This Is Your Brain On Tobacco
Are you old enough to remember an ad campaign known as This Is Your Brain on Drugs? If you were watching television in the late 1980s, maybe you saw the public service announcements featuring a frying pan, an egg, and a somber message comparing brains of illegal drug users to fried and scrambled eggs. It was direct, it was memorable, and it might have made people think about the physical and irreversible damage that drugs can cause to the brain.
Fast forward 20 years. Today we know that it's not just illegal drugs that can hurt the brain. Tobacco can also wreak havoc on the brain, and the effects of smoking and chewing tobacco can leave the user a different person than he or she was before. There is scientific evidence supporting the link between tobacco use and brain damage.
As recently as June 23, 2009, new research was published connecting tobacco use and permanent, devastating brain damage.1 Specifically, scientists are about to publish the results of their study showing that a compound in tobacco, NNK, stirs up the white blood cells in the central nervous system to attack healthy cells, leading to severe neurological damage. The researchers believe the effects of NNK are so severe because they cause inflammation, and can lead to devastating disorders such as multiple sclerosis. NNK can enter the body through smoking or chewing tobacco, and even through inhaling secondhand smoke.
The harm to the brain doesn't stop there. Other studies show that tobacco and nicotine are linked to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and panic attacks,2 not to mention stress, aggression, alienation, and other psychological problems.3 Tobacco use can also cause severe depression4 that seems to impact current smokers who are young, trying to quit, and who have high nicotine dependence levels. Young adults, such as yourselves, seem to be at particular risk, and may find that the relief you think you are finding in your cigarette or chewing habit actually raises your level of anxiety, depression, and even suicidal thoughts.5
Even if you are certain that you are calm, cool, and collected, and you enjoy a smoke or chew with no ill effects, you'll need to think again. In a 2007 study, researchers found that people who smoked but never had a mental disorder in their life had an increased risk of developing a mental disorder. Even after looking at all the other risk factors for mental disorders, smoking put people at risk for the development of such problems.6
So here is your brain. Filled with hope, pride, and purpose. Thinking about the great job you are doing and the Nation you represent. Hoping for a future filled with happiness and health. Dreaming of great things for your family, yourself, and your buddies.
Now, here is your brain on tobacco. Anxious, nervous, panicky, depressed, and maybe even a breeding ground for serious neurological diseases. Who wants THAT brain?
You want good health. You deserve it, you've earned, it, and you can have it. When you are ready to quit tobacco, we're here to help. Here are all the tools to get started.
References
1 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090623090400.htm
2 Feldner, MT, Smith, RC, Babson, KA, Sachs-Ericsson, N, Schmidt, NB, Zvolensky, MJ. Test of the role of nicotine dependence in the relation between posttraumatic stress disorder and panic spectrum problems. J Trauma Stress. February 2009; 22(1): 3644.
3 Kahler, CW, Daughters, SB, Leventhal, AM, Rogers, ML, Clark, MA, Colby, SM, Boergers, J, Ramsey, SE, Abrams, DB, Niaura, R, Buka, SL. Personality, psychiatric disorders, and smoking in middle-aged adults. Nicotine and Tobacco Research Res. July 2009; 11(7):833841.
4 Khaled, SM, Bulloch, A, Exner, DV, Patten, SB. Cigarette smoking, stages of change, and major depression in the Canadian population. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. March 2009; 54(3): 204-208.
5 Peterson, W, von Soest, T. Smoking, nicotine dependence and mental health among young adults: a 13-year population-based longitudinal study. Addiction. January 2009; 104(1): 129-137.
6 Cuijpers P, Smit F, ten Have M, de Graaf R. Smoking is associated with first-ever incidence of mental disorders: a prospective population-based study. Addiction. August 2007; 102(8): 1303-1309.