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 What
happens when you smoke?
Tobacco is one of the most powerful stimulants
known to man. A single puff of a cigarette exposes the body to
over 4,000 chemical compounds and 600 additives.
The effects of nicotine when it enters the bloodstream via the lungs are almost immediate. Nicotine reaches the brain within 10 seconds and stimulates the secretion of adrenaline, which boosts your heart rate and increases blood pressure. Once in your bloodstream, nicotine flows immediately to your brain.
More than 90% of the nicotine inhaled is absorbed
by the lungs. Nicotine enters the body in the form of thousands
of little droplets, each suspended in a solid particle of
tar. These nicotine droplets are so small that they can penetrate
into the tiniest avenues of the lungs. Once in the lungs they
are picked up by blood, which has been sent to the lungs to
take up oxygen for circulation in the body. From the lungs,
it moves quickly to the left side of the heart, where nicotine
is pumped out to the body.
Brain scans of smokers where compared to
non-smokers show how nicotine changes the structure of the
brain by mimicking the effects of Acetylcholiine (ACH), one
of the body's most important neurotransmitters. ACH is very
important in the structure of the body's autonomic nervous
system, which controls bodily functions.
When the body gets a nicotine hit, the heart rate will increase by 10 to 20 beats per minute. Blood pressure will increase by 5 to 10 points. Nicotine makes the heart work harder. Harmful gases in the smoke cause the blood vessels to narrow, giving greater risk of heart disease and stroke. Carbon monoxide passes through the lungs and into the blood, restricting the oxygen flow to the body, thickening the blood. It is this lack of oxygen that causes the smoker to feel tired.
As the stimulant (nicotine) enters the body, it releases adrenaline from the brain. This adrenaline puts the body on “alert” and the primal “fight or flight” response is triggered, putting the body falsely on danger alert. This response causes the body to deposit some of its glucose stores into your blood, for more energy to “fight or flight”. The body, by now, is in the process of heightened alertness and unnecessary and unnatural stress.
Nicotine in the blood also blocks the release of the hormone insulin. Insulin instructs your cells to take up excess glucose from your blood. This blocking of the release of insulin can make smokers somewhat hyperglycemic, having more sugar in their blood than is usual.
What
happens to your body when you stop smoking?
Below is the timetable of how your body easily and quickly recovers from the effects of nicotine when you stop smoking:
Within 20 mins
- Your blood pressure begins to return to normal
- Oxygen levels in the blood increase
- Pulse rate returns to normal
Within 24 hours
- Carbon monoxide leaves the body
- Lungs start to clean out mucus and debris
- Risk of heart attack decreases
Within 48 hours
- Your sense of smell and taste is enhanced
Within 48 to 72 hours
- Your body is now free of nicotine
Within 72 hours
- Bronchial tubes relax, making breathing easier
- Lung capacity is increased
- Energy levels increase
Within 2 weeks to 3 months
- Circulation improves
- Lung function increases up to 30%
- Walking and exercise become easier
Within 3 to 9 months
- Breathing problems, coughing, shortness of breath and wheezing improve.
- Lung efficiency increases by 5 – 10 %.
- Cilia re-grow in lungs, increasing ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs and reduce infection .
Within 5 years
- Risk of having a heart attack falls to about half that of a smoker
Within 10 years
- Risk of lung cancer falls to around half that of a smoker.
- Risk of a heart attack falls to about the same as someone who has never smoked
The cost of smoking
- Your wallet (use our smoking calculator below)
- Your health
- Your self-esteem and self-confidence as you perpetuate the tobacco trance
Stopping smoking not only greatly reduces serious risks to your health but it also greatly increases your disposable income. So, how much are you spending on tobacco? Use our calculator below to determine how much you spend on cigarettes every week, month and year and how much you will save when you stop.
Statistics and smoking
Around 120,000 people die from smoking related
diseases in the UK every year, accounting for approximately
20% of all deaths. As a smoker your risk of having a heart
attack is increased by 2 or 3 times over that of a non-smoker.
It is estimated that half of all regular smokers will die
prematurely from a smoking related disease. What's more, smoking
has been shown to be responsible for 30% of all deaths through
cancer.
Approximately 13 million adults in the
UK smoke cigarettes with 28% of them being male and 26%
female. Smoking is on the decrease in the UK and around
30 years ago 51% of men and 41% of women smoked. Reports
show that more than 80% of smokers started smoking as teenagers
and that around 70% of current smokers would like to stop.
Amongst smokers of all ages, 15% light up
within the first 5 minutes of waking and 46% smoke within
the first half hour of waking.
It is estimated that smoking can
reduce your life expectancy by 7 minutes for every cigarette
you smoke. That's 2 hours 20 minutes for every pack and
16 hours 30 minutes per week if you smoke a pack a day!
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The
Facts
What the tobacco companies
would rather you didn't know…..what's in a cigarette
- 4,000 chemical compounds
- 600 additives
We are a nation pre-occupied with
examining food labels for additives and eating organically
all in order to avoid overloading our bodies with chemicals.
However, here we are, 13 million smokers in Great Britain
alone, puffing away and inhaling not just over 4,000
chemical compounds from each cigarette but 600 additives
put there to disguise the smell and taste and speedily
aid the absorption of nicotine into the lungs. Can you
imagine what would happen if tobacco manufacturers were
forced to list all chemicals and additives in our cigarettes
on each packet? How unattractive would that be?! For
example, did you know that nicotine is also sold in
the form of a pesticide?! If you knew this BEFORE you
ever lit your first cigarette, would you have continued?
Probably not.
The chemical compounds arising from
tobacco products, whether placed there or caused through
ignition, include nicotine (highly poisonous), arsenic,
acrolein, benzene, benzo[a]pyrene, carbon monoxide,
cyanide, formaldehyde, toluene, to name but a few. 40
of these highly toxic chemicals are carcinogenic and
known to cause cancer in humans. These chemicals and
their toxicity are responsible for many of the associated
diseases caused through smoking, such as cancer and
emphysema.
The placement of over 600 additives within tobacco products is permitted within the European Union, without the necessity of declaration upon sale.
“Tobacco firms
have admitted putting 600 secret ingredients and additives
in cigarettes the Health Secretary disclosed yesterday....
The ingredients include sucrose, cocoa, citric acid
and ammonium - which speeds the nicotine 'hit'...
(The Health Secretary) said that 'until very recently
nobody knew about any of these ingredients', adding
that he was demanding further information from the tobacco
companies so that they could show which brands contained
the additives." - The Times, 10 February
2000
Few additives were used in tobacco before 1970 and today most of these additives are not necessary. Although tobacco companies have authorisation to use additives in tobacco products, only the tobacco manufacturers know which brands contain which additives.
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The purpose of additives:
- Additives such as cocoa may be
used to dilate the airways allowing the smoke
easier and deeper access to the lungs.
- Additives are used to enhance the levels of “free” nicotine, which in turn increases the kick associated with cigarettes.
- Menthol and eugenol help numb the throat so the body can accept the smoke without retching and coughing.
- Additives, such as sweeteners and chocolate, are used in an attempt to disguise the taste of tobacco smoke, to make the product more palatable to the user.
- Additives are used to mask the smell of nicotine.
- Additives are used to disguise the visibility of smoke, making it harder for people to protect themselves from passive smoking as well as an attempt to side-step claims that smoking is anti-social.
- Some additives, as well as chemicals, are toxic or addictive in their own right. When additives are ignited, new compounds of combustion are formed adding to the danger of toxicity and addiction.
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