What harm does smoking and alcohol cause? The harm of smoking, alcoholism and drugs

Alcohol and smoking are part of many people's lives. Their harm to health has long been studied and proven. These bad habits have ruined more than one life. There is a tough fight against tobacco smoking in society. Despite the measures taken by the state, people continue to smoke and drink alcohol to the detriment of their health. Smoking and alcohol have a negative impact on the human body and lead to negative health consequences.

Effects of nicotine

Bad habits slowly devour health, poisoning the body gradually and imperceptibly. Every second person is exposed to tobacco and doesn’t even know it. First of all, nicotine affects the lungs, trachea and bronchi, so in 90% of cases lung cancer is a consequence of smoking.

Smoking negatively affects the brain. Within seconds of the first puff, nicotine tar reaches the brain. As a result, a person’s thinking is inhibited. Nicotine has a two-phase effect on the brain: first it stimulates it, then it depresses it.

Once in the body, tobacco smoke is absorbed into the blood and poisons the liver, then the kidneys. The most dangerous influence this poison affects the central nervous system, endocrine and cardiovascular systems.

Consequences

With prolonged smoking, a person develops the following diseases:

• vascular atherosclerosis;
• tachycardia;
• arrhythmia;
• thrombosis.

As a result of the development of these pathologies, the risk of strokes and heart attacks increases. But the worst thing for heavy smokers is the risk of cancer.

In case of acute nicotine intoxication, a person may experience severe dizziness, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, confusion, increased blood pressure and decreased vitality.

If you continue to smoke two packs a day, your ability to quit may be lost forever. The process of bullying yourself will be irreversible.

Psychological addiction to smoking is more difficult to overcome than physical addiction. Giving up something important but harmful causes a strong blow to a person’s psyche and stress occurs. Having overcome the physical attraction to cigarettes, people do not understand that their body no longer needs nicotine. In this case, a doctor's consultation is required.

Effects of alcohol

Alcohol is more harmful product For human body than tobacco. With regular consumption, alcohol affects all systems and organs.

Liver

This organ suffers first of all, since all alcohol toxins pass through it. With prolonged and regular consumption of alcohol, liver cells simply do not have time to recover. A heavy drinker has a high risk of developing liver cirrhosis.

Heart

If a person has prolonged alcoholism, the heart rhythm is disturbed, the risk of developing hypertension and angina increases. People who drink are more susceptible to strokes and heart attacks.

Nervous system

The central nervous system of a person also suffers from alcohol. Such disorders are accompanied by depression of brain activity, depression, aggression or apathy. With prolonged alcoholism, speech and thinking are impaired.

The drinker's appearance becomes repulsive, the skin becomes flabby, and yellowness appears. Shortness of breath occurs later. Men's sexual activity decreases, and women experience premature aging. If you drink alcohol from childhood, you risk not living to the age of thirty.

Genetic abnormalities

A person who has ruined his life because of alcohol does not realize that children pay for the bad habits of their parents. Alcoholics give birth to children with pathologies, most often brain diseases. The number of mutants and weakened children born is growing every year.

You may meet a girl in a store with a weakened immune system and a chronic cough - most likely, this is the daughter of an alcoholic. Half of the children born to alcoholics and smokers with severe pathologies do not live to see one year old.

Alcoholics and smokers do not understand how their lifestyle affects children and the world. Men and women do not realize that children strive to be like them. Adults have forgotten about responsibility for the future of their children.

Treatment options

It is important that the patient admits that addiction exists and needs to be fought.. According to psychologists and narcologists, this is already 50% of success in treating addiction. Such a patient must have a desire to live a long and happy life no booze or nicotine.

Quitting alcohol addiction

Alcoholism can be treated different ways. The patient is examined by a narcologist and chooses effective therapy. This may be drug coding, filing the drug under the skin or intravenous administration.

Some specialists additionally use hypnosis and psychotherapy to convince the patient how harmful and life-threatening this disease is.

There are also unconventional methods getting rid of bad habits - meditation, acupuncture, herbal medicine.

During treatment, the support of loved ones is important for the patient. This will help a person get rid of addiction faster.

Drug treatment clinics have been opened in all regions of the country. Everyone can seek qualified help.

To give up smoking

There are several ways to get rid of tobacco addiction. Modern medicine offers medication coding. This procedure is carried out in specialized clinics and not everyone can afford it.

There are other ways to get rid of this bad habit:

1. Drug treatment. Its goal is to assist in psychological withdrawal from nicotine. When psychological dependence disappears, the patient's chances of complete failure from cigarettes.
2. Clinical treatment that is carried out in a hospital. This method is used by heavy smokers who are unable to quit smoking. During treatment, the patient is given replacement medications that include nicotine. Also, conversations and various trainings are held with the patient to help the person not return to smoking. The course of treatment is 30 days.

Each person has his own rules of life. Tomorrow, every cigarette or drink you drink may be your last, so it’s important today to find the strength to give up bad habits. Exist effective ways do this, including with the help of a doctor.

Alcoholism, as well as smoking cigarettes, are bad habits, the fight against which is becoming increasingly important. Smoking cigarettes can have unpleasant consequences not only for the smoker himself, but also for the people who closely communicate with him (at home, at work, in in public places), forced to breathe poisoned air. Passive smoking is just as dangerous as active smoking. Both alcoholism and tobacco smoking are “harmful”, in the most literal sense of the word, since they destroy a person and cause irreversible changes in the body.

Reasons for the body's addiction to alcohol and nicotine

Drinking alcohol and smoking have one thing in common: they are addictive. The reasons why a person drinks his first glass of wine or smokes his first cigarette are usually the same:

• Interest in new sensations;
• The desire to keep up with others, to appear more mature;
• The influence of more experienced comrades;
• Example of parents.

No one is going to deliberately become an alcoholic or drive themselves to tuberculosis with cigarettes. People usually do not listen to warnings; they are sure that trouble cannot affect them; they will stop drinking or smoking when they get tired of it. But addiction to cigarettes and alcoholic drinks is a physiological process, it does not depend on the person.

The effect of ethyl alcohol, which is part of alcoholic beverages, is that it causes hormonal disorders in the body and destroys brain activity. Gradually, the drinker develops a hangover with painful symptoms. Only a new portion of alcohol can drown them out and alleviate the condition. Moreover, the need for alcohol is increasing all the time. It is impossible to avoid alcoholism if a person does not understand what serious consequences this harmful addiction can lead to.

Our regular reader shared an effective method that saved her husband from ALCOHOLISM. It seemed that nothing would help, there were several codings, treatment at a dispensary, nothing helped. An effective method recommended by Elena Malysheva helped. EFFECTIVE METHOD

Tobacco smoking causes physical and psychological dependence. Nicotine, which is part of tobacco, is involved in various biochemical processes occurring in the body. When nicotine enters the body, the adrenal glands begin to release the hormones of vigor - adrenaline and norepinephrine. Their invigorating effect is based on the stimulation of cardiac activity. The increase in pressure and dilation of blood vessels, which occurs when the first doses of nicotine enter the blood, cause positive emotions in a person, a feeling of calm and well-being. If at first 1-2 cigarettes are enough for a person to get such sensations, then gradually the need increases. To maintain this condition, he already needs 1-2 packs of cigarettes a day.
Psychological dependence appears. A cigarette affects your mood. Without it, a person does not feel confident in himself and becomes nervous.

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Stages of addiction to smoking

The addiction to smoking cigarettes goes through several stages.

• At the first stage, a person does not feel physical dependence, smokes about 5-6 cigarettes a week, with a cup of coffee to relax. The consequences at this stage are individual and depend on general condition health. Palpitations, irritation may occur respiratory system, headache. Typically, once you stop smoking, you will not experience any harm from exposure to nicotine.
• The second stage is associated with systematic smoking of 3-7 cigarettes per day. Mental and physical dependence visible to the naked eye. The body begins to get used to nicotine.
• At the third stage, a person can no longer do without cigarettes and feels worse if he does not smoke 20-30 cigarettes a day. When trying to quit smoking or being forced to limit smoking, he experiences withdrawal syndrome, just like an alcoholic. The body requires its dose of nicotine. The person becomes irritable and loses performance. Smoking causes irreparable harm to health. At this stage, the smoker develops chronic bronchitis, possible pulmonary diseases. Nicotine affects the gastrointestinal tract. Many smokers develop gastritis, stomach ulcers, duodenum. A smoker can still say “no to a cigarette,” although this is already very difficult to do. It takes enormous willpower and the use of special nicotine substitutes (tablets, chewing gum) to quit smoking.
• The fourth stage is characterized by signs chronic poisoning nicotine with a pronounced withdrawal syndrome. It is no longer possible to talk about the dangers of smoking with such a smoker. His minimum norm is 30-60 cigarettes per day (he smokes not only during the day, but also at night).

How does smoking affect your health?

The harm of nicotine in cigarettes is so great that two drops of it are enough to kill a dog. If a person used it in pure form, then 35 mg of this substance would be enough to give him paralysis with a body weight of 70 kg nervous system, and respiratory and cardiac arrest occurred. For comparison: this would require 120 mg of potassium cyanide, which means nicotine is much more harmful. Fortunately, the person does not receive lethal dose, smoking cigarettes. However, he kills himself slowly.

Harmful substances contained in cigarettes and cigarette smoke

In addition to nicotine, cigarettes contain the following: harmful substances, How:

• Poisonous resins;
• Pyrene (also produced by burning gasoline and kerosene);
• Anthracene (carcinogenic substance);
• Nitrobenzene (a poisonous substance with a very small lethal dose). Once in the blood, this substance reacts with hemoglobin. Its harm lies in the fact that the supply of oxygen to tissues is disrupted. The body does not receive enough nutrition;
• Hydrocyanic acid (strong poison);
• Hexamine (a poisonous substance that causes harm bladder and stomach);
• Arsenic and Cadmium (very toxic chemical elements) as well as other substances whose effect on the body is destructive.

Tobacco smoking causes such lung diseases

Consequences of smoking

Tobacco smoking causes pulmonary diseases such as chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and lung cancer. Thanks to smoking, a person develops coronary heart disease, heart failure, and vascular sclerosis. Tobacco smoking affects the functioning of the organs of the reproductive system and reduces potency in men. There is nothing more harmful to a woman than smoking during pregnancy. It leads to deviations in the development of various organs of the fetus and poisons the body of the unborn child.

Alcoholism and its harm to humans

There is no doubt that alcohol, like smoking, causes irreversible changes that can lead to death.

Alcohol addiction also does not appear immediately, but once it takes hold of a person, it takes away his health. The body gradually weakens and may die.

• The first stage of alcoholism is associated with regular consumption of small doses of alcohol. A single consumption of a large dose of alcohol causes a hangover in a person (headache, bone pain, thirst). At the same time, a small dose of alcohol can return a person to normal condition. The hangover goes away quickly. At initial stage Alcoholism causes hangover symptoms to become more severe and the duration of the hangover increases. A person rushes to pour himself a new dose of alcohol to alleviate the condition. is that the circle closes, the dependence intensifies.
• At the second stage, small doses of alcohol are not enough for a person. The body gets used to constant poisoning. The influence of alcohol affects the functioning of the brain: memory loss appears, vision deteriorates, and coordination of movements is impaired. Alcohol has a detrimental effect on the liver, destroying cells. This leads to the accumulation of toxins, the occurrence of toxic hepatitis, and cirrhosis (irreversible damage to liver cells).
• The third stage of alcoholism is binge drinking. A person has no other desires than the desire to drink alcohol. At this stage, the harm of alcohol, its destructive effect on the body is already obvious. Changes concern a person’s appearance: traces of exhaustion of the body are noticeable, men appear to have changes in their figure female type, and women’s voices become rougher and facial hair appears.

There is nothing worse than an alcoholic husband or an alcoholic father. A once normal person's character changes dramatically. In a drunken state there is nothing human about him. He is no longer able to understand the harm of alcohol. A person is haunted by hallucinations. The influence of imaginary enemies makes him dangerous to others. He develops a persecution mania. He can steal things and money from loved ones without recognizing anyone. He himself can no longer get out of the binge. The body is destroyed, the personality degrades.
The joint influence of relatives and doctors is required to convince a person that treatment is possible and necessary.

Alcohol and cigarettes have a particularly harmful effect on young people. A young body is quickly poisoned by toxins, addiction occurs more easily, it is easier to treat young man even more difficult than for an adult. A generation poisoned by alcohol and cigarettes is not able to create normal families, give birth and raise healthy children. If young people become drunkards, then there will be no one to study and work, to defend the country.

Amendments to laws have been developed to increase the age at which you can sell alcoholic drinks and cigarettes, as well as restrictions on the time of sale. Stricter penalties are being introduced and fines for the sale of alcohol and cigarettes to minors are increasing.

Introduction

1. The effect of drugs on the human body

3. Mechanisms of effects of smoking on the human body

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

The purpose of this essay is to consider the negative effects of drug addiction, smoking and alcoholism on the body.

Drug addiction is the most serious illness of the modern world. The growing consumption of narcotic and psychotropic substances, first of all, increases the number of severe neuropsychiatric diseases. Thus, in the USA at the end of the 70-80s the number of people suffering incurable diseases due to the use of heroin, exceeded 180 thousand people, marijuana - more than 12 million.

Drug addiction, as experts emphasize World Organization health care is big threat for healthcare on a global scale. Every state takes measures to prevent abuse among the population, Russia is no exception.

Alcoholism is a disease caused by the systematic consumption of alcoholic beverages, characterized by a pathological attraction to them, the development of mental (irresistible attraction) and physical dependence (the appearance of withdrawal syndrome when cessation of use). In cases of long-term progression, the disease is accompanied by persistent mental and somatic disorders.

This problem has become especially relevant for our country in the last 5-6 years, when, in connection with political and economic reforms, the number of patients with this disease has increased sharply. According to VTsIOM, every Russian, including women and children, drinks 180 liters of vodka every year.

Smoking is a social problem in society, both for smokers and non-smokers. For the first, the problem is to quit smoking, for the second, to avoid the influence of a smoking society and not to “get infected” with their habit, and also to maintain your health from smoking products, since the substances included in the smoke exhaled by smokers are not much safer than if a person I myself smoked and ingested nicotine and much else that is included in a lit cigarette.

More and more of my friends and acquaintances are becoming addicted to this habit. Many people can no longer imagine their life without a cigarette.

I would recommend that our state, if I had the opportunity, do everything possible to combat drugs. It is extremely necessary for educational institutions at all levels, purchase equipment for rapid drug testing - if you identify a drug addict and start treating him as early as possible, you can avoid many subsequent complications, such as physical health so and mental state patient. The problem of personnel also follows from the previous sentence - there is an extreme shortage of psychologists and narcologists who would work in schools, universities, etc.

The effect of drugs on the human body

Drug addiction leads to gross disruption of the body's vital functions and social degradation. This is a chronic disease that develops gradually. The reason for this is the ability narcotic substances cause a state of intoxication, accompanied by a feeling of complete physical and mental comfort and well-being. A drug is a poison that slowly destroys not only internal organs man, but his brain and psyche. Gasoline or Moment glue, for example, turn people mentally disabled in 3-4 months, “safe hemp” - in 3-4 years. A person who uses morphine loses the ability to do anything so much after two or three months that he stops taking care of himself and completely loses his human appearance.

Those who use cocaine live no more than 3-4 years. One fine moment they die from a broken heart or because their nasal septum thins and begins to resemble a piece of parchment, which cracks, bursts, and, in the end, it all ends in fatal bleeding.

When using LSD, a person loses the ability to navigate in space, he has the feeling that he can fly. As a result, he, believing in his capabilities, jumps from the top floor...

All drug addicts, regardless of the type of drug they take, do not live long. They lose the instinct of self-preservation for living beings. This leads to the fact that about 60% of them attempt suicide within the first two years after starting to take drugs. Many people succeed.

So, all drugs and their actions are divided into the following groups.

1) Sedative poisons, calming mental activity. They reduce the function of excitability and perception to the point of completely eliminating it, misleading a person, giving him a bouquet of pleasant states. These substances (opium and its alkaloids, morphine, codeine, coca and cocaine) alter brain function and are classified as Euforica.

2) Hallucinogenic drugs, represented by a large number of substances plant origin, very different in their own way chemical composition. This includes mescaline from cactus, Indian hemp, hashish and other tropical plants. All of them cause cerebral stimulation, expressed in deformation of sensations, hallucinations, distortion of perception, visions, and therefore they are classified as Fantastica.

3) This includes substances that are easily obtained through chemical synthesis, causing first cerebral excitation and then deep depression.

These include: alcohol, ether, chloroform, gasoline. This category is Inebrantia.

5) Excitantia. Here, plant substances predominate, stimulating brain activity without immediate effect on the psyche; force of influence on different persons can be different. This includes plants containing caffeine, tobacco, betel, etc.

The state of drug addiction is characterized by three properties:

1) an irresistible desire or need to continue taking drugs and obtaining them by any means;

2) the desire to increase doses;

3) mental and sometimes physical dependence on the effects of the drug.

The so-called drug addiction syndrome occurs only as a result of taking a drug, regardless of whether it happens accidentally or after systematic use. The stages of this process, whether slower or faster, are mainly as follows:

1) Initial euphoria, often very short-lived. It is typical for certain drugs (especially morphine and opium), and not for all drugs. In such a state of increased irritability, bizarre and often erotic visions, a person loses control over himself.

2) Tolerance is temporary. This phenomenon is explained by the body's reaction to the action of the same dose of a substance taken repeatedly. Gradually the body reacts weaker.

3) Addiction. Most researchers have come to the conclusion that addiction is both a physical and mental phenomenon. It is expressed by classic symptoms of withdrawal, or “withdrawal,” which the addict endures very hard and with the risk of severe organic or functional attacks.

4) Abstinence (withdrawal syndrome) usually occurs 12-48 hours after stopping taking the drug. The drug addict cannot tolerate this condition, which causes nervous disorders, tachycardia, spasms, vomiting, diarrhea, salivation, and increased secretion of the glands. At the same time it appears obsessive desire find a toxic substance - a drug - at any cost.

Drug addiction is an addiction to drug use, a painful attraction that leads to severe disturbances in the mental and physical functions of the body.

In modern society, few people are unaware of the dangers of drugs, but still these substances still attract people, becoming destructive for many.

Teen Drug Addiction Statistics

General level of drug use among schoolchildren:

Tried…………………… 14%

Haven’t tried…………………86%

Age level of drug use among schoolchildren

Who can I buy drugs from?

Older guys…………….36%

Classmates……………..27%

Friends………………………26%

Drug sellers……..23%

2. The effect of alcohol on the human body

Alcohol taken is quickly absorbed and enters the blood. From the blood, alcohol enters the tissues, where it is distributed unevenly. Since it dissolves well in lipids - fat-like substances that nerve cells are rich in - its greatest accumulation occurs in the brain. It is these cells that die first. The mechanism of cell death when drinking alcohol was discovered in the 1960s by Soviet and American scientists (Table 1).

Table 1

Mechanism of cell death under the influence of alcohol

Under the influence of alcohol, intensive gluing of red blood cells occurs, providing the body's tissues with oxygen. The diameter of some capillaries is so small that red blood cells literally “crawl” through them one by one; often pushing apart the walls of the capillaries. Therefore, several sticky red blood cells clog the capillary, stopping the supply of oxygen and nutrients into the cell that is fed by the capillary. Nerve cell perishes irrevocably. This process occurs throughout the body.

The number of dying cells depends on the amount of alconarcotic. A systematic drinker experiences a noticeable decrease in brain volume over the years (shrunken brain). The loss of entire brain structures, as a result of massive death of neurons, leads to disorganization of its work. First of all, the areas of the cerebral cortex responsible for higher human functions are affected: morality, memory, Creative skills. It has long been noted that a drunkard drinks away, first of all, shame and conscience, as well as everything that is given to a person by culture and upbringing. Damage to the subcortex of the brain is not so noticeable at first, so skilled workers who drink can maintain professional skills for a certain time.

The degree of intoxication depends on the quantity and quality of alcoholic beverages consumed, individual sensitivity to alcohol and the psychophysical state of the person. There are three degrees of intoxication - mild, moderate and severe

Existing classifications of alcoholism can be divided into two types. In the first case, the basis is the clinic of alcoholic disease, in the second - various social, psychological, even economic and only partly clinical criteria. In Russia, the first type of classification has been adopted. The entire period of development of alcoholism is divided into three stages, successively replacing one another:

I - initial (neurasthenic);

II - average (drug addiction);

III - initial (encephalopathic).

In stage I of alcoholism mental dependence from alcohol manifests itself in the form of an attraction to alcoholic drinks of an obsessive (obsessive) nature, leading to the loss of quantitative control of the alcohol consumed. There is a growing alcohol addiction to alcoholic beverages, a transition from periodic to systematic drunkenness.

In stage II, physical dependence on alcohol appears with a compulsive craving (an irresistible attraction that arises against the will, reason, and feelings) for alcoholic beverages. Traits of personality degradation are identified, pathological changes from the internal organs.

In stage III, the attraction to alcohol becomes compulsive and possessive. Withdrawal syndrome(negative experience of abstinence) becomes heavier. Situational control is lost. Often arise alcoholic psychoses(eg delirium tremens).

It is noted that the stronger the drinks consumed, the higher the degree of development of alcoholism. For example, with so-called wine alcoholism, the degree of its development is usually lower than with the abuse of stronger alcoholic beverages (vodka, moonshine). The duration of the first stage of alcoholism varies, but most often from 1 to 6 years. The duration of stage II in approximately 60% of cases is less than 10 years, in the rest - from 10 to 15 years.

Two main classes of problems associated with excessive alcohol consumption can be distinguished: negative consequences for the drinker himself (destruction of his health and personality); negative consequences for society as a whole (increasing social problems associated with drunkenness.

With one-time excessive consumption of alcohol - loss of self-control, aggressiveness, accidents, hypothermia or overheating due to negligence, arrest for being drunk in public places, alcohol poisoning.

With long-term excessive consumption, there is an increased risk of developing cirrhosis of the liver, certain types of cancer and cardiovascular diseases, malnutrition, long-term functional disorders and loss of self-control, accidents, loss of ability to work, the development of alcoholism and early psychoses, etc.

Alcoholism destroys the reproductive system, adversely affecting the testicles and ovaries. With alcohol abuse, sexual potency is also impaired, which is associated with a decrease in conditioned and unconditioned reflexes, due to the inhibitory effect on the subcortical centers. Women experience regularity disorders menstrual cycle. When drinking alcohol during pregnancy, there is a high probability of giving birth to a child with birth defects (including the formation of a genetically determined tendency to alcoholism). More than 90% of children suffering from mental and physical disorders, are children of drinking parents.

For early stages alcoholism is more characterized by diseases such as peptic ulcers, injuries, cardiovascular disorders; for later ones - liver cirrhosis, polyneuritis, brain disorders. Alcohol abuse, according to the World Health Organization, is the third most common cause of death (after cardiovascular diseases and cancer) in the modern world. Alcoholics and drunkards live on average 15-20 years less than non-drinkers. Only 25% of alcoholics reach age 50. The risk of suicide in people suffering from this disease is tens of times higher than in ordinary people.

Statistics show that 90% of cases of hooliganism and aggravated rape are associated with intoxication. Robberies, assaults, and infliction of grievous bodily harm in 70% of cases are committed by persons under the influence of alcohol. About 40% of murders are also committed while intoxicated. 50-60% of all divorces are associated with drunkenness of one of the spouses.

The problems of the drinker's environment are an increase in conflicts in the family and its destruction, an increase in material difficulties and crime. The range of problems for society includes public order violations, road traffic accidents, industrial accidents, decreased productivity, absenteeism, as well as economic damage caused by the costs of treatment, disability benefits, and the fight against alcohol-related crime.

Mechanisms of effects of smoking on the human body

Smoking causes malignant neoplasms and diseases of many organs of the human body.

Nicotine is an alkaloid found in the leaves and stems of tobacco. When smoking, it is inhaled with smoke, enters the bloodstream through the lungs, overcomes the blood-brain barrier and after a few seconds enters the central nervous system. Another point of action of nicotine is the autonomic ganglia.

Carbon monoxide ( carbon monoxide) is a highly toxic component of tobacco smoke. The mechanism of the pathogenic effect of carbon monoxide is quite simple: when it comes into contact with hemoglobin, carbon monoxide forms the compound carboxyhemoglobin. It interferes with the normal delivery of oxygen to organs and tissues, resulting in the development of chronic oxygen starvation. Especially bad influence carbon monoxide affects the body of a pregnant woman, the embryo and the fetus.

Ammonia and tobacco tar(tars) when tobacco is burned enter the trachea, bronchi and lungs. Ammonia dissolves in the moist mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract, turning into ammonia, irritating the mucous membrane and causing its increased secretion. The result of constant irritation is cough, bronchitis, increased sensitivity to inflammatory infections and allergic diseases. Moreover, along with the smoker himself, “forced” smokers also suffer: they receive a huge dose of harmful substances.

Smoking leads to the development of three main fatal diseases: lung cancer; chronic bronchitis and emphysema; coronary disease.

Tobacco is a leading cause of death from lung cancer in 90% of all cases, from bronchitis and emphysema in 75% and from heart disease in approximately 25% of all cases.

Approximately 25% of regular cigarette smokers will die prematurely due to smoking. Many of this number could live 10, 20 or 30 years longer, i.e. V in this case the average loss of years of life is substantial. Those who die as a result of smoking will lose, on average, 10-15 years of their life.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one third of the world's population over the age of 15 poisons themselves with tobacco smoke. In Russia, approximately two thirds of men and at least a third of women smoke.

According to WHO estimates, about 5 million people die each year from tobacco-related diseases. If current smoking trends continue, by 2030 10 million people will die annually from tobacco use.

During the twentieth century, tobacco killed about 100 million people, more than died in World War II. Some experts predict that if nothing is done, tobacco products will cause up to one billion deaths by the end of the 21st century.

IN Russian Federation in a group of a thousand 20-year-old smokers who will smoke throughout their lives, we can expect that before the age of 70, 250 will be killed by smoking. Each of these 250 people who die from smoking will lose, on average, about 22 years of their life expectancy. And another 250 people will die from tobacco-related diseases after age seventy.

The influence of tobacco smoke substances on various organs person

How tobacco smoke affects the brain

Within 10 seconds after inhaling tobacco smoke, nicotine reaches the brain and begins to act on certain groups neurons, working brain cells. On the surface of each of these neurons there are receptors like keyholes, into which special substances called neurotransmitters enter and open them, allowing the brain to transmit messages or produce certain substances involved in regulating the functioning of the brain or the entire body. Nicotine, not being a neurotransmitter key, turns out to be a master key capable of “opening the lock” intended for another substance – acetylcholine. Thus, nicotine triggers acetylcholine receptors in the absence of acetylcholine. Moreover, it makes these receptors unable to respond to the effects of acetylcholine and reduces sensitivity to it.

A decrease in receptor sensitivity due to chronic nicotine consumption leads to the formation of additional acetylcholine receptors in the brain. As a result, the smoker's brain has a huge number of acetylcholine receptors, which have an increased affinity for nicotine. The effect of nicotine on acetylcholine receptors causes the brain to release a number of other substances, in particular, norepinephrine, serotonin, dopamine, acetylcholine, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), glutamate, and endorphins.

Only the complete cessation of brain poisoning by tobacco poisons guarantees a person the normalization of psychophysiological processes in the body.

Smoking and lungs. No organ suffers as much from smoking as the lungs. This is not surprising, because, as we have already noted, in one cubic centimeter of tobacco smoke there are up to 600 thousand particles of soot. A person who smokes 25 cigarettes a day for 30 years inhales 10 trillion of these particles. Half of them settle in the bronchi and lungs.

One of the first consequences of intensive smoking is the development of a chronic inflammatory process, which usually ends in chronic bronchitis. In the morning, a smoker is tormented by a suffocating cough, sometimes of a paroxysmal nature and accompanied by expectoration of grayish, dirty-brown sputum. It has been established that smokers are susceptible to bronchitis 6 times more often than non-smokers. At further poisoning body exposure to tobacco smoke and more are possible serious illnesses respiratory organs, for example, emphysema, bronchial asthma.

Lung cancer is 30 times more common in smokers than in non-smokers. Smoking significantly reduces the resistance of the lungs to various infectious diseases, ranging from the ubiquitous acute respiratory infections and ending with tuberculosis. It has been established that out of 100 patients with tuberculosis, 95 have already long time smoked.

Smoking and the oral cavity. It is well known that a smoker is given out as rotten, yellow teeth. Even daily care cannot prevent them from being destroyed by tobacco smoke. To introduce smoke from the mouth and nasopharynx into the lungs, the smoker, opening his mouth slightly, inhales a fresh portion of air, along with which tobacco smoke enters. The temperature of the air coming “outside” is 35-40 degrees lower than the temperature of the smoke in the mouth (usually about 55-60 degrees). Such a colossal temperature difference, observed during smoking one cigarette with 20-25 times the number of puffs, destroys tooth enamel. Microscopic cracks appear in it, through which they begin to penetrate into the tooth. pathogenic microbes, of which there are plenty in the oral cavity. As a result, teeth begin to decay, crumble, and caries develops. Particles of tobacco tar are deposited in cracks in tooth enamel. The surface of the teeth becomes yellowish color, a specific tobacco smell comes from the teeth. The tobacco tar embedded in the teeth is gradually washed out toxic substances, poisoning the body. All this can lead to cancer of the oral cavity, pharynx, and gastrointestinal tract.

Smoking and the stomach. Nicotine, aniline and various acids formed during the combustion of tobacco irritate salivary glands, which leads to the release of saliva. Saliva is swallowed along with harmful substances.

Smoking changes both gastric acid secretion and gastric motility. Once in the stomach, the tobacco mixture begins to actively attack its walls, which leads to the release of hydrochloric acid. As a result, the stomach begins to digest itself.

Chronic poisoning with tobacco poisons affects the autonomic nervous system. She loses the ability to effectively manage the gastrointestinal tract. As a result, it is disrupted physical activity, spasms occur. A few cigarettes on an empty stomach can even cause intestinal obstruction.

There is a myth that smoking reduces hunger. This is due to the fact that nicotine, being absorbed into the blood, acts on nerve endings located on the walls of the stomach and intestines, and they block the transmission of impulses signaling hunger.

Smoking and cancer. Perhaps the worst price for a weakness for cigarettes is cancer, which too often ends in painful death. It is a mistake to think that this is only lung cancer. The carcinogenic components of tobacco smoke penetrate many organs and tissues, doing their dirty deed of degeneration in them. normal cells into tumors. The result many years of smoking There are also cancers of the lip, larynx, esophagus, stomach, and pancreas.

The number of patients with cancer and precancerous lung diseases among smokers who smoke one pack of cigarettes daily is 20 times higher than among the rest of the population. And for those who smoke two packs, the rate is already 80 times higher. Thus, in the twentieth century, tobacco consumption increased almost 100 times, and the incidence of lung cancer increased 40-50 times, second only to stomach cancer, and this despite the fact that smoking is again responsible for a quarter of cases of stomach cancer. The incidence of lung cancer among women has also increased sharply, and the dynamics of its growth almost exactly corresponds to the increase in the number of women who smoke. In general, just over the last ten years, the mortality rate from malignant tumors of the respiratory organs in smokers has increased worldwide by an average of one and a half to two times.

The cause of cancer in tobacco lovers is various substances contained in tobacco smoke. aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzopyrene and benzanthracene, as well as aniline, pyridine, which are classified as carcinogenic substances. Arsenic accumulated in tobacco leaves also plays an important role. Some researchers believe that the root cause malignant tumors are radioactive elements - primarily polonium, as well as radioactive isotopes lead, bismuth and potassium.

Smoking and peptic ulcer disease. Smoking increases risk peptic ulcer. In 1979, the idea was put forward that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between cigarette smoking and peptic ulcers. Several mechanisms are likely to be involved in this relationship. Smokers have increased acid secretion in the stomach, decreased alkali secretion in the pancreas, decreased pH level in the duodenal bulb area, and decreased synthesis of prostaglandins in the gastric mucosa.

Smoking also promotes apoptosis, that is, the programmed death of cells in the gastrointestinal mucosa and disrupts the formation of blood vessels in the gastric mucosa, which blocks the process of cell renewal.

Smoking also affects the course of peptic ulcer disease. In smokers, duodenal ulcers take longer to heal than in non-smokers, and relapses are more frequent. These patterns have been identified for both men and women.

Smoking and the cardiovascular system. Statistics inexorably show that mortality from myocardial infarction among smokers is 5 times higher than among those who are not poisoned by tobacco smoke, and cerebral hemorrhage is observed 3-4 times more often among tobacco lovers. The thing is that nicotine and other harmful substances cause constriction of blood vessels, especially the heart and brain, resulting in increased arterial pressure. It becomes difficult for the heart to cope with stress; it works under strain, which leads to increased heart rate. It is known that in calm state the heart beats 70 times per minute, pumping 7200 liters of blood per day. In a smoker, the number of heartbeats increases significantly, as a result of which the work of the heart to “pump” blood increases by 1000-1400 liters per day. Thus, both during exercise and at rest, the heart works under great overload.

Tobacco smoke does a lot of harm, although smoking does not seem to cause such obvious degradation as does alcoholism or drug addiction. However, tobacco poisons, like a Trojan horse, open the way to more complex forms of drug addiction.

Conclusion

A lot has been and is being said about drinking and smoking, alcoholism and drug addiction - factors harmful to health. But the fact remains that alcohol, nicotine and drugs are abused by millions of people on the planet.

The dangers of smoking have been known for a long time. However, the concern of scientists and doctors caused by the spread of this harmful habit is growing, since a significant number of people still do not consider smoking harmful to health. Smoking is not a harmless activity that can be quit without effort. This is a real drug addiction, and even more dangerous because many do not take it seriously.

The problem of alcohol consumption is also very relevant these days. Now the consumption of alcoholic beverages in the world is characterized by huge numbers. The whole society suffers from this, but first of all, the younger generation is at risk: children, adolescents, young people, as well as the health of expectant mothers. After all, alcohol has a particularly active effect on an unformed organism, gradually destroying it.

The consequences of long-term drug use are devastating: they cause cardiac and circulatory disorders, liver and kidney disease, cause cancer and personality degradation, which is often associated with social decline and a large number of suicides.

Alcoholism and drug addiction have become epidemic in society. And most importantly, it is almost impossible to defeat these diseases today. True, there are many methods, but no one has yet achieved a 100% result. So what to do? It is possible that in the near future the problem of drug addiction and alcoholism will be solved with the help of genetic vaccination. The fact is that scientists have put forward a hypothesis that approximately 15% of people have genes responsible for the manifestation of the so-called pleasure complex. It is these genes that determine a person’s tendency to abuse alcohol, drugs, psychotropic substances and smoking. Smart nature, however, has provided means of protection against unwanted vices, the so-called blocker genes. It's good if they work fine. And if not, then the problem is that the “narcotic” genes appear “in all their glory.”

In most countries involved in the fight against drugs, only a small part of products is controlled, that is, drugs included in the list of prohibited narcotic drugs, so diverse in their properties that cause drug addiction. The stages of drug addiction lead ever lower, determining the worsening of the disaster, which, as experts from the World Health Organization emphasize, is a great threat to health care on a global scale. This danger increases as factories and laboratories produce more and more new types of drugs, more and more powerful and harmful.

In Russia and in the Astrakhan region, in particular, the economic situation is now extremely difficult, but this will not relieve responsibility from the current government, the president and the Duma, and finally, to the future generation, if they do not take urgent measures to combat drug addiction in society. After all, if today’s generation turns for the most part into drug addicts, which, according to experts, is far from fantastic, we will either not get the next generation at all, or we will get an absolutely sick generation. With the current course of the fight against drugs, the gene pool of the nation will irrevocably disappear, and with it the nation itself, Russia itself, will disappear.

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When addicted to smoking, alcohol or drugs, people do not think about negative impact these bad habits on your health. But most importantly, the lives of family and friends suffer. So, for example, those who like to smoke without leaving their apartment make everyone around them passive smokers. And drug addicts and sufferers are not able to control their actions. Everyone knows that most crimes are committed under the influence of these addictions.

Narcotic substances have effects on human health depending on the dosage, method of administration and the substance consumed. Under the influence of the drug, in the first stage, a person experiences a feeling of euphoria, after which he wants to sleep. At the same time, breathing slows down, the level of brain function decreases, reflexes weaken, appetite and sexual desire disappear, dullness painful sensations. The most common drugs used are marijuana, heroin, ecstasy and LSD.

Drug use increases the chance of contracting AIDS and blood poisoning. As a result, a person dies. In drug addicts, this can happen through a contaminated syringe (even if you wash it with water, particles of infected blood still remain) or through unprotected sexual intercourse. Death also occurs due to excess dosage, mixing of various narcotic substances, and a high content of toxicological components.

Smoking

Every year, five million people around the world die from diseases caused by smoking. Few people know, but tobacco smoke contains more chemicals than exhaust gases. As a result of smoking, blood circulation is impaired, the elasticity of arteries and blood vessels decreases, and the entire body suffers. As a result, diseases such as myocardial infarction, blindness, vasoconstriction in the lower extremities, gangrene and lung cancer appear. People who smoke can be identified visually, as their nails and teeth become yellow, the complexion also does not look healthy, and the hair loses its natural shine.

Health of children and other family members smoking man is in no less danger. By inhaling smoke, passive smokers have a 20% higher risk of developing any disease than an experienced smoker. This negative impact especially affects children and pregnant women. Doctors have long noticed that a child who suffered from second-hand smoke in the womb is born weak with signs of asphyxia. Despite the fact that smoking remains the most common bad habit, the number of smokers among the Russian population is steadily growing.

Alcoholism

Alcohol is a fast drug. Advertisements for beer and other alcoholic products claim that daily use Alcohol helps you relax, brings satisfaction, and makes you happier. This occurs due to the action of ethyl alcohol on certain areas of the brain. Gradually, a person gets used to relaxing, thus, and can no longer do without alcohol. Every day there is a desire to increase the dose taken. And then health problems arise. This is how insomnia appears, fast fatiguability, often suffer from headaches and develop general irritability and weakness. Men have problems with heat rash. Against the background of this condition, a person suffering from such a bad habit as drinking alcohol is capable of unnatural actions, sometimes threatening his environment.

From the start of drinking alcohol in small doses to the disease of alcoholism, it may take only a few months. And it may take more than one year to recover. Therefore, it is necessary to think about it at the very beginning stages and give up an extra glass or can of beer in time.

To fight with bad habits possible and necessary. In order to eradicate them, you need to start leading a healthy lifestyle. Children, observing the actions of adults, often copy their behavior. Therefore, it is very important to exercise, eat right and go towards your goal. And the main thing is to remember and take care of the well-being of loved ones and loving people.

Load on the liver and gastrointestinal tract, neuronal damage, vascular tone disorder and others harmful effects will have an impact, if not immediately, then certainly in the future.

This is stated in many scientific and practical works, abstracts and reports of researchers on the problem of alcoholism. The same can be said about smoking: how many examples do smokers give, boasting about their health and complete absence problems, but doctors and scientists say the opposite.

It would seem like a paradox? No, there is nothing unusual about this. The human body's safety margin is high, as is its ability to recover. At the same time, there are also individual differences: from genetic to environmentally related. And someone “gives up” earlier, the other remains strong until gray hair. It’s just impossible to predict how the body will behave even in the near future.

Harm to the nervous system, including the brain

The respiratory tract, upper gastrointestinal tract and brain are the first to take the hit of alcohol and nicotine. And if the cells of the gastrointestinal tract, thanks to various factors, can still cope with it (for the time being, however), then alcohol and cigarettes are merciless to neurons - brain cells. In addition to the direct neurotoxicity of ethanol and nicotine (as well as cigarette tar), vascular dysfunction is added, the supply of oxygen to brain cells is reduced, and they are very sensitive to hypoxia.

Nicotine and alcohol easily cross the blood-brain barrier, and when they enter the brain, they stimulate the release of adrenaline, dopamine, and have a psychostimulating effect. One could classify these effects as conditionally positive, but against their background, over time, a dependence is formed: physical and psychological. From a physiological point of view, surges in blood pressure, changes in the frequency and rhythm of breathing and heartbeat are potentially dangerous.

Smoking and alcohol (nicotine) actively affect most centers located in the brain, which is the cause of various manifestations of intoxication and smoking a cigarette - from dizziness and euphoria to depression of consciousness and severe headaches.

At the same time, alcohol and tobacco can have both a stimulating and a depressing effect on the receptors and transmitter systems of the brain: depending on the dose, on what reaches the brain first - ethanol or nicotine. What is especially noteworthy is the unpredictability of such an effect - it strongly depends on the state of the body at the time of drinking and smoking, the dose and amount of nicotine, the type of alcohol, and even the time of day.

What happens when nicotine and ethanol enter the body at the same time? Ethanol dilates blood vessels, nicotine constricts - this is in the beginning. Then the opposite, again antagonistic, action begins. You don’t have to wait long for vascular dysfunction: the heart contracts painfully or aches, blood pressure rises, and your head begins to feel dizzy. But chronic smokers do not notice this: the body has adapted, the sensations have long become familiar. Adaptation occurs through the use of strength resources.

Damage to the cardiovascular system

When it comes to the impact of smoking and alcoholic beverages on cardiovascular system, first of all they remember the benefits of wine - for example, the so-called “Mediterranean diet”. However, alcohol for blood vessels can only be useful if many conditions are met: from place of residence to the quality of the alcohol, and certainly not in combination with nicotine.

And for the remaining majority of people who cannot afford to comply with all the conditions of enotherapy, the combination of “alcohol plus nicotine” is a “vascular enemy”. At a minimum, due to the fact that it introduces serious disorder into the system of regulation of vascular tone: it literally confuses them, relaxing the walls of blood vessels (that is, their tone decreases), but at the same time increasing the heart rate, which causes an increase in tone. As the dose increases, alcohol works in the direction of increasing tone vascular wall, exacerbating the effects of nicotine.

This, together with other factors, causes the development of various vascular pathologies, so typical for drinking smokers: atherosclerosis, hypertension, coronary heart disease, early heart attacks, ischemic stroke.

Negative effects on the reproductive system

ABOUT negative impact alcohol and nicotine on the genital area is recalled in last resort- and completely in vain. Thus, a popular method of overcoming shyness in contacts with the opposite sex - drinking before flirting or a date - most often ends in a “bed fiasco”: an intoxicated brain plus a lot of emotions (and corresponding biochemical reactions in the brain) - and control over both physiology and psychological components is lost.

The influence of another cigarette and alcohol leads to disruption of the blood supply to the genital organs, an imbalance in the production of mediators and endocrine glands, and subsequently to hormonal disorders. All together, as well as the toxic tar of cigarettes, cause chronic intoxication, affecting desire, and in a separate perspective - infertility in women (usually of a hormonal nature), problems with pregnancy and heredity in the fetus, erectile dysfunction in men and decreased libido (also hormonally related).

Alcohol and cigarettes have a particularly strong effect on the course of pregnancy. And this impact is catastrophic!

Harm to the respiratory system

Highlight specific alcohol impairment lungs in chronic alcoholics is quite difficult: both because it requires high diagnostic skills of the doctor, and because almost all drinkers smoke, that is, smoking as a factor in pulmonary pathology becomes the leading one. However, alcoholic smokers develop typical lung lesions, confirming the fact of the combined harm of alcohol and smoking to the respiratory system.

First of all, it is chronic toxic, developing due to a number of reasons. The leading one among them is the damaging effect of alcohol and toxins on lung tissue: the epithelium of the lungs does not have the appropriate protective factors.

Decreased immunity in drinkers and smokers, as well as regular exposure to situations that are risk factors for the occurrence of bronchopulmonary pathology (hypothermia, being in wet clothes, feeling hot and wanting to undress when in a cold room or on the street, smoking against the background of ARVI, etc.) etc.) leads to the frequent development of pneumonia (according to statistics, 4-5 times more often), which, as a rule, last longer and with complications, often fatal.

For the same reason, pulmonary tuberculosis is so common among heavy drinkers and smokers: its frequency in this population, according to various sources, is 18-20 times higher than the statistical average.

Chronic inflammatory processes due to the effects of alcohol, nicotine on the tissues of the pharynx, pharynx, larynx, vocal cords lead to chronic pharyngitis and laryngitis, which is why it develops - wheezing, with hoarseness and tremors.

...And this is only a small fraction of those negative consequences caused by the combination of smoking and drinking any type of alcohol. The list of harm that these two factors cause to the body is wide and varied. Often this harm is also insidious: it does not appear immediately, but after a long time, when the possibilities of further treatment or at least maintaining an acceptable state of health are completely lost...