The SECRET effects CIGARETTE SMOKING have on you !!!
Just 50mg of Nicotine injected intravenously will KILL an adult. That is why it is imperative to ensure that any child or animal who eats cigarettes through curiosity or whatever is given immediate medical treatment !!!
Cigarette Smoking. An average cigarette contains up to 20 mg of nicotine. Part of this is absorbed by the smoker, the rest enters the atmosphere around the smoker, that is why passive smoking is SO dangerous.
As with most addictive substances, humans have devised a number of ways of delivering nicotine to their bodies. Nicotine readily diffuses through :-
- Skin (patches)
Lungs (smoke)
Mucous membranes (such as the lining of your nose and gums)
Pipes & Cigars
Nicotine moves straight into the small blood vessels that line the tissues listed above. From there it travels through your bloodstream to your brain, and is then delivered to the rest of your body.
Within 10 to 15 seconds of inhaling a smoker will be in the throes of Nicotine’s effects!!!
Nicotine does not hang around in your body for too long, it has a half-life of about 60 minutes, meaning that every 60 minutes the amount of Nicotine in your body is halved. After just 6 hours only about 3% of Nicotine inhaled remains in your body.
Because Nicotine has short term effects lasting 30 and 60 minutes, a smoker will tend to smoke frequently throughout the day to dose themselves with Nicotine.
For the vast majority of cigarette smokers a nights’ sleep or a long holiday flight will have reduced the Nicotine level to a point where the body is free of any physical addictive action. However the brain imbalance of acetylcholine remains for some considerable time longer.
Nicotine stimulates your central nervous system, increasing your heart beat rate and blood pressure, which leads to your heart needing more oxygen.
With cigarette smoking because it is toxic it also causes a rapid release of adrenaline, the hormone involved in your bodies automatic Fight or Flight response to being attacked. This results in:-
- Rapid Heartbeat
Increased Blood Pressure
Rapid, shallow breathing.
Adrenaline also tells your body to dump some of its glucose store into the blood stream.
This is because your Fight or Flight response is meant to help you either defend yourself from a hungry predator or escape from a dangerous situation. Fighting or running away both require lots of energy, and this is what the glucose is used for. It’s the body’s basic fuel!!!
Nicotine itself may block the release of the Hormone insulin. Insulin tells your cells to take up excess glucose from your blood. This means that Nicotine makes people somewhat hyperglycaemic, having more sugar than usual in their blood.
This explains why some people find that smoking curbs their appetite. Their body and brain see the excess sugar in the blood stream, and down-regulate the hormones and other signals that are perceived as hunger.