The amount of nicotine inhaled can be higher or lower depending on:
The amount of nicotine inhaled can be higher or lower depending on:
The type of cigarette smoked
How deeply you inhale
How many puffs you take from each cigarette.
However, nicotine is so potent that even a small dose causes significant changes in the functioning of numerous organ systems in the body.
However, nicotine is so potent that even a small dose causes significant changes in the functioning of numerous organ systems in the body.
When you first start smoking, these changes are generally unpleasant
Beginning smokers usually experience:
Beginning smokers usually experience:
Nausea
Dizziness
Headache
Coughing
Along with other unpleasant symptoms.
However, people who continue to smoke soon develop a tolerance to these symptoms until they become unnoticeable.
However, people who continue to smoke soon develop a tolerance to these symptoms until they become unnoticeable.
Tolerance is a term used to describe an important feature of addiction.
Tolerance is a term used to describe an important feature of addiction.
Tolerance develops when increasingly larger doses of a drug have to be administered to obtain the effects observed with the original dose.
What does this mean for a smoker?
What does this mean for a smoker?
The small dose of nicotine delivered by several puffs of a cigarette may make people feel ill the first few times they try it,
But, after several trials, they no longer feel the negative effects
Psychologically, tolerance to the unpleasant effects of nicotine allows the smoker to focus on the pleasurable physiological effects associated with smoking.
Psychologically, tolerance to the unpleasant effects of nicotine allows the smoker to focus on the pleasurable physiological effects associated with smoking.
