It’s a trap – the nicotine in cigarettes, cigars, and spit tobacco is addictive! Here’s why it’s so important to stay away from tobacco.

Tobacco and personal appearance

Tobacco smoke makes your hair and clothes stink.
Tobacco stains your teeth and causes bad breath.
Short-term use of spit tobacco can cause cracked lips, white spots, sores and bleeding in your mouth.
Surgery to remove oral cancers caused by tobacco can leave life-long scars on your face.

Tobacco and sports

Nicotine narrows your blood vessels and puts added strain on your heart.
Smoking can wreck lungs and reduce oxygen available for muscles used during sports.
Smokers suffer shortness of breath almost three times more often than nonsmokers.
Smokers run slower and can’t run as far, affecting overall athletic performance.

The younger people begin smoking cigarettes, the more likely they are to become strongly addicted to nicotine. Young people who try to quit suffer the same nicotine withdrawal symptoms as adults who try to quit.¹
Several studies have found nicotine to be addictive in ways similar to heroin, cocaine, and alcohol. Of all addictive behaviors, cigarette smoking is the one most likely to become established during adolescence.¹

Cigarette smoking by young people leads to immediate and serious health problems including respiratory and nonrespiratory effects, addiction to nicotine, and the associated risk of other drug use.^{1, 2}
Smoking at an early age increases the risk of lung cancer. For most smoking-related cancers, the risk rises as the individual continues to smoke.^{1, 2}
Cigarette smoking causes heart disease, stroke, chronic lung disease, and cancers of the lung, mouth, pharynx, esophagus, and bladder. ^{1, 2}
Use of smokeless tobacco causes cancers of the mouth, pharynx and esophagus; gum recession; and an increased risk for heart disease and stroke. ^{1, 2}
Smoking cigars increases the risk of oral, laryngeal, esophageal, and lung cancers.^{2, 3}

References

1. CDC. Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People: A Report of the Surgeon General. [pdf 28M] Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1994. [Accessed 2008 Jun 23].
2. CDC. The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2004. [Accessed 2008 Jun 23].
3. CDC. Cigar smoking among teenagers—United States, Massachusetts, and New York, 1996 [pdf 302K]Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report 1997;46(20):433–439. [Accessed 2008 Jun 23]