Some Facts About Nicotine
Nicotine is a substance found in tobacco plants and in small concentrations, it acts as a stimulant to the human body. This is the main reason responsible for the properties that cause tobacco smoking to be addictive. It is historically known for being one of the hardest addictions to break and the characteristics of its addiction are really close to those of a heroin or cocaine addiction. As soon as the cigarette smoke is inhaled, the nicotine is absorbed quickly by the blood stream and reaches the brain within 10-20 seconds after inhalation. Because nicotine activates the Mesolimbic pathway or what is also known as the reward system (the system in the brain that is in charge of regulating the feelings of pleasure and euphoria), it acts as a chemical with intense addictive qualities. These qualities include drug induced feelings of pleasure that overtime, become addiction
The effects of nicotine in the body are not limited to the brain. It also has an effect on the cardiovascular system. Nicotine binds to an area of the brain called the adrenal medulla, and this causes an increase in the adrenaline flow on the body. Thus blood pressure, heart rate and respiration are increased at the same time that blood flow is restricted to the heart muscle. This has extremely negative effects on people with existing heart and blood pressure conditions. If a person is addicted to nicotine, the effect of its withdrawal can include anger, anxiety, depression, difficulty concentrating, increased appetite and strong cravings for nicotine. Nicotine dependence is directly responsible for the difficulty to quit smoking. There have been reports showing that less than 20 percent of people who have tried some type of treatment or course to quit smoking cigarettes, have actually succeeded in abstaining from smoking for a period of at least a year.
Although nicotine effects on the body are harmful enough, the cigarette smoke contains another 4000 types of compounds; the majority of which have devastating effects in the body. Some of these substances are highly carcinogenic and have been directly link to cancer of the lungs. 9 out of 10 cases of lung cancer are caused by smoking. It is also closely associated to cancer of the larynx, esophagus, bladder, kidney, pancreas, stomach, and uterine cervix. Besides this, it has been related to coronary heart disease, stroke, ulcers, and an increased incidence of respiratory infections
Smoking kills half of its regular smokers. If smoking doesn’t kill you, it will severely reduce your quality of life. Although several treatments for nicotine and smoking addiction exists, such as nicotine replacement via nicotine gum or nicotine patches, nasal spray or nicotine inhalers; quitting Cold Turkey is the method that will give the smoker more chance of success. Most long term ex-smokers have successfully quitted this way. Think hard and long about all the reasons in your life why you deserve to quit smoking and have a better quality of life. Realize that smoking is nothing more than a slow and painful road to death and just quit cigs.