Why People Use Tobacco

• Advertisements appealing

• Nicotine is addictive

• For pleasant effects: calms nerves, anxiety

• Fight off withdrawal effects

• Take a break, relax

• Each day 5,000 children begin smoking

• 350,000 premature deaths per year due to smoking

• Smoking kills more than all drugs and alcohol combined

What is in Tobacco?

• More than 4,000

chemicals have been

found in smoke

• Most harmful are the “tars” which are carcinogens (cancer causing)

• A smoker can accumulate ¼ - 1 ½ pounds of tar in the lungs each year

• How expensive is it?

Lung Damage

• Smoking damages the cilia (hair like structures that clean the lungs)

• Increases mucus

• Damages the air sacs

Lung Diseases

• Bronchitis – infection of the bronchi, harsh coughing

• Emphysema - air sacs damaged, breathing difficult, leads to death

• Cancer – malignant tumors, destroys lungs

• COLD – Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease

Heart and Circulatory System

• Speeds up the heart

• Risk factor for heart disease

• Raises the BP

• Reduces amount of oxygen carried

• Triggers blood clots

• Carbon monoxide poisoning

Other Effects of Smoking

• Wrinkles skin• Ulcers• Interferes with

immune system• Bad breath• Damages teeth

and gums• And more……

Passive Smoking (Second Hand Smoke)

• Mainstream smoke – smoke from the cigarette filtered twice by filter and lungs

• Sidestream smoke – smoke from the burning cigarette

• 53,000 deaths per year linked to second hand smoke

• Same lung diseases as smokers

• More asthma

Smokeless Tobacco

As addictive as cigarettes

Can cause minor sores

Can cause leukoplakia – a precancerous condition

Can cause cancer

Damages teeth and gums

The Decision to Quit

• Cold turkey –

this is the abrupt quitting method

• Slowly tapering off method –

the use of nicotine gum or nicotine patches

A doctor on his morning walk, noticed the old lady pictured above:,She was sitting on her front step smoking a cigar, so he walked up to her and said,“I couldn’t help but notice how happy you look! What is your secret?”“I smoke ten cigars a day,” she said. “Before I go to bed, I smoke a nice big joint.Apart from that, I drink a whole bottle of Jack Daniels every week, and eat only junk food.On weekends, I pop pills, have sex, and I don’t exercise at all.“That is absolutely amazing! How old are you?”“Forty,” she replied