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ENEMY IN THE SMOKE:
The World Health Organization says smoking even once is enough to become addicted and the
biggest culprit for this is nicotine, which is found in cigarettes in high amounts. This substance,
which is difficult to remove from the body,blocks brain nourishment. For this very reason,
smoking at a young age threatens healthy growth and development.
N
NICOTINE
speed increases. In this periodwhen adolescents
mature, smoking and the nicotine in cigarettes affect
physical and cognitive development negatively. Each
puff breathed into the lungs prevents the blood from
reaching the cerebral veins, whichmeans the brain cannot
get enough nutrition. From this aspect, smoking poses
a greater danger for adolescents than for adults. The
most effectiveway to be protected from this danger is
to avoid smoking at all times. Smokers frequently start
smoking at a young age and it becomes difficult to quit
as time passes. One third of young people try smoking at
least once throughout their lives and half of themcarry
the risk of being addicts. Studies indicate that 85 percent
of young peoplewho finish their first two cigarettes
became addicted to smoking. Using addictive substances
even once is enough to be an addict and it triggers using
other substances as well, according to theWorld Health
Organization (WHO).
Nicotine is a colorless liquid that turns brownwhen burnt
and produces a smoke smell when it is aerosolized. It has
several complex effects brain and certain parts of the
body, which haven’t been determined yet.
A personwho breathes smoke into his/her lungs takes
in 1 to 2milligrams of nicotine on averagewith each
cigarette. Nicotine that is absorbed by the lungs via skin
or throughmucosa covering inside of themouth can
speedily reach the peak in brain and blood circulation,
depending on how it is used. For example, breathing in
smoke causes nicotine to circulate thewhole body and
reach the brainwithin 10 seconds. The reasonwhy it is
difficult to quit smoking is because nicotine contains a
substance that has a strong potential to cause addiction.
Since nicotine accumulates in adipose tissue, it takes a
long time to remove it from the body.
Cognitive development has a very important role in
the adolescence periodwhen physical development
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October-November-December 2015