The Effect of Nicotine on Humans

Columbus discovered the New World and at the same time they began to use tobacco. The main way of nicotine entering the human body is cigarette smoking, other forms have gradually been lost. Technological progress has made cigarettes cheap, and the tolerance of society and advertising have made cigarettes available to almost everyone, addictive nicotine contributes to an increase in tobacco consumption.
With the growth of tobacco consumption, the mortality rate from lung cancer has also increased. If you take all patients with lung cancer, then smokers among them will be 80-88%. Previously, lung cancer was the rarest disease. Every year in Russia about 250,000 people die from lung cancer.

New data on the terrible harm of passive smoking forced the creation of a law prohibiting smoking in public places. Smoking remains one of the main problems of our society, since it is one of the most common causes of death.

According to statistics, the most smokers are people aged 25 to 45 years. Every year the number of "heavy smokers" (smoking 20 or more cigarettes) only increases. Every 4th death among people aged 35 to 65 is somehow related to smoking.

Women:

•             Women start smoking at an earlier age
•             From 1990 to 1999 The number of women smoking more than 25 cigarettes a day increased from 13% to 23%.
•             Lung cancer, which killed 56,000 women in 1999, has surpassed breast cancer, until recently the most common cause of cancer death in women
•             Babies born to women who smoked during pregnancy weigh, on average, 200 grams less than babies born to women who did not smoke
•             The incidence of stillbirths and early neonatal deaths increases by approximately 33% if women smoked during pregnancy

Teenagers:

•             Six million teenagers under the age of 13 are estimated to smoke, even though selling cigarettes to children is illegal.
•             From 80 to 90% of smokers started smoking at this age (before 21). 3,000 schoolchildren start smoking for the first time every day
•             Our teenagers smoke approximately 1.1 billion packs of cigarettes a year

Older people:

•             24% of cerebrovascular diseases in men aged 65 and 6% in women at the same age develop due to smoking
•             In 20% of cases, the development of cataracts in citizens occurs due to smoking

Passive cigarette smoking and children:

•             A great risk to children's health. Each year, there are 150,000 to 300,000 cases of lower respiratory tract infections, such as pneumonia and bronchitis, in newborns and young children up to 18 months of age.
•             Between 200,000 and 1 million cases of asthma in children are made more severe by secondhand smoke.
•             Children born to mothers who smoke have an increased risk of developing sudden infant death syndrome

The earlier a teenager starts smoking, the more likely he or she is to switch to other drugs later in life. Researchers have noted that the majority of smokers are poorly educated and low-income people, as well as those who do not know how to deal with stress.

Advertising is currently aimed at young people, commercials subconsciously impose a “beautiful life” with a cigarette in hand - a kind of lifestyle. There are no preventive programs on central television telling about the effects of nicotine and the harm of smoking. In order to reduce the number of smokers in the next century, it is necessary to target preventive measures specifically at teenagers.

The Effect of Nicotine on Humans

Of all deaths, death from cigarette smoking is the easiest to prevent. The main cause of lung cancer is smoking (90%). In women, mortality from lung cancer caused by cigarette smoking is higher than from breast cancer.
Passive smoking is 20% more harmful than to the smoker himself, so passive smokingsmoking is very dangerous for non-smoking family members, especially children. Non-smoking family members have a 20% higher risk of developing lung cancer due to passive smoking than members of families where no one smokes at all. Smoking can cause chromosomal mutations, which in the next generations leads to serious diseases or deformities. Smokers and their family members seek medical help 5 times more often than non-smoking families, and accordingly, the costs of medications are several times higher.

The Effect of Nicotine and Its Absorption in the Body

The main route of nicotine entry into the body is the lungs. Nicotine and other components of tobacco smoke, when inhaled, pass through the trachea, bronchi and enter the alveoli, from where they are absorbed into the blood. 8 seconds after a puff, nicotine enters the brain and its concentration will begin to decrease only 30 minutes after smoking. The main process of nicotine metabolism occurs in the liver, kidneys and lungs.

The effect of nicotine on the brain is two-phase: first, the brain is stimulated, and then gradually suppressed. A smoker needs at least 10 cigarettes (20 mg of nicotine) to satisfy his needs; one cigarette contains about 2 mg of nicotine.

Medical consequences of nicotine on humans

Nicotine affects almost all organs, but it has the greatest effect on the central nervous system, cardiovascular and endocrine. Nicotine affects the human body as a stimulant.
The effect of nicotine on humans is sharply negative, it contributes to the development of vascular atherosclerosis, which can lead to strokes and heart disease. Nicotine contributes to the formation of blood clots, has a carcinogenic (promotes the development of cancer) effect. The most terrible effect of nicotine on the human body is its ability to cause cell mutations, which only increase in subsequent generations.

The effect of nicotine on a person who smokes passively

Non-smokers, being in a circle of smokers, have a 20% higher risk of developing cancer than the smokers themselves, and the risk of developing cancer in non-smokers increases by 70% if the family smokes a lot in the apartment. This is explained by the fact that the composition of the smoke when inhaled by a smoker differs from the chemical composition of the smoldering smoke formed between puffs. This smoldering smoke contains more nitrosamines, benzopyrene. Therefore, a passive smoker, being in a smoking company, harms his health. Children living with smoking parents suffer from respiratory diseases 2 times more often than children of non-smoking parents.

The effect of nicotine on a person (clinical manifestations)

When smoking cigarettes, nicotine addiction develops quite quickly, the effect of nicotine on a person can be divided into 3 phases:

Phase 1 of the effect of nicotine on a person: occurs within 24-28 hours after the smoker has stopped consuming nicotine and is characterized by the development of withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal symptoms include: anxiety, poor sleep, decreased attention, irritability, a person becomes less tolerant, headache, fatigue. If the smoker continues to abstain from smoking, then, as a rule, the withdrawal syndrome goes away after 2 weeks, but some unpleasant sensations can persist for up to 2 months. It is nicotine that causes addiction, so smokers should reduce the number of cigarettes per day.

Phase 2 of the effect of nicotine on a person: stress and boredom are factors that provoke the emergence of this bad habit. A habit is a kind of ritual that a smoker performs several times a day (the way a cigarette is held, smoking a cigarette with a characteristic squint, exhaling smoke through the nose - all this forms a kind of ritual that is different for everyone). These rituals are reinforced by the fact that nicotine activates the central nervous system.

3 phase of nicotine's influence on a person: nicotine enters the brain within a few seconds and immediately causes pleasant sensations, gradually the smoker can no longer do without these pleasant sensations that nicotine gives.

The influence of nicotine on the human body

The Effect of Nicotine on the Human Nervous System:

As a rule, a beginning smoker feels nauseous and sometimes vomits - these are the body's protective reactions to poisoning. The smoker experiences: increased excitability, improved short-term memory, decreased reaction time, improved attention, loss offeeling of anxiety, appetite decreases, general relaxation sets in. However, all positive moments quickly change to the opposite, after the concentration of nicotine in the brain falls.

The effect of nicotine on the human cardiovascular system:

Nicotine helps to increase blood pressure, cardiac output and improve coronary blood flow, increasing blood supply to skeletal muscles. However, again after the nicotine concentration drops, negative moments occur: blood pressure drops significantly, vasoconstriction occurs, oxygen delivery to skeletal muscles is significantly reduced, the content of fatty acids, lactate, glycerol in the blood increases, and platelets are activated.

The effect of nicotine on the human endocrine system:

Nicotine contributes to the development of early menopause in women, the risk of osteoporosis increases, the metabolic rate increases, catecholamines, adrenocorticotropic hormone, endorphins, and vasopressin are released into the blood.

The effect of nicotine on the human respiratory system:

Smoking promotes the formation of sputum, which is also very viscous, all this leads to a strong cough, difficulty breathing. Coughing is especially painful in the morning. Smokers usually develop a hoarse, rough voice quite quickly, which is especially bad for women.

The effect of nicotine on humans - the occurrence of acute nicotine intoxication:

Nicotine poisoning is characterized by:

• the development of nausea and vomiting;
• drooling;
• abdominal pain;
• rapid pulse and high blood pressure at the beginning of smoking;
• weak pulse and low blood pressure 30 minutes after smoking;
• confusion;
• general weakness;
• decreased vitality.

Nicotine poisoning is usually quite rare and mainly occurs in children who, following adults, try to smoke an adult dose. First aid in case of poisoning: access to fresh air, protection of the respiratory tract from vomit, irrigation of the skin of the face with cold water. If convulsions occur, it is necessary to ensure patency of the airways before the ambulance arrives, prevent biting of the tongue.