The Science of Nicotine:
What Kids Should Know About Smoking

Table of Contents.

Click one of the headings below for more information about smoking... 
 

that almost all adults who smoke actually started when they were kids?    that the tobacco industry spends $26.5 million each day on advertising its products --  and on figuring out how to get people to buy more of them? that the typical smoker spends about $700 a year on cigarettes? that cigarettes and other tobacco products cause more deaths than car accidents, AIDS, alcohol and drugs, fires, murders, and suicides combined? that each day more than 3,000 kids become regular smokers? that nicotine, the chemical in cigarettes, is as addictive as extremely powerful and illegal drugs like heroin and cocaine? that more than 5 million kids who are alive today will die prematurely from smoking-related illnesses? that most teens and adults DON’T use tobacco?

What Is Tobacco?  And What Is Nicotine?

Tobacco is that brown crumbly stuff inside a cigarette or cigar.  Tobacco is made from leaves of the tobacco plant.  The leaves are picked, dried, and cured and then chopped up to go into cigarettes and cigars.  Some people like to put the tobacco into a pipe and smoke it that way and others like to buy "chewing tobacco" which they put directly into their mouths.

While many people will say that the chewing and smoking are what they like, the fact is that tobacco contains nicotine (say: nik-uh-teen).   Nicotine is the stuff in tobacco that gives people a "rush" (like with drugs or alcohol), and it is also the stuff that makes people become addicted to tobacco use.   Being addicted means that once your body gets used to having nicotine, it never wants to stop having it.  A person addicted to nicotine will keep wanting it and wanting it-- and feel cross, nervous, and yucky until they get it.

The big problem is, the more you have it, the more you want it.  Some people end up smoking one cigarette right after another.  As soon as one is done, they light up another one!  This is called chain smoking.  The funny thing about smoking cigarettes every day, is that once a smoker's body gets used to the nicotine you not only is she addicted to the nicotine, but she also no longer gets the "rush".   Now she just has a smelly, dangerous, expensive addiction.

 

Nicotine isn't the only harmful thing in Tobacco

Tobacco smoke actually contains over 4,000 chemical compounds, all present as gases or tiny particles.  In addition to nicotine the other two most important chemical compounds are tar and carbon monoxide.

Tar.  If you could see a bunch of tar all stuck into one glob it would look brown and sticky.  Tar builds up inside your lungs and respiratory system when you smoke and is slowly absorbed.  Tar itself is contains such scary harmful chemicals as formaldehyde, arsenic, cyanide, benzoprene, benzene, toluene, and acrolein.

Carbon monoxide.  This, all on its own, could kill you -- if you were to breathe in enough of it all at once.   Once inside your lungs it is absorbed into your bloodstream.  There it attaches itself to the hemoglobin that would normally carry oxygen from your lungs to the different cells and organs in your body -- including your brain.  Too much carbon monoxide in your lungs means no oxygen to the brain, which means your brain dies. 

What Proof Is There That  Smoking Is So Dangerous ?

Cigarette smoke is addictive, filled with poisonous chemicals, and able to cause extreme damage to your many parts of your body, including your heart, brain, and lungs.  Here's some more facts that will help you understand just how dangerous cigarettes are:

• About 30 percent, or one third, of all cancer deaths are attributed to smoking.

• People who smoke between 1 and 14 cigarettes every day have eight times the risk of dying from lung cancer compared to non-smokers.  

• Smokers who smoke more than 25 cigarettes a day have 25 times this risk compared to non-smokers.  Fewer than 10% of lung cancer patients survive five years after diagnosis.

 

• Nicotine narrows your blood vessels and puts an added strain on your heart, increasing your risk of heart attack and stroke.

• Smoking also increases the chances that you will get cancer,  bronchitis, stomach ulcers, leukemia, gangrene, and asthma.  Click here to see the full list of what smoking can do to your body. (Caution: some of the pictures are icky.)

• Researchers at the University of Bergen, in Norway, have recently announced that people who smoke are 2 to 3 times as likely to develop Multiple Sclerosis (MS) than are non-smokers.  MS is a terrible disease that causes a person to lose the use of their body, bit by bit, until they are paralyzed and finally die.

 

• Kids who use tobacco are more prone to coughing, phlegm, and asthma attacks and have more sick days.  This means they miss more school than non-smokers, and it means their families must spend more money for doctor's visits and medicine.   Smoking teens also miss out more on sports and other after school activities, like drama club and choir.

• About half of the teens who start smoking will die from it.

• Smoking destroys your lungs and reduces the amount of oxygen going to your brain, organs, and muscles --  making it that much harder to be a top achiever in sports or on your report card. 

 

• Also people who smoke feel winded (start gasping for breath) almost 3 times as often as people who don't smoke.  So being a smoker makes your body feel "out of shape" even if your exercise frequently!  Which may explain why smokers tend to run more slowly than non-smokers.

• Because smoking is so addictive, it's hard for women to quit when they become pregnant.  A baby whose mom smokes is at higher risk for being born too early (premature birth), having a low weight at birth, or dying of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.   (Click here for info to help pregnant moms quit smoking.) 

Additional Side Effects of Cigarette Use

• The smoke from a person's cigarette can also make the people around him sick.  Each year, thousands of kids under the age of 5 are taken to the doctor because of problems caused by smoke from their parents' cigarettes.   Children who grow up around heavy smokers often have lung problems and other health issues later in life.  

Even adults who are stuck around people who smoke heavily can develop lung disease and asthma.  And whether you are a kid or an adult, breathing in this second hand smoke can cause your nose to stuff up and give you a headache, irritated eyes, and a raspy, irritated throat. 

• Tobacco smoke makes the smoker's hair and clothing stink.  Heavy smoking will even make their home and car smell bad.  It can also cause damage to photographs and paintings displayed in their home.

• Tobacco stains the smoker's teeth.

• Smoking gives you bad breath.   And many non-smokers say that kissing someone who's just had a cigarette is like kissing an ash tray!  Yuck!

• People who smoke have less attractive skin.  The poor blood circulation caused by smoking makes them look pale and pasty.  And they are more prone to getting wrinkles.

• Smoking can affect both your sense of taste and smell, making you less able to enjoy your food.

• Kids who smoke tend to have lower grades than kids who don't -- and less self esteem too.

• Kids who smoke cigarettes are much more likely to try alcohol and illegal drugs.

 

 

But What About Low Tar & Mild Cigarettes -- or smokeless tobacco?

Cigars, pipe smoke, and chewing tobacco and cigars are not safe alternatives to cigarettes.  Even cigarettes that are labeled  "mild",  "low-tar", and "additive-free" are not safe either.

• Short-term use of spit tobacco can cause cracked lips, white spots, sores, and bleeding in the mouth.

• Surgery to remove oral cancers caused by tobacco use can lead to serious changes in the face. Sean Marcee, a high school star athlete who used spit tobacco, died of oral cancer when he was 19 years old.

   

 

 

Why Do Kids Start Smoking?

• Many teens get started because their friends are smoking. They just want to fit in.  They don't want to looking boring, babyish, or "square" by standing around empty-handed while everyone else is smoking.  Also, they get curious.  After all, their friends makes such a big deal out of the pleasure of getting a cigarette after waiting for one all through class or a movie.  (But this is actually just because their friends are addicted to the nicotine.)

 

• Some teens want to feel rebellious.  They start smoking because they know parents and teachers don't want them to.  It also seems like a "safe" way to do something risky and dangerous.  But while trying one cigarette won't kill you, it will likely start a habit that is dangerous, and often deadly.  It's so much easier to avoid getting hooked on tobacco if you never even try it.

 

• Other teens start smoking because their parents and other important adults around them smoke.  So they think smoking is just what grown-ups do.  And so they smoke to look and feel "grown up".  The truth is that people look more grown up when they make smart, responsible choices -- like avoiding dangerous addictions.   Another truth:  most grown-ups don't smoke!

 

 

• Some teens who smoke claim that smoking relaxes them.  It can be true that an addicted person feels less jumpy and grumpy once they've given their body the nicotine that it has become addicted to.  But it's important to remember these facts:

   

  • Smoking cigarettes makes the heart beating faster.  When a person is genuinely calm their heartbeats in a slow, steady rhythm.
  • Once the person is done with their cigarette, it won't be long before the craving makes them feeling jumpy and irritable again.
  • People who smoke are always having to find a time and place to indulge their addiction.  The are often having to stand out in the rain or the blazing heat, and trying to find time for "a smoke" while still being on time for work, a movie, a class, or etc. can cause a lot of stress.
  • And most of all, finding out that your body is getting sicker and sicker from cigarette smoke, and knowing how hard it is to quit, is very scary.  Being scared  is hardly relaxing.

• Sadly some teens, especially girls, take up smoking because they think it will keep them from snacking and so keep their weight down.  The truth is, smoking can lead to deadly sicknesses like cancer that make you lose dangerous amounts of weight.  It doesn't feel good.  It's not pretty.  And it can kill you.

• Most people who start smoking don't realize how hard it will be to quit.  Before they realize it, they've smoked so many cigarettes that they are addicted.  And quitting seems too hard.

Why Can't They Just Stop?

As we've said before, tobacco products are addicting.  In fact, they are as habit forming as the most addictive of illegal drugs, heroine.  What's more, not only are they physically addictive (meaning the body wants more of the nicotine), but  they are psychologically addictive as well.  This means, we can become so used to smoking a cigarette as a way to take a break for relaxing or to distract ourselves from unpleasant thoughts that we don't know how to handle these situations without smoking.   In other words, our body is used to the nicotine and our mind is used to the actions of lighting, holding, and puffing on a cigarette whenever we feel uncomfortable.

According to surveys at least 70% of all grown-up smokers would like to quit smoking.  But many of them have tried to quit, found it too difficult and went back to smoking.  The most common reasons that people give are:

1. The intensity of withdrawal symptoms

2. Weight Gain

3. A longing for the pleasure associated with smoking.

Withdrawal symptoms

Withdrawal symptoms are all the different feelings and reactions a person's mind and body have after they slow or stop their use of a drug.  Withdrawal symptoms are usually temporary (unless the chemical is something the body really needs-- such as the insulin required by those people with severe diabetes).

 In other words, if only the person can make it through the first few weeks after quitting, they will begin to feel much better.  To see how this works, let's look at the two charts below.  The first chart shows how long the different symptoms last.

 source:  http://www.ash.org.uk/

As we can see from the chart, the worst symptoms occur in the first few days after quitting smoking.  But it's about a month before a person whose quit smoking begins to feel more like their old self. 

source:  http://www.ash.org.uk/

What Does It Take To Truly Quit Smoking?

As we can see in the chart above, quitting smoking can dramatically improve our health and our chances at a long happy life.  But we've also seen that most people find it hard to quit and that the withdrawal symptoms can last quite a while.   There are three things therefore that are needed to quit smoking:

1. The smoker must want to quit.
2. There must be a way to cope with the symptoms of  withdrawal.
3. There must be a way to handle the situations and feelings that used to be handled through smoking.

Tips for quitting smoking. 

Even More Information to Help Smokers Quit

http://www.zyban.com/

http://www.wellbutrin-xl.com/

 

A Word About Weight gain

Many people who quit smoking are concerned about gaining weight.  In the first few months after quitting, a person feels an increased appetite.  So it may be necessary to be extra careful about one eats.  It may help to drink extra water, to eat large portions of low starch vegetables (salad, green beans, zucchini, cabbage, carrots, etc.), to limit sugary foods and fats (like butter, salad dressing, deep frying), and get a little added exercise.  In fact, going for a nice walk, riding a bike, or playing some sports will help release stress and tension even as it burns calories.  

Also remember, that while some 80% of smokers gain weight when they quit, this gain quickly tapers off.  Most only gain 6-8 pounds over the long haul.   Following the tips above should reduce this amount considerably and will also help improve over all health.  If worst comes to worst, it may be necessary to seek out some support (a doctor, a weight loss club, or Overeaters Anonymous) in order to stay on track with healthy eating.

The most important fact to keep in mind, is that the struggle with a few extra pounds is a small matter compared with the risks of long terms smoking. 

The typical smoker spends about $700 a year on cigarettes. Think of what you could do with all that cash:   Play 2,800 video-arcade games. Have the world's greatest slumber party: Take your 40 best friends to the movies, then order 19 pizzas (with everything, of course!) to munch on while reading your 162 new comic books.  Talk on the phone to your friend in another state for 126 hours and 22 minutes. Make a donation to your favorite charity. That way you could really help others! Buy 1,400 seedlings to plant three acres of oak, hickory, walnut, or ash trees. It's boring, we know, but if you put $700 every year in a bank account earning 5 percent interest, you'd have $25,003.47 after 20 years. With a sum like that you could really have some fun!   from National Center For Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

 

 Read what other kids have done to help end smoking across America

 

9 Things You Can Do To Make Your World Smoke-Free!

 

5 Short Films by Kids -- About the Culture of Smoking

A picture is worth a thousand words, so a movie must be....  Well pretty darned effective anyway.  Check out what these kids had to tell, and show, other kids about smoking.

 

 

It is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to buy cigarettes, chewing tobacco, cigars, or any other tobacco product!

 

 

The Surgeon's General's Reports on Smoking

Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
Check out this super site for latest news in the war on smoking and.   Be especially sure to check out their section of articles on kids & tobacco!  Great for school reports or just being informed.   And don't miss the Youth Action sub site.  Find out what kids like you are doing to stop the threat of tobacco addiction.

American Lung Association
The American Lung Association works to prevent lung disease and its causes, including smoking.   Check here for the latest news on laws to limit smoking in public places, recent research, and more.

SLAM!
SLAM is a fifteen-minute video developed to help young people be more aware of the power and pervasiveness of cigarette advertising and to help them explore ways to resist the influences of the tobacco industry.

ASH -- Action on Smoking and Health

 

The More You Know About Smoking

Watch these short PSA films about smoking with stars like Sarah Chalke, Brittany Snow, Sean Hayes, and Epatha Merkerson.