Medical Health Encyclopedia

Smoking and smokeless tobacco

Finally, tobacco is highly addictive. It is considered mood and behavior altering. Tobacco is believed to have an addictive potential comparable to alcohol, cocaine, and morphine.

HEALTH RISKS

There are many reasons to quit using tobacco. Knowing these serious health risks can help motivate you to quit. When used over a long period, tobacco and its various chemical components (like tar, nicotine, and thousands of others) can increase your risk of:

• Coronary artery disease, including angina and heart attacks
• High blood pressure, blood clots, aneurysms, and strokes
• Cancer (especially in the lung, mouth, larynx, esophagus, bladder, kidney, pancreas, and cervix)
• Chronic lung disease -- emphysema, chronic bronchitis
• Pregnancy related problems, including miscarriage, premature labor, low birth weight, and risk for SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome)
• Delayed wound healing
• Tooth and gum diseases; decreased senses of taste and smell

Text Continues Below

---

If you use smokeless tobacco long term, you have many of these same risks, plus a 50 times greater risk for oral cancer.

Even if you don't smoke yourself, but you are exposed regularly to secondhand smoke, you have a higher risk of:

• Lung cancer
• In infants and children, more respiratory infections (such as bronchitis and pneumonia), asthma, and poor lung function as the lungs mature
• Sudden and severe reactions, including eye, nose, throat, and lower respiratory tract symptoms

TIME TO QUIT

There are a lot of ways to quit smoking, and many resources to help you. Family members, friends, and coworkers may be supportive or encouraging, but the desire and commitment to quit must be your own.

Most people who have been able to successfully quit smoking made at least one unsuccessful attempt in the past. Try not to view past attempts to quit as failures, but rather as learning experiences.