Tobacco and Your Body

Kelli Jernigan

•Tobacco is a plant that can be smoked in cigarettes, pipes or cigars.

•The same plant is used to make smokeless tobacco - dip, chew, snuff, spit, or chew tobacco.

•Smokeless tobacco is not lit or inhaled. Instead, it is put between the lip and gum and sucked on inside the mouth.

•Tobacco contains nicotine, a substance that causes a pleasant, tingly feeling (that only lasts a little while).

•Nicotine is also an addictive drug. It causes changes in the brain that make people want to use it more and more.

•Anyone who smokes could become addicted to it. Once addicted to something, it is very hard to stop doing it - even if a person wants to.

•Some kids get addicted quickly. Addictive drugs cause unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. There are physical and mental symptoms when you’re body doesn’t get the drug.

•The good feelings when nicotine is present hooks the smoker. The negative symptoms make it very hard to quit easily.

•How do tobacco products affect your body?

•The nicotine and other poisonous chemicals in tobacco cause a lot of diseases, like heart problems and some kinds of cancers, such as lung and throat cancer.

•When people smoke, they are hurting their lungs and heart each time they light up and breathe in the smoke.

•It can also make it more difficult for blood to move around in the body, so smokers may feel tired and cranky.

•The longer the person smokes, the worse the damage becomes.

Short Term Effects of Cigarettes:

• Increased heart rate

• Bad breath

• Yellow teeth

• Gingivitis

• More colds/coughs

• Staining of teeth and fingers

• Smokey hair and clothes

• Dizziness

• Shortness of breath

• Less endurance when running or playing sports

• Unattractiveness to boys/girls who don’t smoke

• Costly to purchase cigarettes or tobacco products

•Smoking harms nearly every organ in your body, causing many diseases and reducing the health of smokers in general.

•Cigarettes and smokeless tobacco kill many people every year.

•Here is a short video on the effects of smoking!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa5QtjDGm54

Let’s learn about the long term effects of cigarettes......

•ADDICTION

•When a substance has control over someone, and they feel like they HAVE to use it.

•CANCERS:

• 90% of lung cancer deaths in men and 80% in women are caused by smoking.

• Smoking causes cancers of the bladder, mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, kidney, lung, pancreas and stomach.

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE:

•Smoking causes heart disease.

•Cigarette smoking approximately doubles your risk of stroke.

•Cigarette smoking causes reduced circulation by narrowing arteries.

RESPIRATORY DISEASE AND OTHER EFFECTS:

•Cigarette smoking is associated with an increased risk of dying from chronic obstructive lung disease.

•It also increases chances of infertility, premature birth, stillbirth, low birth weight, and SIDs.

•Smokeless tobacco products are not a safe substitute for cigarettes. They also have harmful effects.

SHORT TERM EFFECTS:

•Abrasion of the teeth

•Stained teeth

•Bad breath

•Lesions/sores of the mouth

Smokeless tobacco can irritate and destroy gum tissue, cause receding gums, gum disease, tooth decay and bone loss around teeth.

All of these symptoms can cause teeth to be loose or even fall out.

LONG TERM EFFECTS:

•Mouth, tongue, throat, esophagus, stomach, pancreatic cancer

•Increased risk of heart disease, heart attack or stroke

•Addiction to nicotine

•Leukoplakia

LeukoplakiaThick, white patches on the gums, cheeks, bottom of mouth and tongue.

Smokeless tobacco may also play a part in heart disease and high blood pressure.

REVIEW

• What are some of the ingredients used in cigarettes?

• List several short and long term effects of cigarette smoking.

• List several short and long term effects of smokeless tobacco.

•REMEMBER: SAY NO and stay in control!