Smoking Facts

A single inhalation of a cigarette invites over 4000 different dangerous, carcinogenic chemicals into a smoker’s body. The mixture of tar, nicotine, harmful gases and chemicals has detrimental effects on a smoker’s lungs, body, arteries and organs. Many people start smoking due to peer pressure or simply to conform with others, they seldom know all the smoking facts and exactly how much harm smoking can do, not only to themselves, but to non-smokers too.

Cigarettes – unrolled

In order to be fully aware of all the smoking facts, it’s important to know what goes into a cigarette. A single cigarette contains, as mentioned above, over 4000 different harmful chemicals. On their own, each chemical can play a massive role in damaging your body, and together, they make up a rather lethal cocktail. The following chemicals can be found in cigarettes and are transferred into the body through the act of smoking.

Nicotine

Nicotine is considered to be the addictive element in cigarettes, the chemical that gets smokers hooked and has them coming back time and time again. Some smoking statistics show that nicotine is as highly addictive as cocaine. Nicotine is responsible for affecting the increase and decrease of hormones in the brain, namely noradrenaline and dopamine.

When increased, these specific hormones have a positive, radiant effect on your mood and concentration levels. These hormones decrease rapidly after a cigarette, leaving the smoker irritable, moody and anxious, which is precisely why they are addictive, as another cigarette will temporally place them back into that euphoria again.

Smoking facts don't just have to be about how the lungs and heart are harmed, as nicotine also slows the body’s ability to heal itself by dehydrating the skin, which has a run on affect off the overall aging and longevity of your skin. It raises the level of cholesterol in the blood too.

Tar

While nicotine is considered one of the worst chemicals in a cigarette due to its addictive properties, it isn’t the most harmful. Tar is inhaled through smoking and deposited in the lungs and is massively carcinogenic (cancerous).

Carbon monoxide

Another interesting smoking fact is that of all the chemicals that go into a single cigarette, carbon monoxide is the one that makes smoking harmful to pregnant women. Carbon monoxide prevents oxygen bonding with the haemoglobin’s in the blood stream, which means that not enough oxygen is carried around the body. Pregnant women therefore, put the foetus in danger as it may not get enough oxygen to survive.

Benzene, polonium and oxidant gases

These are just 3 more harmful chemicals and gases found in cigarettes. Oxidant gases are gases that react with oxygen, which in turn makes the blood in your arteries and veins more likely to clot, increasing your likelihood of experiencing a heart attack. Benzene used to be added to the solution used to make petrol.

Without even looking at smoking statistics or any more smoking facts, you will surely be considering giving it up. Smoking is a habit that’s responsible for causing impotence, infertility in both men and women, and for causing a number of different cancers. Coping with the side effects of giving up can be difficult, but all you have to do is remind yourself of the harm smoking does and you’ll never regret it.