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Smoking and PregnancyNicotine is the active drug which works on the nervous system. It is the drug clearly responsible for the chemical addiction related to cigarette smoking and the severe craving that occurs in the smoker. Nicotine causes an alteration in heart rate and blood
pressure with just one cigarette. This effect is almost immediately
noted in the fetus since the nicotine passes from the mother's bloodstream
to the fetus. In animal experimentation it has been shown there can
be a 44 per cent decrease in blood flow in the uterus Every time you inhale you fill your
lungs with nicotine and carbon monoxide. Your blood carries these impurities
through the umbilical cord into your baby's bloodstream. Smoking can
restrict your baby's normal growth inside the womb. If you give up smoking when you're pregnant your baby will be as healthy as if you'd never smoked (womb). This means less blood flowing to the fetus and is probably one of the causes of poor growth and weight in a newborn child. Some studies on the animal fetus show changes in the central nervous system (brain, nerves and spinal cord). Though this of course cannot be checked as
yet on human babies, it is frightening to think of the chance a smoking
mother is taking that could affect the mental capacity of her baby. The same poisonous gas in car exhaust
fumes is present in tobacco smoke. Not only is blood circulation restricted
by the effect of nicotine but the oxygen carrying capacity of the red
blood cell is reduced by the carbon monoxide from smoking cigarettes. The red blood cells contain a chemical called hemoglobin which, instead
of transporting oxygen, prefers to transport carbon monoxide. When this
association of hemoglobin and carbon monoxide reaches 4-5 per cent there
is alteration in mental The smoker gets such concentrations by smoking just one pack of cigarettes a day. Some smokers have concentrations up to 10-12 per cent. Article Tags: Carbon Monoxide Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com
ABOUT THE AUTHORFor more articles and resources on drug abuse, visit CigArest and Stop Smoking Weed and learn how to quit smoking effectively.
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