Tobacco

Smokers inhale more than 4,000 different chemicals when they smoke tobacco. The chemicals include:

• Nicotine, the stimulant drug that makes tobacco addictive
• Poisonous carbon monoxide
• Tar
• At least 43 chemicals known to cause cancer

How is tobacco used?

Most people smoke tobacco in cigarettes, but some people prefer cigars or pipes. It can also be chewed, and sniffed through the nose as 'snuff'.Chewing or sniffing tobacco does not make it safe.

Why do people smoke?

Most young people who smoke regularly continue to smoke when they are adults, usually because they are addicted. It's a habit that is very hard to break.

Reasons for starting to smoke include:

• Image - to appear more mature or 'cool'
• Peer pressure -from family or friends who also smoke
• Experimentation- trying something new or 'forbidden'
• To reduce stress- believing it helps to relieve worries
• For pleasure - some people do enjoy it

The main reason for continuing to smoke is addiction to nicotine.

What are the immediate effects of tobacco?

When people start to smoke they can experience nausea (a feeling you are going to vomit), dizziness, a fast heartbeat, headaches and coughing. The first stimulus or 'hit' of nicotine can be followed by a sense of relaxation or feeling really good.

Most of these effects - the good ones as well as the bad ones - reduce as people continue to smoke. The body becomes tolerant to the chemicals in cigarettes, including nicotine.

How can tobacco affect my physical health?

Short term health effects include:

• Irritation of the airways and lungs
• Addiction to nicotine
• Stained teeth and skin

Longer-term health effects can include:

• Lower immunity and a greater risk of infections like pneumonia and influenza (the flu)
• Less ability to smell and taste
• Wrinkled skin
• Lower physical fitness
• Lower sperm count in males
• Lower fertility in females
• Stomach ulcers
• Reduced blood flow, for example to the fingers and toes

Serious diseases caused by long-term smoking include:

• Cancer of the lung, mouth, nose, larynx (voice box), tongue, nasal sinus, oesophagus, throat, pancreas, bone marrow (myeloid leukaemia), kidney, cervix, ureter, liver, bladder and stomach.
• Stroke and heart attack
• Lung diseases like chronic bronchitis and emphysema, a disease that slowly destroys your ability to breathe

Chewing tobacco increase the risk of mouth cancer, affecting the lips, tongue, floor or roof of the mouth, cheeks or gums. It also increases the risk of other cancers, including cancer of the oesophagus, stomach and bladder.

Does smoking reduce stress?

No - it's a myth. Tobacco is more likely to increase stress than reduce it. When smokers manage to quit, they no longer need nicotine to feel 'normal' and they gradually become less stressed over time.

What is second-hand smoke, and why does is matter?

Second-hand smoke, also known as'passive' smoke, is the smoke that non-smokers breathe in when they are near a smoker.

It consists of the smoke exhaled by the smoker, and also the 'side-stream' smoke from the end of the burning cigarette.The side-stream smoke has not passed through the cigarette's filter, so it has higher levels of cancer-causing agents and more nicotine.

The more second-hand smoke you are exposed to, the higher the level of these harmful chemicals in your body.

Repeated exposure to second-hand smoke increases your risk of:

• Respiratory infections like bronchitis and pneumonia
• Developing asthma, or having an asthma attack
• Coughing, sore throats, sniffling, and sneezing
• Cancer
• Heart disease

What other effects does smoking have?

Young people who smoke are more likely than non-smokers to use alcohol, cannabis and other drugs such as cocaine.

Smokers are also more likely to do other risky things, like get into fights or have unsafe sex.

Nicotine can affect the way that the body processes other drugs and medications. It can reduce the effectiveness of oral contraceptives (the Pill), medicines used to treat mental health problems, and some medicines used to treat breathing difficulties and heart conditions.You should always tell your doctor about your smoking habits, so this can be taken into account.

Smoking and pregnancy

Smoking is bad for the health of pregnant women and their unborn babies. It can:

• Reduce the oxygen supply to the baby
• Restrict the growth of the baby
• Increase the likelihood of an ectopic pregnancy (where the baby starts to develop outside the womb)
• Increase the risk that the baby will die during the pregnancy
• Lead to premature birth

Smoking also affects the quality of breast milk, and the quantity of milk produced.

How can I quit smoking?

Some people manage to quit smoking 'cold turkey', without any help, but most people need some assistance and support. Your GP (doctor) or local headspace centre can talk you through the options.

It normal to crave cigarettes when you first quit, because your body is withdrawing from nicotine. Then the cravings become less, and your body starts to repair itself almost immediately.
See how your body repairs itself over time and the benefits of quitting.

Making the change can be hard work, but it will be worth it.

What is the Quitline?

Quitline is a telephone information and advice or counselling service for people who want to quit smoking.

You can phone the Quitline on 131 848 confidentially from anywhere in Australia for the cost of a local call only.

When you call the Quitline you can arrange to have the Quit Book mailed to you and if you want to talk to someone about quitting, they will give you information on:

• the best way for you to quit
• coping with withdrawal symptoms
• Quit courses and details of local organisations which provide individual help and counselling.