Brain Structure and Smoking - Essay Example

Scientists discovered that a chain smoker suddenly lost all his interest in smoking because he suffered some damage to the brain, which altered the structure of the brain. This led scientists to believe that a brain structure deep in the brain was primarily responsible for the habit of smoking and if this can be treated the habit could be kicked very easily because then the smoker would loose all interest in smoking just as the person mentioned above lost all interest because of the stroke that altered his brain structure.

Smoking is one of the highest causes of death which is preventable because most people are hooked to the highly addictive nicotine. This is just one example of how physical activities affect the brain or how the brain affects the activities of human beings, it is very vital to understand that addiction is due to structures in the brain that actually cause the addiction to nicotine, the respective brain structures will also be mentioned in the paper. Most people that are hooked on to smoking say that they want to quit smoking but do not know how to do so; this research would be very helpful in making people realize how they can quit their smoking habits and patterns to lead a much more healthy life.

There are manStructures of the BrainThere are many structures in the brain that affect the habits of human being, as mentioned before the brain has back up resources so some functions might be carried out by other parts if some damage occurs but if any part does get damaged then some habits are affected because there is not a back up resource for it. The insula in the brain is one such part because researchers have found out that any damage to the insula would cause people to quit smoking, they found this out by studying a man who smoked 40 cigarettes per day and he suffered a deep stroke which altered, to an extent, the brain structure and after the stroke the man felt no need to smoke at all.

Smoking also has some affects on the brain which tend to damage the brain but the most damaged areas are those of the parietal and the temporal lobes, as mentioned before these lobes tend to the functions of feel and problem solving, once damage has been done to these lobes the problem solving ability decreases and also lowers the resolve to quit smoking.There are hereditary causes of smoking as well because in a research it was indicated that there were certain receptors known as 'alpha-4, beta-2' are responsible for the 'head rush' that smokers feel when they smoke and it is believed that parents who smoke may transfer these recipients in large quantities to their children and hence this might be a cause of smoking when they children grow up and it is also thought that the initial smoking habits and patterns reflect those of the parents.

The reasons for smoking in teenagers and young adults are mostly peer pressure and academic related concerns that cause them to smoke, the top most reason is not the lack of knowledge because every one knows how smoking is a cause of concern to their health's but the problem lies in how are they informed Are they just told the facts and figures or are they showed, how badly smoking can really hurt them They should be told that peer pressure is a daily phenomenon and also should be told how to