Tobacco usage in the United States has gone from glamorous to villainized. Regardless of how we perceive tobacco today, nearly 13 percent of American adults still use tobacco in some form. The culprit behind these statistics is nicotine addiction.
What does nicotine do to your body, exactly? Can you use it safely? Read on to learn about everything you need to know about nicotine and how it impacts your overall health!
What Does Nicotine Do To Your Heart?
Nicotine’s biggest impact on your body is the impact it has on your cardiovascular system. As soon as you take a hit of a cigarette, nicotine is absorbed into your bloodstream, which stimulates your adrenal glands. In response, your adrenal glands release adrenaline, a stress hormone.
The presence of adrenaline in your blood tells your central nervous system that it’s time to go to work. You’ll notice an uptick in your blood pressure and heart rate. You might also notice that your breathing becomes more rapid, as well.
While this might not sound very bad, it can actually be quite damaging to your cardiovascular system. Smoking puts you at an increased risk for things like heart attack and stroke.
How Does Nicotine Impact Your Brain?
Nicotine addiction wouldn’t be so prevalent if it didn’t have some relatively positive effects, too. Within about 10 seconds of your first puff on your cigarette, you’ll notice that you feel more relaxed. That’s because nicotine stimulates the brain to release pleasurable chemicals.
The problem with this is that it’s easy to build up a tolerance to nicotine. This means that, over time, it takes more and more nicotine to stimulate those same pleasurable feelings in your brain. What starts as a one or two-cigarette-a-day habit quickly becomes a pack-a-day habit.
How Can You Reduce Your Smoking Risks?
Many people simply don’t want to quit smoking. There are many reasons for this, including nicotine’s ability to suppress your appetite and the social aspect of smoking. That doesn’t mean you can’t reduce the risks of smoking while still using nicotine.
One of the best ways to reduce your smoking risks is to stop smoking tobacco and switch to e-cigarettes or “vapes.” This means you don’t have to worry about things like carbon monoxide or tar buildup in your lungs. Read more about puff bars and vapes here.
Are You Concerned About the Risks of Nicotine Use?
What does nicotine do to your body? It has a number of side effects.
The risks of nicotine usage are definitely not a secret. Regardless, many people find that the benefit they obtain from nicotine outweighs the risks associated with its usage. If that’s the case for you, then you should consider safer modes of administration, like vaping, to reduce the additional risks that come with smoking or chewing tobacco.
Do you want to learn about more effective ways to optimize your health? You’ve come to the right place. Be sure to check out the rest of our blog for tons of health tips!
