Smoking Addiction Effects On Smokers Attitudes

October 30th, 2008 by admin

Nicotine is an addictive stimulant and is one of the main factors leading to continued tobacco smoking. Although the percentage of the nicotine inhaled with tobacco smoke is quite small (most of the substance is destroyed by the heat)[citation needed] it is still sufficient to cause physical and/or psychological dependence.

Prior to habituation, tobacco smokers often focus on the reinforcing properties of smoking rather than the associated health risks[citation needed]. The diseases caused by smoking surface relatively later in life, so they do not serve to deter smoking.

Addiction Awarness About Passive smoking

Passive or involuntary smoking occurs when the exhaled and ambient smoke (otherwise known as environmental or secondhand smoke) from one person’s cigarette is inhaled by other people. Passive smoking involves inhaling carcinogens, as well as other toxic components, that are present in secondhand tobacco smoke.

Secondhand smoke is known to harm children, infants and reproductive health through acute lower respiratory tract illness, asthma induction and exacerbation, chronic respiratory symptoms, middle ear infection, lower birth weight babies, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS.

In a study published on August 25, 2004 smoke-free policies were linked to a short-term reduction in admissions for acute myocardial infarction. In a study released on February 12, 2006 warning signs for cardiovascular disease are higher in people exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke, adding to the link between “passive smoke” and heart disease.

“Our study provides further evidence to suggest low-level exposure to secondhand smoke has a clinically important effect on susceptibility to cardiovascular disease,” said Dr. Andrea Venn of University of Nottingham in Britain, lead author of the study.

According to the U.S. Surgeon General’s Report (Chapter 5; pages 180–194), secondhand smoke is connected to SIDS.[33] Infants who die from SIDS tend to have higher concentrations of nicotine and cotinine (a biological marker for secondhand smoke exposure) in their lungs than those who die from other causes. Infants exposed to secondhand smoke after birth are also at a greater risk of SIDS.

According to earlier studies the smoking ban led to significant improvements regarding respiratory symptoms and lung function in people visiting bars and restaurants. Previously scientists stated that environmental tobacco smoke leads to coronary heart disease, lung cancer and premature death.

The case is available in the February edition of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine.

Addiction Awarness About Somatic and psychological effects

Nicotine is a highly addictive psychoactive chemical. When tobacco is smoked, most of the nicotine is pyrolyzed; a dose sufficient to cause mild somatic dependency and mild to strong psychological dependency remains. There is also a formation of harmane (a MAO inhibitor) from the acetaldehyde in cigarette smoke, which seems to play an important role in nicotine addiction probably by facilitating dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens in response to nicotine stimuli.

According to studies by Henningfield and Benowitz, overall nicotine is more addictive than cannabis, caffeine, ethanol, cocaine, and heroin when considering both somatic and psychological dependence. However, due to the stronger withdrawal effects of ethanol, cocaine and heroin, nicotine may have a lower potential for somatic dependence than these substances.

A study by Perrine concludes that nicotine’s potential for psychological dependency exceeds all other studied drugs – even ethanol, an extremely physically addictive substance with severe withdrawal symptoms that can be fatal. About half of Canadians who currently smoke have tried to quit. McGill University health professor Jennifer O’Loughlin stated that nicotine addiction can occur as soon as five months after the start of smoking.

Recent evidence has shown that smoking tobacco increases the release of dopamine in the brain, specifically in the mesolimbic pathway, the same neuro-reward circuit activated by drugs of abuse such as heroin and cocaine. This suggests nicotine use has a pleasurable effect that triggers positive reinforcement.

One study found that smokers exhibit better reaction-time and memory performance compared to non-smokers, which is consistent with increased activation of dopamine receptors. Neurologically, rodent studies have found that nicotine self-administration causes lowering of reward thresholds–a finding opposite that of most other drugs of abuse (e.g. cocaine and heroin).

This increase in reward circuit sensitivity persisted months after the self-administration ended, suggesting that nicotine’s alteration of brain reward function is either long lasting or permanent. Furthermore, it has been found that nicotine can activate long term potentiation in vivo and in vitro. These studies suggests nicotine’s “trace memory” may contribute to difficulties in nicotine abstinence.