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No matter your reason for using cigarettes, it is important to know all the information on smoking before starting or continuing this habit.
What is in a cigarette?
You may not be aware that around 4,000 chemicals are put into cigarettes, most of which are poisonous. Some of the chemicals you inhale every time you smoke are:
- Nicotine - a highly poisonous insecticide
- Arsenic-the poison put into rat killer
- Methane- an ingredient of rocket fuel
- Ammonia- a poisonous cleaner
- Cadmium- a toxic metal used to pigment paint and stop steel corrosion. It is a metal used in batteries.
- Carbon Monoxide- what makes car exhaust poisonous and deadly
- Formaldehyde- a chemical in car ehaust and also used to preserve body tissues.
- Butane- lighter fluid
- Hydrogen Cyanide- the poison used in gas chambers
What does smoking do to your body now?
Nicotine can make a person feel good and relaxed, and many people smoke to lose weight. It is important to note however that the nicotine and chemicals in cigarettes have no direct relation to weight loss or gain. Smoking decreases your appetite, so you simply eat less.
Smoking negatively effects your body the moment you inhale even once. Every inhale from a cigarette kills alveoli, the air sacks in your lungs. Aveoli transfer oxygen into your blood, and once they die they cannot come back. So essentially every inhale from a cigarette kills off a part of your lungs. You will never do as well at physical activities in your life, including singing.
Smoking also causes tar to build up in your lungs. The smoke coats little hairs the line your lungs called cilia. These hairs are what move back and forth and remove particles out of your lungs. Without the use of cilia, particles from dust, pollen and anything else you breath in stays in your lungs and begins to build up.
The chemicals in cigarettes also reduce blood circulation to your extremities, brain and nervous system. Smoking causes you to have bad body odor, including bad breath. You experience premature skin aging such as wrinkles, sagging skin and age spots. Your teeth get stained and experience decay and 3 times more cavities than non-smokers. You experienced lowered hormone levels which effects your body's natural response systems, reproductive system and your moods. You are more likely to stay sick longer and have a consistent cough. Smokers are much more likely to develop pneumonia and bronchitis. Smokers have weaker lungs and hearts than non-smokers do. You can also lose your sense of taste and of smell from smoking.
What will smoking do to your body later?
Your lungs experience the most damage from long term smoking and you are at extreme risk of the developing emphysema. Smoking is also directly related to causing many other types of cancers (mouth, lung, throat, stomach, bladder, cervix, prostate... the list goes on), and speeds up the process of cancer growth. Smoking is also related to increased chance at developing heart disease, heart attacks and strokes.
How do you quit smoking?
If you haven't already developed a nicotine addition, stop smoking by simply refusing to pick up another cigarette before you do get addicted. If you are addicted to nicotine, you can still cut cold turkey (but experience withdrawal symptoms) or slowly cut back and wean yourself off nicotine by using nicotine replacements. Make sure to chose a date that you will be off nicotine of all kinds for good. After that, you will experience cravings for 1 to 2 weeks and may feel irritable, frustrated and depressed. However these short drawbacks to quitting are worth it, since smoking reduces your life span of an average of 12-14 years.
Join a quitting support group. There are many support groups available for people who are trying to quit smoking, you can check out your local community center and hospital for group sessions to attend. You can also join online support groups. I recommend Quitnet.com, Whyquit.com, and Smokefree.gov.
To avoid picking up the habit of smoking in the future, avoid places, situations and even people that you used to smoke around that cause you to want to smoke.
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