Adolescents, Mental Health, and Cigarette Smoking Essay

Nicotine is a distinctly addictive substance. Which can be found in Tobacco. Which Tobacco is the main ingredient to chewing Tobacco, cigarettes, and more. For any user of Tobacco, it relaxes them and acts like a depressant. The users are relaxed because the relief of their own nicotine craving. Follow this further, due to this addiction, the more frequent a user uses Tobacco, it can affect their body negativity.

     Nicotine is addictive! Most smokers use tobacco regularly because they are addicted to the nicotine. You can be addicted to the nicotine in a physical and physological addiction. Addiction is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, even if they are in the risk of health problems. It is well documented that most smokers identify tobacco as harmful and express a desire to reduce or stop using it, and nearly 35 million of them make a serious attempt to quit. Unfortunately, 7% of those who try to quit in their own achieve more than 1 year of abstinence; most relapse within a few days of trying to quit. Some of the other factors besides nicotine addictive properties include its high level of availability, the small number of legal consequences of using the tobacco, and the advertising methods used by companies. What most people do not realize is that the

The reason people become addicted to tobacco is nicotine, a chemical that affects both your mood and your physical brain. It gives your brain temporary pleasure, and makes you want to use more tobacco, which leads to dependence on the substance. It is the nicotine that gets a person addicted to tobacco, but the other substances in tobacco that have physical effects on the user. The continued use of tobacco can cause many deadly health conditions, and it is responsible for about 1 out of 6 deaths in the United States. There are currently more than 16 million Americans living with a smoking caused disease. “On average smokers die 10 years earlier than non-smokers.” (cdc.gov) Tobacco addiction is also responsible for at least 480,00 deaths per year in the United

In 1988, the Ministry of Health in the United States defined the nicotine as an addictive substance. Cigarettes and other derivatives substances generate tobacco dependence. The addictive mechanisms are similar to the addiction mechanisms to drugs such as cocaine and heroin. Cigarettes are highly efficient at delivering nicotine and other addictive substances. The average smoker takes in 1 to 2 mg of nicotine per cigarette each time they inhale. Nicotine reaches the brain within 10 seconds which contributes to its great power of addiction.

As reported by Heather’s, Nicotine contains a large amount of toxic substance which can lead to several causes and effects to health. The substances in nicotine effects on the brain and its addicted. When a person smokes, the nicotine substance travels to the brain within 10 seconds and changes the function of the brain. “Blood that enters the lungs to picks up oxygen also pickup something else – the nicotine”. It also rises the blood pressure by five to ten points and heart rate by ten to twenty beats per minute. However, nicotine also performs as a sense of feeling of pleasure. Nicotine reaches to brain within a speedy rate and disperses soon conversely, its increases use of cigarettes.

Smoking is the single highest cause of preventable death in America and puts users at significantly greater risk for disease compared to the rest of the population. Tobacco use costs the U.S. more than 289 billion dollars annually in medical expenses and lost productivity (Surgeon General, 2014). The problems associated with smoking are due in part to its addictiveness. Nicotine is the addictive substance found in tobacco and its chemical dependence is as strong as heroin, cocaine, or alcohol (CDC, 2014). Getting all smokers to quit entirely is not realistic due to nicotine’s addictive characteristics.

Throughout life, a person is faced with large and small obstacles. Some don't require a minimum effort; however others demand the strength of will and a maximum effort. One obstacle is nicotine addiction. Some consider it as a disease, a bad habit or a little weakness. Much has been said about smoking, but it is still a major problem in the United States. This habit has joined men and women and has received widespread popularity among children and adolescents. Nicotine addiction has a negative impact on society as a whole, as well as, on the life of an individual's health.

The vapor-device is very addictive because of its main ingredient, nicotine. Nicotine, which is a known carcinogen, is present in regular cigarettes. Studies show that 1 mg of nicotine becomes absorbed in the body from smoking one cigarette (MConell 1). Furthermore, studies conducted by multiple scientists reveal that nicotine may be as addictive as cocaine or

A Tobacco plant is made up of approximately 5 percent of nicotine by weight. There are two categories of tobacco products cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. Nicotine has many effects on the body but the effect it has on the brain is responsible for the so called “good feeling” that is behind the addiction. Nicotine is considered to be addictive because of the psychological and physiological effects on a person. The Center for the Advancement of Health published the results of a study on teenager smokers:

The addictive tobacco component is nicotine, it transports to the brain and gives pleasurable feeling to the smoker, and this feeling makes the person continue using tobacco (life script, 2016).

However, once nicotine dependence is established, cues related to nicotine release become greatly influential in controlling self-administration behaviors. When a cigarette is smoked, about 80 percent of the inhaled nicotine is absorbed in the lungs. The American Lung Association reports that teens who have smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime find it hard to quit, even if they want to do so. Some teens will be addicted to smoking more quickly, and they experience cravings for nicotine quite soon after initiating cigarette use. Teens can also become addicted to the process of smoking, finding it difficult to even think about going through the day without the ability to unwrap a pack of cigarettes, flick open a lighter or hear the paper of the cigarette crackle with flame. Withdrawal symptoms like this can make it difficult, if not impossible, for teens to quit smoking on their own. They may simply feel as though they need cigarettes in order to feel happy and normal, and they may be unable to find a way to stop smoking without help.( David R. Francis “Dramatic Rise in Teenage Smoking,” 27 July 2010, National Bureau of Economic Research, Massachusetts.

Most cigarettes have eight to nine mg of nicotine, though only one mg is transferred to the smoker. Nicotine increases the heart rate, raises the blood pressure and causes blood clotting to the smoker. The most important fact about nicotine is that it has no medical value. Other drugs like marijuana, heroine, and cocaine have no medical value as well but for some reason, cigarettes are legal in the US. An interesting fact that many people do not know is that nicotine, the addicting drug in cigarettes, is more addicting then marijuana, heroine, and cocaine. There has not been one reported death due to marijuana. In 1988, the U.S. Surgeon General reported that nicotine is just as addictive as heroin and cocaine. A "hit" of nicotine reaches the brain in seven seconds, twice as fast as heroin injected into the vein. And still the cigarette is still legal.

The American Lung Association reports that an unlit cigarette contains about 600 ingredients. One the cigarette is lit, more chemicals are released. Nicotine is the major ingredient in tobacco products which contributes to dependence. Once absorbed, nicotine travels to the adrenal glands via the blood stream which results in the release of epinephrine. Epinephrine in turn stimulates the central nervous system, causing an increase of blood pressure, heart rate and respiration (National Institute on drug abuse). In addition to altering the levels of epinephrine, nicotine also affects dopamine levels.

One of the largest issues today is adolescent smoking. According to a heath based website, nearly 90% of adult smokers start while they are still teens and they never intend to get hooked. They may start by bumming a cigarette or two from a friend at a party, and then go on to buying an occasional pack. Soon they realize that they can't go without that pack. They've gotten used to reaching for a cigarette first thing in the morning, after meals, or during any stressful time. They become addicted, both physically and psychologically. According to the American Lung Association, each day 6,000 children under the age of 18 smoke their first cigarette. Almost 2,000 of them will become regular smokers – that’s 757, 000 new smokers annually!

Smoking, specifically cigarette smoking, causes 87 percent of total lung cancers deaths in the United States (Smoking, 2015). The numbers of cigarette smokers are increasing dramatically, with an alarming focus on young, college aged women. In research conducted of women aged 18 to 22 from 119 colleges throughout the United States, 28.5% were found to be active smokers. It is believed that this dramatic increase in college aged, women smokers is due to the high stress and changing environments of these women. This is a time when young adults are transitioning from the comfort of high school to the more rigorous demands of college. These demands come from higher academic standards, as well as the adjustment to living on your own without the accustomed parent supervision. As students begin to experience this stress and look for a coping mechanism, especially for women, they turn to the instant relief found from smoking cigarettes. In the same age population of college women ages 18 to 22, of women who report that they smoke regularly, research has found that 75.5% say they began smoking and continue to smoke because it relaxes and calms them from everyday stressors. (Gaffney, Wichaikhum, & Dawson, 2002).