Nicotine is highly addictive. The tar in a cigarette exposes the user to an increased risk of lung cancer, emphysema and bronchial disorders. The carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke increases the change of cardiovascular diseases. Secondhand smoke causes lung cancer in adults and greatly increases the risk of respiratory illnesses in children.
Long-Term Effects may include the following:
- Increased risk of lung cancer, cancers of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, cervix, kidney, ureter, and bladder
- Increased risk of emphysema
- Increased risk of bronchial disorders
- Increased risk of pneumonia
- Increased risk to leukemia
- Increased risk of cataracts
- Increases the risk of respiratory illnesses in children exposed to secondhand smoke
- Increases the risk of Sudden Infant Death in children exposed to second hand smoke or whose mothers smoke during gestation.
- Increased isolation during social events
Addiction to nicotine results in withdrawal symptoms when a person tries to stop smoking. Research has shown that when chronic smokers were deprived of cigarettes for 24 hours, they had increased anger, hostility, and aggression, and loss of social cooperation. Persons suffering from withdrawal also take longer to regain emotional equilibrium following stress. During periods of abstinence and/or craving, smokers have shown impairment across a wide range of psychomotor and cognitive functions.
