|  | Conditions Treatments | Drug Addiction

Misconceptions About Smoking

Common misconceptions about smoking and cigarettes create dilemmas for smokers trying to quit. Every year, an estimated 443,000 people die from smoking cigarettes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Based on many reports and studies, conducted by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to the Institute of Medicine in Washington, smokers experience many diseases due to the chemicals found in cigarettes.

  1. Diseases

    • A common misconception is that cigarettes only cause cancer and lung illnesses like emphysema. However, smoking causes cardiovascular and respiratory diseases too. In fact, a person who smokes is two to four times more likely to have coronary heart disease, according to the CDC. While proven to cause lung cancer, smoking also causes other lung diseases like emphysema, bronchitis and chronic airway obstruction. Smoking also causes more than lung cancer, such as cancer of the bladder, cervix, kidney, stomach and uterus.

    Stress

    • Cigarettes only mask stress and anxiety, but they do not alleviate stress as well as stress relief exercises like yoga or meditation. Cigarettes use chemicals to relax smokers. Nicotine is a chemical in tobacco, which releases neurotransmitters into the brain. Nicotine helps calm and improve temper. Chain smokers who try to quit smoking experience anger and anxiety issues due to the loss of nicotine.

    Safer Cigarettes

    • Low-tar and light cigarettes often come across as being safer cigarette. However, the CDC shows that even low-tar and filtered "light" cigarettes contribute to diseases and deaths in smokers every year. Whether a cigarette contains less tar does not mitigate the fact that it contains carcinogens and many other chemicals that contribute to cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

    Quitting

    • Smokers commonly feel as though they are able to quit at any time. They underestimate the power of nicotine and many other chemicals in cigarette that are addictive. As a smoker continues to feed nicotine to the body, the body's chemistry changes and begins to depend on nicotine. Once a smoker decides to quit, many are unable to face the hunger, irritability and tired feeling that comes with withdrawal. According to Allen Carr, author of "The Easy Way to Stop Smoking," only a small percentage of smokers manage to quit smoking per year.

Drug Addiction - Related Articles