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A Lancet study in 2000
reported that up to 5 million people a year die of smoking related
diseases worldwide. The top three smoking related diseases were
cardiovascular disease (non smokers are three times less likely to
have a heart attack), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung
cancer with a staggering 75% of the deaths in men.
Smokers less than 40 years of age are a massive five times more
likely to have a mild heart attack (permanent damage to your heart) than their non smoking
counterparts. If this fact is not frightening enough, consider how
smoking affects those around you including your children? Not only
has smoking been linked to sudden infant death syndrome (Cot Death)
but being a smoker also increases the likelihood that your children
will become smokers later in life.
It is believed that worldwide there are some one billion smokers who
enjoy a typical cigarette containing Nicotine, Carbon Monoxide, Tar,
Acetone, Ammonia, Arsenic, Benzene, Cadmium and Formaldehyde. This
is not an exhaustive list and there are at least another 50 to 60
cancer causing chemicals contained in the innocuous cigarette.
Smoking increases the likelihood of male pattern baldness in men and increases
the incidence of erectile dysfunction in men in their 30s and 40s by
over 50%.
Until recent times, smoking had been considered a socially acceptable behaviour and has become engrained in our culture through the power
of the major cigarette companies. Major corporations who have a vested interest in
perpetuating the smoking behaviour and encouraging more people to
become smokers. Considering these facts it is easy to see why many
people have become smokers and given the fact that Nicotine, which is just
one component of a typical cigarette, is considered by many in the
medical community to be as addictive as Heroin, we can see the
difficulty in giving up smoking that many people face.
Nicotine from a typical cigarette, once inhaled, reaches the brain
in 5 to 10 seconds and sets off a cascade of effects which result in
increased levels of Dopamine in the brain. Other chemicals in
cigarettes also act on the enzyme that breaks down Dopamine in the
brain which also increases its levels in the brain.
Bupropion / Wellbutrin / Zyban
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Dopamine is the brain’s
pleasure chemical and its levels increase during sex and other
pleasurable activities such as eating chocolate cake. In fact,
scientists have scanned the human brain during orgasm and found the
results similar to those of Heroin users during a rush. No current
research findings are available for the cake.
The increase in Dopamine following Nicotine produces feelings of
pleasure and this is one of the reasons why cigarettes are so
addictive.
Giving up smoking by sheer willpower is extremely difficult and with
the advent of new treatments it is also unnecessary. One such
treatment is Bupropion Hydrochloride (also called Amfebutamone or
Zyban)
which was originally developed for use as an antidepressant under
the brand names of Wellbutrin, Wellbutrin SR and Wellbutrin XL.
Bupropion acts as a Norepinephrine and Dopamine reuptake inhibitor
which means the levels of Dopamine and Norepinephrine in the brain
increase. The effect of increased Dopamine and Norepinephrine in the
brain is elevated mood.
Zyban is the brand name used for Bupropion. As a smoking cessation
medicine, the effect of zyban on smoking is not fully understood but
the medication has been found to help people give up smoking and it
may be because it makes the need to elevate mood through smoking a
cigarette redundant. |
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