this is not the case, and the world of science agreesâresearch shows smokers to have lower energy levels, more problems concentrating and much higher levels of stress than non-smokers.
Apart from being a drug (albeit one with no noticeable âhighâ), nicotine is also a powerful poison and tiny amounts are used in many commercial insecticides. If the nicotine content of just one cigarette were injected directly into your bloodstream, it would kill you. In fact, tobacco contains hundreds of poisons, including benzene, polonium and cyanide. This should not come as a surprise as the tobacco plant is from the same family as the Deadly Nightshade. In addition, many cigarettes also contain toxic additives such as ammonia and formaldehyde.
In case you have visions of switching to a pipe or cigars, I should make it quite clear that the content of this book applies to all tobacco. Indeed nicotine is so toxic that it is hard to see any reason to consume any product containing it, including nicotine gum, patches, tabs, e-cigarettes, nasal sprays, lozenges, inhalators, chewing tobacco, and Snus (orally taken tobacco common in Scandinavia and just launched in the US, where it seems to be geared towards attracting young people).
No species on earth, from the lowest amoeba or worm upwards, can survive without knowing the difference between food and poison.
The human body is by far the most sophisticated machine on the planet. Over millions of years, our minds and bodies have developed techniques for distinguishing between food and poison and fail-safe methods for rejecting the latter.
All human beings are averse to the smell and taste of tobacco until they become hooked. We donât even need the health warnings to know that tobacco is poisonous. We need only to listen to our bodies. If you blow smoke into the face of any animal, it will instinctively cough and splutter in an attempt to expel the poison.
When we smoked our first cigarette, for most of us inhaling resulted in a coughing fit. If we managed to smoke the whole thing, we most likely experienced dizziness or nausea. These symptoms were our bodyâs way of telling us: âYOU ARE FEEDING ME POISON. STOP IT.â This is the key moment that often decides our future: whether we become smokers or not. It is a fallacy that weak and weak-willed people become smokers. Smokers need to be strong and strong-willed to endure the process of learning to smoke. The lucky ones are those who find that first cigarette so repulsive that they cannot go through this process of learning to tolerate tobacco smoke; physically their lungs cannot cope with it, and they avoid the trap.
To me this is the most tragic part of the whole business. How hard we have to work to become hooked in the first place! Ironically, this is why it is difficult to get teenagers to quit. Because they still find cigarettes and smoking distasteful, they refuse to believe that they can get hooked. They believe they can stop whenever they want to. Sadly, by this stage, they are already addicted. Why do they not learn from us? Then again, why did we not learn from our parents?
Some smokers believe they enjoy the taste and smell of the tobacco. This, like so much else with respect to smoking, is an illusion. What we are actually doing when we learn to smoke is teaching our bodies to become desensitized to the disgusting smell and taste in order to get our fix.
Ask a smoker who believes he smokes because he enjoys the smell and taste of tobacco, âIf you cannot get your normal brand of cigarette, do you abstain?â No way. A smoker will smoke anything rather than abstain. Smokers prefer their own brands because they have taught themselves to tolerate the smell and taste, but if their brand isnât available a smoker will smoke any brand in order to get his fix. This is why smokers who at first find roll-ups, cigars, menthols or pipes absolutely disgusting, over time can learn to
Apart from being a drug (albeit one with no noticeable âhighâ), nicotine is also a powerful poison and tiny amounts are used in many commercial insecticides. If the nicotine content of just one cigarette were injected directly into your bloodstream, it would kill you. In fact, tobacco contains hundreds of poisons, including benzene, polonium and cyanide. This should not come as a surprise as the tobacco plant is from the same family as the Deadly Nightshade. In addition, many cigarettes also contain toxic additives such as ammonia and formaldehyde.
In case you have visions of switching to a pipe or cigars, I should make it quite clear that the content of this book applies to all tobacco. Indeed nicotine is so toxic that it is hard to see any reason to consume any product containing it, including nicotine gum, patches, tabs, e-cigarettes, nasal sprays, lozenges, inhalators, chewing tobacco, and Snus (orally taken tobacco common in Scandinavia and just launched in the US, where it seems to be geared towards attracting young people).
No species on earth, from the lowest amoeba or worm upwards, can survive without knowing the difference between food and poison.
The human body is by far the most sophisticated machine on the planet. Over millions of years, our minds and bodies have developed techniques for distinguishing between food and poison and fail-safe methods for rejecting the latter.
All human beings are averse to the smell and taste of tobacco until they become hooked. We donât even need the health warnings to know that tobacco is poisonous. We need only to listen to our bodies. If you blow smoke into the face of any animal, it will instinctively cough and splutter in an attempt to expel the poison.
When we smoked our first cigarette, for most of us inhaling resulted in a coughing fit. If we managed to smoke the whole thing, we most likely experienced dizziness or nausea. These symptoms were our bodyâs way of telling us: âYOU ARE FEEDING ME POISON. STOP IT.â This is the key moment that often decides our future: whether we become smokers or not. It is a fallacy that weak and weak-willed people become smokers. Smokers need to be strong and strong-willed to endure the process of learning to smoke. The lucky ones are those who find that first cigarette so repulsive that they cannot go through this process of learning to tolerate tobacco smoke; physically their lungs cannot cope with it, and they avoid the trap.
To me this is the most tragic part of the whole business. How hard we have to work to become hooked in the first place! Ironically, this is why it is difficult to get teenagers to quit. Because they still find cigarettes and smoking distasteful, they refuse to believe that they can get hooked. They believe they can stop whenever they want to. Sadly, by this stage, they are already addicted. Why do they not learn from us? Then again, why did we not learn from our parents?
Some smokers believe they enjoy the taste and smell of the tobacco. This, like so much else with respect to smoking, is an illusion. What we are actually doing when we learn to smoke is teaching our bodies to become desensitized to the disgusting smell and taste in order to get our fix.
Ask a smoker who believes he smokes because he enjoys the smell and taste of tobacco, âIf you cannot get your normal brand of cigarette, do you abstain?â No way. A smoker will smoke anything rather than abstain. Smokers prefer their own brands because they have taught themselves to tolerate the smell and taste, but if their brand isnât available a smoker will smoke any brand in order to get his fix. This is why smokers who at first find roll-ups, cigars, menthols or pipes absolutely disgusting, over time can learn to
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