Why Tobacco Is Bad for You and How to Quit Smoking

Any movies that depict the years between 1920 and 1950 tend to be filled with images of smokers. From couture ladies with their thin cigarettes to men in suits holding their cigars, the culture of smoking used to permeate the silver screen, which closely mirrored the reality of life at that era.

After it was discovered that smoking is bad for your health, more and more regulations popped up in various countries to discourage people from taking up the habit. Although global tobacco use has declined vastly starting from the 1960s, tobacco smokers are still prevalent in certain countries. It also experienced a surge in popularity around the 2010s when e-cigarettes were in vogue.

A puff of a cigarette can easily lead to a lifetime habit of smoking a pack a day. This is not entirely due to a lapse of judgment - tobacco is well-known for containing a substance called nicotine. Nicotine is responsible for causing you to continue to crave more and more tobacco. The substance is dopaminergic - which means that it affects the brain system that governs pleasure.

Nicotine enters your body when you inhale cigarette smoke. As nicotine travels to your brain, neurotransmitters are released, including dopamine. This is what creates the well-known 'cigarette head rush' phenomenon - where someone feels extreme alertness and joy.

However, the more you consume nicotine, the more this system adapts to chase the pleasure it receives from the smoking experience. Certain structures of the central nervous system will transform to accommodate the nicotine as a primary source of releasing dopamine, yet at the same time, the effects of nicotine will lessen, which creates the need to consume higher doses to get the same dopaminergic effects.

What does tobacco do to you? Well, tobacco smoke is known to cause cell inflammation and suppress the immune system. These effects can even be observed in unborn babies. Endotoxins, which are released through tobacco smoke, can lead to chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma.

How does tobacco affect the body's immune system? It has been found that it decreases immunity to diseases and increases infection rates. This is because the toxins carried by tobacco suppresses certain biological processes that are responsible for fortifying your immune system.

When it comes to the question, 'What can tobacco do to you?' rarely do we think of cardiovascular diseases. Yet, the world of scientific research has known for some time that cigarette smoking leads to heart conditions such as myocardial infarction and fatal coronary artery disease. People who smoke tobacco are at an 80% higher risk of contracting either of the two diseases, while those who inhale tobacco smoke have a 30% risk.

Regardless of whether you have a female or male reproductive system, the physiological effects of tobacco are overwhelmingly negative.

If you have a female reproductive system and are an active smoker, you will have a higher chance of having menopause early, being infertile, and failing during an IVF procedure. When you're pregnant, you can expect an even worse outcome - from miscarriage to babies born with birth defects.

If you have a male reproductive system, and smoke cigarettes often, you can expect to have a lower sperm count and sperm quality. These effects worsen in heavy smokers.

If someone asks you, 'Why is tobacco bad for you?', you can now answer - it ages you. Research has found that people who smoke often look physically older and have complications like more wrinkles and coarse skin. Besides your facial features and skin, tobacco smoking also accelerates the aging process of your body's organs. Research has found that smokers have bodily organs that are susceptible to diseases more often seen in the elderly.

What can tobacco do to you and your olfactory senses? Research has found that smokers tend to have some form of olfactory sense impairment, and even an inability to perceive certain tastes correctly.

You may wonder, how does tobacco affect the body positively? Well, it definitely increases a person's alertness, which we've previously said is often called a cigarette head rush. But is it worth all the negative effects that we've presented?

To break a habit, you start the same way as when you created them - repeating the behavior. Remember that habits require repetition. If you want to break a habit, you must avoid repeating the same actions. If, for example, you often smoke during your work break, change your routine, and do something else. Maybe go to lunch with your co-workers. The best way to cease a smoking habit is to make choices that are as or even more pleasurable than smoking.

Pay attention to how often you smoke - if you haven't done so already. Do you smoke once a day? Two packs a day? Somewhere in between? Well, smoking is bad for your health either way, so it's time for you to figure out how much of a cigarette addict you truly are to determine how to stop. The amount you consume will decide how you should start reducing your tobacco intake. Quitting cold turkey may not be the best option.

When do you smoke? What happens before you pull out a cigarette and light it? Is it more so on bad days to relieve stress? On good days? Before eating dinner? While hanging out with friends on a Saturday? You have to know what your tobacco smoking triggers are to eliminate it.