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Assessing Health Problem caused by smoking

Fot u person who likes to have the feeling of a good tasteful cigarette earlymorning, after a meal or at any time of the day maybe just to relax, health problemscaused by smoking does not affect them. But do this people really know andunderstand what they do to their health by smoking? Tobacco contains nicotine, ahighly addictive drug that makes it difficult for smokers to leave the habit. Tobaccoproducts contain also many poisonous and harmful substances that cause disease andpremature death. Smoking is ultimately a choice; it is each person's responsibility tochoose whether or not they will continue to smoke. Although smokers may not thinkabout the risks every time they smoke, smoking is not only dangerous, it is positivelylife threatening. By using tobacco products, people are likely to was rs of theirlifespan and setting up for serious future health problems. This artWe provides a briefsummary of the risks associated with smoking the influence of my'otine addiction, heartdisease, caneer and the effect of smoking in pregnancy.

It's not new to people that smoking is a danger to health, but still many choose toignore the hazard and continue smoking. Although some smokers are in denial aboutthe risks associated with smoking, the majority of smokers continue because it isdifficult to stop. Many smokers are literally addicted to nicotine and hnd it easier tocontinue the habit than try to quit.According to the German Cancer Association the key substance in tobacco is alkaloidnicotine therefore tobacco dependence in such way specified is in reality a nicotinedependence. For the human organism nicotine is high poisonous. Already 60 Milligrampure nicotine can be deadly for adults. Within less than 10 seconds nicotine getsthrough the lung into the brain, there it releases a feeling of pleasant stimulation andwhen consumed in larger amount it provides even a relaxing effect and that whatmakes an addiction. The difficulty is that very soon smokers believe notp be able torelax without the effect of nicotine anymore. So they smoke cigarettes ip{order to solvea tension, which without nicotine would not even have developed. /'

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-ilEvidence for that show an experiment were smokers without their knowledge wereseveral weeks supplied with cigarettes, which were either strong or weakly nicotinecontaining so Schachter. They did not know, whether they smoked light or strongcigarettes, but they reacted unintentionally in their behavior on this hidden difference.From the light cigarettes they smoked on the average 25o/o more than from the strongercigarettes. Another experiment from the same author counted the number of the puffswhich smokers took of both kinds of cigarettes, and stated that more courses weresmoked, if the cigarettes were poor in nicotine. That experiment confirms that smokingserves alone the maintenance of a certain nicotine level in the body.

Miller CH., Burgoon M., Grandpre & Schumann A., Hapke U., Meyer C. claim/ thatsmoking has a psychological and physical role in our society. In most cases peoplestart smoking when they are in their adolescence. The motives to smoke are frequentiylinked to stress, curiosity, peer pressure, integration in groups, for pleasure, as purehabit and also availability and costs are facts that influence the consumption. Themixture of psychological and physiological effects provides many positivereinforcements that smoking quickly becomes an established habit. The situations andactivities associated with smoking together with the smoker's mood and psychologicalstate become linked with its rewards and with the relief of withdrawal. They come toserye as signals for the urge or craving for nicotine's effects (for example, after meals,with coffee or alcohol, when meeting people, during work, driving in the car, talkingon the phone, when anxious, angry, celebrating, or having a well-earned break, and soon).According to Di Chiara G, Imperato A. Balfour DJ. Dani JA, Heinemann S. andCorrigall WA, Franklin KB, Coen KM the crucial place for the role of nicotine in thebody is flhe reward center" of the brain, the Nucleus accumbens, which forms a part ofthe mesolimbic system. Nicotine leads to an increased intemal-synaptic concentrationof Dopamine. The body gets accustomed quickly to the effects released by nicotine andafter some time nicotine become a usual need. The doses must be increased in order toobtain the pleasant stimulating effect. If the doses fall below a certain level, the smokerhas to face withdrawal symptoms just to mention a view like cravings, irritable,cranky, insomnia, fatigue, inability to concentrate, headache. Only by regular supply ofthe next cigarette symptoms like those mentioned can be avoided.The American Cancer Society connected smoking also to heart disease becausenicotine damages the cardiovascular system and cell functions, it accelerates thehardening and narrowing process in arteries and can create thromboses, impactaccumulations, cardiac infarcts which are to due a blood circulation lacking. Butaccording to the Honolulu-Heart research done by Abbott, Yin, Reed & Yano in whichover 8.000 men in a period of 12 years were observed was discovered that theconnection of smoking with cardiovascular diseases is actually less than with cancerillnesses. Smokers suffered about three times more an impact accumulation as among

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lurthe nonsmokers. Therefore the risk for cardiovascular illnesses is clearly smaller thanfor lung disease.Another health concern in industrialized countries is that "smoking is probably themost important avoidable single cause for premature death" says McGinnis,Richmond, Brandt, Windom & Mason. Approximately I 10,000 humans beings peryear die at tobacco diseases in Germany according to Peto, Lopez, Boreham, Thun &Heath. Based on the data of the American Cancer Society smoking is forapproximately 30o/o of all cancer-deaths per year (75% to 80% are death of lungs-cancer) responsible. For the accurate height of health risks cost by smoking differentinformation are presented. Lubin wrote about that the relative risk to get sick with lungcancer of smokers is about nine times higher than with nonsmokers. Also with otherkind of tumors in particular within the range of oral, the larynx and the esophagus isthe number of deaths rates of smokers clearly higher than with nonsmokers statesFielding.U.S. Department of Health and Human Services explains when people think of cancercaused by smoking, the first one that comes to their mind is always lung cancer. Mostcases of lung cancer death, close to 90Yo in men, and 80o/o in women are caused bycigarette smoking. There are as well several other forms of cancer attributed tosmoking and they include pharynx, bladder, stomach, cervix, kidney and pancreas, andacute myeloid leukemia. The list of additives allowed in the manufacture of cigarettesconsists of 599 possible ingredients. When burned, cigarette smoke contains over 4000chemicals, with over 40 of them being known carcinogens. Lung cancer is the leadingcause of cancer death, and cigarette smoking causes most cases. In2003, an estimated17l,9AA new cases of lung cancer occurred and approximately 157,200 people diedfrom lung cancer.In January 2008 Claudia Wiistenhagen stated the fact that pregnant woman whoconsume cigarettes and continue smoking has a very negative effect on the unbomchild. The body of a mother offers protection to an unborn baby and supplies it witheverything which is necessary for his development (in the ideal case). In addition, thisbody can become also a trap for the unborn. For example, if the pregnant womansmokes. Unprotected the baby is conflicted with the poison of the mother. The fact thatthat is harmful is written on many cigarette boxes. However, studies show that everyfourth pregnant woman smokes. An investigation of the University of Greifswald inMecklenburg- Vorpommern Germany came to the result that 40 per cent of womencontinued smoking although they expected a child and they knew the side effects. HansJosef Bohles President of the German society for child and youth medicine hastherefore clear words:

"Smoking in the pregnancy is a form of child abusing".

According to a study of the University of Bristol smoking is in and after the pregnancythe main risk for sudden child death. Smoker babies are smaller and have less weight.

ilrvOn the one hand the Carbon monoxide in smoke displaces the oxygen in the blood andon the other hand blood vessels are getting smaller which leads to the fact that less

oxygen gets to the unborn child,

"That is almost like someone would intemrpt the airflow to a diver under water"

says Ekkehart Paditz chairman of the association baby assistance Germany n.d.Smoking not only leads to neurological damage to the baby's brain, also to a smallerbrain substance, which can impair the intelligence of the child. Besides speaking &behavior disturbances, hyperactivity is a possible consequence of smoking, just likeasthma, lung infections and false formations at fingers, hands or legs. Even the spermquality of a man is affected negatively, if the mother smoked in pregnancy. A pregnantwoman who smokes, risks besides an early birth or death birth also a miscaffie. Alsomight a separation of the Placenta and a smaller birth weight of the child gtn occur.2lcigarettes a the day reduces the weight of the newborn child by approximately 350gram to do the oxygen deficiency, says Ekkehart Paditz.

So therefore according to all this evidence provided through Doctors, Scientists,Researchers and so on I come to the conclusion that smoking has a very stronginfluence on peoples health even to those who don't smoke because always smokerswill be around non-smokers. And as most of the smokers know that it is a bad habit Ionly can apply to people who are getting in contact with cigarettes or are in permanentcontqgt of them, to think twice when using them. Consider the consequences which,oo#3.later most of the smokers will pay Uy inlating that poisonou, ,-otpf-

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Works Cited

Abbott, R., Yin, Y., Reed, D. & Yano, K. (1986). Risk of stroke in male cigarettesmokers.New England Journal of Medicine, 315,717-720.

American Cancer Society, 1989http ://www. lungusa.org/site/c.dvLUK9OOE/b. 3 98 5 3 I #one

Balfour DJ. Neural mechanisms underlying nicotine dependence.Addiction 1994; 89 : | 419-1423

Corrigall WA, Franklin KB, Coen KM et al. The mesolimbic dopaminergicsystem is implicated in the reinforcing effects of nicotine. Psychopharmacology(Berl) 1992; fi7: 285-289

Claudia Wiistenhagen. "Rauchen-Schwangerschaft" Stern Jannuary, 1 6,200 8.

December,05,2008 <http ://www. stern.de/wissenschaftl medizin/ :Rauchen-Schwangerschaft-G ewYoF Crzgurken-Glimmst%E4ngel/60 800 1 .html#>

German Cancer Association. (2008) smoking and the risks. Germany

Dani JA, Heinemann S. Molecular and cellular aspects of nicotine abuse.Neuron 1996: 16: 905-908

Di Chiara G, Imperato A. Drugs abused by humans preferentially increasesynaptic dopamine concentrations in the mesolimbic systemof freely moving rats. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1988; 85: 5274-5278

Fielding, J. E. (1985). Smoking: Health effects and control. New England Journal ofMedicine, 3 13, 491 -498, 5 55-56 1 .

Lubin, J., Blot, W., Berrino, F., Flamant, R. et al. (1984). Patterns of lung canceraccording to type of cigarette smokers. International Journal of Cancer, 33,569-576.

McGinnis, M., Richmond, J., Brandt, E., Windofl, R. & Mason, J. O. (1992). Healthprogress in the United States: Results of the 1990 objectives for the nation.Journal of the American Medical Association, 268, 2545-2552.

Miller CH, Burgoon M, Grandpre JR et al. Identiffing principal riskfactors for the initiation of adolescent smoking behaviors: the significanceof psychological reactance. Health Commun 2006; 19:241252

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Schachter, S. (1980). Urinary pH and the psychology of nicotine addiction. In P.Davidson & S. Davidson (Eds.), Behavioral medicine (pp. 70-93). New York:Bruner/Mazel.

Schumann A, Hapke U, Meyer C et'bl. Prevalenc e, characteristics, associatedmental disorders andpredictors of DSM-IV nicotine dependence.Eur Addict Res 2004; fi:29-34

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2008hup://www.hhs.gov/

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