Valentin Bosioc
There is no doubt that smoking is directly related to cancer, too many different types of cancer indeed. The question that continues to arise is that of the effects of nicotine in the human body and its relation or link to cancer. Before going into detail, there are some basic concepts we need to re-evaluate.
What is exactly cancer?
One basic notion we need to keep in mind is that cancer does not refer to a single disease. It can start in the lungs, the blood, the skin; it can start in many places and organs of the body. It is characterized by an abnormal growth of the cells; once the cells start to grow the rest of the body uncontrollably starts to malfunction.
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Cancer reacts differently to treatment according to the place where it started, that is to say, different types of cancer can respond in different ways to surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
What is the relation between smoking and cancer?
Smoking accounts for 30% of all the cancer deaths in the United States, and it is also the responsible for the 80% of all cases of lung cancer. Despite having this information already proven some people that continue to smoke are alarming.
Smoking affects your DNA and also fills your lungs with tar and nasty chemicals that prevent you from breathing properly in a very short time. There are special filters and low tar cigars, but these do not make a real difference when compared to regular smokers. This may be because smokers will adjust their smoking habits to get the same amount of nicotine flowing through their veins. They may smoke more, or they may take bigger puffs which results in having the same amount of tar and toxins in their body.
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Nicotine and cancer
There are thousands of chemicals in the tobacco plant. However, the most relevant for this article and for the topic we are discussing is nicotine. Since nicotine produces all the nice and relaxing feelings people crave for and look for in a cigarette, some users have changed from regular cigars to electronic one so they can use the best e-liquid and continue receiving nicotine without all the toxic effects of tar. This is because nicotine is highly addictive and is responsible for smokers coming back for one more cigarette.
Since the most recent researches have proven cancer, it caused by changes in our DNA the foci of investigations are now on nicotine and not only on smoke and toxic residues. There is a lot to find out before directing our fingers towards nicotine as a direct link to cancer, but there are definitively some other harmful consequences that could be avoided.
Side effects of nicotine
Other consequences need to be taken into consideration when consuming nicotine. It is not only about cancer and about breathing that a person needs to worry about when smoking.
It affects the central nervous system, and it can cause headaches, sleep disturbances, dizziness, irritability and abnormal dreams. It also affects your hormones and can cause high insulin levels and insulin resistance. The effects of nicotine on your body can be so extreme that they can affect how a baby will develop later in his/her life. For example, a mother who consumed nicotine during pregnancy could have a child that will later suffer from diabetes or hypertension.
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Nicotine tolerance
The more nicotine we consume, the more resistant and tolerant our body becomes. Therefore, the user tends to increase the dose and the consumption of this drug. They may have just one cigarette in the morning, but as the day passes this will increase since their body will need more nicotine to reproduce the effects achieved with the first cigarette.
Quit, and quit now!
The consequences of smoking and the consequences of consuming nicotine cannot disappear in one day. It is essential to quit smoking as soon as possible to give the body the opportunity to recover completely and to go back to pre-smoking and pre-nicotine levels. A smoke-free life: just one decision away.
