English writing-Fact paper

Effects of Smoking Cigarettes

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San José State University

Louis W. Sullivan, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, said, “Smoking tobacco is one of the greatest sources of preventable diseases and death in our population” (“Tobacco,” 2003). Tobacco is a type of leaf that contains nicotine (Davidson, Willingham, & Lerner, 2012). In the United States, and also worldwide, nicotine is considered “the most influential dependence-producing drug” (Davidson et al., 2012). According to the United States Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, about 42.1 million people in the United States smoke cigarettes (“Adult,” 2014). Although most people know that human lungs are affected because of cigarette smoking, some might not know about its effect on brains. Smoking cigarettes also affects one’s psychological being, mostly caused by dependency of the substance, and it leads to death.

One effect caused by smoking cigarettes can be seen on the smoker’s lungs. Smoking cigarettes causes chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD (“COPD,” 2014; “Tobacco,” 2003). Emphysema and chronic bronchitis both fall under COPD (“COPD,” 2014). Emphysema is damage to the organ’s air sacs, and chronic bronchitis is when there is too much mucus clogging the tube, causing a lot of coughing and difficulty breathing (“COPD,” 2014). Back in the day, females are not at risk of COPD. However, as time goes by, the number for COPD on females is almost the same as males. (“COPD,” 2014; “Tobacco,” 2003). According to Dr. Dawn DeMeo, “the number of women dying from COPD surpassed the number of men dying from COPD” in 2000 (“COPD,” 2014). Most precautions for cigarette smoking addresses lungs as one effect, however, others focuses on its effect on human brains because of nicotine’s nature.

Immediate effect of smoking can be seen on the smoker’s brain activity (Davidson et al., 2012). Once nicotine is in the system, it releases dopamine, which is “neurotransmitter (nerve signaling molecule) that affects mood” (Davidson et al., 2012, p. 1046). This results in changes of behaviors, and eventually, depression (“Tobacco,” 2003). As both stimulant and depressant (sedative), smokers sometimes experience enjoyment, but sometimes can also feel relaxed after smoking nicotine (Davidson et al., 2012; “Tobacco,” 2003). When a person smokes tobacco, the nicotine reaches the smoker’s brain within seconds, and because of its “positive reinforcement effect,” the smoker wants to experience the pleasure again, leading to dependency of substance. (“Tobacco in,” n.d; “Tobacco,” 2003).

Dependency, in medical definition, is “the body's physical need, or addiction, to a specific agent” (“Drug,” n.d.). Drugs that release dopamine, as mentioned earlier, result in one’s “reward pathway” switch turning on (Sternberg, Willingham, & Davidson, 2012). The desire to experience “another pleasurable sensation” after smoking nicotine leads to addiction (Davidson et al., 2012). After a while, smokers need to increase the dose to get the same effect. However, if the smoker stops smoking cigarette, he or she might experience withdrawal (Sternberg et al., 2012).

Withdrawal has both “physiological and psychological factors” that makes it “very difficult” to deal with (Davidson et al., 2012). Withdrawal side effects vary, but include tremor, insomnia, inability to concentrate, agitation, aggression, depression, vomiting, nightmares, sweating, cravings, decreased heart rate, and anxiety. (Davidson et al., 2012; Sternberg et al., 2012). Within about six months, most people who tried to stop smoking experience “relapse”, or go back to their previous habit of smoking (Davidson et al., 2012). Prolong smoking because of dependency of nicotine result in other consequences, including death.

Death is one of the end results caused by smoking cigarettes. According to United States Department of Health and Human Services, 440,000 people died every year as a result of smoking cigarettes in the United States (Alan & Alfonso, 2007). Worldwide, the mortality number is approximately five million per year (Sternberg et al., 2012). One research found that smoking increases the “risk of all-cause mortality” on stroke survivors, cancer mortality as the biggest cause (Levine, et al., 2014).

Another phenomenon is called secondhand smoking, and it is affecting non-smokers. Being in the same room with a smoker means the non-smoker involuntarily inhales smokes with “higher concentrations of carbon monoxide and substances believed to be carcinogenic” (“Tobacco,” 2003). Children whose mothers smoke generally are in higher risk of mortality (“Tobacco,” 2003). Before an infant is turning one, secondhand smoke can kill him or her due to breathing difficulty (“Tobacco,” 2003).

Diseases and deaths that are avoidable have to exist because of smoking . Some of the effects of smoking cigarettes can be seen in the smoker’s lungs and brain. Sooner or later, the smoker will experience dependency towards nicotine, and if it continues, he or she is in higher death risk compared to his or her non-smoking counterparts (“Nicotine,” 2004). Everyone wants to try out new things, including smoking cigarettes. However, “preventable disease and death” can be kept away from the society by “avoid[ing] the use of tobacco products” (Davidson et al., 2012). If one already smokes, “psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers…provided by specialized addiction treatment programs and clinics” will help stopping the habit (Sternberg et al., 2012).

References

Peer-reviewed Sources:

Awan, S. N., & Alphonso, V. A. (2007). Effects of Smoking on Respiratory Capacity and Control. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 21(8), 623-636. Retrieved from http://libaccess.sjlibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ771198&site=ehost-live

COPD: Could you be at risk?. (2014). Harvard Women's Health Watch, 21(10), 5. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/ehost/detail?sid=edad358f-a8ca-4a91-a666-f2d382c83a9a%40sessionmgr4004&vid=5&hid=4114&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=awh&AN=96104180

Davidson, T., Willingham, E. J., & Lerner, B. W. (2012). Nicotine and related disorders. In K. Key (Ed.), The Gale Encyclopedia of Mental Health (3rd ed., Vol. 2, pp. 1043-1049). Detroit: Gale. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX4013200322&v=2.1&u=csusj&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=370c8573e0a4c657d06d21c2c98537e1

Levine, D. A., Walter, J. M., Karve, S. J., Skolarus, L. E., Levine, S. R., & Mulhorn, K. A. (2014). Smoking and mortality in stroke survivors: Can we eliminate the paradox?. Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases. doi: 10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2013.10.026

Nicotine. (2004). In K. L. Lerner & B. W. Lerner (Eds.), The Gale Encyclopedia of Science (3rd ed., Vol. 4, pp. 2767-2768). Detroit: Gale. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3418501570&v=2.1&u=csusj&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=faf5c2166144a295a7628a3c2175e9c9

Sternberg, B. S., Willingham, E. J., & Davidson, T. (2012). Addiction. In K. Key (Ed.), The Gale Encyclopedia of Mental Health (3rd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 21-27). Detroit: Gale. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX4013200016&v=2.1&u=csusj&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=c17c59874b65aa605516f092cbf28e08

Tobacco in the brain. (n.d.). In The Know Zone. Retrieved June 26, 2014, from http://www.intheknowzone.com/substance-abuse-topics/tobacco/tobacco-in-the-brain.htm

Tobacco: Medical complications. (2003). In R. Carson-DeWitt (Ed.), Drugs, Alcohol, and Tobacco: Learning about Addictive Behavior (Vol. 3, pp. 134-141). New York: Macmillan Reference USA. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3402100211&v=2.1&u=csusj&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=e0dc3094b59d0977d83e046380af8296

Other Sources:

Adult Cigarette Smoking in the United States: Current Estimates. (2014, February 14). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved June 26, 2014, from http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/adult_data/cig_smoking/

Drug dependence and abuse: Dependence vs addiction. (n.d.). eMedicineHealth. Retrieved June 26, 2014, from http://www.emedicinehealth.com/drug_dependence_and_abuse/article_em.htm

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� Drug Dependence and Abuse: Dependence vs Addiction. (n.d.). eMedicineHealth. Retrieved June 26, 2014, from � HYPERLINK "http://www.emedicinehealth.com/drug_dependence_and_abuse/article_em.htm" ��http://www.emedicinehealth.com/drug_dependence_and_abuse/article_em.htm�

� Levine, D. A., Walter, J. M., Karve, S. J., Skolarus, L. E., Levine, S. R., & Mulhorn, K. A. (2014). Smoking and mortality in stroke survivors: Can we eliminate the paradox?. Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases. doi: 10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2013.10.026

� Davidson, T., Willingham, E. J., & Lerner, B. W. (2012). Nicotine and related disorders. In K. Key (Ed.), The Gale Encyclopedia of Mental Health (3rd ed., Vol. 2, pp. 1043-1049). Detroit: Gale.