Smoking Fundamentals

Nicotine is one of the most heavily used addictive drugs in the United States. A study two years ago showed that 70.3 million people reported using tobacco at least once in the month prior to being interviewed for this research. What makes this finding so disheartening is that tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. One in every five deaths in the U.S. is related to smoking. Avoiding cigarette smoke is particularly important to women because there has been a 600% increase in our death rates due to lung cancer since the 1950s.

During the past 40 years, twenty-eight reports from the U.S. Surgeon General on smoking and health have concluded that tobacco use is the single most avoidable cause of disease, disability, and death in this country. A seemingly never-ending cycle of smoking is the result of nicotine’s stimulation of the central nervous system and endocrine glands, causing a sudden release of glucose. This stimulation is followed by depression and fatigue which in turn, prompts the smoker to seek more nicotine.

It doesn’t matter whether the tobacco smoke comes from cigarettes, cigars, or pipes (even chewing tobacco), the nicotine is quickly absorbed by the lungs. With regular tobacco use, nicotine accumulates in the body 24 hours a day, even if the person isn’t a “heavy” smoker.

In addition to nicotine, cigarette smoke is composed of nearly a dozen gases (mainly carbon monoxide) and tar. The tar in a cigarette exposes the user to an increased risk of lung cancer, emphysema, and bronchial disorders. Not only does this carbon monoxide increase the chance of cardiovascular diseases, but the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has determined that secondhand smoke actually causes lung cancer in adults. Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), acute respiratory infections, ear problems, and more virulent asthma attacks.

Secondhand smoke is a mixture of smoke from the burning end of a tobacco product and exhaled smoke. It is a complex chemical mixture containing formaldehyde, cyanide, carbon monoxide, ammonia, and nicotine, many of which are known carcinogens. The health concerns created by secondhand smoke are particularly bothersome to non-smokers since exposure at home or work increases their risk of developing heart disease by 25 to 30%, and lung cancer by 20 to 30%.

Everyone pays a high price for this habit, whether they are the smoker or an individual exposed to secondhand smoke. Here are some of the effects smoking has on women:

• Increased risks for bladder, oropharynx, liver, colorectal, and cervical cancer, as well as cancers of the pancreas and kidney
• Accounts for approximately 90% of deaths due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Twelve times greater risk of dying from lung cancer
• Ten times greater risk of dying from bronchitis and emphysema
• Increased risk of infertility and delayed conception
• For women who smoke and use birth control pills, the risk for stroke and the likelihood of suffering from heart disease is 20 times greater than for nonsmokers
• Postmenopausal women who smoke have lower bone density than non-smokers and are at higher risk for hip fracture

Regardless of the tar and nicotine levels in many of today’s supposedly “safer” cigarettes, there really is no safe way to smoke. The good news is that quitting can provide almost immediate health benefits, so kicking the habit just makes sense!