Teenage Smoking and Brain Damage

Teenage smoking is generally on the raise globally. It is an even bigger problem because most smoking adults today started in their teens. Across the United States an estimated 3000 teens become regular and addicted smokers daily. That number raises to over 80000 world wide.

The most worrisome effect of smoking on teens is the damage tobacco causes to developing teenage brains. It does not matter altogether how the tobacco is administered wheather as smoking tobacco or smokeless tobacco . The effects of tobacco to health particulary the brain are the same.

Tobacco contains a compound that turns into a cancer causing chemical after metabolism. In fact tobacco contains over 4000 compounds and as many as 60 carcinogens. NNK is present in any tobacco smoked or smokeless. It indirectly causes damage to cells in the brain by causing inflammation.

Instead of the brain's immune cells keeping the brain protected from infection and inversions, NNK causes the white cells in teen smokers to over-react and attack or even destroy healthy brain cells. They ambush own camp.

The end result is neuronal damage. Nerves and the brain will suffer damage due to teenage smoking.

In recent years there has been a gradual shift from smoking cigarettes to smokeless tobacco such as chewing tobacco and snuff. This has been happening amongst teens for two primary reasons. The desire to conceal tobacco use from parents and authorities and the concern by smoking teens over the dreadful dangers of smoking.

This shift has largely occured in total ignorance as smokeless tobacco is never less harmful as demonstrated through these disturbing chewing tobacco pictures. As mentioned earlier on, smokeless tobacco does not prevent brain damage either because the compound NNK is present in all tobacco irregardless of how its administered.

Brain damage amongst teens may also be as a result of second hand smoke. This will be the case at home where parents or other siblings smoke in the presence of young people. A room full of tobacco smoke contains up to 20 nanograms of NNK. This is the same level of NNK found in a cigarette. This therefore suggests that second hand smoke alone amongst teens may eventually result in brain and nerve damage.

Apart from brain damage, teenage smoking has since been associated with poor hearing due to nicotine effects on white brain matter. This often results in poor concentration amongst teens manifest in poor school grades usually falling over a short period of time.