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Are You Struggling With Tobacco As Addiction? Read this to quit now!

It is no longer a secret that smoking and chewing tobacco is hazardous to your health. The addictive nature of smoking or chewing tobacco is such that many people who try to quit are successful and many others who try to quit can fail.

These smoking habits can cause changes in your body and the way you act and these changes in your body are caused by an addiction to nicotine which is the main ingredient in tobacco products. The changes in the way you act is developed over time as you bought tobacco smoke products, lit them, and smoked them, or started using chewing tobacco. These changes gradually become habit.

Tobacco Addiction

When you have a habit of tobacco, many things seem to go along with having a cigarette or a dip or chew. You may face pressures from the friends who use tobacco products, so don’t let anyone or anything convinces you that it’s okay to smoke or chew tobacco. If you need help to say no, talk to someone you can trust, like a teacher, a school counselor, or your family doctor and any other people who can help you do so.

Smoking PPT – Powerpoint Presentation (ppt) on Tobacco and its Effects

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E-Cigarette: Why it is fashion today?

A newer influence on tobacco use among the youth is the e-cigarette and other high-tech, fashionable electronic “vaping” devices. It seems to be harmless and easier to get and use than traditional tobacco products, these devices are a great way for new users to learn how to inhale and become themselves addicted to nicotine, which can prepare them for smoking and addict accordingly.

How can you identify a tobacco addiction?

• When you know that smoking is bad for you and you have made unsuccessful attempts to quit
• When you smoke more cigarettes per day now than you did when you began smoking
• When you now need more cigarettes to get the ‘high’ than you did some months ago
• When you finish the day, you discover that you have smoked more cigarettes than you intended to smoke
• When you feel stressed when you run out of cigarettes
• When you try to stop smoking, you experience withdrawal symptoms that make it difficult for you to carry on with your daily life
• When you do not smoke for a certain period of time, your thoughts are mostly focused on how and where you can get your next cigarette
• You plan your schedule around places and activities that can support your smoking habit
• When you find it difficult to stay away from cigarettes in places where smoking is not allowed
• When you smoke even when you are ill and cannot function normally

Tobacco Addiction – Negative health effects

• Causes Lung cancer and other lung diseases
• Makes asthma worse
• Increases your risk of dying of heart and blood vessel (cardiovascular) disease, including heart attack and stroke
• Increases insulin resistance, which can set the stage for the development of type 2 diabetes
• Speeds the progress of complications, such as kidney disease and eye problems
• Increases your risk of serious eye problems such as cataracts and loss of eyesight from macular degeneration
• Increases the risk of reduced fertility in women and the risk of impotence in men
• Deadens your senses of taste and smell, so food isn’t as appetizing
• Develops inflammation of the gum (gingivitis) and a serious gum infection that can destroy the support system for teeth (periodontitis)
• Changes the structure of your skin, causing premature aging and wrinkles
• Yellows your teeth, fingers and fingernails
• Family members of smokers will be more prone to SIDS, worsening asthma, ear infections and colds.

Tips to stop chewing Tobacco

• Evaluate and write down your reasons for quitting. This will help to motivate you.
• Make a plan and schedule for quitting tobacco
• Gradually reduce the amount you use, according to the plan you set
• Identify what triggers the urge to use tobacco and then actively avoid these triggers
• Find alternatives to chew on such as gum and mints
• A doctor can prescribe medications to help you quit

Tips to stop smoking Tobacco

• Try nicotine-replacement therapy
• Join a smoking cessation group or clinic
• Practise relaxation techniques
• Exercise
• Bupropion
• Champix
• Avoid smokers circles
• Get rid of all your tobacco
• Drink lots of water
• Read Allen Carr’s Easy way to stop smoking
• If you fail try again and again until success

Why Tobacco is Poisonous?

Tobacco is poisonous because it causes                                      

• Lung Cancer
• Heart disease
• Diabetes
• Liver cancer
• Erectile Dysfunction
• Ectopic Pregnancy
• Vision Loss
• Tuberculosis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Colorectal cancer
• Blood clots and stroke
• Bladder cancer
• Cervical cancer
• Cleft palates
• Increased illness
• Osteoporosis
• Hearing loss
• Psoriasis
• Poor circulation
• Crohn’s disease
• Acid Reflux
• Premature baldness
• Alzheimer’s
• Lupus
• Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

What are the advantages of giving up Tobacco?

Tobacco is a poison and it nothing but a tar which causes so much of the damage contains arsenic, cyanide, formaldehyde and benzene (yum yum). Tobacco smoke also contains the killer compound carbon monoxide which posses the ability to reduce oxygen in the blood and thus the body’s performance. Stopping smoking immediately to cut yourself from the risk, especially if you give up before you are thirty.

• Increase the length of your life
• Feel fitter and perform better
• Look and smell better
• Able to taste good food and smell sweet smells again
• Become richer because 20-a-day cigarette habit costs well over £1,000 a year
• Your smoking will no longer be a health hazard to your kids

Factors Associated With Youth Tobacco Use

Some factors associated with youth tobacco use are listed below:

• Low socioeconomic status
• Use and approval of tobacco use by peers or siblings
• Exposure to smoking in movies
• Lack of skills to resist influences to tobacco use
• Smoking by parents or guardians and/or lack of parental support or involvement
• Accessibility, availability, and price of tobacco products
• A perception that tobacco use is the norm
• Low levels of academic achievement
• Low self-image or self-esteem
• Exposure to tobacco advertising
• Aggressive behavior (e.g., fighting, carrying weapons)

Tobacco use in teenagers is associated with the following health risk behaviors

• High-risk sexual behavior
• Use of alcohol
• Use of other drugs

Natural Remedies to quit Tobacco

• Put away all smoking-related objects, such as ashtrays
• If you live with a smoker, ask that person not to smoke in your presence
• Don’t focus on your cravings and remind yourself why you want to quit
• Keep yourself busy
• Review your list of activities you can do instead of smoking
• When you get the urge to smoke, take a deep breath and release it slowly
• Keep your hands busy
• Change activities that were connected to smoking
• Take a walk or read a book instead of taking a cigarette break
• Hang out with non-smokers or go to places that don’t allow smoking, such as the movies, museums, shops or libraries
• Eat low-calorie, healthful foods such as carrot or celery sticks, sugar-free hard candies or chew gum
• Drink plenty of fluids
• Remind yourself that you are a nonsmoker
• Exercise regularly because exercising has many benefits and will help you get relax

Chemicals found in tobacco smoke include:

Cigarettes, cigars, and pipe tobacco are made from dried tobacco leaves whereas the other substances are added for flavor and to make smoking more pleasant. The smoke from these tobacco products are a complex mixture of chemicals produced by burning tobacco and its additives. Tobacco smoke is made up of thousands of chemicals, including almost 70 known to cause cancer. These cancer-causing chemicals are referred to as carcinogens. Below mentioned are the chemicals found in tobacco smoke.

• Nicotine
• Hydrogen cyanide
• Formaldehyde
• Lead
• Arsenic
• Ammonia
• Radioactive elements, such as uranium (see below)
• Benzene
• Carbon monoxide
• Nitrosamines
• Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)

FAQs

What Is Tobacco Addiction?

When people are addicted to something they have a compulsive need to seek out and use a substance frequently even after they understand the harm it can cause. Tobacco products like cigarettes, cigars, pipes and smokeless tobacco etc are addictive in nature.

Everyone knows that smoking is bad for you and most people want to quit it. Nearly 35 million people make a serious attempt to quit it each year but unfortunately, most of them who try to quit on their own relapse within a week.

What Is Tobacco Withdrawal?

Many of the smokers say they do not plan to be smoke again in 5 years. But the fact is more than 70 percent of smokers continue to smoke because it is so tough for them to quit. When smokers suddenly stop or sharply cut back on their tobacco use, a host of distressing symptoms quickly set in which results in discomfort or stress. People are tempted to start smoking again to relieve that distress and the common symptoms of tobacco withdrawal include:

• Bad mood
• Depression
• Trouble sleeping
• Irritability
• Anger
• Anxiety
• Short attention span
• Increased appetite
• Weight gain

What are the long term health effects found in smokers?

• Tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable disease and death in Ontario
• Tobacco use is known to cause a number of chronic diseases
• Causes cancers of many types like lung, mouth, throat, pancreas, kidney, bladder, and cervix
• Leads to Heart Disease and Stroke
• Results Lung Diseases such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema
• Causes Osteoporosis
• Tobacco kills 16,000 Ontarians each year
• Increased risk of stroke and brain damage
• Eye cataracts, macular degeneration, yellowing of whites of eyes
• Loss of sense of smell and taste
• Yellow teeth, tooth decay and bad breath
• Cancer of the nose, lip, tongue and mouth
• Possible hearing loss
• Laryngeal and pharyngeal cancers
• Contributes to osteoporosis
• Shortness of breath
• Coughing
• Chronic bronchitis
• Cancer
• Triggering asthma
• Emphysema
• Heart disease
• Blockages in blood supply that can lead to a heart attack
• High blood pressure (hypertension)
• Myeloid leukaemia, a cancer that affects bone marrow and organs that make blood
• Stomach and bladder cancers
• Stomach ulcers
• Decreased appetite
• Grey appearance
• Early wrinkles
• Slower healing wounds
• Damage to blood vessel walls
• Increased likelihood of back pain
• Increased susceptibility to infection
• Lower fertility and increased risk of miscarriage
• Irregular periods
• Early menopause
• Damaged sperm and reduced sperm
• Impotence

Can you suggest tips for a Smoke-Free Life?

• Telephone smoking-cessation hotlines
• Stop-smoking groups
• Online quit groups
• Counseling
• Nicotine replacement products
• Prescription medicine to lessen cravings
• Guide books
• Encouragement and support from friends and family members

What’s the link between smoking and heart attack?

A person’s risk of heart attack is greatly influenced by the number of cigarettes he or she smokes. There is nothing like safe amount of smoking. Smokers continue to have the risk of heart attack as long as they smoke. People who smoke pack of cigarettes a day have more than twice the risk of heart attack than the nonsmokers.

What other medical conditions are linked with smoking?

• Decreased oxygen to the heart and to other tissues in the body
• Decreased exercise tolerance
• Decreased HDL cholesterol
• Increased blood pressure and heart rate
• Damage to cells that line coronary arteries and other blood vessels
• Increased risk of developing coronary artery disease and heart attack
• Increased risk of developing peripheral artery disease and stroke
• Increased risk of developing lung cancer, throat cancer, chronic asthma, chronic bronchitis and emphysema
• Increased risk of developing diabetes
• Increased risk of developing a variety of other conditions including gum disease and ulcers
• Increase tendency for blood clotting
• Increased risk of recurrent coronary artery disease after bypass surgery
• Increased risk of becoming sick

How does cigarette smoke affect others?

Cigarette smoke does not just affect smokers but also affects people around them. When you smoke, the people around you are also at risk for developing health problems, especially children because of the smoke released.

Environmental tobacco smoke often called as passive smoke or second-hand smoke affects the people who are frequently around smokers and cause chronic respiratory conditions, cancer and heart disease.

What are the smoking related health problems in kids?

• Coughing spells
• Shortness of breath, even when not exercising
• Wheezing or gasping
• More frequent headaches
• Increased phlegm (mucus)
• Respiratory illnesses that are worse and happen more often
• Worse cold and flu symptoms
• Reduced physical fitness
• Poor lung growth and function, which increases COPD risk

What are the various Forms of tobacco intake?

• Cigarette – Most common and most harmful
• Bidi – most commonly used form in India
• Cigar –
• Hookah (Hubble bubble)
• Sheesha
• Tobacco chewing
• Kreteks (clove cigarettes)
• Snuff – Moist & Dry
• E-cigarette – recent intruder in the list

What are the affects of tobacco in pregnant women?

• Bleeding during pregnancy
• Ectopic pregnancy
• Miscarriage/abortion
• Premature delivery of baby
• Stillbirth
• Abnormalities of the placenta

What are the effects of tobacco on newborns and childhood?

• Maternal smoking is associated with congenital malformations in baby like orofacial clefts, clubfoot and atrial-septal defects.
• Increased risk of allergies
• Higher blood pressure in childhood
• Increased likelihood of obesity
• Stunted growth
• Poorer lung function
• Increased likelihood of developing asthma

What are the conditions known to worsen if case of tobacco use?

• Rheumatologic conditions: Rheumatoid arthritis
• Kidney damage
• Eye Disease: Age-Related Macular Degeneration
• Dental Disease like caries
• Diabetes
• Inflammatory bowel diseases
• Erectile dysfunction

What are the cancer causing chemicals present in Tobacco?

• Benzene
• 2-naphthylamine
• 4-aminobiphenyl
• Chromium
• Cadmium
• Vinyl chloride
• Ethylene oxide
• Arsenic
• Beryllium
• Nickel
• Polonium-210