Hpe_Assessment

Background Information Tobacco smoke contains over 4 000 chemicals, and most of them are toxic to the body. At least 60 of these chemicals have been proven to cause cancer to humans. Some of these are gasoline additive, mercury, candle wax, cigarette lighter fuel, poison, disinfectant and many more. http://www.smokefreeunion.com/shs/documents/WhatsinTobaccoSmoke_000.pdf What type of drug is it' Tobacco itself is not a drug. Tobacco contains nicotine, which occurs naturally in the leaves of the tobacco plant. Nicotine is a central nervous system stimulant. Nicotine is the reason people get addicted to smoking. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_type_of_drug_is_tobacco Reasons Why One of the reasons that teenagers smoke is that they see older people around them smoking, especially their parents and relatives, which makes them want to be more mature like them and look older. If their friends and peers smoke they may be pressured to smoke to be accepted. Usually parents do not let their children under 18 to smoke, therefore it is attractive, and exciting to have smokes and sneak away and not get caught. Although adults smoke for other reasons, they may have a lot of stress and pressures because of making problems in their lives. They may be homeless, going through alcohol and other drug type addictions, all these people smoke to give them energy and relax while going through a hard time. On average, smokers weigh 3.2 kg less than a normal person. Smoking reduces the appetite, this is probably why when people quit smoking, food tastes and smells so much better. http://www.healthliteracy.worlded.org/docs/tobacco/Unit3/1why_people_smoke.html Does to the body Smoking is a major danger to your health. Every time you smoke a cigarette you are increasing your chance to get lung cancer, heart disease, and more. Each cigarette costs a smoker 5-20 minutes of their life. A smoker is at twice the risk of dying before the age of 65 than that of a non-smoker. Smoking makes you less fit, which means, if you have a job which requires a lot of work, you may not be able to do it, which could result in losing your job. http://www.smoking-cessation.org/content/healthissues.asp Side Effects Some of the worse short term effects that smoking does to you are, increased heart rate & blood pressure, dizziness, decreased skin temperature in fingers and toes, increased coughs and colds and many more. Some of the long term effects smoking does to you are increased cancer of lungs, mouth, oesophagus, pancreas, bladder and kidney, decreased muscle tone, increased chance of stroke. They are only some of the short & long term effects of smoking, they are many more and even worse ones. http://www0.hku.hk/uhs/he/smoke/health_effect-eng.htm