“With every stick, you’re taking 11 minutes of your life.”
This is usually what doctors say to smokers when they are being checked. For many years, smoking has always been associated with cardiovascular disease. In fact many studies have been conducted to prove the plausibility of the effects of this dreaded habit. Moreover, many smokers have been diagnosed with heart diseases due to smoking as well, confirming that notion “smoking causes heart diseases” is true, after all.
Primarily substances such as tar, carbon monoxide, arsenic, hydrogen cyanide and many other compounds found in tobacco products are taking all the blame in causing all tobacco-related heart diseases to smoking, what links these poisonous substances to a smoker’s body? What connects the cigarette to the smoker, and the smoker to acquiring cardiovascular and coronary artery diseases?
Nicotine: The Weakest Link
Nicotine is a parasympathomimetic alkaloid that is also found in eggplants, potatoes, bell peppers and of course, tobacco plants. It is the primary addictive substance in cigarettes, along with the other 599 additives. In other words, nicotine is what drives the urge of a smoker to take a drag from time to time.
On the other hand, most doctors say that nicotine intake is not one of the major factors in acquiring heart diseases for smokers; it is in fact in contrast as to what many believers say that nicotine itself is the primary cause of heart ailments. Doctors even claim that this chemical provides therapeutic effects on the body, and to support this, numerous studies have already been conducted as well.
The Link to Your Heart
Harmful or not, nicotine still plays a big role in linking smoking and heart diseases. For the simple reason of being the addictive agent in cigarettes, smokers will still give in to the urge to drag stick after stick. Hence, nicotine serves as the primary link between smoking and heart diseases.
In this angle, it seems that nicotine in cigarettes proves to be more harmful than not. As the Royal College of Physicians say, “If nicotine could be provided in a form that is acceptable and effective as a cigarette substitute, millions of lives could be saved.”
Breaking the Link
True, that many pharmaceuticals and business opportunists have come up with various ideas and develop products such as nicotine patches, nicotine gums, e-cigarettes, to serve as substitutes to cigarettes.
In addition, herbal tea, pills, lozenges are also within reach to permanently break the link between tobacco smoking and cardio-pulmonary ailments. On the other hand, taking these medications and alternatives, will not do the job alone, if tobacco smoking is still involved. As always, the best way to break the link is to kick the habit.
