Your First Step to Change

Section 1: Facts about smoking

Understanding Smoking

People smoke for many different reasons:

Nicotine can be stimulating
It can reduce your appetite
It can help some people feel relaxed
Also, smoking is social and can help some people connect with others

However, there are many health risks associated with smoking. Some problems develop immediately and others develop over time

Nicotine

Nicotine is a natural compound found in the leaves of the tobacco plant. It is a primary ingredient in the tobacco used in cigarettes, cigars, and snuff. Nicotine is associated with addiction. Therefore, smokers often relapse after having successfully stopped smoking for a time.

Cigarette smoking is the most prevalent form of nicotine dependence in the United States. Most cigarettes in the U.S. market today contain 10 milligrams (mg) or more of nicotine. The average smoker takes in 1 to 2 mg nicotine per cigarette smoked. Nicotine is absorbed through the skin and mucosal lining of the mouth and nose, or by inhalation in the lungs.

Nicotine is rapidly distributed throughout the body, reaching the brain within 10 seconds of inhalation. This pace is similar to the experience of a person smoking crack cocaine.

DID YOU KNOW?

Nicotine has multiple physiological effects on humans. When inhaled in short puffs it has a stimulating effect, but when smoked in deep drags it can have a tranquilizing effect. This is why smoking can sometimes feel stimulating, and at other times feel relaxing.

FACT

To date, smoking among USA high school students peaked in 1997 (36%); in 2001, 29 % of high school students reported smoking.

DID YOU KNOW?

Both the tobacco plant (Nicotiana tabacum) and the compound are named for Jean Nicot, a French ambassador to Portugal, who sent tobacco seeds to Paris in 1550.