Pedagoga

Páginas: 17 (4078 palabras) Publicado: 9 de octubre de 2012
Investigators have attempted to explore the habit-forming nature of smoking cigarettes. They have used their knowledge about cocaine to understand the effects of nicotine, that is a chemical component of cigarettes in our brain. They introduced radioactively labeled nicotine from tobacco in to the brain and looked to see what sort of carrier protein it attached itself to. The nicotine ignoredproteins in the between-cell gaps and instead bound directly to a specific receptor on the receiving nerve cell surface.
Researchers have learned that the nicotine receptor normally served to bind the neurotransmitter acetylcholine; it was just an accident of nature that nicotine, an obscure chemical from a tobacco plant, also binds them. This receptor turned out to be one of the brains mostimportant tools.

Researchers have also found that the brain adjust to prolonged exposure to nicotine by turning down the volume in two ways. One by making fewer receptor proteins to which nicotine can bind; and two by altering the pattern of activation of the nicotine receptor that is, their sensitivity to neurotransmitters.

Addiction occurs when chronic exposure to a drug induces the nervoussystem to adapt physiologically and the addiction to nicotine occurs because the brain compensates for the many changes nicotine induce by making other changes. When the smoking of this harmful substance becomes habitual and compulsive, an addiction develops.

When you inhale the smoke from a cigarette, nicotine reaches the brain within 7 to 10 seconds. When nicotine gets there it, stimulatesthe release of your body’s own “feel good” chemicals, like dopamine. Because it happens so rapidly, your brain experiences instant gratification and you develop strong urges to smoke again.

Scientific research has shown that most young smokers were influenced to begin the habit by observing their friends or older siblings smoke. A teen’s susceptibility to peer-pressure is also affected by hisparent’s approvals or disapproval of smoking. Likewise, advertising may reinforce the smoking habit. Teens like to act as if they are someone special or dangerous. By smoking, they can act on those feelings; because it is so forbidden, it becomes more alluring to teens. The problem is that when they take that first puff, they can become addicted.

Research shows that teens between 13 and 17years of age who smoke daily are more likely to use other drug substances. The use of other drugs is part of the peer pressure that teenagers have to face. The earlier that young people begin using tobacco, the more likely they will continue using it into adulthood. Using tobacco over an extended period of time causes chemical and structural changes to occur in the brain. When you continue to smoke,there is an increase in the number of receptors in the brain that are sensitive to nicotine and that react strongly to it. Over time, the brain may then require more nicotine to satisfy those areas, so you gradually smoke more.

The fact is that smoking cigarettes can cause many health problems including emphysema, high blood pressure, short-term respiratory conditions, heart disease,hypertension, and various forms of cancer like lung cancer.

Tobacco use kills nearly half a million Americans each year, with one in every six U.S. deaths the result of smoking. Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body, causing many diseases and compromising smoker’s health in general. Nicotine is the main reason that tobacco is addictive, although cigarette smoke contains many other dangerouschemicals, including tar, carbon monoxide, acetaldehyde, nitrosamines, and more.

The truth about cigarettes is that they are dangerous drugs that can seriously harm people and they have to be avoided because they are so addictive and bring serious consequences like any other drug; therefore, they should be banned just like drugs.
After a long investigation about cigarette use, scientists have...
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