Why smoking cigarettes is so addictive and dangerous?
Why smoking cigarettes is so addictive and dangerous?
It is very old question and every one knows that cigarettes are harmful to health. But what really makes a single cigarettes so harmful and addictive? Full description may be valued. Thanks.
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Please read fully before thinking anything negative or commenting back.
Tobacco has been used by many people for thousands of years. It's only recently that tobacco (the plant) has been viewed as "dangerous" or "harmful." There isn't one reason, but many, and they're mostly overexagerated misunderstandings turned truth. I'll list just a few to be helpful:
1: Most tobacco cigarettes contain substances that are poisonous to humans in relatively large amounts. For example: cigarette paper is made with certain potassium chemicals that, when burned, cause cell rupturing; most filters contain fiberglass, which is not a good thing to have stuck in your body, as it's difficult for your lymphatic systems to process; and flavor additives, while seemingly harmless, can end up wreaking a lot of havoc on the liver, kidneys, CNS, and reproductive organs.
2: Tobacco is both a strong stimulant and relaxant. Why would that matter, you ask? The primary relaxant action is on the bowels, which then empty faster, causing the train of digestive motion to "get a move on." This prepares the stomach and upper bowels for more food, and causes the smoker to feel hungrier earlier after their last meal. To intensify this effect, tobacco's stimulant actions cause calorie use similar to low to medium dosages of caffeine.
-- What happens when you're hungrier than usual -- even earlier than usual?
The answer is: you eat more -- or you eat heavier. Also, stimulants can cause strong cravings for unhealthy sweets and fatty foods, like cooked meats. Are these things good for your health? Not at all. And what a surprise that tobacco smoking is generally blamed for colon cancer and sexual infertility.
3: People who smoke recreationally don't consume tobacco in a responsible manner. Used to, the only people who smoked or used tobacco were tribal healers and headmen, but now anyone who wants to be rebellious or cool is also invited. Neither the mentality nor the practice behind recreational use of tobacco is healthy -- but that's not the main problem. The problem with recreational use is the fact that there's no boundary. Example: Japanese and Chinese people consumed green tea for thousands of years for health, but they used it responsibly, as their society demanded. But now you hear of the incredibly high amount of fluoride in tea, especially green and white teas. Why is that? Because someone sat down in their lazy-boy every day with two gallons of it, and didn't stop until they'd completely wrecked their skeletal system.
Chemical tests conducted on tobacco prove that there's absolutely nothing to be afraid of... if you're using it responsibly. Smoking isn't the healthiest way of using tobacco, but it is one of the more traditional ways. While some chemicals can change significantly when high amounts of heat are applied, true, natural tobacco smoke contains such small amounts of dangerous substances that there can be only one way for the fingers to point: the user.
What's the difference between eating two heavily smoked sausages and smoking a cigarette? What's the difference between smoking a cigar and breathing in environmental pollutants?
What's the difference between your cooked human food and a burned leaf?
The difference is this: one is med-line taboo.
Consume in moderation -- that is all.
-Cook
Ps- 6 years of smoking and not even a cough. I'm a healthy human being who smokes responsibly and chooses cleaner varieties of organic tobacco.
Edit: Seems to be a lot of bad information in this answer. Please allow me to clear some of the confusion up:
1: Nicotine doesn't activate a "reward center" anywhere in your body. Faulty chemistry leads to faulty chemistry leads to faulty chemistry. Nicotine slips into cell receptor sites, but "reward chemicals" are not released because of this.
2: Smoke never enters the brain. Nicotine, however, does, and do you know why? Out of the very tiny group of chemicals allowed to pass through the "blood-brain barrier," nicotine is one of them. Science has proven that nicotine is craved and invited by the brain, and is, in fact, a beneficial chemical. Nicotine (like many other chemicals in tobacco) sharpens the mind and helps to clear up memory problems. It's no coincidence that Albert Einstein and hundreds of other "geniuses" smoked until death -- and most of them didn't die because of irresponsible tobacco usage.
3: I'm still baffled when I hear that so many people claim to be addicted to tobacco. Whenever I'm not writing, I routinely take 2-3 week breaks from smoking and tobacco usage just to give my systems a break. At the same time, I also stop drinking mate, tea, coffee, and alcohol, and not for religious reasons, but health reasons. Many people out there are so broken down by their News Channel 32 report on "Evil Tobacco" that even before they try to quit they believe it's impossible. Weakness is the problem -- not a beneficial chemical or the good feelings it brings. Blame yourselves... not some plant.
Edit 2: Also, cigarette smoke does not "cause damage" to your circulatory and cardiovascular systems. A normal -- strike that -- healthy person will have absolutely no problem with neutralizing and eliminated unnecessary chemicals and taking in the good ones. If you can eat meat, you can smoke a cigarette -- they both contribute the same amount of load on alimentary organs and blood organs. Another fine fact that many people don't consider is that smoking is pleasurable because of the extremely high amount of B-vitamins present in the smoke and juice.
Also, my cilia work just fine. Three minutes after smoking -- on the dot -- is when I clear my throat of the unnecessary and/or unused tar portion of what I smoked. I suppose my cilia have evolved not to be paralyzed? Or maybe this "cilia paralysis" theory-crap is just that: theory-crap.
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