The effect of smoking on the body

The most important structures of the body - blood cells, brain, lungs and nerve cells - become “targets” of tobacco smoke. Components of tobacco smoke affect the lumen of the pulmonary alveoli.

Tobacco smoking causes chronic inflammation of the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract, digestive organs, cardiovascular system, and poisons the fetus in the womb.

In smokers, all organ systems are affected, but primarily the respiratory system. The bronchitis of the smoker is well known, accompanied by a painful cough. The lungs of smokers lose elasticity, become low-stretchable, which reduces their vital capacity: smokers cannot run for a long time, they have shortness of breath and cough. After smoking a cigarette, vasoconstriction is observed for about 30 minutes.

This leads to increased stress on the heart. Over the years, heavy smokers develop "lameness" - pain in the limbs, even with a short load. The disease can progress and lead to gangrene and the need for amputation. Smokers' teeth are usually yellow and cracked. This contributes to the development of tooth decay and tooth decay.

After smoking, there is a spontaneous secretion of digestive juices, even in the absence of food. They eat away at the lining of the stomach, leading to ulcers, a very common disease among smokers, and as a result, bad breath. Smoking increases the risk of malignant neoplasms in the tongue, larynx, esophagus, bladder, etc.

The harmful effects of smoking do not become obvious immediately, and when they manifest themselves in full, it is not always easy, and sometimes impossible, to eliminate them or at least weaken. Thus, the risk of developing lung cancer increases in direct proportion not only to the number of cigarettes smoked daily, but also to the smoking history.

When smoking 20 cigarettes, a person immediately receives a lethal dose of nicotine. After one puff, nicotine enters the brain after 7 seconds, and after 15-20 seconds - into the toes. The mortality rate among smokers is 15 times higher than among non-smokers.

The risk of lung cancer as a result of smoking depends on the amount of tobacco smoked and on its quality; the danger of tobacco products is directly dependent on the content of tar and nicotine in them.

The most popular brands of cigarettes and their characteristics
Name	Nicotine content mg \u200b\u200b/ cigarette	Tar content mg \u200b\u200b/ cigarette
LD	0,7	8
Alliance	0,5	7
St. George	0,7	11
Kent	0,3	4
Peter I	0,6	8
Prima	0,8	14
Winston	0,5	5
Ducat	0,6	8
Java	0,6	7

The tar from smoking builds up in the lungs. To purify them, the elastase enzyme is activated. It breaks down the resin, but also the lung tissue, destroying the lungs and reducing their ability to deliver oxygen to the blood. As a result, emphysema of the lungs often develops - a serious and sometimes fatal disease.

But the main danger for a smoker is tobacco tar. It was found that the tobacco tar contains various aromatic substances and resins that can cause the development of malignant tumors - carcinogens. The most active carcinogen is benzpyrene. If a rabbit's ear is smeared several times with tobacco tar, a malignant tumor occurs in this place.

The most potent poison in the combustion products of tobacco is carbon monoxide. Hemoglobin, a protein that supplies oxygen to organs and tissues, combines with carbon monoxide three hundred times faster than with oxygen. In this case, the blood loses its ability to carry oxygen.

Tobacco smoke contains 8% carbon monoxide. The degree of oxygen deficiency after smoking one cigarette turns out to be the same as when an untrained person rises to a height of 3000 meters above sea level.

If a teenager smokes, then chronic oxygen starvation leads to stunting, a decrease in the body's defense reaction to infection - immunity. The brain is especially sensitive to oxygen starvation.

A number of aromatic substances are added to cigarettes, which are either carcinogenic themselves or produce carcinogenic products upon combustion.

A more specific description of the effect of the substances contained in a cigarette on the body in the document: Deystwie_Kureniya_Na_Organizm.doc

No matter how skeptical we are about various extravagant studies of British scientists, their conclusions about the effect of smoking on the human body should be taken seriously. Having thoroughly studied all the medical aspects of this social phenomenon, they came to the conclusion that the average life expectancy of smokers is 6-7 years lower than that of non-smokers. The British claim that each cigarette smoked takes away from the smoker about 15 minutes of his life. Early mortality among tobacco adherents is twice as high as among non-smokers. Tobacco fans are twice as likely to suffer from allergic and colds.

A person who smokes is at greater risk of contracting various serious chronic diseases. The recovery process after such diseases lasts much longer and often gives complications. The pathologies that are caused by smoking include heart disease, septic stomach ulcers, chronic bronchitis, various forms of cancer, primarily lung cancer.

There are no substances in tobacco smoke that would not have a harmful effect on the human body. Nicotine and tobacco tar are especially worth highlighting.

Most smokers do not want to believe that nicotine is a potent poison that cannot be completely neutralized by any cigarette filter. In terms of toxicity, it shares the palm with hydrocyanic acid. It is enough to pass 1 mg of nicotine through the respiratory tract for this dose to be lethal.

When you smoke one pack of cigarettes a day, an almost lethal dose of nicotine enters the body. However, since the absorption of nicotine occurs gradually throughout the day, nicotine poisoning does not occur. The "hardening" of the smoker also plays an important role, but only up to a certain time.

Many smokers remember the reaction of their body to the first cigarette they smoked: vomiting, coughing, cold sweat. These are nothing more than the first symptoms of nicotine poisoning of brain cells. And although over time the body adapts to such aggressive influences from the outside, the poisoning of brain cells continues.

Nicotine slowly and gradually, almost imperceptibly for humans, destroys the heart, liver, digestive organs, respiratory and nervous systems, and weakens sexual function. Decreases in sound and visual perception, touch and smell. In men, along with a weakening of sexual function, sexual sensitivity decreases. The duration of intercourse can be significantly reduced, while intercourse is often accompanied by a painful reaction.

The effect of tobacco tar on the human body

Along with nicotine, tobacco tar is no less dangerous. An avid smoker, on average, smokes up to 1 kilogram of tobacco a month, which contains about 70 milliliters of tobacco tar. Over the course of 10 years, over 8 liters of this terrible carcinogen enter the smoker's body. No matter how much the body defended itself, it is not able to withstand such a powerful harmful effect on the respiratory organs. Already at 50, the lungs of smokers have the same changes as in non-smokers at 70-80 years of age.

Scientists from different countries, through experiments with animals, have convincingly proved that tobacco tar is a carcinogen that contributes to the development of cancer. The human body, regularly exposed to harmful influences, is forced to adapt and modify its cells, which over time transform into cancerous cells that are fatal to human health.

Not surprisingly, lung cancer is 20-30 times more common among tobacco users than non-smokers. At the same time, 96 percent of patients with lung cancer are smokers with 20 years of experience. Statistics say that only 1-2 percent of nonsmokers develop lung cancer.

In addition to tar, when a cigarette burns out, the amount of other harmful substances increases significantly. The temperature at its tip exceeds 600 degrees Celsius. This is a kind of mini-waste incineration plant, the smoke of which goes directly into the respiratory system of the smoker.

Carbon monoxide, reacting with blood, provokes oxygen starvation. Carbon monoxide, combining with hemoglobin, instantly enters all organs and tissues of a person through the bloodstream. The consequences of such "pleasure" are predictable: shortness of breath, the development of atherosclerosis, various heart diseases. And this is not a complete list of pathologies that are associated with tobacco smoking.

Some statistics

It has been proven that smokers with 10 years of experience suffer from various chronic diseases three and a half times more often than all others. In particular, people suffer from chronic bronchitis twice as often, and if we take the whole group of respiratory diseases - four times. Statistics confirm that a smoker is 12 times more likely to get myocardial infarction than a non-smoker. Of all patients admitted to hospitals with a diagnosis of acute heart attack, 82 percent are smokers.

Long-term smoking also affects the gastrointestinal tract. It can provoke the development of ulcers, since harmful substances from combustion products, falling on the gastric mucosa, start destructive processes in the cells of the stomach itself and inhibit the production of protective mucus. And its amount is not enough to neutralize the acidity of the stomach, which has increased due to the acridity of the smoke. The effectiveness of the treatment of stomach ulcers decreases sharply if the person continues to smoke.

On average, due to various kinds of diseases, tobacco adherents, in comparison with nonsmokers, die 15 years earlier, from lung cancer - by 11 years, heart disease - by 8 years, chronic bronchitis - by 14 years.

The harm of secondhand smoke

Living together and communicating with a person who smokes can also cause serious illness, especially for children. It is enough for a passive smoker to stay in a smoky room for 60 minutes, so that all harmful substances in the body were in the same quantities in which they are present in one cigarette.

For this reason, children under 5 years of age in families where parents allow themselves to smoke in the presence of a child are 73.9 percent more susceptible to various diseases than in those where there are no smokers. In families where both parents smoke in the apartment for many years, there is not a single healthy child.

Relatively recently, doctors have come up with a term such as "smoker's face". This is dry skin like parchment, deep wrinkles, an unhealthy complexion and sluggish muscle tone. Not the most pleasant image that I would like to see when looking in the mirror. And the best way to avoid this is to quit smoking.

Especially for Solonikin Vadim

Mineral salts, fiber, enzymes, fatty acids, etc.

Tobacco - herbaceous plant. Tobacco smoke contains more than 4200 different substances, of which over 200 are dangerous to the human body. Among them, nicotine, tobacco tar, carbon monoxide (carbon monoxide), etc. are especially harmful. Radioactive substances and heavy metals contained in tobacco smoke have strong toxic and destructive properties for the human body. In smokers, they accumulate in the bronchi, lungs, liver and kidneys. Products of dry distillation of tobacco contain tar, resins and substances with a carcinogenic effect (benzpyrene). People who smoke are 20 times more likely to develop malignant tumors of the lungs, esophagus, stomach, larynx, noses, lower lip, etc. The longer a person smokes, the more chances he has of dying from this serious disease.

Smoking - the bad habit of inhaling the smoke of smoldering tobacco is one of the forms of substance abuse. It has a negative impact on the health of smokers and those around them. The nicotine contained in tobacco smoke enters the bloodstream almost instantly through the alveoli of the lungs. In addition to nicotine, tobacco smoke contains a large amount of combustion products of tobacco leaves and substances used in technological processing.

According to pharmacologists, tobacco smoke, in addition to nicotine, contains carbon monoxide, hydrocyanic acid, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, ammonia, essential oils, and a concentrate of liquid and solid products of combustion and dry distillation of tobacco, called tobacco tar. The latter contains about a hundred chemical compounds of substances, including a radioactive isotope of potassium, arsenic and a number of aromatic polycyclic hydrocarbons - carcinogens, chemical substances whose effects on the body can cause cancer (Fig. 1).

Nicotine... Nicotine accounts for up to a third of the total toxicity of tobacco smoke. It is an oily transparent liquid with an unpleasant odor and bitter taste.

Nicotine is a drug - it is he who causes the addiction to tobacco and is one of the most dangerous herbal poisons. For a person, a lethal dose of nicotine is from 50 to 100 mg, or 2 - 3 drops - this is the dose that enters the bloodstream after smoking 20 - 25 cigarettes. The smoker does not die because such a dose is introduced gradually, not in one step, but over 30 years he smokes about 20,000 cigarettes, absorbing an average of 800 g of nicotine, each particle of which causes irreparable harm to health.

Nicotine enters the body along with tobacco smoke. Its neutralization occurs mainly in the liver, kidneys and lungs, but the decay products are excreted from the body within 10-15 hours after smoking.

Nicotine is a nerve poison. In experiments on animals and observations on smokers, it was possible to establish that nicotine in small doses excites nerve cells, promotes increased respiration and heart rate, disturbed heart rate, nausea and vomiting. In large doses, it inhibits and then paralyzes the activity of the cells of the central nervous system. Disorders of the nervous system are manifested by a decrease in working capacity, trembling of hands, and a weakening of memory. Nicotine also affects the endocrine glands, causing vasospasm, increased blood pressure and increased heart rate. Adversely affecting the sex glands, it leads to the development of sexual weakness in men - impotence.

Figure: 1. The effect of tobacco on the human body

Carbon monoxide (carbon monoxide, CO) upon admission and the body causes oxygen starvation, as it disrupts the ability of red blood cells (erythrocytes) to carry oxygen from the lungs to all organs and tissues, which causes suffocation in a person. When smoking, the regular intake of CO into the body leads to a decrease in the capabilities of the respiratory system and to a limitation of physical activity. For this reason, when smoking, the brain cells receive less oxygen and mental performance is reduced. It is clear that smoking is also incompatible with physical education and sports.

Tobacco tar is an extremely potent carcinogen, i.e. a substance that causes cancer. After smoking a cigarette, it is clearly visible on the filter in the form of a brown coating. But, smoking a pack of even so-called "light" cigarettes a day (in which the content of tobacco tar is lowered), a person introduces up to 700-800 g of tobacco tar into his body per year. Therefore, it is not surprising that lip cancer occurs 80 times in smokers, lung cancer 67 times, and stomach cancer 12 times more often than non-smokers. It is tobacco tar that has a strong destructive effect on the tonsils, destroying their cells and causing the development of tonsillitis and more frequent tonsillitis.

The effect of smoking on the body

There is not a single organ or system in the human body that is not adversely affected by tobacco smoke and its constituent parts.

The central nervous system of the smoker is in a state of constant stress due to the exciting effect of nicotine. But at the same time, less blood flows to it (due to spasm of cerebral vessels), and the oxygen content in it, which is necessary to maintain active brain activity, is reduced. But even the oxygen supplied to the brain is used with difficulty by the brain cells, therefore, the smoker's mental performance is reduced, memory is weakened, volitional qualities suffer. In addition, he feels heightened irritability, he has difficulty falling asleep and often has headaches.

Entering the respiratory tract, tobacco smoke has a detrimental effect on the entire respiratory system... Thus, harmful substances contained in tobacco smoke irritate the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose, larynx, trachea and bronchi. As a result, chronic inflammation of the respiratory tract develops, colds and colds, infectious diseases, tonsillitis and other disorders of the tonsils occur more often. After smoking, the action of small cilia of the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract is inhibited for 20 minutes, which, with their rapid flickering, expel harmful and mechanical substances that have fallen here and settled on the mucous membrane. Long-term smoking leads to irritation of the vocal cords and narrowing of the glottis, which changes the timbre and color of the pronounced sounds, the voice loses its purity and sonority, becomes hoarse.

A typical sign of a smoker is a cough with dark mucus, especially in the morning. The cough causes the lungs to expand due to a decrease in their elasticity and the ability to collapse on exhalation to such an extent that the alveoli are completely emptied from the CO-rich air. All this provokes the development of shortness of breath and makes breathing difficult. Long-term chronic inflammation of the airways and lungs leads to a decrease in their resistance and the development of acute and chronic diseases, such as pneumonia, bronchial asthma.

A systematic smoker develops many diseases circulatory system: high blood pressure, disorders of cerebral circulation and heart activity up to myocardial infarction, etc. The heart rate during smoking increases by 10 - 18 beats per minute and recovers only after 15 - 20 minutes. Considering that the consequences of smoking one cigarette persist for 30-40 minutes after stopping smoking, this means that by smoking a new cigarette every half hour, the smoker keeps the circulatory system in a state of constant tension. For example, his heart makes up to 10-15 thousand extra contractions per day.

The smoker's mouth smells unpleasant, the tongue is coated with a gray coating, which is one of the indicators of improper activity gastrointestinal tract

By irritating the salivary glands, nicotine causes increased salivation. The smoker not only spits out excess saliva, but also swallows it, exacerbating the harmful effect of nicotine on the digestive system. There are other changes in the state of the oral cavity organs: destruction of tooth enamel, development of caries and the appearance of yellow plaque on the teeth, loosening and bleeding of the gums.

During smoking, the vessels of the stomach narrow, the amount of gastric juice is increased, and its composition is changed; appetite decreases, and digestion is inhibited (that is why, when hungry, the smoker grabs a cigarette). As a result, all these reasons often lead to the development of gastric ulcer.

Tobacco smoke reduces the acuity of smell and taste, so smokers often have difficulty distinguishing the taste of sweet, salty, bitter, and sour. In addition to the indicated effects on the body, smoking also gives a number of other consequences and complications. In particular, male smokers 25 - 40 years of age sexual activity is half that of nonsmokers.

Only 25% of tobacco smoke enters the smoker's lungs, the remaining 75% poison the air, causing harm to others - this phenomenon is called "passive smoking". The concentration of tobacco smoke in the indoor air, which is dangerous for the health of non-smokers, is created when only a few cigarettes are smoked, therefore non-smoking family members, in which only one person smokes, passively “smoke” up to 10 cigarettes a day.

Reasons for addiction to smoking are different. At first, this is, as a rule, imitation, then in the process of smoking a persistent conditioned reflex is developed, and, finally, the main reason for the development of addiction to nicotine as one of the varieties of drug addiction during long-term chronic tobacco smoking.

The overwhelming majority of smokers do not get pleasure from smoking and are ready to quit this addiction, but refers only to "lack of will". In fact, the main reason is the lack of motivation, purpose. That is why up to 99% of smokers, getting to doctors with severe consequences of smoking (myocardial infarction, brain stroke, signs of cancer), instantly forget about smoking. It has been found that more than 70% of smokers can easily quit smoking, since they do not have a true need for tobacco. Therefore, a smoker should, without waiting for dangerous consequences, realize that this habit itself can become a serious prerequisite for a life-threatening disease.

Smoking is one of the leading factors in self-destructive behavior and suicide over time. Smoking is not fashionable, smoking is not prestigious! In civilized states this has long been understood. In our country, the number of cigarettes consumed over the past 17 years has increased from 170 billion to 700 billion.

The fight against smoking and propaganda about the dangers of smoking should be started from primary school age, using all means (conversations, lectures, films, posters, etc.) in order to develop a negative attitude towards smoking in the student. Parents and public organizations should be widely involved in this work.

The effect of smoking on humans

According to UN data, 3 million people die from tobacco annually in the world, i.e. one person dies from smoking every 13 seconds. Studies in Italy have shown that smoking kills 50 times more people than HIV infection. At the same time, smoking affects not only those people who smoke, but also those who, being near smokers, are forced to inhale tobacco smoke. From this "secondhand smoke" in the United States, 53 thousand people die annually.

According to the WHO, about 90-95% of lung cancers, 45-50% of all cancers and 20-25% of cardiovascular diseases are due to smoking. Men who smoke are 22 times more likely to die of lung cancer than non-smokers. Smoking is the main cause of malignant neoplasms of the lip, oral cavity and pharynx, larynx, esophagus.

Nicotine, exciting the vasomotor and respiratory centers of the brain, thereby causes spasms of blood vessels, damage to their walls and contributes to the formation of a sclerotic plaque, which narrows the lumen of the vessel. The increased release of norepinephrine by the adrenal glands under the influence of nicotine poses a danger to persons prone to heart rhythm disturbances. Nicotine increases the heart's need for oxygen, increases blood clotting, which contributes to thrombus formation. Under the influence of nicotine, the number of heart contractions increases by 15-20%. Therefore, constant smoking makes the heart work all the time with increased stress and in an irrational mode, which leads to its premature wear.

Substances entering the bloodstream from tobacco smoke inhibit the absorption of vitamins by the body, in particular vitamin C, the deficiency of which contributes to the deposition of cholesterol in the vessel wall. Another component of tobacco smoke, carbon monoxide, has the ability to bind hemoglobin in the blood, thus depriving it of the ability to deliver oxygen to organs and tissues. Components of tobacco smoke also contribute to the development of atherosclerosis. Among regularly smoking men aged 45-49 years, the death rate from coronary heart disease is three times higher than among nonsmokers. The risk of developing myocardial infarction in women who smoke is also three times higher than in non-smokers.

Considerable harm is caused by the ammonia contained in tobacco smoke, which, along with high smoke temperatures, acids and alkaline radicals, contributes to the development of chronic bronchitis in smokers. The vital capacity of smokers is on average 400-600 ml less than that of nonsmokers.

Smoking also contributes to the development of chronic gastritis, gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer.

Those who smoke more often have relapses of these diseases, they are more difficult to treat.

Smoking also negatively affects the sexual function of men and women. So, in men who started smoking during the development of the genital organs (10-17 years), the number of spermatozoa decreased by 42% compared to the same indicator in the control group, and their mobility - by 17%. This contributes to a decrease, and in some cases, a complete loss of the possibility of fertilization. Experts also associate smoking in young men with the manifestation of impotence at an earlier age. Smoking girls should know that nicotine, changing complex biological processes in the reproductive system of women, leads to menstrual dysfunction, negatively affects the course of pregnancy, promotes premature birth and death of newborns, lagging behind the children of smoking mothers in mental and physical development, is one of the reasons for the inability to have children. Smoking also affects the appearance of women who smoke, causing a change in the natural complexion, yellowing of the enamel of the teeth.

As noted above, smoking is dangerous for those around you - nonsmokers. The risk for them increases by 30-35% for developing lung cancer and 25% for developing coronary heart disease. For example, the wives of smokers are 1.5-2 times more likely to have lung cancer, and the risk of developing bronchitis and pneumonia in children of parents who smoke increases 2 times.

The economic losses from smoking are also quite tangible. For example, in the United States, economic losses associated with the diseases of smokers, their medical care and a decrease in their production activity are estimated at over $ 100 billion per year, and in 225 thousand fires per year caused by smoking (20% of their total number) , about 2.5 thousand people die and more than 5 thousand receive serious burns.

Effects of nicotine

Under the influence of nicotine, the respiratory center is excited (at high doses in young children - paralysis), the excitement of the autonomic nervous system, accompanied by salivation (therefore, the salivation of smokers sharply increases, a person is forced to constantly spit), pupillary constriction (vision changes, the flow of information is reduced , decreased speed of visual reaction), increased blood pressure (danger of hypertensive crises, risk of cardiovascular diseases), decreased sensitivity of the olfactory and taste analyzers, disruption of the gastrointestinal tract, etc.

The danger lies in the fact that the body quickly gets used to nicotine, but, as a rule, the first meeting with this poison is rather painful for a person:

• in the 1st phase, cramps expressed in varying degrees in the throat, esophagus and stomach, repeated profuse vomiting, interruptions in the work of the heart, general agitation, turning into a stupor - "dullness", often loss of consciousness (especially in young children when smoking a large number of cigarettes) - this is the phase of a person's acquaintance with tobacco;
• in the second phase, the toxic effect of nicotine gradually weakens and the pleasantly stimulating - euphorizing effect of tobacco comes to the fore. Smoking becomes pleasant for a person. It is during this phase that tobacco smoke, which "has a smelly and devilish smell," becomes pleasant both in itself and mainly as a sign of the euphoric effect associated with smoking. From now on, smokers “yearn for the stench of it and the stinking filth to taste and ... eternal flour for themselves” (“The Legend of the Origin of Tobacco”). At this phase, the use of tobacco, the very process of smoking, firmly enters into the dynamic stereotype of a person, becomes habitual, necessary and desirable;
• in the 3rd phase - the phase of psychological comprehension, when a person gradually begins to realize that smoking brings him not only pleasure, but also harm - various inconveniences appear when performing complex work that requires concentration, attention, speed. The Germans have a special designation for such smoking - Kettenraucher (kette - chain, raucher - smoker). Most smokers develop neuroses if they cannot smoke under certain circumstances for a long time (it was noted that smokers who were deprived of cigarettes became more excitable, their heart rate, pressure, sweating increased, memory, attention, etc.). If a smoker is accustomed to a certain type of cigarette, then another type can cause discomfort, coughing, wheezing, bitter taste in the mouth, dizziness and vomiting. Physiological and psychological addiction makes smoking an "inevitable job."

Statistics show that tobacco, depending on its type, contains from 0.8 to 3% nicotine. Having smoked one cigarette, a person receives from 0.4 to 3.5 mg of nicotine (despite the fact that a dose of 4 mg of this substance causes intoxication, and a dose of 60 mg is fatal). It is easy to calculate, if in 1997 only in our country the amount of tobacco was consumed containing more than 5,000 tons of nicotine and in the USA - over 8.5 thousand tons, which amounted to approximately 85 and 143 billion lethal doses, which could be the reception to poison the entire population of the globe 57 times, now the consumed amount of tobacco could poison the entire population of the globe 250 times!

The results of the questionnaire show that the age of smoking initiation among males is 7-35 years old, and for females - 11-38 years old. Approximately 98% of smokers consider smoking to be harmful to themselves; about 2/3 try to throw it; about 25% of active smokers experience general ill health and weakness, about 30% - complications from the respiratory system: cough, chest pain, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing during exercise; about 10% - irritability, worsening sleep, weakening of mental activity, reduced reserve capacity of the body: frequent colds, infectious diseases; about 5% note coarsening of the voice, yellowing of the teeth, bad complexion.

When tobacco smoke is inhaled, the temperature of the smoke in the mouth is about 50-60 ° C. The destructive effect on the body begins to warm. In order to introduce smoke from the mouth and nasopharynx into the lungs, the smoker inhales a portion of air with which the smoke from the mouth and nasopharynx enters the lungs. The temperature of the air entering the mouth is about 40 ° C lower than the temperature of the smoke. Temperature changes cause microscopic cracks on the tooth enamel over time. Smokers' teeth begin to decay earlier than non-smokers. The destruction of tooth enamel is facilitated by the deposition of tobacco tar on the surface of the teeth, which makes the teeth acquire a yellowish color, and the oral cavity - a specific smell.

Tobacco smoke irritates the salivary glands. Part of the saliva is swallowed by the smoker. The toxic substances of smoke, dissolving in saliva, act on the mucous membrane of the stomach, which can ultimately lead to stomach and duodenal ulcers. Chronic smoking is usually associated with bronchitis. Chronic irritation of the vocal cords affects the timbre of the voice.

He loses sonority and clarity, which is especially noticeable in girls and women. As a result of the entry of smoke into the lungs, the blood in the alveolar capillaries, instead of being enriched with oxygen, is saturated with carbon monoxide, which, combining with hemoglobin, excludes part of the hemoglobin from the normal respiration process.

Electronic cigarettes and nicotine. No matter what the manufacturers of electronic cigarettes write, they somehow bypass the harm from nicotine. When you smoke e-cigarettes, nicotine also enters the lungs and is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream. Already 8 seconds after inhaling an electronic cigarette, it enters the brain. And only 30 minutes after stopping smoking an electronic cigarette, the concentration of nicotine in the brain begins to decrease, as it begins to be distributed throughout all tissues and organs in the body. The ability of nicotine to bind to cholinergic and nicotinic receptors of the central nervous system and other structures, to activate the opioid receptors in the brain, causes addiction to nicotine. Nicotine is one of the causes leading to Buerger's disease.

E-cigarette manufacturers forget to mention that nicotine causes cell mutations, and these mutations only increase in the next generations.

Puffing on the fragrant smoke of a cigarette, many do not think about what changes each puff causes in the body.

Hot tobacco smoke primarily affects tooth enamel; over time, microscopic cracks appear on it, an entrance gate for pathogens. Tobacco tar is deposited on the teeth, and they turn black, emit a specific odor, which is clearly felt when talking to a smoker. Hot smoke burns the mucous membranes of the mouth and nasopharynx. When exposed to constant irritation, they become inflamed, which can lead to the development of leukoplakia, a precursor to cancer.

The salivary glands of the oral cavity also react to it. As a result, increased salivation begins, which the smoker is forced to either constantly spit out or swallow. But he swallows not just saliva, but part of the toxic components of tobacco smoke dissolved in it. Aniline, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, carcinogenic substances with saliva get on the gastric mucosa, which does not pass without a trace. Loss of appetite, pain in the stomach, gastritis, ulcers of the stomach and duodenum, stomach cancer - this is what ultimately leads to constant tobacco intoxication of the digestive system.

But the harmful effects of tobacco smoke are not limited to this. From the oral cavity through the vocal folds (which in the future will inevitably affect the voice of the smoker), he rushes to the mucous membranes of the larynx, trachea, bronchi, bronchioles and, finally, alveoli. It is they who are exposed to the most destructive action of the combustion products of tobacco. The main ones are ammonia and tobacco tar. Ammonia, dissolving in the moisture of the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract, turns into ammonia. By irritating the mucous membranes, it causes an increased secretion of mucus, which causes an increase in the smoker's bronchitis.

A tobacco tar settles on the walls of the airways, accumulates in the alveoli, staining the lungs in a dirty brown color, and is also excreted when coughing with grayish sputum. Tobacco tar contains the highest concentration of carcinogenic substances - benzpyrene, radioactive polonium, lead and bismuth, and it is their harmful effects that significantly increase the risk of lung cancer in smokers.

One of the main components of tobacco smoke, carbon monoxide, rushes through the airways to the alveoli, where the process of exchange of carbon dioxide, brought by the blood from the tissues to the lungs, for oxygen, supplied from the air during breathing, takes place. And the smoker's blood is enriched here not so much with oxygen as with carbon monoxide. When combined with hemoglobin, it forms the so-called carboxyhemoglobin, a dummy molecule that is unable to carry the oxygen it needs to every cell of our body.

That is why a person who smokes several cigarettes in a row or is in a smoky room develops oxygen starvation, manifested by headache, dizziness, nausea, pallor of the skin.

And it happens that suddenly your hands begin to tremble, your gait becomes unsure, it turns hot and cold, your heart sometimes “thumps”, then it freezes in your chest ... What happened? This began its destructive effect on the central nervous system and on the body as a whole; nicotine is one of the most powerful tobacco poisons. Having easily penetrated through the alveolar-capillary septa following carbon monoxide, it entered the bloodstream and is now carried by it throughout the body: tobacco aggression reaches its climax.

Each organ reacts differently to tobacco smoke. The adrenal glands are the first to send the distress signal. They emit adrenaline into the bloodstream, a substance that strongly constricts blood vessels. As a result, blood pressure rises, which in smokers can lead to hypertension. The narrowed vessels with great difficulty and in a much smaller volume of blood flows through the heart. In such conditions, it is forced to increase the number of contractions in order to push the required amount of blood to the organs and tissues. Sooner or later, a smoker will have to pay for such stimulation of the body with vascular atherosclerosis, ischemic heart disease, angina pectoris and even myocardial infarction.

Blood depleted in oxygen and "enriched" with nicotine causes spasm of blood vessels in the brain and brain. This is manifested by a headache, heaviness in the back of the head, and increasing fatigue. Chronic spasm of peripheral vessels in a heavy smoker can cause obliterating endarteritis, accompanied by lameness, gangrene of the leg tissues.

Tobacco smoke and smoking adversely affect the endocrine system. Under the influence of chronic tobacco intoxication, structural depletion of the endocrine glands gradually develops. And this can cause disorders of sexual function and infertility, diabetes and other diseases.

Smoking, including passive smoking, is especially dangerous for a pregnant woman, since nicotine, freely penetrating through the placenta into the blood of the fetus, disrupts its normal development.

When smoking, dry distillation and incomplete combustion of tobacco leaves occur, as a result of which smoke is released, consisting of various gases (60%) and microscopic drops of tar (40%).

The gas fraction of tobacco smoke contains: nitrogen, oxygen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, water vapor, hydrogen cyanide, isoprene, acetaldehyde, acrolein, nitrobenzene, hydrocyanic acid, acetone and other substances.

The aerosol fraction includes: glycerin, alcohol, aldehydes, hydrocarbons, benzopyrene, aromatic amines, anthracene, phenols, cresols, nicotine, naphthalene, etc.

In total, about 4 thousand different chemical compounds have been found in tobacco smoke, of which 200 are the most toxic and cause diseases associated with smoking. Certain cancer-causing components of tobacco tar are especially harmful to the body. These include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, benzopyrene, nitrosamine, phenols, radioactive isotopes, etc. The quantitative ratio of carcinogens in tobacco smoke depends on the type of tobacco, growing conditions, the way it is processed and the way it is smoked. The higher sorts of tobacco have less nicotine and carcinogens than the lower ones. The toxicity of tobacco smoke also depends on the type of tobacco product and the method of smoking. In addition, the composition of the smoke emitted from one tobacco product is not uniform. For example, the composition of the smoke from the burning edge of a cigarette is more toxic and carcinogenic than filter smoke. The jet of smoke passes through the unburned part of the cigarette and is filtered even when the cigarette does not have a filter. As a result of filtration, the trapped tar droplets are clearly visible on the cigarette filter or tube walls. Therefore, it is especially dangerous to smoke cigarette butts, since the tar accumulated in them re-enters the smoke and makes it even more toxic.

Despite all the variety of chemical compounds, nicotine is the main substance in tobacco smoke that has a pharmacological effect inherent in tobacco. Nicotine is found in the leaves of various plants (tobacco, Indian hemp, etc.) and has a strong toxic effect. However, the rapid breakdown of nicotine in the body makes a person resistant to it. The main organ providing detoxification is the liver, where nicotine is converted to less active cotinine.

Nicotine is one of the most famous poisons. It affects the central and peripheral part of the nervous system, especially affecting the ganglia of the autonomic nervous system. The effects of nicotine on the nervous system can be divided into two phases: excitement and depression. Initially, nicotine increases the excitability of the nervous system and causes a state of mild euphoria. At the same time, the smoker forgets the troubles and everyday worries, feeling some intoxication, pleasant warmth. It seems to him that fatigue decreases, a state of relief arises. It should be emphasized that this inhibits the activity of the cerebral hemispheres, inhibits active thinking and memory. After short-term excitement, a general depression of the nervous system develops. Nicotine alters metabolic processes in nerve cells, mimicking the action of norepinephrine and acetylcholine when transferring nerve impulses between cells: it first stimulates them and then inhibits them.

Under the influence of nicotine, the adrenal receptors are excited, as a result, the release of the hormones adrenaline and norepinephrine is stimulated, this leads to an increase in heart rate, an increase in blood pressure, an increase in myocardial contractile force and an increase in oxygen consumption. This has a positive effect on the mood of the smoker, and a deceptive sense of complete well-being and calmness takes over.

In addition, under the influence of hormones, the sugar level and the content of free fatty acids in the blood increase, as a result of which the risk of fatty acid deposition on the walls of blood vessels and the development of atherosclerosis increases.

The harmful effects of tobacco smoke on the human body can manifest itself not only in its toxicity and carcinogenicity, but also in the irritating effect on the mucous membrane of the oral cavity and upper respiratory tract. The irritant effect of tobacco smoke is mainly related to its acrolein content. It is acrolein that causes smokers to cough. The sputum released at the same time and the narrowing of the lumen of the bronchi is nothing more than a protective reaction of the body against the stimulus. As a result, breathing becomes difficult. With prolonged smoking, such frequent changes in the bronchopulmonary system can lead to the development of chronic bronchitis and pulmonary emphysema.

Poisonous gases have a no less destructive effect on the human body. The most toxic of these, carbon monoxide, readily binds to blood hemoglobin and reduces its ability to transport oxygen to cells. As a result, the smoker develops chronic oxygen starvation. This, in turn, leads to the development of cardiovascular diseases (coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, etc.). According to statistics, mortality from myocardial infarction among smokers is 5 times higher than among those who do not use nicotine, and cerebral hemorrhages are observed 3-4 times more often. Smoking is a common cause of a persistent decrease in the permeability of the vessels of the legs, which leads to severe suffering - obliterating endarteritis, which, in turn, can even lead to amputation of the limb.

Unfortunately, there is no such organ or system in the human body that would not suffer from tobacco smoking. On average, a smoker lives 10 years less than a non-smoker. According to the WHO, every fifth person dies from smoking worldwide. If a smoker smokes more than a pack a day, his risk of developing cancer increases dramatically. According to statistics, among smokers, the number of cancer patients and persons with precancerous diseases is 20 times higher than among the rest of the population.

Smoking is especially harmful for children and adolescents. Young smokers are characterized by pallor due to spasm of blood vessels, as well as iron deficiency anemia, which is characteristic of nicotine addiction. The effect of nicotine on the nervous system of adolescents is expressed in the appearance of increased irritability, memory impairment and a decrease in the concentration of visual perception. They begin to lag behind in physical and intellectual development from their peers, study worse, become nervous and undisciplined.

Smoking is extremely harmful for pregnant women and lactating mothers who poison the unborn fetus or insufficiently feed the newborn. A mother-to-be can become a passive smoker if she is in a smoking area. And in both cases, tobacco smoke has a negative effect on the fetus, which is also a "passive smoker". Smoking affects the weight and height of the newborn, the size of his head and shoulder girdle. Due to impaired nutrition and fetal respiration, newborns of smoking mothers weigh on average 300 g less and mortality among them is 2 times higher than newborns of non-smoking women.

Recently, there is more and more information that secondhand smoke contributes to the development of diseases in nonsmokers, characteristic of smokers. Being next to a smoker, a non-smoker involuntarily inhales with him various components of tobacco smoke (carbon monoxide, nitric oxide, aldehydes, cyanide, acrolein, nicotine, etc.). It is known that if a non-smoker is in a smoky room for more than one hour, then the concentration of nicotine in his body increases 8 times. As a result, a non-smoker becomes a passive smoker. Thus, smoking is a danger not only for the smoker himself, but also for those around him. Perhaps the very fact of the harmful effects of smoking on others, loved ones, children can serve as a good motive for some heavy smokers to quit smoking. As they say, quit smoking, if not for yourself, then at least for the sake of your children and loved ones.