Addiction Solution Source

See videos of former smokers who had tracheotomies and the difficulties they now encounter in life.

Just in case young people don't know about the famous actor Yul Brynner and his comments on smoking, here is a high light video with his comments plus a solution to "kick the habit".

Even just one cigarette can have serious adverse effects on young adults, according to research conducted at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2009. The study found that smoking one cigarette increases the stiffness of the arteries in the age group of 18-30 years by as much as 25%.

When arteries become stiff, this increases the risk for heart disease or stroke. The heart has to work harder when the arteries become stiff or rigid which increases resistance in the blood vessels. Even smoking just a few cigarettes a day can impact the health of the arteries. This was revealed in the study when the group of young people in the age range of 20-24 were placed under physical stress (e.g. exercise).

The theme of World No Tobacco Day 2009 is "Tobacco Health Warnings", with an emphasis on the picture warnings that have been shown to be particularly effective at making people aware of the health risks of tobacco use and convincing them to quit.

Smoking can have numerous negative effects. Information gathered from various research studies point that out.

In one such study, Dr. Gary Shaw of the March of Dimes and colleagues from institutes in Norway, Holland, and Texas, studied serum samples collected between 2003 and 2005 from pregnant women enrolled in the California Expanded AFP (alpha fetoprotein) program. The researchers measured the levels of cotinine, a metabolite of nicotine, to determine whether the mothers smoked during pregnancy. They found that women who smoked during pregnancy were nearly 2.5 times more likely to have babies with oral clefts.

According to Dr. Shaw, “Babies with oral clefts require significant medical care. Often necessary are four surgeries by age two, and they may have speech, hearing, and feeding problems.”

In a related study, Dr. Laura Stroud and colleagues from Brown University studied the effects of cigarette smoke exposure on infant behavior. The researchers studied 56 otherwise healthy infants and used questionnaires and cotinine measurements to determine cigarette smoke exposure. They found that the 28 babies who had been exposed to cigarette smoke were more irritable and difficult to sooth.

In a recent research report, Kristen Saxone-Moeller from the University of Melbourne, stated that Australians with mental illness smoke at four times the rate of the general population.

The research also found that:

* Smokers with mental illness consumed 50 per cent more cigarettes a day than the general population, averaging 22 cigarettes a day;

* The heaviest smokers in the group smoked up to 80 cigarettes in a day;

* Almost three in five (59 per cent) said they wanted to quit smoking;

* Almost three quarters (74 per cent) said they wanted to cut down;

“Smoking compounds many of the health problems already experienced by people with mental illnesses,” she said. “Combined with drug therapies that often make them overweight, they are at even greater risk of diabetes, heart attacks and strokes if they smoke.”

“The biggest cause of death among people with mental illness is not suicide, it is cardiovascular disease.”

Overall cost to Australia showed more than $30 billion a year but little was being done to help people quit.

Peer pressure, including the media, is one of the main reasons many people smoke.

Before World War I, tobacco was smoked mainly in the form of cigars and primarily by the wealthy. Cigarettes, which were basically leftovers of the cigar making process, were used by the less fortunate.

The number of people who smoked cigarettes boomed when tobacco companies started to mass-produce them. Their clientele: soldiers of World War I. This marketing broadened of course after the war.

In my research, I discovered ads from JAMA – The Journal of the American Medical Association that promoted various brands. One ad pictured a military doctor promoting Camels. Wow! Not only are you being patriotic by using them but a doctor is promoting the brand. I am sure this ad influenced many to smoke, especially military men and women. If your peer was a soldier next to you that was smoking, don’t you think that would have a powerful influence on you?

Another JAMA ad I discovered was telling you how much more “pleasure” you will get with the Chesterfield brand. An ad will state anything favorable to entice you to take it up.

It is my understanding that the AMA did not take a position against smoking until the 1980s even though there was plenty of evidence that it was dangerous to your health and could cause cancer among other diseases. Do you think money influenced this attitude?

Smoking has been very prevalent in the movies and especially in the 1950s and 1960s, on television. Even the actors were advertising various brands in commercials during a TV show. They made it seem classy and romantic.

Some of you may recall the “Marlboro Man” (rugged-looking cowboy). There were actually several men who modeled for print and TV ads. At least two of them have died of lung cancer from smoking.

Once you start smoking it is hard to stop because the nicotine contained in tobacco products is so quickly addictive and is even considered to be as addictive as heroin or cocaine.

Why?

When a cigarette is smoked, nicotine-rich blood passes from the lungs to the brain within 7 – 10 seconds and immediately stimulates the release of many neurotransmitters including dopamine (pleasurable feeling).

It is important to note that nicotine is very powerful and poisonous for the nervous system. There is enough (50 mg) in four cigarettes to kill a person within just minutes if it were injected directly into the bloodstream.

The problem is the effects from smoking are short-lived, lasting only a few minutes to a couple of hours. This leads people to smoke throughout the day to dose themselves with this deadly chemical because they want to continue to have whatever positive effects they think they are receiving. Add to this the fact that you can become tolerant to nicotine’s effects — you need to use more and more of it to reach the same degree of stimulation or relaxation — and you can see how people would quickly move from smoking one cigarette to a pack a day habit.

A typical smoker will take 10 draws on a cigarette over a period of 5 minutes. Therefore, a person who smokes about 1-½ packs (30 cigarettes) daily, is getting 300 “hits” of nicotine to the brain each day.

The cigarette is a very efficient and highly engineered drug delivery system.

By inhaling tobacco smoke, the average smoker takes in 1 to 2 mg of nicotine per cigarette. When tobacco is smoked, nicotine rapidly reaches peak levels in the bloodstream and enters the brain in a few seconds. A typical smoker will take 10 puffs on a cigarette over a period of 5 minutes that the cigarette is lit. Thus, a person who smokes about 1-1/2 packs (30 cigarettes) daily gets 300 “hits” of nicotine to the brain each day.

In those who typically do not inhale the smoke—such as cigar and pipe smokers and smokeless tobacco users––nicotine is absorbed through the mucosal membranes and reaches peak blood levels and the brain more slowly.

Here is a video of what happens to your body when you quit smoking cigarettes.

http://quitsmoking.about.com/cs/afterquitting/a/after_quitting.htm

Older smokers are motivated to quit smoking by very different factors than are younger smokers.