FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY
Did you know? Cigarette smoking is responsible for about one in five deaths in the U.S. per year.
Grades: grade-7
Now, create your own poster to encourage people to be tobacco and nicotine free. Use the facts and statistics from this activity and/or research additional health consequences on the Internet or in the school library. Be ready to explain the words and images in your poster to your classmates.
Tobacco causes bad breath and stains your teeth.17 Smoke can make your clothes and hair stink.17
Roll over the following text to learn about secondhand smoke.
What is secondhand smoke?
Secondhand smoke is made up of smoke that comes off the burning cigarette and the smoke that the smoker exhales.20 According to the Surgeon General, "there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke: even small amounts of secondhand smoke can be harmful to people's health."20
Visit www.cdc.gov/tobacco for additional information about diseases and health consequences related to tobacco use.
Young people who smoke cigarettes are likely to be less physically fit and have more respiratory (breathing) problems than people their age who don't smoke.19 Coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, and phlegm production are symptoms that young people who use tobacco report they are more likely to experience than non-smoking peers.19
And then there's the issue of addiction, making it difficult to stop doing something.
TRUE OR FALSE?
The younger a person is when he or she starts smoking cigarettes, the more likely he or she is to become addicted to nicotine.19
Most young people who smoke regularly are addicted to nicotine, making it hard for them to quit.19
This statement is TRUE
CHEMICAL REACTION: COUNT TO 10
After smoke is inhaled, it only takes 10 seconds for nicotine, an addictive chemical found in tobacco, to reach the brain.21 Cigarettes, vapes and smokeless tobacco both contain nicotine.21 Over time, the nicotine in tobacco can change the way your brain works.21 Nicotine can also narrow a person's blood vessels, making it tougher for the heart to work.20
MORE HEALTH PROBLEMS
Smoking also damages the immune system, which increases a person's risk of getting infections. And, once they get sick, smokers often take longer to recover than people who don't smoke. 15