How can smoking in one hour affect the human body?

What do we know about smoking?

Clay smoking pipes were found in Egypt, which date back to from the 21th to the 18th century BC. Tobacco smoking is mentioned in ancient Chinese literature and is preserved in ancient Indian paintings. Herodotus said that the Scythians inhaled the smoke of burning plants. Most countries learned about tobacco after the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492. Tobacco spread in Europe after Columbus's second visit to America in 1496. His companion, the Spanish monk Roman Panno, brought tobacco seeds from the province of Tabago on the island of Haiti and planted them for the first time in Spain as an ornamental plant. Tobacco came to Portugal from Spain. Then tobacco plantations appeared in a number of southern countries.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, tobacco was believed to cure many diseases. It was ground into a powder for sniffing. In England, Turkey and Russia, smoking was severely punished, up to death, in Italy - excommunication.
In the 18th century, there are reports about the harm of smoking. In the 40s, medical literature wrote about the harmful effects of tobacco on the human body. From this time on, illusions about medicinal properties are lost.
But the production of tobacco in Europe was increasingly developed, because its trade brought great profits.
In Russia, smoking has spread with extraordinary force. Under Peter I (the tsar himself was a smoker) in 1697, all prohibitions were lifted. Entire tobacco plantations appeared in Crimea, and the first tobacco factory in Ukraine appeared in the first quarter of the 18th century in the town of Okhtyrka.

Tobacco - benefit or harm?

Benefit

Tobacco is a herbaceous plant of the nightshade family. There are Money than 60 of its species in the world. Tobacco has beautiful flowers, and some of its species are used in ornamental gardening. Tobacco produces a chemical product - nicotine sulfate, which is used in agriculture to protect plants from pests. Sometimes housewives sprinkle woolen clothes with tobacco, saving them from moths.

Harm

Only in the 80s of the 20th century, a comprehensive study of the effects of tobacco on the human body was conducted in the USA. About a third of the total toxicity of tobacco smoke is nicotine.

Nicotine:

• It is an oily, transparent liquid with an unpleasant odor and a bitter taste.
• quickly absorbed by mucous membranes, skin, easily enters the blood through the alveoli of the lungs,
• Poisonous substances spread in the human body in 21-23 seconds,
• It is a drug - it is it that causes addiction to tobacco and is one of the most dangerous plant poisons,
• At the time of puffing, the temperature at the tip of the cigarette reaches 600 -900°C,
• Nicotine enters the body together with tobacco smoke. Its disposal occurs mainly in the liver, kidneys and lungs, but the decay products are excreted from the body within 10-15 hours after smoking,
• For a person, the lethal dose of nicotine is from 50 to 100 mg, or 2-3 drops, this is the dose that enters the bloodstream after smoking 20-25 cigarettes. A smoker does not die because such a dose is introduced gradually, not in one dose, but during 30 years he smokes approximately 20,000 cigarettes, absorbing an average of 800g of nicotine, each particle of which causes irreparable damage to health.

Neither «light cigarettes», nor all kinds of filters, nor the content of the amount of nicotine and resins change the risk of diseases and do not reduce the dependence that develops from smoking.

Meanwhile, the «mixture» for cigarettes contains about four hundred chemicals, including phosgene, not to mention very heavy poisonous substances. Here are some of them:

• Ammonia – contributes to the fact that the cigarette does not burn and nicotine is absorbed into the blood faster,
• Toluene is a strong industrial solvent,
• Acetic acid – inhalation of vapors leads to the destruction of mucous membranes and ulcerative burns of the respiratory tract,
• Stearic acid is one of the main components of soot, which affects all respiratory tracts,
• Nitrobenzene is a deadly toxic gas that causes irreversible damage to the circulatory system when smoked.
• Formaldehyde, nickel, cadmium, hexavalent chromium (strong carcinogen).

Immediate effects of smoking

From low to medium doses

Effects that can occur after smoking tobacco include:

• Initial stimulation, then a decrease in the activity of the brain and nervous system,
• Increased vigilance and concentration,
• A feeling of slight euphoria,
• Feeling of relaxation,
• Increase in blood pressure and heart rate,
• Decreased blood flow to the fingers and toes,
• Decrease in skin temperature,
• Bad breath,
• Decreased appetite,
• Dizziness,
• Nausea, abdominal cramps and vomiting,
• Headache,
• Cough due to smoke irritation.

Higher doses

A high dose of nicotine can cause an overdose in a person. This means that a person has taken more nicotine than his body can handle. Effects of very large doses may include:

• Increasing unpleasant effects,
• Feeling faint,
• Confusion of consciousness,
• Rapid decrease in blood pressure and respiratory rate,
• Cramps,
• Respiratory arrest (respiratory arrest) and death.

At least half of smokers will die from smoking. Their life expectancy is reduced by at least 10 years compared to those who have never smoked. Smoking just 1 to 4 cigarettes a day is enough to increase the risk of premature death.

Smoking 1 to 5 cigarettes a week can be enough for a person to become addicted. Nicotine addiction is comparable to heroin or cocaine addiction.