Quit Smoking : How does it Kill you?

If someone offered you a venomous box which when opened would intoxicate everything around, how comfortably would you be accepting it? You wouldn't accept it, right? Let me tell you that if you are an active smoker, you undeniably have accepted it. Smoking isn't just inhaling and exhaling tobacco , a few doses of it and it has you addicted. 

To this, many people will argue, declaring that smoking isn't addictive. But you yourself very well know that it has become a habit when

• you need larger amounts of the drug to experience the same effect
• you experience physiological and psychological symptoms on sudden withdrawal of the drug

This habit is indeed such a terrible thing. It's a complete no-brainier that it is harmful for you but have you even thought about the people who reluctantly participate in your drug addiction owing to the secondhand smoke? Probably not! 

Regardless of your involvement, it important for you to understand the ill consequences and other details revolving around the topic most importantly for the sake of awareness. 

The Tobacco Industry : Origin

You can easily find tobacco growing alongside crops in farmlands because it's a natural plant. The word 'natural' should not be confused for 'healthy'. The leaves of tobacco plant are dried up and taken into use for smoking or chewing. The cultivation of tobacco is believed to have originated from the American continent. If you read more about it you will find out that tobacco was considered good for health before the early 20th century. Yes, that's surprising. When Columbus set foot on the American soil, native Americans were already cultivating and using tobacco but it was not until the mid-1500s that the discovery was spread to Europe. This happened only when Jean Nicot, a Frenchman influenced the use of tobacco in Europe. Only if you did not figure out yet, nicotine uses his name. 

The only thing which is common in the early and the modern history of tobacco is that ever since the beginning the tobacco Industry has tried lobbying the ill-effects of tobacco consumption. It had successfully downplayed the health related warnings issued by the American Cancer Society in 1944. Several research findings were continuously whitewashed until the government decided to put a check on the industry. Today, smoking is not allowed in social gathering areas like the restaurants and at the movies. Thankfully, now we know the impact of tobacco on our health.

The Problem With Smoking Tobacco

Not all plants can qualify to be declared harmless to health. Even though tobacco is just a plant, the leaves carry chemicals that are toxic, addictive and cancer causing. The list of chemicals cannot be fully accommodated in  any blog post. Following are the most discussed ones: 

• Carbon monoxide : It is the same poisonous and odorless gas which comes out of your vehicle's exhaust. 

• Tar : You most probably know what tar is. Besides what you know, it is also a cancer causing chemical. When tar enters your lungs through the tobacco smoke, it disables the mechanism that removes toxins from your lungs. (It coats and paralyzes the cilia which does the removal) This leads to continuous deposition of tar in your lungs. You can simply think of the impact.

• Nicotine : This is the chemical responsible for the thrill of smoking. You get an adrenaline rush whenever you do something super exciting like a roller-coaster ride. Nicotine creates a mini adrenaline rush. It alerts your brain and also helps it secrete a feel good chemical called dopamine but this pleasure has a very short life and increases craving for tobacco once more. This is why nicotine is supposed to be addictive. This addiction will make you inhale more 'tar' and along with it other cancer causing chemicals.

This information shall be sufficient to make the implications of smoking vivid and clear. Unless you know what's going on behind the scene, you won't understand the consequences and impacts any better. Now that you know the details you can decide better and make a healthy choice for life.

Quit Smoking. Its not your friend.