's an interesting letter
tinyurl.com/yup3u ( from one of America's top action stars.)
Give it a minute's thought: do you really like smoking, or do you just
like your smoker image and the props associated with it (the
cigarette, the nifty smoke rings, the ash; the holes in your clothing,
yellow stains on your teeth, nasty taste on your breath)?
The minute you quit smoking your life changes drastically. Your
identity as a smoker is gone; the crutch which helped you handle
situations is kicked out from under you; your body and mind begin to
play quite clever tricks on you to get their drug. All these changes
can be nearly overwhelming, but the important thing to remember is
that things will
get better as you learn new and better ways to live your life. And
everyone can learn; a few hundred of us at AS3 alone will testify to
that!
(Paraphrased from 'The Cigarette Papers' by Dr. Stanton Glantz)
According to researchers, nicotine stimulates the Hypothalmus to
produce the same chemicals it does in stressful situations:
corticosteroids. This makes one feel less anxious, and yet possibly
more focused. Add nicotine to a stressful stiatuion, and you get more
than a regular dose.
Over time (and number of cigarettes), the hypothalmus adjusts. Now,
"without" a cigarette, you're getting less than average
corticosteroids, but smoking brings you back up to a normal level,
maybe not even surpassing what a non-smoker gets, but compared to a
lowered baseline it feels good.
After quitting, over time the hypothalmus adjusts back. The
research doesn't say how fast.