Smoking

Tobacco smoking or Cigarette smoking is the practice where tobacco is burned and the vapors either tasted or inhaled. Cigarettes, cigars, and spit and pipe tobacco are made from dried tobacco leaves, as well as ingredients added for flavor and other reasons. More than 4,000 different chemicals have been found in tobacco and tobacco smoke. Among these are more than 60 chemicals that are known to cause cancer. Some of the compounds found in tobacco smoke include ammonia, tar, and carbon monoxide.

Nicotine is the addictive drug in tobacco. Regular use of tobacco products leads to addiction in many users. Nicotine is an alkaloid (a nitrogen-containing chemical) made by the tobacco plant or produced synthetically. In the plant kingdom, nicotine is not restricted to tobacco but is widespread. Nicotine has powerful pharmacologic effects (including increased heart rate, heart stroke volume, and oxygen consumption by the heart muscle) as well as powerful psychodynamic effects (such as euphoria, increased alertness, and a sense of relaxation). Each cigarette contains about 10 milligrams of nicotine. Nicotine is what keeps people smoking despite its harmful effects. Because the smoker inhales only some of the smoke from a cigarette and not all of each puff is absorbed in the lungs, a smoker gets about 1 to 2 milligrams of the drug from each cigarette.

[edit] Steps in quitting cigarette smoking

1. Nicotine is one of the most addictive, harmful and widely available drugs in the world. Smoking is a bad habit and it is annoying and harmful to people who don't smoke. Cigarettes are responssible for aruond 4.9 million deaths each year. Quitting smoking is not impossible.
2. Get the strong determination to stop smoking. Consider making a list of the reasons you are thinking about quitting to shore up your determination Specific, current, emotion-based reasons. For instance, it's embarrassing to ride the elevator at work smelling like a giant cigarette is more motivating than "I don't want to get cancer when I'm 40.
3. Choose a specific quit date. Instead of trying to quit each year on your birthday or for your New Year's Resolution, try quitting on a Monday. That gives you 52 chances in a year instead of just one -- making it more likely taht you'll succeed. The Healthy Monday Campaign, a non-profit national public health campaign associated with the Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, encourages people to quit smoking and take other healthy actions on Mondays.
4. Between your decision to quit smoking and your "quit date", do not smoke the same brand. The difference in flavors and chemicals will making smoking less enjoyable, but not intolerable. Switching brands also helps to 'de-automate' smoking, which can help you become more conscious of your habit and increase your chances for success.
5. Remove all tobacco products, like lighters and matches from your home and office. Also, don't even keep a pack cigarettes at your home, because it will make it easier to start smoking again.
6. Find a medication or a doctor to help you quit smoking. Nicotine replacement therapy is one option. Nicotine patches release a steady stream of nicotine into your bloodstream through your skin, and nicotine gum delivers nicotine through the lining in your mouth. Other forms of nicotine replacement therapy include nicotine sprays and inhalers that also work by delivering nicotine to your body. You may also want to try an e-cigarette, which delivers nicotine in vapor form. Alternatively, ask your doctor about presciption medications to help you quit.
7. Survive the first week. Use a cigarette substitute like mints, sunflower seeds, toothpicks, and coffee stirrers to help you get used to not smoking. When you were smoking, your mind and body became accustomed to the physical act of smoking, putting it to your lips; using harmless substitutes eases the psychological transition to not smoking.
8. Get some facts. Look up smoking on the internet and find out the history behind it, and what happens to smokers later on in life. Also, get the facts about any quit-smoking product or technique you are considering, as research shows that some are more effective than others.
9. You can also stop the cravings by doing twenty pushups or brushing your teeth when you have craving.
10. Be positive and confident you can quit. You have spent time and energy planning how you will deal with the task ahead by following our tips for giving up smoking. Believe you can and you will do it if you persevere.
11. Try abstaining from smoking for a mouth. Keep telling yourself you will go back to smoking after that month.}} Then, when the month ends, decide on wether you REALLY want to go back. The answer should be "no!".

[edit] Related Topics

• Drug addiction