A Smokers Pleasure.

Essay by darfaceHigh School, 11th grade November 2003

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A Smokers Pleasure

Have you ever seen a smoker taking a long drag on that needed cigarette at the end of the day? Slowly inhaling, letting the smoke travel down their windpipe, they begin to feel the momentary pleasure of nicotine. With each drag their addiction is fed; however, along with each of these drags, is the need for another, thus furthering the addiction. As their lungs are filling with carbon monoxide their bloodstream is carrying nicotine throughout their body and to their heart and brain. Slowly giving pleasure and relieving stress. However, one must realize that the pleasure derived from smoking is only temporary, but the long lasting side effects are permanent and sometimes fatal.

The path smoke follows throughout a persons body is devastating to their health and well being. Smoking increases a persons risk for many different diseases or health problems, including, but not limited to, stroke, lung cancer, chronic lung disease, heart disease (Deaths Attributable to Cigarette Smoking), and emphysema.

Around eighty-two thousand people die of heart disease every year (Deaths Attributable to Cigarette Smoking). This is because the carbon monoxide from smoke removes the oxygen from blood, causing cholesterol to deposit on the artery walls, and these deposits eventually lead to their hardening. The nicotine in smoke raises the smoker's blood pressure, and it causes the blood to clot more easily. These negative side effects lead to an increased risk of heart attack, "heart disease, loss of circulation in fingers and toes, and impotence" (How Smoking Affects Your Body).

Around two hundred five thousand people die each year from lung cancer and chronic lung disease (Deaths Attributable to Cigarette Smoking). As the smoker inhales the smoke from the cigarette, and it slowly travels down their windpipe it leaves tar and other particles in the...