Tobacco is considered as one of the leading causes of premature death and is associated with 5 million deaths every year all over the world. There are treatments available for tobacco and nicotine addiction that can provide immediate health benefits.
Addiction to tobacco
According to studies, tobacco addiction kills one person prematurely every six seconds. Nicotine is the principal addicting component of tobacco. Tobacco use is the primary cause of death among Americans. Tobacco smoke contains 4000 chemicals and nicotine is one among those chemicals. Cigarette smoking is one of the popular methods of tobacco addiction. However, many people use tobacco products such as chewing tobacco and snuff. These are smokeless products containing nicotine and other harmful chemicals.
Also Read: Health Effects of Smoking
Effects of Nicotine
Tobacco use through cigarette smoking is a highly efficient method of delivering tobacco directly to the body system. An average smoker inhales 1 to 2 milligrams of nicotine per cigarette. Nicotine directly reaches the blood stream once it is taken through cigarette smoking. It is very important to know that an individual who smokes about 30 cigarettes per day gets 300 hits of nicotine to the brain daily. Whereas people who do not smoke or use any tobacco product gets nicotine through the mucosal membranes that reach the brain more slowly.
Nicotine is a highly addictive substance because the way it makes a user feel and the way he/she uses nicotine becomes a part of their daily life. Like heroin and cocaine, nicotine is highly addictive substance, which is tough to eliminate from your life once you have started taking it. Once you become addicted, you smoke to achieve mental and physical satisfaction. That cigarette smoking provides. This smoking related satisfaction stays for a short time, and then new cravings develop within a short period.
Medical consequences of tobacco use
It has been estimated that cigarette smoking kills more Americans than alcohol consumption, suicide, car accidents, street drugs use, and AIDs. Why it is said that cigarette smoking is injurious to health because smoking affects almost all parts of the body. It is associated with health conditions such as pneumonia, cataracts, and is one of the reasons behinds cancer deaths. Smoking is very well known to cause lung disorders such as emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and asthma. Also, most people die from chronic obstructive disease due to cigarette smoking. The fact is well documented that smoking increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attack, stroke, vascular disease, and aneurysm.
High doses of nicotine, such as those found in insecticide sprays can cause damage to a great extent. They may cause health issues such as convulsions, tremors, vomiting, death as well.
Treatment for tobacco addiction
The good news is that treatments for tobacco and nicotine addiction do work. Some smokers quit smoking without using any treatment option, while some need assistance with giving up nicotine use. It is necessary to stop smoking for a better overall health. Quitting have immediate health benefits. Within a few days, you will able to see changes in your bodies; you will feel light and energetic like you were before. Within a day of quitting, your blood pressure drops and chances of developing heart diseases decrease. Whereas it’s long term benefits include reduced risk of lung disorders, stroke, coronary heart disease, and certain cancers. By quitting smoking, you may increase your life expectancy by five years.
Treatment options
The first pharmacological treatment approved by the FDA was nicotine replacement therapies (NRTIs). The treatment includes the use of nicotine gums and the transdermal nicotine patch to decrease smoking effects. NRTI effectively relieves withdrawal symptoms and provide lower nicotine levels, and then they get through tobacco smoke. Other than NRTIs, there are several medications available that are extremely effective in reducing the effects of smoke. Such medications to quit smoking include bupropion and Varenicline that helps people quit smoking.
Quitting tobacco or nicotine use can be difficult, but little efforts can make it easy and possible.
