| You've heard the warnings, and you know the | | | | suggest that once a person stops smoking, the body |
| equation: Cigarette Smoking = Lung Cancer. But now | | | | begins healing process and the chance of cancer |
| there is a new addition to that equation. It seems that | | | | diseases. Even if you've smoked for over twenty |
| your lungs are no longer the only thing at risk. Cigarette | | | | years, your body can start healing if you quit smoking. |
| smoking also can increase your risk of both leukemia | | | | There is a new study that tells more about smoking |
| and cancer of the bone marrow. Once you start | | | | and cancer. It's been suspected for years that it's the |
| smoking, it takes very little tome for the body to need | | | | high-tar, high nicotine content in cigarettes smoke that |
| nicotine. A single puff of a cigarette sends a message | | | | causes most of the damage to smoker's lungs. Tar is |
| to the brain to release serotonin and dopamine, and | | | | the main carcinogenic agent in cigarette smoke. Lung |
| within eight seconds of smoking, the brain feels the | | | | cancer risk rises in a direct line with tar content in |
| effects. | | | | cigarette smoke. In other words, the higher the tar level |
| Herein lies the problem. Since serotonin makes you | | | | of the cigarette, the greater risk of getting lung cancer. |
| feel good, makes you feel less hungry, and generally | | | | Research says that when the average male smokes |
| gives you an overall sense of pleasure, each puff of | | | | a cigarette, the smoke he inhales contains 13.8 |
| nicotine basically rewards you. When you don't smoke, | | | | milligrams of tar. The average woman smoker puffs a |
| your body craves the sensation that it has known and | | | | cigarette that delivers to her lungs 11.8 milligrams of tar. |
| soon you are lighting up to reward the memory. | | | | At that level of tar intake, a 10-cigarette a day smoker |
| Beyond this, the body becomes physically addicted to | | | | would be about five times more likely to develop |
| nicotine. As with lung cancer, your risk of getting blood | | | | deadly lung cancer than a nonsmoker. Cigarette |
| or bone cancer increases with the number of | | | | smoking blamed for 85 percent and counting, of lung |
| cigarettes you smoke daily and the length of time | | | | cancer cases in men and for 75 percent of such |
| you've been smoking. The more you smoke and the | | | | cases in women, note that these numbers are |
| longer you've been smoking, the greater your risk. | | | | increasing every year. Smoking has been called the |
| However, there is some good news. Some studies | | | | number one reversible cause of death in the world. |