Effect of smoking on the body

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

Smoking tobacco 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 suffer, but primarily the respiratory system. Smoker's bronchitis, accompanied by a painful cough, is well known. The lungs of smokers lose their elasticity and become inextensible, which reduces their vital capacity: smokers cannot run for long, they develop 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 short-term exertion. The disease can progress and lead to gangrene and the need for amputation. Smokers' teeth tend to be yellow and have numerous cracks. This contributes to the development of caries and tooth decay.

After smoking, spontaneous release of digestive juices occurs, even in the absence of food. They corrode the walls of the stomach, which leads to ulcers - a very common disease among smokers and, as a result, bad breath. Smoking increases the risk of malignant neoplasms of the tongue, larynx, esophagus, bladder, etc.

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

When smoking 20 cigarettes, a person immediately receives a lethal dose of nicotine. After one puff, nicotine reaches 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/cigarette	Tar content mg/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

Tar from smoking accumulates in the lungs. To clean them, the enzyme elastase is activated. It breaks down the tar, but also the lung tissue, destroying the lungs and reducing their ability to deliver oxygen to the blood. As a result, pulmonary emphysema often develops, a serious and sometimes fatal disease.

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

The most powerful poison in tobacco combustion products 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 is the same as when an untrained person rises to an altitude of 3000 meters above sea level.

If a teenager smokes, chronic oxygen deprivation leads to stunted growth and a decrease in the body’s defense response 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 when burned.

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

The most active substance in tobacco is the alkaloid nicotine, which was discovered in 1828 by Poselt and Reimann in Heidelburg. In addition, tobacco contains nornicotine and other alkaloids. Nicotine in dry tobacco leaves is usually contained in an amount of 1 to 1.5%, but in some varieties of tobacco it is 6-8%. In tobacco varieties poor in nicotine, it is 0.6-0.8%. Tobacco varieties are grown that contain very small amounts of nicotine (0.1-0.2%). One cigarette weighing 1 g contains approximately 12-15 mg of nicotine, and in varieties low in nicotine, 6-8 mg. A cigar weighing 10 g contains 120-150 mg of nicotine. When smoking, part of the nicotine burns, the rest evaporates along with water vapor, condenses in the cigarette butt and settles there. When you inhale tobacco smoke, especially when you inhale it, nicotine is absorbed through the respiratory tract. In heavily smoky rooms, poisoning can occur in non-smokers, who in this case become a kind of passive smoker. Tobacco smoke contains carcinogens (benzapyrene, benzathracene and other polycyclic hydrocarbons), as well as arsenic and sulfur dioxide, which, when interacting with ammonia, form very strong carcinogens (chemicals that can cause the development of cancer). In total, when smoking, over 20 harmful substances are formed, which are activated during the combustion (smoking) process at a very high temperature (about 600°) and enter the smoker’s body at the moment of inhaling. Scientists have found that the stronger and longer the inhalation of tobacco smoke occurs, the more harmful its effect. Part of the tobacco tar that does not enter the smoker’s respiratory tract during a puff sticks tightly to the inner wall of the mouthpiece or smoking pipe and, with subsequent puffs, enhances the harmful effects of tobacco smoke. Tobacco tar (tar) contains over one and a half dozen substances that have carcinogenic properties. Among them, a prominent place belongs to the complex hydrocarbon 3,4-benzpyrene, the presence of which in tobacco tar was discovered in 1936 by A. Rofo. Lubricating the ears of rabbits with tobacco resin, this scientist observed the development of tumor-like formations at the site of lubrication in 95% of experimental animals, which then turned into cancer. The famous Soviet researcher L.A. Shabad showed that 100 cigarettes contain from 1.1 to 1.6 mg of benzpyrene, in its shag varieties - up to 2.6 mg, and 1 kg of tobacco contains up to 70 mg of tobacco tar, which has pronounced carcinogenic effect. In addition to 3,4-benzpyrene, other carcinogenic substances were found in tobacco smoke: arsenic trioxide, anthracene, as well as radioactive elements, among which, according to many scientists, polonium-210 has the greatest carcinogenic effect. Inhalation of arsenic trioxide, according to American researchers, by itself, even without the admixture of other carcinogenic agents, can cause lung cancer. Y. M. Grushko reported in 1959 that arsenic trioxide present in tobacco was found in the tissues of lung cancer in people who died from this disease. Radioactive polonium-210 (discovered in 1946 by American scientists Randford and Hunt) is formed during the combustion of tobacco and at the same time releases radioactive alpha particles that penetrate deep into the tissues of the human body. Along with this, beta particles emitted by radioactive lead and bismuth contained in tobacco smoke also have a dangerous effect on the smoker. Scientists have found that tobacco combustion products are retained in the respiratory organs of smokers, mainly in the bronchial mucosa. The fact is that the harmful substances contained in tobacco smoke disrupt the movements of the ciliated epithelium of the bronchial mucosa. As a result, the main function of the ciliated epithelium is disrupted - to remove foreign particles from the respiratory tract. Therefore, carcinogens linger in the bronchi for a long time and cause the development of chronic bronchitis, which is expressed by the characteristic cough of a smoker. Such prolonged irritation of the bronchi becomes fertile ground for the development of lung cancer. Naturally, the main condition for eliminating the precancerous process that has begun is complete abstinence from smoking. It has long been proven that the most common cause of tumor diseases of the respiratory system is tobacco smoking. In 1959, a commission of scientists from the World Health Organization, having discussed data on the etiology of lung cancer, noted that although air pollution is an important factor in the occurrence of this disease, tobacco smoking is much more dangerous. Nicotine is a strong poison, which is a colorless transparent or slightly yellowish oily liquid with a burning taste. All living beings, especially those with a developed nervous system, are very sensitive to nicotine. For example, birds die when only one drop of pure nicotine is applied to their beak, rabbits die from 1/2 drops, dogs from 1/2-2 drops, horses from 3-6 drops. The famous pharmacologist N.P. Kravkov pointed out that one drop of pure nicotine can cause fatal poisoning in an unaccustomed person. Nicotine is toxic to the same extent as hydrocyanic acid. Nicotine in the first phase of its action excites the vasomotor and respiratory centers; in the second phase, on the contrary, inhibition develops in the central nervous system. At the first puffs, nicotine causes a slowdown in the pulse, but after 2-5 minutes an increase in cardiac activity occurs due to the inhibitory effect on ganglion cells. In addition, smoking leads to an increase in blood pressure, which is due to the narrowing of peripheral vessels and stimulation of the vasomotor center. The vascular response to nicotine depends on age and gender characteristics. Blood flow in peripheral vessels in young people and women under the influence of nicotine is reduced by 40-45%, which is not observed in older people, whose vessels are less reactive. By influencing the respiratory center, nicotine (this was pointed out by Soviet scientists V.V. Zakusov, S.V. Anichkov, M.L. Belenky and the Czechoslovakian scientist F. Shvets) in the first phase deepens and somewhat speeds up breathing. In the second phase, it has a depressing effect on the respiratory center, and in toxic doses it leads to respiratory arrest, which occurs due to paralysis of the respiratory muscles, which is the cause of death in nicotine poisoning. Nicotine is quite easily absorbed into many tissues of the body from the respiratory tract and gastrointestinal tract, especially with deep inhalation of tobacco smoke. It can also be absorbed through the skin, subcutaneous tissue and muscles. Nicotine is neutralized in the human body mainly in the liver, but some scientists believe that its detoxification is much more complicated, with the participation of other organs and systems. Nicotine is removed from the human body slowly. In people who quit smoking immediately, traces of nicotine can be detected in the first two days.

Every person knows that smoking is harmful to health. But such knowledge does not at all prevent a huge number of smokers from buying more and more packs of cigarettes every day, poisoning themselves and others with harmful tobacco smoke. According to doctors, addiction to nicotine quite often causes the development of a variety of ailments, including those that can cause death. But how exactly does smoking harm your health? Let's try to understand what the effect of tobacco smoke on the body is.

Smoking is accompanied by dry distillation and incomplete combustion of tobacco leaves, which leads to the release of smoke, which is a source of various gases and tiny drops of tar. Scientists have found that tobacco smoke contains about four thousand different chemical compounds, two hundred of which are the most toxic and can cause diseases associated with nicotine addiction.

Certain particles of tobacco tar that cause cancer are considered the most destructive for our body. These are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, as well as radioactive isotopes, phenols, nitrosamine, benzopyrene, etc. Moreover, the amount of carcinogens inside tobacco smoke is determined by the type of tobacco, its growing conditions, processing methods, and also the method of smoking. So the higher varieties of leaves of this plant contain much less aggressive substances than the lower ones. So the toxicity of tobacco smoke is determined by the type of tobacco product and smoking methods.

Despite the fact that tobacco smoke is a source of a wide variety of aggressive particles, its most important element is considered to be nicotine, which has the pharmacological effects characteristic of tobacco. This substance has quite strong toxic properties. It quickly breaks down inside our body and causes the development of addiction. Nicotine detoxification is carried out in the liver, in this organ this chemical element is converted into the less aggressive cotinine.

Nicotine is perhaps one of the most well-known poisons. It has an aggressive effect on the central as well as the peripheral zone of the nervous system, especially affecting the ganglia in the autonomic nervous system. This element has a two-phase effect, first causing excitement and then depression. At first, nicotine stimulates the excitability of the nervous system, causing mild euphoria. A smoker can be distracted from troubles and everyday worries, feeling a little intoxicated and warm. He may also experience less fatigue and a feeling of relief. A similar effect occurs against the background of suppression of the activity of the cerebral hemispheres, as well as suppression of active thinking and memory. The short-term excitement caused by tobacco smoke is soon replaced by a general depression of the central nervous system.

Nicotine has an exciting effect on the adrenal gland receptors, which leads to stimulation of the synthesis of adrenaline, as well as norepinephrine. As a result, the heart rate increases, blood pressure increases, the contractile force of the heart muscle increases, and oxygen consumption increases. Such processes have a positive effect on the individual’s mood, making him feel complete well-being and calm.

Also, the hormones released lead to an increase in the amount of sugar and free fatty acids in the blood plasma, which increases the likelihood of developing atherosclerosis.

Tobacco smoke is not only a source of toxic elements, it also has an irritating effect on the mucous membranes of the oral cavity, as well as the upper respiratory tract. This effect is explained by the presence of acrolein in smoke, which is what causes the well-known smoker’s cough. Its entry into the body leads to the release of sputum and to the narrowing of the lumen of the bronchi, which should be considered as a protective reaction of the body to the effects of irritants. Long-term smoking is fraught with the development of a chronic type of bronchitis, as well as pulmonary emphysema.

Tobacco smoke contains a number of poisonous gases, some of which can combine with our hemoglobin, reducing its ability to transfer oxygen to the cells of the body. This is fraught with the development of a chronic type of oxygen starvation, and subsequently with the occurrence of various ailments of the heart and blood vessels.

Tobacco smoke has a particularly negative impact on the health of children and adolescents. Such smokers develop excessive irritability, memory deteriorates, and concentration of visual perception decreases. At a young age, smoking leads to developmental delays.

Tobacco smoke is also extremely dangerous for women expecting a child and breastfeeding. So, smoking during pregnancy affects the body weight of the fetus, its growth, and development, especially the state of the baby’s nervous system.

It must be taken into account that the impact of tobacco smoke on a person will be equally aggressive during both active and passive smoking. Thus, being in a smoky room leads to a non-smoking individual inhaling all the toxic components of tobacco smoke.

Thus, the effect of tobacco smoke on the body is negative on the condition of all organs and systems not only of the smoker himself, but also of his loved ones.

Tobacco is the most widespread, popular and accessible plant-based drug in the world. It contains one of the most poisonous alkaloids ( nicotine). But besides nicotine, it also contains carbon monoxide, hydrocyanic acid, ammonia, tobacco tar. And all this is absorbed by the person who smokes. In 1 cm 3 of tobacco smoke there are up to 600 thousand grains of soot, and these substances settle in the bronchi and lungs. Tobacco tar contains, among other things, carcinogens, chemicals, the effect of which on the human body can cause severe cancer. Long-term smoking leads to decreased performance, physical endurance, deterioration of memory, attention, hearing, increased fatigue. Tobacco smoke is harmful not only to the one who smokes, but also to those who are nearby ( passive smoking). The smoke that flows from a lit cigarette is unfiltered smoke. It contains 50 times more carcinogens, tar and nicotine than smoke inhaled through a cigarette. It is important to know that a person who does not smoke, being in a room with a group of smokers, is exposed to the same risks as a smoker.

Major diseases smokers:

• cancer: lips, mouth, throat, esophagus, larynx, lungs;
• cardiovascular diseases: high blood pressure, myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease, etc.;
• respiratory diseases: pneumonia, chronic bronchitis, bronchial asthma;
• diseases of the digestive system: stomach ulcer, duodenal ulcer, gastric bleeding, etc.

Organism women are more sensitive to the effects of cigarette smoke than the male body. Smoking brings harm to the female body irreparable harm. Woman early ages, voice timbre, skin color and elasticity change. Irreparable harm is caused to the unborn child if a pregnant woman smokes.

Make your choice in favor quit smoking!

Svetlana ZYLEVA, chief nurse of the 23rd city clinic in Minsk.
“Utulnaya Hut”, Internet version of the “Nastaunitskaya Gazeta” application. Source: http://hatka.ng-press.by/?p=46

A smoker cannot have healthy blood vessels

Nicotine primarily harms blood vessels. They narrow sharply, and blood circulation is disrupted. Moreover, similar processes occur not only with large arteries, cerebral vessels- very small ones, which provide nutrition and oxygen delivery to the eye tissues, also suffer. Gradually this leads to pathology in the eye tissues. Smokers have a much higher risk of developing age-related eye disease.

According to the instructor-valeologist of the 23rd city children's clinic in Minsk Irina Shimanskaya, it is now known for sure that those who work or live near smokers also increase their risk of acquiring diseases inherent in smokers - cardiovascular, oncological, respiratory organs, gastrointestinal tract, skeletal system, eyes, skin. Tobacco smoke is powerful allergen. Someone who is in a smoky room may develop allergic conjunctivitis. Nicotine is also dangerous for “passive” pregnant women. And the risk of development due to “passive smoking” in members of a smoker’s family increases by more than 3 times. The environmental danger of toxic substances from tobacco smoke is enhanced by the fact that they are absorbed by walls, ceilings, floors, furniture, and then migrate into the indoor air.

Smoking like psychological dependence usually compensates for a certain internal problem that existed at the time of the first test. So the addict needs to learn to solve problems. You can involve specialists in this - psychologist, psychotherapist, narcologist. However, we must keep in mind that with a strong desire and strong motivation, you can cope on your own. The most important thing is not to put off making this decision until later.

Contains tobacco tar, the monthly “norm” of consumption of which by the average smoker is 70 milliliters (when smoking one kilogram of tobacco). At the same time, we must not forget about passive smokers; they are also consumers of tar.

The following statistics are widely known: during an hour of staying in a smoky room, the nicotine content in the blood of a non-smoker increases eight times. In this case, all organs suffer without exception, incl. heart, lungs, liver.

One of the reasons for the deterioration of well-being and health, both active and passive, is tobacco tar.

What is tobacco tar?

A little history. In 1561, the French ambassador to Portugal, Jean Nicot, initiated the spread of tobacco in Europe; it was he who sent plant seeds to the royal court with a recommendation to use the dried plant to fumigate patients with rheumatism, asthma and other diseases. The alkaloid got its name in honor of Jean Nicot. Tobacco tar was named by analogy with the method of producing ordinary tar.

The formation of this substance occurs during smoking, its solid microparticles enter the respiratory system. Each cigarette smoked is a supplier of one billion two hundred thousand particles of tar, which are unevenly deposited on the tissues of the respiratory organs in the form of a carcinogenic resin that can cause mutations and neoplasms, more often of an oncological nature.

Facts about carcinogenic tar. In its composition you can find benzene, simple and complex phenols, cresols, naphthols, naphthalene, toxic gases such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, hydrocyanic acid, ammonia, as well as heavy metals such as cadmium, mercury, lead, chromium.

It is not surprising that tar over time turns the mucous membranes covering the lungs into an unpleasant sticky mass that makes breathing difficult.

The effect of tar on the human body

As toxins in the tar penetrate, successive dysfunctions occur in everything that comes in their way: the irritated mucous membranes of the gums and tongue become inflamed, becoming a place where bacteria are concentrated, the lungs worsen their function, the liver suffers from intoxication.

Arguments from dentists. A group of St. Petersburg researchers discovered a relationship between the pathological processes occurring in the mouths of smokers and a large volume of a microbe such as tannerella, which is responsible for the accelerated formation of tartar, frequent caries and yellowed and cracked enamel.

Penetrating into blood vessels, toxins reduce the elasticity of their walls, allowing cholesterol plaques to lead a most free existence, which makes the cardiovascular system susceptible to thrombosis, varicose veins, hypertension, and then coronary heart disease.

Some of the harmful substances end up on the mucous membranes of the stomach, causing increased secretion of gastric juice, and subsequently gastritis and ulcers. The liver has to work hard to fight poisons, and additional loads have a detrimental effect on its condition and on the activity of the pancreas.

Thanks to the penetrating capabilities of tobacco tar, the sulfur-containing amino acid homocysteine ​​accumulates in the body. This substance has an effect on numerous pathologies of the fetus in pregnant women and on the development of neuropsychiatric diseases, which was proven long ago by Academician Sechenov.

And at this time it begins to affect the brain: thanks to this, the smoker feels extraordinary relaxation, stimulation of intellectual capabilities, all stress is suppressed, there is not the slightest feeling of hunger, everything is high!

Nicotine and tobacco tar are the main provocateurs of “forgetfulness of pain,” the root causes of which must be treated, and not hidden behind a narcotic veil.

How much tar passes through a smoker's lungs?

Over the course of a year, a smoker passes through himself 81 kilograms of tobacco tar, over ten years - about 8 liters of this carcinogen passes through the lungs, it accumulates in the peripheral parts of the trachea, bronchi and alveoli, which leads to changes in the ciliary carpet of the bronchi, deterioration of the protection of the alveolar partitions and other consequences. But the main thing is that, adapting to such difficult living conditions, the human body makes changes to cells, making them deadly cancerous.

What do smokers need to know? The President of the Anticancer Society of Russia D.N. Zaridze was actively involved in the problems of the content of carcinogenic substances in tobacco smoke and the need for established hygienic standards. Interestingly, based on these studies in Finland, Sweden, England and other countries, the tar content of cigarettes was reduced to 7-14 milligrams. Unfortunately, for Russian smokers, the change in tar content standards was not of decisive importance, because the raw materials for cigarettes are often non-certified components. Manufacturers often keep secret those substances that serve as cigarette flavors.

Inhaled tobacco smoke threatens, for example, children with dire consequences for the brain. This is another factor confirming the negative impact of tobacco tar on the body of a passive smoker.

Researchers from the Parisian INSERM laboratory tested 5,200 primary school students and their parents, as a result of which it was proven that the number of children who are passive smokers in families with smoking parents and who have behavior problems is twice as high as the number of children whose parents do not smoke!

Is it possible to cleanse a smoker's lungs of tobacco tar?

Now is the time to think about what? The answer is optimistic - yes, but only if the smoker has given up his bad habit. Cleansing will occur in three to four months, but the respiratory organs will be able to restore their functions in about a year. Years of violence against the body will not be in vain, and it will be truly stressed during the cleansing process.

There are means to speed up cleansing and reduce the effects of stress. Among folk remedies, doctors are very supportive of onion and garlic syrup, various herbal decoctions and tinctures, and a milk decoction of oats. Physiotherapy includes cleansing in a sauna or steam bath.

The greater the volume of sputum released by the body, the better for the human body!

Here are some priceless recipes you can use!

For two glasses of milk, one glass of oats (not cereal!). Cook over high heat until it boils, then over low heat until done. Readiness is determined by measuring the volume of remaining liquid: it will be half as much. The resulting substance must be ground and consumed.

Herbal infusion of violet and oregano. It is also prepared in a ratio of one to two (two glasses of water per glass of a mixture of dry herbs), after boiling, turn off the fire and let it brew for a couple of hours. You can use other herbs: primrose, poppy, pine buds, elderberry, sweet clover, and so on.

Onion syrup is prepared by chopping onions and adding granulated sugar in arbitrary proportions. In a jar left in the dark, the sweet juice that has been released will be visible; by straining it, you will get the medicine you are looking for.

Do not forget that such advice must first be agreed with your doctor.