Effect of Smoking on the Body

Nicotine

Cigarette smoke is acidic. This means that nicotine is absorbed through the lungs. The lungs efficiently absorb this nicotine and move it through the bloodstream and into the brain and other organs. It takes approximately 10 seconds for nicotine to reach the brain after it is inhaled.

The physiological reactions for this include increased blood pressure and heart rate, reduced temperature of the hands and feet due to constriction of blood vessels, relaxed muscles and altered brain waves.

Because the body builds a tolerance to nicotine, its effects are reduced over time. Therefore smokers continue to inhale increased amounts of smoke, complete with higher nicotine and toxin levels.Pipe and cigar smoke is alkaline and the nicotine is absorbed through the mouth.

Other ingredients

Additives, or flavourings, are added to cigarettes to increase nicotine’s effect on the body. Over 4000 compounds are found in cigarettes and these are what do the major damage to the body.
Some additives, such as ammonia, increase the amount of nicotine in the body by increasing the acidicty of cigarette smoke. Ammonia is used to treat all cigarettes.

Forms of levulinic acid – an organic acid – are used to mask the taste of nicotine and increase the binding of nicotine to brain receptors. The more the nicotine binds, the greater the effect on the brain.

Other substances are also added to tobacco to disguise the taste. These can dilate the lung membranes, increasing the amount of nicotine that is absorbed into the body. Some examples of these are glycyrrhizin, a derivation of licorice, and cocoa.

Tar produces the visible smoke when burning tobacco. Tobacco smoke is carcinogenic and the most dangerous part of smoking.

So far, over 40 chemicals have been found in tobacco smoke that are known human carcinogens.

Visible smoke contributes only 5–8% of the total output of a cigarette. The rest is the invisible gas that contains, nitrogen, oxygen, the toxic gases carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, acrolein, hydrogen cyanide and nitrogen oxides. These gases are poisonous, and in many cases, interfere with the body's ability to transport oxygen.

Quitting cigarettes

When people quit cigarettes their body starts to repair itself and symptoms of this can includes tiredness and coughing.

The body can also experience some withdrawal symptoms when a person quits smoking, and these can include headaches, anxiety and irritability, difficulty concentrating and sleeping, decreased heart rate and blood pressure, and hunger.