SMOKING AND YOUR HEALTH

What’s in tobacco smoke?

■Some of the deadly chemicals in tobacco smoke are:– Tar– Carbon Monoxide– Nicotine

What is Tar?

■Dark sticky substance that forms when tobacco burns

■Causes the cilia to clump together; prevents cilia from functioning.

What is Carbon Monoxide?

■Produced when substances in tobacco are burned

■Colorless odorless gas

What is Nicotine?

■Stimulant drug■Increases the activities of the nervous

system and heart (increases heart beats and blood pressure)

■Addiction: physical dependence

Health problems and smoking. . .

■Common health problems induced by smoking are:– Chronic Bronchitis– Emphysema– Lung cancer

What is Chronic Bronchitis?

■Irritation of breathing passages due to air passages being clogged by mucus (air passages are smaller)

■If the irritation continues for a long period of time it is chronic. This can causes permanent damage.

What is Emphysema?

■Serous disease that destroys lung tissue and causes breathing difficulties.

■For some people it becomes difficult to even blow out a match.

What is Lung Cancer?■Cigarettes contain more than 50

different chemicals that can cause cancer

■The cancer cells take away space in the lungs that is used for gas exchange.

What is Atherosclerosis?

■Physical condition in which chemicals from tobacco smoke are absorbed by blood vessels.

■Those chemicals lead to a buildup of fatty material inside blood vessels.

■High increase potential for a heart attack.

SMOKERS ARE MORE THAN

TWICE AS LIKELY TO HAVE A

HEART ATTACK

Passive Smoking and 2nd Hand Smoke■Associated with the development of

bronchitis and other respiratory problems in about 300,000 young children in the U.S. each year.