home Thyroid Effects of smoking on the human body. Reference. What is the danger of smoking, the effect of tobacco and cigarettes on the male, female and children's body

Effects of smoking on the human body. Reference. What is the danger of smoking, the effect of tobacco and cigarettes on the male, female and children's body

Tobacco smoking (nicotinism, nicotine addiction) is the most common type of substance abuse among all age groups. Tobacco addiction is detrimental to the physical and mental health of adults, adolescents and children, both male and female.

note: there is not a single organ or system in the body that would not suffer from the toxic effects of tobacco smoke poisons.

Chronic smoking leads to the development of symptoms of addiction, mental and physical dependence, accompanied by withdrawal symptoms.

Most of all, smoking is preferred by the male population, according to WHO, about a third of men are regular consumers of tobacco products.

Historical data

Tobacco leaves were brought to Europe in the 15th century from South America. Gradually, the habit of using tobacco in the form of a chewing mixture, powdered powder for inhalation, and, of course, smoking spread throughout the globe. Some adherents of nicotine smoke assured that tobacco is a medicinal plant that helps with many diseases.

At the beginning of the 19th century, scientists isolated nicotine from tobacco and described its properties. Tobacco in any form has been found to cause negative consequences for good health.

But, despite this, smoking has rapidly gained more and more of its fans.

The boom of smoking came in the second half of the 20th century. Nicotine addiction was instilled with the help of developing cinema and television, magazines. Billions of people, sitting in front of the screens of cinema halls and televisions, daily watched their favorite heroes of artistic paintings smoke. Supermen and beauties, politicians and bandits, heroes for every consumer taste smoked. Tobacco factories, manufacturers flourished, brands of cigarettes multiplied, which cannot be said about the health of those who began to depend on this terrible poison ....

Elite products and cigarettes for the middle class, very simple tobacco and cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, each of these types of dope found its buyer.

And although the voices of opponents of tobacco products were periodically heard and continue to be heard, threatening and warning inscriptions were printed on beautiful packs of cigarettes - people continue to smoke.

In Russia, the number of tobacco users is 35% of the total population.

Why do people smoke

It all starts with a desire to imitate your idols, as well as from a passion to know the unknown (what is it, if everyone likes it that way). The first cigarette, the first puff, feels extremely unpleasant. There is dizziness, headache, nausea, weakness. These are symptoms of nicotine poisoning. But with repeated attempts, they gradually disappear, and they are replaced by pleasant sensations of pleasure, clarity of thought, euphoria.

The fact is that nicotine, getting into the blood, participates in enzymatic reactions, causing an increased formation of catecholamines with the release of adrenaline and norepinephrine and stimulating the brain pleasure centers. Gradually, the smoker becomes addicted, requiring new doses of nicotine. According to the American Institute of Addiction NIDA, the ability of nicotine to cause addiction exceeds that of heroin and opiates.

Addiction is a complex biopsychosocial problem. The main feature of this disorder is behavior characterized by the compulsive use of a psychoactive substance, in this case nicotine. The diagnosis of addiction is established in accordance with the criteria of the DSM-V Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (valid since 2013) developed by the American Psychiatric Association (American Psychiatric Association). There are 11 criteria in this Guide: if 2 or more criteria are confirmed, which were noted by the patient for 12 months diagnosed with addiction. When 2-3 criteria are confirmed, mild dependence is diagnosed, 4-5 - moderate, 6 or more - severe dependence.

note: despite the fact that during the diagnostic process nicotine addiction taking into account the presence of tolerance (the need to increase doses of nicotine) and abstinence (withdrawal syndrome), these factors in themselves are not the basis for making a diagnosis of nicotine addiction. Dependence (addiction) belongs to the category of mental and behavioral disorders(classification according to ICD-10), which may be accompanied by tolerance and withdrawal syndrome, but may also occur in isolation from them.

In the process of formation of nicotine addiction, several stages can be distinguished:

episodic nicotine use. The number of cigarettes smoked does not exceed 5 pieces in 10 days. The fact of smoking is provoked, as a rule, by external microsocial factors.
Regular use of nicotine. The number of cigarettes smoked increases to 2 to 6 per day, a person begins to form not pronounced preferences for specific brands of cigarettes.
The first stage of addiction. Formed mental addiction from nicotine, while there is no physical dependence. The duration of this stage is from 3 to 5 years. It seems to the smoker that smoking helps to improve his performance and well-being. There is no withdrawal syndrome, nicotine tolerance increases.
The second stage of addiction. Mental addiction reaches its climax, begins to form physical addiction. The duration of the second stage averages from 5 to 20 years. Smoking is in the nature of an obsessive desire, a person wakes up at night in order to smoke a cigarette, smokes on an empty stomach, switches to stronger cigarettes. The first signs of physical dependence are a morning cough, a feeling of discomfort. Bronchitis may become more frequent, heart rhythm disturbances, insomnia, pain in the heart area, and blood pressure are unstable.
The third stage of nicotine addiction. There are both mental and physical addictions. The third stage is the stage of complications. At this time, tolerance to nicotine decreases, when smoking several cigarettes in a row, a person feels physical discomfort. Serious health problems begin, the development of precancerous conditions and cancer is possible.

At the stage of formation mental addiction some tobacco users are wary, after all, smoking is not so harmless, if it is so hard without it. Some smokers quit, another part tries to quit, but cannot, and the third continues to smoke “safely”. As mentioned above, mental dependence is formed on average at 3-5 years of constant smoking. Doses are usually about 5-7 cigarettes per day, sometimes 15.

“Well, many people smoke, and nothing, they live, over there (so-and-so) grandfather generally lived up to 90 and smoked all the time.” This is how a nicotine addict calms down. At the same time, he tries not to think about those who did not live to 50 due to destructive passion, and there are many of them. Much more than "grandfathers who lived to 90 with tobacco."

Having smoked for 5-15-20 years, the addict suddenly began to notice that without cigarettes it was no longer just uncomfortable, but bad. Already smoked a pack, or even more a day. The need for smoking wakes a person up from bed at night. An occasional "respite" (due to illness, or inability to smoke for other reasons) causes trembling in the hands, sweating, dizziness, headache, weakness, cough (paradox) and other individual unpleasant complaints. This is how it is formed physical addiction.

Nicotine "fits" into the normal biochemical reactions of the human body, the incoming dose is already a necessary chemical for normal life many systems.

By depriving themselves of smoking, patients at the stage of physical dependence begin to suffer severely physically and mentally. The very first dose after abstinence returns normal health with surprising speed.

It would seem that smoke yourself, if you want to. But no, it is during this period that all the side effects of nicotine addiction “creep out”.

Physical harm caused by nicotine smoking person and those around no one doubts. The fight against tobacco smoking has been going on for a long time and not without some success.

The WHO Framework Convention on the dangers of smoking and aimed at tobacco control states that, according to the obtained scientific data, tobacco smoke leads to illness, disability and death.

Note:manufacturers of tobacco products modern technologies have developed products containing substances that, in addition to nicotine, form and maintain human addiction.

Among the main causes of death of the world's population, tobacco smoking is in second place, causing a number of pathologies that end in death.

Major diseases caused by smoking

The main target of tobacco smoke is Airways. Regularly passing through the nasopharynx, trachea, bronchi and lungs, smoke has a damaging effect on the mucous membranes of these organs, reduces their protective properties and, over time, can cause atrophy and degeneration of the cells of these organs into tumor cells.

Emerging inflammatory processes lead to severe chronic processes: tonsillitis, pharyngitis, tracheitis, bronchitis and pneumonia. Often formed emphysema, obstructive processes.

A study by foreign and our scientists clearly shows that in 90% of the European Consensus Statement on Lung Cancer: Risk Factors and Prevention of deaths of men from lung cancer, the cause was smoking. Women's indicators are not too far behind - 80%. Although more recently in women, these figures were much lower.

Malignant lung tumors in smokers are formed more than 10 times more often than in non-smokers.

Smoking several times increases the risk of developing tuberculosis.

- the second main target of nicotine.

In women, one of the unpleasant complications is a violation of bone tissue structures, leading to pathological fractures. Nicotine, when smoked, getting from the lungs into the bloodstream, leads to the transfer of poisons to all organs of the human body. Being a strong carcinogen, nicotine can cause malignant neoplasms almost anywhere in the body.

The appearance of the smoker also changes - dry and yellowish skin, premature network of wrinkles, constant coughing, gray look facial skin, yellow teeth and damaged vocal cords. The smoker emits a constant unpleasant odor.

Note:in addition to nicotine, radioactive substances in smoke also affect health.

Despite all the attempts of manufacturing companies in every possible way to reduce the concentration of harmful substances, tobacco remains a potent poison.

Some scientists have written articles showing the "positive" properties of tobacco, but despite their best efforts, they have not succeeded in embellishing the overall negative picture caused by smoking.

Many people, suffering from addiction and complications, are trying to quit addiction and are wondering "How to get rid of nicotine addiction?". Some of them manage to cope without help, others need treatment from a specialist narcologist.

The most successful method is still an independent rejection of addiction. You can quit smoking at any stage. People with a sufficiently developed will and desire do not have any special problems.

"Withdrawal" phenomena after the last smoked cigarette go away within 3-7-14 days. After them, the physical dependence disappears, the mental one can last for a very long time, but it all depends on the setting of the former smoker for a healthy lifestyle. The usual daily routine should change radically. It is necessary to add sports loads, walks, diets to it. It is important not to return to addiction any more, since in the event of a “breakdown”, both mental and physical dependence will return.

Among medical measures apply:

replacement therapy(temporary introduction different ways into the body of nicotine preparations, to mitigate withdrawal symptoms) - patches, lozenges, lozenges, nicotine chewing gums, etc .;
sedative therapy(and tranquilizers). Medications help to eliminate sleep disorders and the nervous state characteristic of the first days after the refusal;
psychoinfluence– hypnosis, coding according to the Dovzhenko method, rational psychotherapy, auto-training techniques;
acupuncture, physiotherapy activities.

Quitting smoking is a choice of health and life!

Consequences of smoking

A lot has been said about smoking and its dangers, but, unfortunately, we live in one of the most smoking countries in the world. Neither diseases, nor doctors' warnings, nor advertisements stop this tobacco madness that has engulfed all sections of society.

Today, no one is surprised by a girl with a cigarette, smoking teenagers are a common occurrence on the streets. This addiction has taken two-thirds of our society into its pincers. The consequences of smoking do not scare smokers, as long as they do not become a reality, for some reason no one is afraid of them.

The task of those who today understand the full essence of these consequences, and the irreversibility of the processes that result from smoking, is to paint a real picture of a monster called tobacco. The reality that will appear before the eyes of those who see it should shock the fans of the blue haze. The consequences of smoking do not frighten people, because no one has advertised them yet, but believe me, my friends, they are terrifying.

The consequences themselves are divided into two categories: the first is external, the second is internal. Women suffer the most from the external consequences of smoking, because, firstly, their body is more susceptible to poisons, and secondly, because they are the weak half of our humanity. And such poisons as tobacco cause processes in the body that, as a result of smoking, are displayed on the exterior and can be especially painful for women.

External effects include such phenomena as an earthy complexion, inelastic hair, which begin to break and fall out. The voice of a woman due to smoking becomes more bass, in a word, a woman turns not into a female, but into a more masculine being. And this is far from the whole fee that must be paid for smoking tobacco.

The fact is that external signs, are a reflection of internal, negative processes. Let's start with the fact that the complexion changes, by the way, the complexion changes not only in women, but also in men, but since men are not so delicate creatures, such consequences are not so striking.

As you know, complexion is a kind of showcase of a person. By the face, doctors determine the diseases of patients, the presence of hemoglobin, and the general condition. The consequences of smoking from the internal organs are projected onto the external organs.

From this kind of facts it follows that an unhealthy complexion indicates a disease. So the smoker is a sick person. It can be said that the smoker makes himself a sick person.

Internal diseases characteristic of smokers are very diverse. First of all, the lungs suffer from smoking, as a smoker constantly passes a huge amount of cigarette smoke through his lungs.

It is not difficult to predict the consequences of smoking for the lungs, for this it is enough to look at the composition of the potion inhaled by the blue haze lover. It would be very good if the manufacturers of cigarettes printed the detailed contents of this potion on the packs, then perhaps there would be much fewer people who wanted to smoke.

Of course, it is impossible to describe or list the composition of everything that is contained in cigarette smoke, because there are more than 400 different ingredients in tobacco.

Tobacco itself, as it is customary to say, is a weak drug. But it is weak because it is considered to be weak, scientists assure that by some indicators, it is even more insidious than marijuana, because it is highly addictive, forming a terrible addiction that not everyone is able to overcome.

This drug, although it does not produce a strong intoxicating effect, but the consequences of smoking for the central nervous system are very terrible. According to the strength of dependence formation, tobacco is equated to heroin, because marijuana forms only mental dependence, nicotine is mental-physical.

Heroin creates an almost irresistible craving, and nicotine is on a par with it.

Tobacco smoke also contains substances such as: methane, nitrogen, argon, hydrogen cyanide. It includes: acetone, ammonia, benzene, methyl alcohol, hydrogen sulfide, arsenic. If you think about it and analyze at least one of these components, then it becomes creepy in your soul, any poison from the listed ones is capable of killing a living creature by itself, in a large dose.

The consequences of smoking, after all this amount of poisons, from day to day, from year to year, is filtered through the lungs, is not difficult to predict. The outcome of such filtering is quite predictable, because studies of the effects of nicotine on the lungs have shown that 90 percent of all cases of lung cancer are related to those who smoke. This is a kind of mockery of your body, at your own expense.

The serious consequences of smoking also include various kinds of chronic bronchitis, permanent wet cough, bad breath, emphysema, cancer of the larynx, and this is not the whole list of the consequences that we have to pay for the dubious pleasure given by smoking cigarettes. It should also not be forgotten that with the current pricing policy of the state, smoking is by no means a cheap occupation, and therefore it significantly empties your wallets.

Consequences of smoking spice

Tobacco smoking, as a dangerous phenomenon, gave a powerful impetus to the development and distribution of other types of already illegal drugs that can be consumed through smoking, among these drugs, a nominee called spice is brought to your attention. Spice is like a drug, this substance is the brainchild of our dark era in the moral aspect. If, for example, hemp, marijuana are drugs of plant origin, then spice smoking is the use of a synthetic drug, which consists of a mixture of different components that produce a strong intoxicating effect on a person.

The action of these substances is several times stronger than those of plant origin. Spice is a mixture that is popular today among young people, from 18 to 27 years old.

If we talk about the dangers and consequences of using spice, then one wonders what ingenuity a person slides into in order to turn himself first into an active madman, and then degrade into a state of a passive vegetable. This mixture brings such great damage to the human psyche that there is no need to talk about such consequences as lung cancer.
Spice makes its first blow to the human psyche, producing a strong toxic effect in the brain. This causes a feeling of all-consuming euphoria in the smoker of spice. Intoxicated by the potion, the madman feels like a deity. Then, after a few hours, the post intoxicating effect comes, at these moments the brain cells begin to actively die, and the state that the stoned person feels is comparable to delirium tremens. He wants to commit suicide, a person is overcome by a feeling of acute depression, interest in life is lost.

The consequences of smoking spice are terrifying, taking it becomes addicted in a very short time, in fact, cravings are felt already at the first dose. Smoking this drug is like a madman who does not realize at all what reality he is in, and the worst thing is that even before the wear and tear of the body, the person taking spice becomes a complete idiot. This means that outwardly, he still does not look like a worn-out drug addict, but the brain can already be completely atrophied and close to complete necrosis.

From smoking spice, a person is first of all sent not to a narcological dispensary, but to a psychiatric hospital. The point is that spice addicts are creatures with a degraded psyche, an unbalanced nervous system, completely impersonal individuals of an incomprehensible gender, because they themselves do not know their names and what gender they belong to. Very few manage to balance their personality in mental hospitals.

Almost all spice smokers end up in a madhouse, men lose their potency almost completely, and menstruation regularity shifts in women. The deformation of the brain almost always becomes irreversible and the person becomes like a plant. Now, seeing all these consequences, consider whether it is worth getting involved with such a poison in order to embark on the path of absolute stupidity.

The effects of smoking cannabis

Cannabis is one of the most common classic drugs used by young people. This, of course, is not spice, but the harm and consequences from it are also dangerous. Cannabis, in addition to its narcotic properties, is also used in medicine as medicinal product. The medicinal properties of cannabis have been known and undeniable since ancient times, but, unfortunately, thrill-seekers use it for other purposes.

The consequences of smoking cannabis are manifested as follows, first of all, cannabis violates vegetative system human body. The rhythm of the heartbeat becomes either rapid or slow. There are frequent drops in pressure, especially upwards. In cannabis smokers, the mucous membrane is damaged, and such people always have a stuffy nose. A very scary effect of this drug is human brain, which suffers more than all organs.

A drug addict who smokes cannabis, thereby destroys the lungs of the brain tissue, and after a more or less prolonged use, irreversible processes occur.

It is very important to note that cannabis addicts gradually lose their privacy. They disappear, important life attachments, such as love, a sense of duty, family ties. Drug addicts, patients become active workers in the drug business, giving all possible and impossible means to maintain it.

The consequences of smoking cannabis, irreversible processes also occur in a person’s personal life. Because it is almost impossible to rebuild a broken family.

Taking cannabis means supporting criminals and bandits of all stripes. By buying a drug, you provide these gangsters with a rich life in which they have nothing, do not need, and can develop their crazy business. The drug destroys the lives of not only those who take them, but also those who surround drug addicts.

From cannabis, the leaves and their color are used for the drug, they are dried and turned into a brown powder, this substance is called marijuana.

Effects of smoking hashish

Hashish is a psychotropic substance made by special synthesis from hemp. The features of this narcotic drug are that it is created as an extract, that is, a highly concentrated product. Among the drug dealers, he stands in a different place after heroin. As we said that hashish is a product of hemp, then its actions are similar to the actions of marijuana, but since it is an extract, smoking hashish is many times stronger and coming for a smoker is much more powerful. Physical addiction does not come soon, but psychological after a few tricks.

Habituation is not yet an addiction, but its essence lies in the fact that after several techniques, the so-called weed, the buzz noticeably decreases. That is, the same dose no longer gives a similar result.

Smoking hashish, for this reason, must increase the dose in order to return the old feeling, the brain retains information about the former buzz, and the smoker wants to return it at any cost. It is not always possible to increase the dose of the drug taken, and over time, hashish becomes an ineffective potion for those who smoke it. This situation pushes the novice addict on the path of looking for stronger drugs, and addiction and dependence develops from these stronger drugs more quickly.

The consequences of smoking hashish are both predictable and unpredictable at the same time. They are predictable for the reason that for someone who smokes hashish, it is not difficult to predict fate, unless, of course, he quits on time. The fate of such a person can develop according to two scenarios:

First, this is a scenario where the addict will constantly smoke cannabis, and this will make some mental illness, after which he will spend the rest of his days in a psychiatric hospital, you can also catch lung cancer from smoking hashish and die from cancer. By the way, if we equate hashish with ordinary cigarettes, then the harm from smoking hashish is the same as from cigarettes, but many times more.

The second scenario is a complete fall along the curve, that is, the smoker begins to miss the buzz, and he is looking for more hard drugs, which will return the former euphoria to him. And then smoking hashish, a novice drug addict gradually switches to stronger types of drugs, and sits tightly on the needle. The scenario of detailed events is extremely clear.

Smoking during pregnancy, consequences

Modern studies have shown that in recent years the percentage of women who smoke has increased dramatically. On average, according to statistics, about 30 percent of women in the United States are smokers. 25 percent of women do not stop smoking even while they are pregnant and carrying a child. This statistic is very frightening for the reason that the effect of tobacco on the fetus if the mother smokes is extremely harmful in nature.

The consequences of smoking pregnant women is a crime of a mother in relation to her child. The developing child, which is in the womb, joins her life. This baby is connected by his life with her, her life, this is his life. If a young mother smokes, then she must remember that her child smokes with her, and the mother accustoms the child to tobacco from the womb. But this is not all the problems that can arise from the use of tobacco during pregnancy.

In women who smoke more than one pack of cigarettes a day, the risk of miscarriage increases by up to 30 percent. And an important fact is that after such a miscarriage, the infertility of a woman often develops. Also, if a mother smokes, then the risk of having a dead child increases by 30 percent, and if twins are to be born, then in this case the death of one of them increases to almost 50 percent. This is not a joke.

Smoking during pregnancy is fraught for the fetus, also because it suffers from severe oxygen starvation. Since the baby is connected with the mother through the umbilical cord, oxygen also comes to him, this way, but if the mother smokes, then carbon dioxide, together with nicotine, enters the bloodstream and is absorbed into the body of the fetus. The child as a result of this lacks oxygen and his starvation begins. The result of such starvation can be various defects when the baby is born.

The consequences of smoking during pregnancy, in particular from oxygen starvation of the fetus, can be as follows: small fetal growth, low birth weight, muscle deformation, and there may also be serious damage to the child's psyche. Such starvation can lead to the fact that a child is often born with Down's disease, mentally retarded. It is also not uncommon for children to be born with defects in internal organs. A baby can develop a heart defect while still in the womb.

When smoking during pregnancy, it is not uncommon for children to be born with such anomalies as the cleft palate, cleft lip, strabismus and inguinal hernia.

An interesting fact is that a child who is born to a smoking mother has a lower body resistance against tobacco. This means that if he starts smoking later, it will be more difficult for him to quit than for a child born from a non-smoking mother. Mom makes the child more prone to smoking.

Smoking during pregnancy will also show up in the baby's outward behavior in the future. As a rule, such children are restless, and endowed with a special hyper-reactivity, most often, they study poorly at school, it is a big problem for them to focus on the subject. Often such children are cocky, hooligans and very difficult to communicate with. Teachers have problems with them, they often visit psychologists and have criminal tendencies.

Smoking after pregnancy, that is, in the mother who gave birth, also has its own far-reaching problems. If a nursing mother smokes, then nicotine, having the ability to penetrate into the mother's blood, enters the milk, and with it into the baby's body, making him a passive smoker. It is already known that the harm from passive smoking is much more dangerous than from active smoking. Carcinogens, getting into the body of a child, make him more prone to cancer.
A smoking, nursing mother has depleted breast milk, nicotine, acting on the mammary glands, significantly impoverishes the capacity of mother's milk, vitamins, fat content, and so on. Such children do not receive those useful substances that are incorporated in mother's milk from nature. From such feeding, the child's immune system is weakened, as a result of which various diseases: both children's colds and pneumonia.

Smoking during pregnancy is a risk that is not justified by anything, and speaks of the extreme selfishness of mothers who dared to become pregnant and carry a child while puffing on a cigarette.

Each future mom, must remember that pregnancy is a special period in which it is important to forget about yourself, the fetus that develops in the abdominal cavity is waiting for care, because it is extremely helpless, and completely dependent on its mother. Smoking mothers, do not risk your children, and do not do tobacco experiments on them, because with your experiments you can overshadow the whole life of your unborn child. And for this oversight, you will not be able to forgive yourself for the rest of your life. Every child that is born feels loved, so give hope to the future of your children.

The consequences of smoking on video

Today, the Internet is full of all sorts of information, also on the topic of smoking. We often look for videos to watch and only watch what entertains us and don't want to watch anything that enlightens our brains.

It is very useful to review those materials that are posted on the Internet about smoking. Those materials that are available there are not for the faint of heart.

A useful and also interesting story about the consequences of smoking is a video in which the lungs of a smoker are compared with the lungs of a non-smoker, seeing such a contrast, of course, our mood may disappear, or our appetite will deteriorate, but the desire to smoke may also deteriorate. When you see a smoker's lungs completely covered in bruises, different sores, and they will look like a piece of charred meat, then, of course, you will feel uncomfortable.

Also on the Internet there are many posted photos about the consequences of smoking, they should also be advised to watch for everyone, both smokers and non-smokers. Smokers, in order to discourage their desire to smoke in this way, they must understand what villainy they are doing in relation to their body. And for those who do not smoke, these photos are useful as a preventive measure so that when they look at them, they never want to get involved with smoking.

Consequences of quitting smoking

This is a very interesting topic, what are the consequences for a smoker if he quit smoking?

Of course, consequences always come when a smoker quits smoking. These consequences can be divided into two categories, comfortable and uncomfortable, but fortunately they are all good, and before we get to them, let's talk about one psychological point. It often happens that a smoker is afraid of consequences that do not really exist.

Fear of the consequences of quitting smoking always accompanies those who quit smoking. They are tormented by nightmares, sometimes it seems to such people that if they quit smoking, then they will be very ill all their lives. A smoker may be accompanied by fears that he is parting with something very useful and good, in other words, there is an obsessive sense of loss. Such a feeling of loss, this is the enemy that the smoker must defeat, because it only seems to him that he is losing something, but in fact, the feeling of loss deceives him, in fact he loses the disease, but gains health.
But there are real consequences of quitting smoking. As we have already said, they are divided into comfortable consequences and uncomfortable ones.

Comfortable consequences include such consequences, in which, the one who quit smoking begins to feel better. After the smoker quit smoking, deep transformations begin in his body, these transformations are aimed at cleansing the body, the body makes attempts to cleanse itself of poisons.

Therefore, the consequences may be such phenomena as an improvement in the motility of the heart, a blush on the skin of the face, shortness of breath disappears, and the former smoker begins to observe an unusual surge of strength. Such a person has a better mood every day, he has a feeling of fullness and optimism. Breathing becomes even and deep, a large amount of oxygen begins to enter the body without cigarette smoke, and in connection with this, rehabilitation is accelerated. All processes of the body slowed down due to nicotine come to life, and the one who quit smoking begins to feel like a newborn.

The consequences of quitting smoking, especially comfortable ones, always inspire faith in a person, in a new and beautiful future, that his life has not been lived in vain, and now he can be a useful member of society, bringing happiness and joy to others. His relatives and friends are also beginning to feel such changes, and it seems that the sun is shining into such a family every day now.

The smoker's sense of smell perception is extremely aggravated, what was lost with smoking is now returning, after a while, the person who quit smoking begins to feel the unpleasant smell of cigarette smoke, it becomes unpleasant for him to be in the presence of smokers. In the morning, the bad taste from the mouth disappears, the morning cough of a smoker disappears, which bothers especially those who have been smoking for many years. The unpleasant smell of tobacco is no longer felt on the hair and clothes. And everything that is connected with tobacco will now seem vile and disgusting.

The uncomfortable consequences of quitting smoking include such consequences that are associated with cleansing the body from years of tobacco poisoning.

In quitting smoking, due to the fact that the mucous membrane of the oral cavity is changing, irritability appears in the larynx, as a result of which frequent colds are possible during this change.

In the first weeks of quitting smoking, symptoms such as irritability, insomnia may fade, but the one who quits does not need to be afraid of this, because the reward for this will be much greater than such inconvenience.

From the oral cavity, as well as from the larynx, in the first weeks, vigorous secretions of mucus may appear, which will also cause inconvenience, but the quitter should rejoice, because the body throws out all that excess that has accumulated during smoking.

And in the end, I would like to support all those who decided to end forever with such a vicious habit and disease that gradually killed you throughout the entire time you smoked.

Without fear for the consequences of quitting smoking, go ahead and do not look back, always remember that you have not lost anything good in cigarettes, but have gained a new life filled with pure and good sensations.
By quitting smoking, you are challenging an entire industry that produces tobacco products and profits from the misfortune of addicted smokers. Where you are alone today, there may be thousands of quitters tomorrow. And together with them you will make up an army that will be able to disarm the mighty tobacco monster that produces millions of cigarettes in order to make others unhappy.

A light legal drug is cigarettes. The real composition of the product that kills millions. History and modernity.

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Tobacco smoking(or simply smoking) - inhalation of smoke from smoldering dried or processed tobacco leaves, most often in the form of cigarette smoking. People smoke for pleasure, because of a bad habit, or for social reasons (to socialize, for “company”, “because everyone smokes”, etc.). In some societies, tobacco smoking is a ritual.

According to the WHO (World Health Organization), about one third of the adult male population of the world smoke tobacco. Tobacco smoking was brought to Spain by Columbus after the discovery of America and then spread to Europe and the rest of the world through trade.

Tobacco smoke contains psychoactive substances - nicotine and harmine alkaloids, which in combination are an addictive stimulant of the central nervous system, and also cause mild euphoria. The effects of nicotine exposure include the temporary relief of fatigue, drowsiness, lethargy, increased performance and memory.

Medical studies point to a clear link between tobacco smoking and diseases such as lung cancer and emphysema, diseases of the heart system, and other health problems. According to WHO, over the entire 20th century, tobacco smoking caused the death of 100 million people worldwide and in the 21st century this figure will increase to a billion.

Composition of cigarettes

pyrene- dissolves well in the blood, causes convulsions and spasm of the respiratory system, which reduces the level of hemoglobin, inhibits liver function. Of course it's all in large doses, in small ones (cigarette ones) it just stretches over time and does not act so noticeably.

Anthracite- if you constantly breathe dust or vapors of this rubbish, swelling of the nasopharynx, eye sockets develops, fibromia diseases develop. Also a shitty thing, also not so noticeable.

Ethylphenol- lowers blood pressure, depresses the nervous system, disrupts motor activity. Well, kind of relaxing.

And finally our favorites - NITROBENZENE And NITROMETHANE.

If you inhale concentrated vapors of nitrobenzene - loss of consciousness and death. In small doses causes irreversible changes in the vascular system.

Nitromethane causes an accelerated pulse and weakening of attention (scattering), and in high concentrations - a narcotic state and irreversible pathological changes in the brain.

These are the lovely substances found in the average cigarette. Still there, of course, there is hydrocyanic acid (about 0.012 g, forty times less lethal dose), ammonia, pyridine bases, and a large number of substances with a total number of about four thousand items.

Harmful substances

Many smokers are comfortable with their bad habit. They are convinced that smoking does not cause great harm body, they are unaware of the harmful effects of smoking, or they try not to pay attention to it. As a rule, they do not know anything or have a very vague idea about real consequences smoking.

The serious harm that smoking causes to the human body is undeniable. Tobacco smoke contains over 3,000 harmful substances. It is impossible to remember all of them. But you need to know the three main groups of toxins:

resins. They contain strong carcinogens and substances that irritate the tissues of the bronchi and lungs. Lung cancer in 85% of all cases is caused by smoking. Cancer of the oral cavity and larynx also mostly occurs in smokers. Tars are the cause of smokers' coughs and chronic bronchitis.

Nicotine. Nicotine is a stimulant drug. Like any drug, it is addictive, addictive and addictive. Increases heart rate and blood pressure. Following brain stimulation, there is a significant decline up to depression, which causes a desire to increase the dose of nicotine. A similar two-phase mechanism is inherent in all narcotic stimulants: first excite, then deplete. Complete smoking cessation may be accompanied by a withdrawal syndrome lasting more often up to 2-3 weeks. The most common symptoms of nicotine withdrawal are irritability, sleep disturbance, anxiety, decreased tone. All these symptoms do not pose a threat to health, they fade and disappear completely by themselves. Re-introduction of nicotine into the body after a long break quickly restores dependence (just like a new portion of alcohol causes a relapse of the disease in former alcoholics).

Toxic gases (carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, nitric oxide, etc.) Carbon monoxide or carbon monoxide is the main toxic component of tobacco smoke gases. It damages hemoglobin, after which hemoglobin loses its ability to carry oxygen. Therefore, smokers suffer from chronic oxygen starvation, which is clearly manifested during physical exertion. For example, when climbing stairs or while jogging, smokers quickly develop shortness of breath. Carbon monoxide is colorless and odorless, therefore it is especially dangerous and often leads to fatal poisoning. Tobacco smoke contains 384,000 MPC of toxic substances, which is four times more than in the exhaust of a car. In other words, smoking a cigarette for one minute is about the same as breathing direct exhaust gases for four minutes. Hydrogen cyanide and nitric oxide also affect the lungs, exacerbating hypoxia (oxygen starvation) of the body.

Smoking contributes to atherosclerosis of blood vessels. Atherosclerosis results in myocardial infarction, stroke, premature aging. Immunity and endocrine system suffer. Many men earn impotence. Women become infertile or give birth to sick children. Due to narrowed sclerosed vessels, blood circulation is disturbed not only in the internal organs, but also in the arms and legs. Smokers obliterating atherosclerosis lower extremities threatens with gangrene. At autopsy in malignant smokers, blood clots are often detected in various vessels.

You can get rid of a bad habit on your own or with medical help (for those who are already completely weak-willed).

If a person really wants to quit smoking, he may well do without medical help. All kinds of drugs, chewing gum, procedures, physiotherapy, reflexology, hypnosis, etc. by themselves are ineffective. Moreover, they can even interfere in some sense, especially if you place unreasonably high hopes on treatment and relieve yourself of responsibility for the result.

With a sharp cessation of smoking in some smokers, a temporary deterioration in well-being is possible. Transition malaise is more common among those who maintain an ambivalent attitude towards smoking. And those who have made the final choice for themselves easily give up the bad habit, even if they have poisoned themselves with nicotine for decades before.

Advice to those who do not believe in themselves (who believe too) - start doing regular runs at least 3-4 times a week and at an even slow pace. Oxygenate your poisoned organism and you will find that you can no longer stuff tobacco smoke, you will have disgust for him. Those in need of psychological support will be helped by courses on getting rid of bad habits, of which there are quite a few in Moscow.

Nicotine

Surprisingly, why do millions of people smoke, despite the obvious damage to health? Once many of us start smoking, they are unable to stop. Why? Tobacco contains nicotine, a narcotic medicinal substance that makes you come back to it again and again. Nicotine recruits us into its supporters quickly and reliably.

It is not nicotine that causes the main harm to health when smoking, but other 4,000 chemicals contained in tobacco smoke. They are the cause of many diseases that we associate with smoking.

Scientists have been studying nicotine for decades and are finding more and more interesting properties. Apparently, nicotine really increases concentration, improves memory and helps control weight. On the other hand, nicotine has a very negative effect on fetal development during pregnancy and, in addition, a link has been established between nicotine and sudden death of infants during sleep.

Perhaps in the future, we can expect pharmaceutical companies to separate the positive and negative properties of nicotine and develop new drugs based on nicotine to treat nicotine itself. a wide range diseases ranging from Alzheimer's disease to obesity.

Along with caffeine and strychnine, nicotine belongs to a group of chemical compounds called alkaloids. These are bitter-tasting and often poisonous substances produced by plants to prevent animals from eating them. Humans, being biologically somewhat perverted creatures, not only ignore this warning signal - a bitter taste, but even enjoy such taste sensations.

Most of the nicotine we get today comes from the Nicotiana tabacum plant, but there are 66 more plant species that contain nicotine. 19 of them grow in Australia. Apparently, the Australian Aborigines were the first people to use nicotine. They mixed crushed nicotine-containing plant leaves with ashes and chewed them. During long journeys through the desert, the natives used nicotine as both a stimulant and a remedy for hunger.

Nicotine owes its name to the French Ambassador to Portugal, Jean Nicot, who was one of the ardent supporters of nicotine as a drug. Tobacco was brought to Europe by the Spaniards and was first used in medical purposes. They were treated for wounds, rheumatism, asthma and toothache. In 1561, Jean Nicot sent tobacco seeds to the royal court in France. This plant was named Nicotiana in his honor. Subsequently, the alkaloid found in the 19th century in this plant was also called nicotine.

The popularity of tobacco grew very rapidly both in Europe and in Asia, despite the fact that in China, Japan, Russia and Muslim countries severe penalties were provided for its use, up to cutting off the lips. The Roman Catholic Church did not ban tobacco, but excommunicated those who smoked in church. The clergy learned to circumvent this prohibition by inhaling tobacco ground into a powder - snuff. By the end of the 17th century, this method of taking nicotine had become very common among the aristocrats of Europe.

Nicotine in our body has a very short life, and it is because of this that smokers smoke so often. With a puff of cigarettes, nicotine enters the lungs, then into the bloodstream and into the brain, where it is captured by receptors. nerve cells. But after about 40 minutes, the amount of nicotine is halved, and the smoker feels the need for a new portion. Therefore, in a cigarette pack of 20 cigarettes, this is a day divided into 40-minute periods of nicotine intake.

If a smoker is engaged in training, a cigarette after exercise gives him particular pleasure. Why? Because exercise speeds up the metabolism of nicotine and the level of nicotine in the brain drops faster than usual. This also explains the tradition of "cigarettes after sex", romance has nothing to do with it.

One cigarette can contain up to 1.2 milligrams of nicotine. If you enter this nicotine intravenously, then this amount is enough to kill seven adult men. However, when you smoke, you get a very dilute dose. Most of the nicotine in a cigarette disappears with the smoke. The tiny fraction that enters the lungs is diluted again in the bloodstream. As a result, the blood contains about 100 nanograms of nicotine per milliliter, which is 1 billionth of the nicotine content written on a cigarette pack. And by the time nicotine reaches the brain, its concentration drops to 40 nanograms. However, this is quite enough to satisfy most smokers.

Is the health risk reduced by smoking low nicotine cigarettes? At first glance it seems that yes. However, if a smoker smokes a "light" cigarette, he unconsciously takes deeper puffs to get the usual dose of nicotine. This is called compensatory smoking. As a result, he will probably smoke more cigarettes than usual, which means he will inhale more. carbon monoxide, tar and other combustion products of tobacco. So it's entirely possible that "light" cigarettes are even more harmful than regular cigarettes.

Smoking pipes.

When we see a person smoking a pipe, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Personally, I mean that this is a wealthy person who has achieved almost everything he wanted in his life. People automatically classify such people as the elite. This is due to the fact that pipe smoking is not a cheap pleasure, and not everyone can afford it. A lot of people think that smoking a pipe is not the same as smoking a cigarette. Maybe I don't argue. So all the same, smoking a pipe is just as dangerous as smoking cigarettes, or is it just speculation of supporters healthy lifestyle life.

Pipe smoking has become a fashionable habit in our time, although it has been around for more than three thousand years. Now a little history.

Archaeologists and historians involved in the study of Maya and Indian civilizations Central America, claim that the entire history of the pipe came from there. Here, tobacco was used both for medicinal purposes and in religious rituals (for example, inhaling tobacco smoke helps to communicate with the gods). In Europe, pipes appeared after the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492.

At first, in Russia, smoking a pipe in public was very severely punished. So the pipe makers were flogged, their nostrils pulled out and sent to Siberia, and those who were caught smoking again were cut off their heads. Impressive, right? But all the same, pipe smokers did not become less, but even vice versa. And the rulers had to make concessions. Pipes were made from various materials: stone, clay (in Europe - from clay and with small cups, because tobacco was too expensive), porcelain, beech, wild cherry, elm, walnut, ivory, marble and much more.

The first briar pipes, now the most famous and popular material for their manufacture, appeared in the first half of the 19th century in the south of France.

There are many types of pipes: bent and straight, long with a small cup and short nose warmers, with various shapes of cups (round (prince), oval (lovet), cylindrical (stand-up poker)), faceted, etc.

Now let's talk about the harm that pipe smoking brings. There is an opinion that a cigarette cannot be compared with a pipe because:

a person no longer receives such pleasure;

Smoking a pipe causes less harm to health than cigarettes.

According to the results of research by American scientists from the National Institute of Oncology, it became known that the consequences of smoking for pipe lovers are practically no different from those for lovers of more “simple” types of tobacco products. The "tubifex" also often developed malignant tumors (esophagus, larynx, lungs), diseases of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. These data were obtained after a survey of 138,000 smokers, of whom 15,265 people smoked pipes, not cigarettes.

For comparison between exclusive pipe smoking and malignant neoplasms of the upper digestive tract scientists from Italy used data from 1984 to 1999 using a case-control method. This method took into account age, education, body weight and alcohol consumption. As a result, they came to the following conclusions: compared with never smokers, those who smoked only a pipe are more likely to get sick were 8.7 times higher for all malignant neoplasms of the upper digestive tract. Pipe smokers are 12.6 times more likely to develop oral and pharyngeal cancer, and 7.2 times more likely to develop esophageal cancer. It has also been observed that those pipe smokers who consume a lot of alcohol have this risk increased up to 38.8 times. Thus, pipe smoking and excessive alcohol consumption multiply each other's harmful effects.

Pipe smoking was also found to be associated with a risk of death from 6 of 9 cancers: larynx, esophagus, nasopharynx, pancreas, lung, colon and rectum.

Now, before you light a pipe - think about it, do you need all this?

hookah smoking

The influence of tobacco smoke on the body of a smoker has been repeatedly considered from many positions. However, there have been no studies on the effects of smoke passing through a water filter, as in a hookah. This phenomenon has also been little studied from a sociological point of view. Indeed, from this point of view, we have to admit that for more than four centuries, hookah has been coloring life every day and subordinating tens of millions of people to its rhythm, in public institutions or at home. The practice of hookah smoking has become a real mass phenomenon and continues to develop actively today.

Shisha tobacco comes in mainly three forms: The first is "tumbak", a regular tobacco (Nicotiana Rustica) containing a lot of nicotine, most used today in Iran. The smoker moistens it with water, squeezes it out and puts it tightly in the bowl of the hookah. The second type is "mu essel", tobacco soaked in molasses and flavored with various fruit shavings. The third form, "jurak", can be considered intermediate.

In a hookah, the smoke is cooled by passing through the water, cooling is accompanied by filtration. Smoke from a hookah, devoid of substances such as acrolein and aldehydes, unlike cigarette smoke, does not irritate the mucous membranes of the throat or nose of smokers and non-smokers who are close to the hookah. This fact partly explains the public fascination and widespread use of hookah tobacco smoking. The passage of smoke through water also reduces the amount of tar, tar and other substances of potentially carcinogenic nicotine. Initially, tobacco is distilled in a bowl from hot coals, then the smoke descends through the mine, which is immersed in water, after this "washing" the smoke rises along the hose and enters the smoker's lungs through the mouthpiece.

Various scientific studies have shown that filtering tobacco smoke through water in a hookah reduces the content of: nicotine, up to 90% phenols, up to 50% fine particulate matter, benzo(a)pyrene, polycyclique aromatic hydrocarbons. There is a reduction in the carcinogenic potential of smoke that has crossed water compared to that that has not. Passing through the water, the smoke is cleared of acrolein (acroleine) and acetaldehyde (acetaldehyde), substances harmful to alveolar macrophages (macrophages), the main cells of the protection of the lungs and important elements of the human immune system. Akram Chafei, in his research on the Egyptian hookah, notes that hookah smoking, like cigarette smoking, "...brings acute changes in lung function." While cigarette smoke affects the small endings of the respiratory tract bronchioles (bronchioles) involved in the pulmonary blood supply, hookah smoke "... has an immediate effect on large respiratory tract".

But the most interesting recent research C. Macaron (C. Macaron). Her merit and the uniqueness of her research lies in the fact that she studied only hookah smokers. Thus, mixed cigarette and hookah smokers and former cigarette smokers were separated. Blood levels of cotinine are higher in hookah smokers than in cigarette smokers. The author believes that if it is likely that the smoke, passing through the water, loses the concentration of some of its components, then other elements probably remain unchanged. On this basis, the researchers believe that the "cleansing" effect of water on smoke is cancelled. Meanwhile, we note that casual hookah smokers, and they represent the majority of hookah lovers, do not have tobacco or nicotine addiction. They almost never smoke cigarettes, because they are primarily looking for new aromas, tastes, environments, like some coffee lovers. In addition, often, such smokers simply follow the fashion or want to appear "cool". They savor the hookah at the level of taste buds, without feeling the need to inhale the smoke. If there is an addiction among them, then it is most likely a behavioral or social addiction.

With the help of a special device Smokelyzer, the alveolar content of CO was measured in various types smokers. The findings coincided with the results cited above; hookah smokers were found to have elevated level carbon monoxide. This gas is formed during any slow or incomplete combustion process, as happens with tobacco in a waterpipe. The level of carbon monoxide ranges from 10 ppm to 60 ppm, depending on the individual and the degree of ventilation of the room - in an unventilated room, the CO content is increased - up to 28%. It is this gas that causes an increase in heart rate.

As for the slight intoxication observed in smokers after smoking a hookah, it is not caused by any opiates, moreover, not contained in hookah tobacco, but is due to the action of the same carbon monoxide.

Finally, an avid hookah smoker explains that he cannot stop smoking hookah for more than two days. This period is not associated with the half-life of nicotine, which occurs approximately 2 hours after smoking, but with cotinine, whose half-life ranges between 15 and 20 hours. With all the abundance, today there is no coherent hypothesis about the nature of such dependence.

Ministries of health should now focus their efforts on developing products for hookah that reduce the content of carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke, these can be alternative sources of heating, such as electric ones that replace coal combustion or special filters.

Teen smoking

Teenagers are not aware of the dangers of smoking because they are constantly watching their elders doing it at ease. Another culprit that drives young people to smoke is peer pressure. However, sometimes, smoking is the result of some sort of act of outright defiance, or simply the result of curiosity. If you have suspicions that your teenager has started smoking, and if they are justified, then pay attention to this and educate your child about the dangers of smoking.

Smoking and its associated danger to life.

Every year, millions of people die from smoking-related diseases worldwide. And that number is likely to rise as more young people get into this deadly habit.

The smallest smoker is a seven-year-old boy who makes a living looking for recyclable waste.

This scenario is typical for third world countries and is only the tip of the iceberg. Smoking is gradually taking away young lives, but brings billions of dollars in taxes to states. Thus, the problem remains still unresolved, like the dire forecasts of the coming global warming which most choose to ignore.

Long-term smoking leads to several types of cancer. Because of the early onset and longer exposure to the poison, the group with increased risk include young people. And quitting smoking is just as hard as quitting heroin. There are now support groups to help people get out of the hole and start living a healthy life. But this is easier said than done. Smoking is not prohibited by law and young children caught with a cigarette are not punished for it. Therefore, the vicious circle continues. If you are a parent and you find that your teenager is smoking, then you need to take immediate action to help your child kick the habit.

How to help your child quit smoking

The confused mother said she caught her son and daughter smoking in the room. The smell of cigarette smoke in the room helped solve the mystery. Empty cigarette packs and cigarette butts were found in the trash can. In alarm, the mother reported the incident to her husband, also non-smoker. In order to wean children from smoking, parents enrolled them in a rehabilitation and support program.

If you can't catch kids smoking at home, try to find out who they hang out with and where they hang out after school. Someone will definitely tell you if your teen's friends smoke.

Asking a son or daughter not to go out with their smoking friends will not give you encouraging results. Instead, invite their friends over to your home and show them videos, videos or the Internet (eg www.youtube.com) that detail the irreversible effects of smoking on the human body. Give them books about the effects of smoking, or invite the doctor to a class at the children's school or parent-teacher meeting to discuss the dangers of smoking. Mobilize parents and ask school leaders and faculty to start a war on smoking. There should be no smoking areas or non-smoking areas in the school. Instead, smoking should be banned entirely. In response to protests, you can always explain that sometimes parents and teachers have to be harsh to be kind. Smoking is deadly, and in this case there should be no place for euphemism.

Be relentless in your efforts to wage war on teen smoking. Smoking teenagers become smoking adults and suffer the consequences of smoking in the future. Instead of waiting for trouble to hit you, start your campaign today. If you love your children, make a firm decision. Someday, your children will thank you for your perseverance and effort to help them get rid of this deadly and terrible habit.

Passive smoking

Smokers know that their addiction is hurting them, but they assume that their smoking will only hurt themselves. However, in recent years, more and more information has emerged that passive smoking contributes to the development of diseases in non-smokers that are characteristic of smokers.

When tobacco is burned, main and additional smoke flows are formed. The main stream is formed during the puff of smoke, passes through the entire tobacco product, is inhaled and exhaled by the smoker. An additional flow is formed by exhaled smoke, and is also released between puffs into the environment from the charred part of the cigarette (cigarettes, pipes, etc.). More than 90% of the main flow consists of 350-500 gaseous components, of which carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are especially harmful. The rest of the main flow are solid microparticles, including various toxic compounds. The content of some of them in the smoke of one cigarette is as follows: carbon monoxide - 10-23 mg, ammonia - 50-130 mg, phenol - 60-100 mg, acetone - 100-250 mcg, nitric oxide - 500-600 mcg, hydrogen cyanide - 400-500 mcg, radioactive polonium - 0.03-1. 0 nK. The main stream of tobacco smoke is formed by 35% of the burning cigarette, 50% goes into the surrounding air, making up an additional stream, from 5 to 15% of the components of the burnt cigarette remains on the filter. The additional stream contains 4-5 times more carbon monoxide, 50 times more nicotine and tar, and 45 times more ammonia than the main one! Thus, paradoxically, many times more toxic components enter the atmosphere surrounding the smoker than the body of the smoker himself. It is this circumstance that causes a special danger of passive or “forced” smoking for others. When tobacco smoke is inhaled, radioactive particles settle deep in the lungs, are carried by the bloodstream throughout the body, settling in the tissues of the liver, pancreas, lymph nodes, bone marrow etc.

The silent victims of passive smoking are children!

Children who share a room with parents who smoke are twice as likely to have respiratory illnesses compared to children whose parents smoke in a separate room or children whose parents do not smoke. In such children, especially in the first year of life, bronchitis, nocturnal coughs, and pneumonia are more often recorded. Studies conducted in Germany show the relationship between passive smoking and childhood asthma. The impact on the respiratory system of a child of passive smoking does not exhaust its momentary toxic effect on the body: even after growing up, there remains a difference in the indicators of mental and physical development in groups of children from families of smokers and non-smokers. If a child lives in an apartment where one of the family members smokes 1-2 packs of cigarettes, then the amount of nicotine corresponding to 2-3 cigarettes is found in the child's urine!

The WHO Committee of International Experts also concluded that maternal smoking (“passive fetal smoking”) is the cause of the syndrome. sudden death infant in 30-50% of cases.

Passive smoking can lead to blindness

Passive smoking increases the likelihood of a person becoming blind. According to the British Journal of Ophthalmology, scientists from the University of Cambridge studied the effects of smoking on senile macular degeneration (SDM) and concluded that living with a smoker for five years doubles the risk of this disease, and regular active smoking triples.

Early studies have shown that smoking increases the likelihood of vision problems. However, the work of the Cambridge experts provides the clearest evidence that passive smoking has a similar effect. SDM usually develops in people who have crossed the 50-year mark. It affects the central part of the retina, which is extremely important for reading or driving. As a result, only peripheral vision remains active in a person. SDM does not always lead to blindness.

In the UK today there are about 500,000 people suffering from this disease.

The study followed 435 patients with SDM and 280 without it. Scientists have noticed that the more a person smokes, the more likely they and their partners are to develop SDM. A person who smokes a pack a day or more for 40 years almost triples this risk. And to double it, it is enough just to live with a smoker for five years.

Women who smoke men find it harder to get pregnant

The results of a survey of pregnant women in antenatal clinics in Kyiv showed a clear effect of smoking by both parents on the likelihood of pregnancy. In particular, a man's smoking reduced the likelihood of the onset and development of pregnancy: the likelihood that pregnancy would not occur during the first year of the absence of contraception increased by almost two times. A weak but highly significant relationship was found between the number of cigarettes smoked by a man per day and the duration of sexual life before conception. Each subsequent cigarette smoked per day by a man reduced the probability of conceiving a child during the first year by an average of 1.05 times. The above study shows that the problem is not that pregnancy does not occur, but that it is interrupted when future parents are not even aware of it.

Passive smoking increases the risk of breast cancer

Research by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare found that the proportion of non-smoking women who develop breast cancer is 2.6 times higher if they are forced to inhale tobacco smoke at work or at home. This risk is especially high in women before the onset of menopause, which, apparently, is due to higher concentrations of female sex hormones involved in breast tumorigenesis. And the exclusion of both passive and active smoking is a measure for the prevention of breast cancer.

Passive smoking increases the risk of heart disease

According to a recent study, exposure to tobacco smoke at work resulted in the death of about 250 people in Finland in 1996. A study by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health examined statistics on causes of death, exposure to tobacco smoke at work, and risk information for various diseases. In the latest issue of the Finnish Medical Journal, Dr. Markku Nurminen writes that coronary heart disease has been the biggest killer of secondhand smoke-related diseases. The number of such deaths exceeds 100. The rather high risk caused by exposure to tobacco smoke is due to the fact that the most hazardous substances in second-hand smoke are in the gas phase, while the main risk factors in the smoke that smokers themselves inhale are contained in weighted phase. In the form of a gas, substances pass deeper into the lungs than particulate smoke, and therefore it is more difficult for the body to get rid of them.

Passive smoking and the brain

Inhalation of tobacco smoke causes disturbances in the activity of the brain, since the nervous system is most sensitive to tobacco poisons, which leads to severe diseases of the central nervous system. According to some studies, circulatory disorders in the brain caused by exposure to tobacco smoke in 1996 caused the death of almost 80 people. Exposure to second-hand smoke increases the risk of brain circulatory problems by 1.8 times.

Consequences of smoking

1. Brain -> Stroke

A stroke occurs when a blood vessel that delivers oxygen to the brain becomes blocked by a blood clot or other particles. Thrombosis cerebral vessels- the most common cause stroke. Thrombosis means the formation of a blood clot and a violation of the blood supply to the brain. Another type of stroke occurs when a diseased artery in the brain (such as an aneurysm) ruptures. This phenomenon is called cerebral hemorrhage.

2. Heart -> Heart disease

Smoking is the main cause of damage to the coronary arteries, which can lead to myocardial infarction. Smokers have an increased risk of atherosclerosis (blockage of the arteries) and other changes that affect the cardiovascular system. Smoking alone increases the risk of coronary artery disease, and when combined with other factors, these diseases become even more likely. Nicotine and carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke interfere with the supply of oxygen to the blood and different mechanisms cause damage to the heart and blood vessels.

3. Lungs -> Lung Cancer

Approximately 85% of lung cancers occurring per year can be associated with smoking. People who smoke two or more packs of cigarettes a day for 20 years have a 60-70% increased risk of lung cancer compared to non-smokers. The risk of lung cancer is higher the more cigarettes smoked per day, the longer they smoke, the greater the amount of smoke inhaled, and the higher the tar and nicotine content of cigarettes.

On x-ray the lung shows a pathological mass (arrow). Later biopsy proved that this lung cancer. Characteristic symptoms: constant agonizing cough, hemoptysis, repeated pneumonia, bronchitis or chest pain.

4. COPD -> Chronic bronchitis

COPD is a chronic lung disease characterized by progressive narrowing and destruction of the bronchial tree and pulmonary alveoli.

Although smoking is the main cause of COPD, other factors play a role - long-term exposure to smoke, dust and chemicals, as well as frequent lung infections in childhood. Some people are at increased risk for COPD for genetic reasons. Such persons have genetic defect, which is called alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency. COPD includes two main diseases - chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Most patients with COPD have a combination of both diseases.

Chronic bronchitis is manifested by a cough with sputum that occurs in winter for 2 years in a row. In some patients, cough with sputum is the only symptom, while others complain of shortness of breath or shortness of breath. If you are coughing or producing phlegm, see your doctor to have your lungs checked.

Emphysema refers to the pathology of the alveoli, when the tissue around the alveoli changes, they become enlarged and look like holes in the lungs on an x-ray (similar to Swiss cheese). The main symptom is shortness of breath. There is a cough, but less pronounced than with chronic bronchitis. The chest becomes barrel-shaped.

5. Stomach -> Cancer and stomach ulcer

The effect of prolonged smoking is to stimulate the secretion of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, which corrodes the protective layer in its cavity. Aching or burning pain between the sternum and the navel is the most common symptom that occurs after eating and early in the morning. Pain can last from a few minutes to several hours; Sometimes the pain is relieved by food or antacids. Smoking slows down the healing of ulcers and promotes their recurrence.

Typical symptoms:

- aching or burning pain in the abdomen, nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite and weight loss.

On early stages Gastric cancer usually does not show up. It is known that stomach cancer can occur against the background of an ulcer, and smokers have a higher risk.

6. Fetus -> Risk Factors

In women, smoking significantly increases the risk of chronic diseases, including pulmonary complications, and premature death. According to studies, smoking markedly increases the risk of heart disease in premenopausal women, especially when taking birth control pills. Studies have shown that women who regularly smoke one pack of cigarettes a day or more during pregnancy have babies weighing less than non-smoking mothers. Carbon monoxide, inhaled as part of tobacco smoke, enters the blood of the fetus and reduces the absorption of oxygen, leading to pronounced oxygen starvation. Other effects of smoking include reduced blood flow, which interferes with the transfer of vital nutrients from the mother to the fetus.

Underweight newborns are generally weaker and more prone to disease than those of average weight. Women who smoke are more likely to end up in preterm labor, miscarriage, or stillbirth. Also, studies do not rule out that children born to mothers who smoked during and after pregnancy are more likely to have sudden infant death syndrome.

7. Bladder -> Bladder Cancer

Bladder cancer occurs mainly in smokers over 40 years of age. In men, the risk is 4 times higher than in women. The most common early symptom is blood in the urine without pain or discomfort.

Typical symptoms:

- blood in the urine;
- pain in the pelvic area;
- difficult urination.

8. Larynx -> Cancer of the esophagus

Smoking can cause esophageal cancer by damaging cells located inside the organ. The longer a person smokes, the higher the risk.

Typical symptoms:

- difficulty swallowing;
- chest pain or discomfort;
- weight loss.

9. Tongue -> Oral Cancer

Oral cancer is most common in smokers and heavy drinkers. In most cases, the tumor occurs on the sides or on the lower surface of the tongue, as well as in the floor of the mouth.

Typical symptoms:

- a small, pale swelling or thickening of an unusual color on the tongue, mouth, cheek, gums, or palate.

10. Uterus -> Malignant tumors

Smoking exposes the entire body to various carcinogenic chemicals. For example, in women who smoke, derivatives of tobacco components are found in the mucus of the cervix. According to scientists, these substances damage the cells of the cervix and probably increase the risk of cancer.

Only the facts

Every third Thursday of November every year in most countries of the world is celebrated "International No Smoking Day". It was established by the American Cancer Society in 1977. in 2009 this day falls on November 19th.

According to the World Health Organization, at present, one person dies every 6 seconds from tobacco-related diseases in the world, and 5 million people die every year for this reason.

If the trend of increasing consumption of tobacco products in the world continues, by 2020 the number of tobacco-related premature deaths will increase to 10 million a year, and by 2030 smoking will become one of the most significant factors in premature death worldwide.

Smoking negatively affects most organs of the human body.

Brain

Smoking dramatically increases the risk of stroke - a disorder of brain function caused by a violation of its blood supply.

A stroke is caused by a blockage in a blood vessel that delivers oxygen to the brain, a blood clot or other particles.

Thrombosis of cerebral vessels is the most common cause of stroke. It means the formation of a clot (thrombus) from the blood and a violation of the blood supply to the brain.

Another cause of stroke in smokers can be damage to the artery of the brain, leading to its rupture and brain hemorrhage.

The cardiovascular system

Delivery of oxygen to the heart muscle is severely disrupted due to the blocking of blood hemoglobin by carbon monoxide from tobacco smoke. This leads to serious damage to the heart and blood vessels.

Smoking raises blood pressure: the blood vessels constrict, forcing the heart to work harder. greater load. As a result, the heart expands and becomes damaged.

Smoking increases blood cholesterol levels. In the arteries that feed the heart, fats are deposited, their blockage occurs. As a result, myocardial infarction.

Smokers have a 4-5 times higher risk of myocardial infarction than non-smokers. If, at the same time, a smoker has elevated blood cholesterol levels and high blood pressure, the risk of developing a heart attack increases 8 times.

The average age of those who died from heart attacks is 67 years, smokers - 47.

Lungs

Lung cancer - a tumor that occurs in the superficial tissues of the lungs - in about 90% of cases is due to prolonged smoking. People who smoke two or more packs of cigarettes a day for 20 years have a 60-70% increased risk of lung cancer compared to non-smokers.

The risk of lung cancer depends on the number of cigarettes smoked per day, the amount of tobacco smoke inhaled, as well as the concentration of carcinogenic tar and nicotine in cigarettes. The main etiological factors are considered to be radon, benzpyrene and nitrosamines contained in tobacco tar. The characteristic symptoms of lung cancer are: persistent, agonizing cough, hemoptysis, repeated pneumonia, bronchitis, or chest pain.

Now dying of lung cancer more people than any other type of cancer. The average decrease in life expectancy for smokers is 10 years.

Also, long-term smoking can cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - pulmonary bronchitis (inflammatory disease of the branches windpipe(bronchi) with a predominant lesion of the mucous membrane) and pulmonary emphysema (degeneration lung tissue), which are characterized by the destruction of the bronchial tree and the terminal parts of the lung - the alveoli.

In emphysema, the tissue around the alveoli changes, they become enlarged and look like holes in the lungs on an x-ray. The main symptom of emphysema is shortness of breath, also cough, but less pronounced than in chronic bronchitis. The chest becomes barrel-shaped.

Stomach

One of the effects of prolonged smoking is the stimulation of the secretion of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, which corrodes the protective layer in its cavity and contributes to the occurrence of gastric ulcers. The most common ulcer symptom is aching or burning pain between the sternum and the navel that occurs after eating and early in the morning. The pain can last from a few minutes to several hours. Also, the ulcer is accompanied by nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite and weight loss. Smoking slows down the healing of ulcers and promotes their recurrence.

Peptic ulcer can lead to stomach cancer. At the same time, the risk of developing a cancerous tumor in the gastric cavity in smokers is higher than in non-smokers.

Eyes

Smoking inhibits the metabolism of trace elements of plant foods that protect the organ of vision. The eyes of a long-term smoker tend to be red and watery, and the edges of the eyelids swell. Nicotine acts on the optic nerve and motor muscles of the eyes, with vasoconstriction, the retina changes, visual acuity is lost, and vision deviations begin. Smoking is especially dangerous in glaucoma, as smoking increases intraocular pressure.

limbs

Every seventh smoker sooner or later becomes ill with obliterating endarteritis - chronic disease vessels with a primary lesion of the arteries of the legs, during which there is a gradual narrowing of the vessels up to the complete closure of their lumen with the necrosis of tissues deprived of blood supply. Endarteritis often leads to gangrene and amputation of the smoker's lower extremities.

Bladder

Smokers over the age of 40 are much more likely to develop bladder cancer than non-smokers. In men, the risk is 4 times higher than in women. Symptoms - the appearance of blood in the urine, pain in the pelvic area, difficulty urinating.

Larynx

Smoking can cause cancer of the esophagus by damaging its internal cells. Symptoms are difficulty swallowing, chest pain or discomfort, weight loss.

Oral cavity

Oral cancers are most common on the sides or underside of the tongue and in the floor of the mouth. Symptoms are a small, pale swelling or unusually colored thickening on the tongue, mouth, cheek, gums, or palate.

reproductive system

Nicotine destroys the nervous system, including those parts of it that are responsible for a person's sexual behavior and his ability to reproduce. With age, the ability to bear children progressively decreases in smokers. By reducing the level of sex hormones and vitamin E, which is irreplaceable for the body, tobacco poisons destroy maturing and full-fledged cells intended for the formation of the fetal body. According to medical statistics, more than 10% of cases of sexual impotence in men are associated with excessive tobacco use. As a result, the level of infertility among smoking boys and young people is almost twice the average.

Offspring

The number of children conceived and endured by heavy smokers is only 72% relative to non-smokers. Tobacco, like a number of other psychoactive substances, causes abortion, premature birth, and stillbirth. According to American scientists, even less than one pack of cigarettes smoked a day by 20% increases the risk of infant death in the womb. More than a pack - by 35%. The death rate of children during childbirth in smoking mothers is on average one third higher than in non-smokers.

Women who regularly smoke one or more packs of cigarettes a day during pregnancy have lower birth weights than non-smoking mothers. Babies born to mothers who smoked during and after pregnancy are more likely to have sudden infant death syndrome.

Scientists believe that under the influence of tobacco smoke breaks occur in the DNA molecule. By reacting with heavy metals (lead, etc.), which are abundant in tobacco smoke, DNA changes its structure. Defective genes appear in germ cells. Passed on to offspring, they are capable of causing various neuropsychiatric disorders and external deformities. Thus, the offspring of smoking fathers have 5 times more anomalies than the children of non-smoking men.

In children exposed to tobacco in utero, the intellectual potential decreases, the development of speech and the auditory zone of the brain, the ability to regulate emotions, focus and hold attention are disturbed. lagging behind in physical and mental development(reading, writing, speaking), the child copes worse with the school curriculum.

When one or both parents smoke at home, the child often develops colds, bronchitis, pneumonia, gastritis, colitis, stomach and duodenal ulcers. Children smoking parents prone to respiratory infections, allergies, atherosclerosis, epileptic seizures and caries.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

Tobacco in any form poses a serious threat to human health. Cigarette smoke also harms people who are close to the smoker. Few habits have as many and as harmful health effects as tobacco use.

Tobacco as a drug

Tobacco is psychoactive drug addictive. The smoke from burning tobacco when smoking has a complex composition. It contains about 300 chemicals that can damage living tissues, in particular tar and related compounds, nicotine and toxic gases such as carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide and nitrogen oxides, etc.

resins are and serve as carriers of carcinogens (cancer-causing substances) contained in tobacco smoke. Resins contribute to the development of chronic bronchitis and "smoker's cough".

Nicotine - one of the most toxic substances, causing the strongest addiction. It is rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream from the lungs when inhaled and from the oral and stomach mucosa when smokeless tobacco is used. Within 7 seconds, it spreads throughout the body, penetrating into all organs, including the brain, and during pregnancy - into all organs of the fetus. Nicotine is a powerful stimulant that affects the headache and spinal cord, on the nervous system as a whole, on the heart and many other organs. Nicotine directly stimulates neuronal receptors that are sensitive to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, a substance that plays an important role in the transmission of nerve impulses in synapses (the area where nerve cells touch each other). In people who are addicted, stopping nicotine use can lead to a withdrawal syndrome characterized by restlessness, anxiety, irritability, depression, headache, stomach pain, insomnia, and dizziness.

Carbon monoxide (CO) - a poisonous component of automobile exhaust, as well as the main ingredient in cigarette smoke. Having a high affinity for hemoglobin, CO blocks it. As a result, hemoglobin loses its ability to carry oxygen, reducing the ability of blood to supply oxygen to the brain, heart, muscles and other organs of the body. Of course, the degree of reduction depends on the number of cigarettes smoked per day and how they were smoked (for how many puffs, how deep and how long the puffs were). The lack of oxygen supply becomes especially noticeable during periods associated with an increased need for oxygen, for example during intense physical exertion.

Hydrogen cyanide - another poisonous gas present in tobacco smoke is that component

smoke, which is most responsible for the deterioration of the function of the ciliated epithelium of the lungs, which leads to the accumulation of mucus, tar and bacterial infection.

Nitric oxide - more one component of cigarette smoke toxic substance, which is also present in the resin. Nitric oxide reduces the effectiveness of macrophages (a type of white blood cell) that guard the inner surfaces of the lungs and destroy bacteria and other pathogens. Thus, this gas contributes to the development of chronic respiratory infections in smokers.

Harmful effects of tobacco smoking

Many harmful effects of tobacco smoking have been documented. Its impact on human health is determined individual features every smoker. The effects of smoking are harmful, but appear after many years, so the connection with this bad habit is not obvious. Many say: “... I smoke, I smoke a lot, for a long time, so far I don’t see any pathological changes in the body ...”, but statistics and clinical observations indicate otherwise. Here are the data of WHO experts:

mortality among smoking cigarettes approximately 30-80% more than among non-smokers; o mortality increases with the number of cigarettes smoked;
mortality among smokers is proportionately higher among persons aged 45-55 years than among younger or older people;
mortality is higher among people who start smoking at a young age;
mortality is higher among cigarette smokers who inhale smoke;
mortality among those who quit smoking is lower than among those who continue to smoke; o Pipe or cigar smokers in general die no more than
non-smokers, since they smoke moderately, do not inhale; o Mortality among those who smoke often or drag on is 20-40% higher than among non-smokers.

In addition to reducing life years, smokers also have bad health. Habitual smokers are affected the cardiovascular system. This is expressed primarily in sclerotic changes in blood vessels, resulting in coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, the risk of stroke or impaired cerebral circulation; they are also characterized by frequent respiratory diseases, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, lung cancer. Therefore, breathing in a smoker is difficult, the lungs supply oxygen to the blood worse.

Smoking worsens the physical condition of the body, reduces vitality. Smoking has a negative effect on the function of digestion: nicotine reduces the feeling of hunger by inhibiting the "hungry" contractions of the stomach, i.e. nicotine reduces appetite. Therefore, many people do not want to quit smoking for fear of gaining weight, and with good reason: when stopping smoking, many people tend to replace cigarettes with food. Studies show that a third of those who quit smoking gain weight, a third remain in the same shape, and a third lose weight. Greater food intake is due to the need to stimulate the oral cavity, which was previously carried out by cigarettes, to satisfy the increased appetite due to the removal of the overwhelming effect of nicotine. However, this cannot serve as a basis for continuing smoking.

Smoking also affects the body's use of vitamins. The level of vitamins B 6 , B, 12 and C in the blood decreases, because more of them are spent on the process of detoxifying substances contained in tobacco smoke.

According to experts, the smoke flowing from a lit cigarette (unfiltered, by-product) contains 50 times more carcinogens, twice as much tar and nicotine, 5 times more carbon monoxide and 50 times more ammonia than smoke inhaled through a cigarette. Although non-smokers do not normally inhale sidestream smoke at the same concentration as smokers inhale mainstream smoke, the inhaled concentration is still equivalent to one cigarette smoked per day. For people working in heavily smoky areas (such as a bar or office), exposure to secondhand smoke can be as high as the equivalent of 14 cigarettes a day.

There is strong evidence of an increase in lung cancer among non-smokers.

who live with smokers. Independent studies in the United States, Japan, Greece and Germany have shown that non-smoking spouses of smokers develop lung cancer 2-3 times more often than non-smoking spouses.

Passively inhaled tobacco smoke by non-smokers is known to be a strong lung irritant. It causes at least discomfort and coughing. Studies have shown that children who grow up in smoking homes show signs of disorders that are associated with heart disease in adulthood. For example, they show increased stiffness of the arteries, thickening of the walls of the chambers of the heart, and an adverse change in the blood.

In people with asthma (attacks of shortness of breath caused by narrowing of the bronchioles), passive smoking can trigger a severe attack. This is especially true for children. The incidence of asthma in children living in homes where someone smokes is higher than in children from homes where there are no smokers. Babies living in homes with smokers are twice as likely to get respiratory illnesses as other babies.

Psychophysiology of smoking

The first attempt at smoking is quite painful. The smoker experiences weakness, nausea, dizziness, sometimes fainting, vomiting are observed. At this stage, the body, as it were, is protected from the harmful effects of nicotine.

With repeated use of a cigarette, the toxic effect is expressed in a weakened form. The smoker feels a pleasant excitement, inner warmth, a mild “high”, smoking becomes pleasant for him, and most importantly, the imaginary self-affirmation of his “I” “grows”. It is in this phase that signs of addiction to smoking appear.

The third phase is characterized by perception and analysis. The smoker begins to comprehend that smoking brings not only pleasure (imaginary, ostentatious), but also harm. Sometimes it does not cause pleasant sensations, but turns into a duty. Watch how a smoker's work day goes. He jumps up after a certain time, for example, once or twice an hour, runs to the smoking room to take a puff, talk and returns to the workplace. This is already a pharmacological dependence, which we talked about in section 8.3.

Smoking cessation and consequences

Quitting smoking is a very difficult task for most smokers. Smoking cessation

Cigarettes mean freedom from addiction, which has both physiological and psychological components. Nicotine addiction, while incredibly strong, is not the only reason people continue to smoke. Successful programs to help people who want to quit smoking must take into account all the reasons why people smoke. Due to physiological dependence, attempts to stop smoking will cause a withdrawal syndrome, which manifests itself in nervousness, severe headaches, inability to concentrate, and the like.

A very optimistic view of the problem of smoking cessation by Bayer and Scheinberg. According to them, smoking cessation methods range from instantaneous and complete quitting once and for all, which is achieved without anyone's help and without the use of any means, to long, carefully designed and expensive programs. The degree of effectiveness of any method depends on the degree of addiction of the smoker and the strength of his interest in quitting smoking. But the difficulties experienced by many people who quit smoking have attracted many charlatans to the smoking cessation business; in addition, some remedies help some smokers, but are useless for others.

Rules for quitting smoking proposed by K. Bayer and L. Sheinberg

One way to stop smoking is to use nicotine gum instead of cigarettes. But in order for this method to be successful, the ex-smoker must completely abstain from smoking, since even one cigarette carries the risk of resuming the habit. Not everyone is recommended to use nicotine gum. It is contraindicated in cardiac patients, breastfeeding mothers, pregnant women and women expecting to become pregnant. For some people, nicotine gum causes nausea, hiccups, or a sore throat.

There are more severe methods, for example, aversion therapy - the development of an aversion to smoking. This type behavioral therapy combines learning with negative reinforcement to make smoking disgust the smoker. One form of aversion therapy requires you to puff every 6 seconds until smoking becomes very unpleasant. Another form uses a combination of each puff with a mild electric shock.

In addition, hypnosis and group programs are used, built on the type of the Twelve Step program for alcoholics.

How to quit smoking and not gain excess weight?

When you stop smoking, the following happens to you: o your body's metabolism is optimized and food is absorbed more efficiently; o taste buds on the tongue begin to taste food better, tempting you to eat more; O Over the years, you've gotten used to having a cigarette in your mouth, and now you're trying to recoup that pleasure by snacking between meals.

Here are some tips to help you stay healthy and maintain weight after quitting:

eat three times a day regularly;
do not snack (these sandwiches are eaten mainly out of habit);
do not eat more than one serving: if you are hungry, wait 20 minutes before taking a supplement - perhaps during this time the feeling of hunger will pass;
do not eat at all or reduce the proportion of high-calorie foods in your diet, such as margarine, butter, fatty meats and fatty cheeses, mayonnaise, jams, jellies, soft drinks;
exercise regularly – regular exercise burns calories, reduces stress and distracts you from smoking.

So tobacco is a drug. Tobacco smoking causes psychological and physical dependence and leads to the destruction of health. The most common diseases heavy smokers- ischemic heart disease, strokes, bronchitis, emphysema and lung cancer. Tobacco smoking is especially dangerous for women and young people.

Giving up smoking, alcohol, drugs means maintaining health, and for this, students need to: understand how great the danger of abuse of harmful addictions is for health and life and how severe are the long-term negative consequences of these addictions that affect the health of future offspring; o to form a sense of responsibility for their own health and the health of their offspring; o acquire the necessary knowledge and skills in order to avoid the use of drugs, alcohol, tobacco; o realize that the prevention of cravings for the use of drugs, alcohol, tobacco is the "work" of the student himself.