Learning how to stop smoking is an important step towards better overall health. The long-term consequences of chronic tobacco inhalation are often fatal and when not deadly, they certainly decrease health and a person’s quality of life.
One of the reasons that smoking is so bad for the body is that it deposits over 4,000 toxins and chemicals into the bloodstream with each puff. While many people complain about air pollution or worry about inhaling cleaning supplies or other poisonous substances, many people fail to see the horror in the amount of damaging poison found in just one tiny cigarette.
One of the poisonous chemicals found in cigarette smoke is nicotine. While many claim that nicotine is the primary reason people become addicted to smoking, new research at Tel Aviv University demonstrates that smoking is primarily a psychosocial habit. However, this information does not detract from the fact that nicotine is a harmful substance. Here are a few ways that nicotine harms the body:
- Nicotine harms the bones: According to medical experts, nicotine is damaging to the skeletal system. It slows down the bone healing process and decreases the effectiveness of estrogen. It also increases a smoker’s chance of fracturing or breaking a bone by decreasing the effectiveness of antioxidants and nutrients such as calcium and vitamins E and C.
- Nicotine blocks insulin: Nicotine has a harmful effect on blood glucose levels. Nicotine influences the pancreas to either block or lower production of insulin which in turn wreaks havoc on the body’s blood glucose levels.
- Nicotine is a killer: Many consider nicotine to be Mother Nature’s insecticide and in fact it has been used as one by humans. Nicotine is an alkaloid that is found in the deadly nightshade family of plants so no wonder—it is a destroyer of life!
Given the disturbing information about nicotine above, it is important to know how long it stays in the bloodstream of a smoker. The duration of nicotine’s stay in a smoker’s bloodstream depends on how much the smoker smokes. For people who only smoke occasionally, the nicotine stays for about 3 to 5 days but for smokers who smoke heavily traces of nicotine can linger for 20 days or more! This information should be a good incentive for getting smokers to learn how to stop smoking—poisonous nicotine should be eradicated from the body as fast as possible in order to get people back on the track to better health and wellness.
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