Download Brain, Tobacco. Marijuana

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Fun Facts about the BRAIN
Your
brain is the most complex, mind-blowing
organ in the universe.
Each neuron is connected to other neurons by up
to 40,000 individual connections (called synapses)
between cells. Multiplying 100 billion neurons
times 40,000 synapses is equivalent to the brain
having more connections in it than there are stars
in the universe.
A piece of brain tissue the size of a grain of sand
contains 100,000 neurons and 1 billion synapses,
all "talking" to one another The brain is one of the
best examples of the “use it or lose it”
principle. Connections that are used repeatedly
in the early years become permanent; while those
that are not used are pruned.
At age 11, the brain begins to prune extra
connections at a rapid rate. The circuits that
remain are more specific and efficient.
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The signals can travel at these high speeds
because a part of neurons, called axons, are
wrapped and insulated by a special substance
called myelin.
Axons that are not insulated by myelin, either by
design or disease, transmit signals 10 times
slower.
Also, the areas of the brain that develop early,
such as vision, are the first areas to become
myelinated (wrapped in myelin), which helps that
part of the brain become more efficient.
During late adolescence and into the mid 20s,
the front third of the brain, called the
prefrontal cortex (PFC) or executive brain,
continues to develop.
Information in your brain travels at about 268
miles per hour, unless of course you are drunk,
then things really slow down.
Glucose and oxygen run your brain
cells. Unlike other cells in your body,
glucose is the only fuel your brain knows
how to use. Anything that impairs
glucose delivery to brain cells is life
threatening.
 Oxygen is required to produce energy,
without it the energy powerhouses of
neurons called mitochondria will not
produce enough energy to keep your brain
alive. Because blood delivers glucose
and oxygen to your brain, nothing must
get in the way of blood flow if the brain is
to stay healthy. Unconsciousness will
occur after 8-10 seconds after loss of
blood supply to the brain.
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Construction in Progress
Prefrontal Cortex
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The front section of your brain, at your forehead, is the prefrontal
cortex. This brain region has been implicated in planning complex
cognitive behaviors, personality expression, decision making and
moderating correct social behavior. The basic activity of this brain
region is considered to be orchestration of thoughts and actions
in accordance with internal goals.
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The most typical psychological term for functions carried out by
the prefrontal cortex area is executive function. Executive function
relates to abilities to differentiate among conflicting thoughts,
determine good and bad, better and best, same and different,
future consequences of current activities, working toward a
defined goal, prediction of outcomes, expectation based on
actions, and social "control" (the ability to suppress urges that, if
not suppressed, could lead to socially-unacceptable outcomes).
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Interestingly, the part of the brain known as the limbic system
matures before the prefrontal cortex. The limbic system is key in
our emotional responses. This would explain why teens may
make decisions based more on feeling rather than rational
thinking and may play into why they make unhealthy or risky
decisions.
Details of a neuron
•B is the
axon
•A is the
myelin
sheath
•C is the
cell body
•D is the
dendrite
The body is made up of billions of cells.
Cells of the nervous system, called neurons,
are specialized to carry "messages" through
an electrochemical process. The human brain
has about 100 billion neurons.
How Neurons Communicate
Communication of information
between neurons is made
possible by movement of
chemicals across a small gap
called the synapse. Chemicals,
called neurotransmitters,
are released from one neuron
at the pre-synaptic nerve terminal.
Neurotransmitters then cross the
synapse where they may be accepted
by the next neuron at a specialized
site called a receptor.
 Dopamine:
 Natural
chemical in brain
associated with pleasure
 What natural things activate
dopamine?
 Sports
 Friends
 Accomplishments
 Activities
 Family
 Food
Healthy Brain at Rest
Healthy Brain: Dopamine
Activated
Healthy Brain that is High for
First Time
1. Each time a person gets high,
the “feel-good” response is
less and less.
2. When a person gets high
repeatedly, he or she begins
to deplete normal dopamine
levels.
Brain of Regular Drug User at
Rest
Brain of Regular Drug User
Brain When High
Healthy Brain at Rest
Brain of Drug User at Rest
Drug User’s Brain:
Dopamine Activated
Brain of Drug User at Rest
Drug User’s Brain When High
Healthy Brain at Rest
Healthy Brain: Dopamine
Activated
Your Brain After Drugs
Normal
Cocaine Abuser (10 da)
Cocaine Abuser (100 da)
1.
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5.
Teen choices are normally based on what
according to the article?
Regions of the brain continue to mature until
what age?
What part of the brain is responsible for
thinking ahead and sizing up risks and
rewards?
What part of your brain is responsible for
emotional responses?
Why are teens more likely to make bad
choices when it comes to drugs?
6. What part of your brain creates memories?
7. What is the name of the two fine tuning
processes of the brain called?
8. How can teens control how their brain
develops?
9. What neurotransmitter is responsible for
making you feel “high” when it floods the
brain?
10. What are the 2 things that the limbic system
does in response to the flood of excess
neurotransmitters?
Tobacco
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What do you know about Tobacco?
It is believed that tobacco has been
cultivated in the Americas since 6,000 B.C.
 Tobacco is in the same family as the
potato, pepper and the poisonous
nightshade, a very deadly plant.
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Chemicals Found In Cigarettes
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There are 600 ingredients in cigarettes, that
when burned created 4,000 chemicals.
200 are know poisons
 69 are known to cause cancer (carcinogens)
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Did you KNOW
Smoke from one cigarette can take up to three
hours to clear an average sized room!
 Smoke filled rooms can have up to six-times the
air pollution as a busy highway
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Chemicals Found In Cigarettes
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Acetone
Ammonia
Arsenic
Benzene
Carbon monoxide
Cyanide
DDT
Formaldehyde
Lead
Methanol
Napthalene
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Nicotine
Tar
Mercury
FDA Regulation of Tobacco
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Are tobacco products regulated by the
FDA?
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Are nicotine replacement products
(patches, gum, lozenge) regulated by
the FDA?
Short Term Effects of Tobacco Use
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Smell
Nails
Teeth
Wrinkles
High blood pressure
Increased heart rate
Shortness of breath
Sexual dysfunction
Long Term Effects of Tobacco Use
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Heart disease
Stoke
Emphysema
Lung cancer
Bladder cancer
Larynx cancer
Stomach cancer
Uterine cancer
Breast cancer
Why do people smoke?
Available
 Stress
 Weight
 Boredom
 Influence
 Image
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The Facts
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The majority of people, even teens, do
NOT smoke.
74% of Missourians are SMOKE-FREE
 Only 26 out of 100 adults smoke.
 Only 24 out of 100 teenagers smoke.
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The Facts
Nicotine is ADDICTIVE
It’s easier never to start smoking than to quit
smoking
Most teens (75%) who are daily smokers and
planned to stop smoking were still smoking 57 years later
8 out of 10 teens say that if they had to do it
over, they would NOT start smoking
Just what price are you willing to pay
for Tobacco...
 The
tobacco industry spends
Tobacco Industry
Influence
12.4 billion dollars yearly
 34.1 million dollars a day
advertising their product!
 In MO they spend $460.9
million a year on advertising
and marketing
 WHY?
 They lose over 440,000
customers in the U.S. every
year
 Almost 90% of smokers
started smoking before the
age of 18!
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What is marijuana?
Marijuana—often called pot,
grass, reefer, weed, herb, mary
jane, or mj—is a greenish-gray
mixture of the dried, shredded
leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers
of Cannabis sativa, the hemp
plant. Most users smoke
marijuana in hand-rolled
cigarettes called joints, among
other names; some use pipes or
water pipes called bongs.
Marijuana cigars called blunts
have also become popular.
Teeee
What Pot Smokers Will Tell You
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Marijuana/Weed/Pot…
is safer than alcohol
is not addictive
will help you do things better
is natural → is safe
is “medical” → is safe
is good for society
Current Trends
In the past few years, according to the 2004 Monitoring the
Future Survey, an annual survey of drug use among the
Nation’s middle and high school students, illicit drug use
by 8th-, 10th-, and 12th graders has leveled off. Still, in
2004, 16 percent of 8th-graders reported that they had
tried marijuana, and 6 percent were current users .
Among 10th-graders, 35 percent had tried marijuana
sometime in their lives, and 16 percent were current
users. As would be expected, rates of use among 12thgraders were higher still. 46% percent had tried
marijuana at some time, and 20 percent were current
users.
Other Trends
 It was a contributing factor in 119,000
emergency room visits in 2002
 57% of juvenile males and 32% of
juvenile females arrestees
tested positive for marijuana
THC (delta -9tetrahydrocannabinol)
Main active ingredient in marijuana
The membranes of certain nerve
cells in the brain bind to THC. Once
securely attached, THC kicks off a
series of cellular reactions that lead
to the high that users experience.
How does Marijuana effect the
brain?
When someone smokes marijuana, THC rapidly
passes from the lungs into the bloodstream, which
carries the chemical to organs throughout the body,
including the brain. In the brain, THC connects to
specific sites called cannabinoid receptors on nerve
cells and thereby influences the activity of those
cells. Some brain areas have many cannabinoid
receptors; others have few or none. Many
cannabinoid receptors are found in the parts of the
brain that influence pleasure, memory, thought,
concentration, sensory and time perception,
and coordinated movement.
Effects on the Brain
Problems in memory and learning
 Distorted perception
 Difficulty in thinking and problem solving
 Loss of coordination
 Increased heart rate
 Research findings for long-term marijuana
use indicate some changes in the brain
similar to those seen after long-term use of
other drugs (cocaine, heroin)
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Effects on the Heart
One study has indicated that a user’s
risk of heart attack more than
quadruples in the first hour after
smoking marijuana. The researchers
suggest that such an effect might
occur from marijuana’s effects on
blood pressure and heart rate and
reduced oxygen-carrying capacity of
blood.
Effects on the Lungs
A study of 450 individuals found that people
who smoke marijuana frequently but do
not smoke tobacco have more health
problems and miss more days of work
than nonsmokers. Many of the extra sick
days among the marijuana smokers in the
study were for respiratory illnesses.
Even infrequent use can cause burning
and stinging of the mouth and throat, often
accompanied by a heavy cough. Someone
who smokes marijuana regularly may have
many of the same respiratory problems
that tobacco smokers do, such as daily
cough and phlegm production, more
frequent acute chest illness, a heightened
risk of lung infections, and a greater
tendency to obstructed airways.
Smoking marijuana increases the likelihood
of developing cancer of the head or neck,
and the more marijuana smoked the
greater the increase. A study comparing
173 cancer patients and 176 healthy
individuals produced strong evidence
that marijuana smoking doubled or
tripled the risk of these cancers.
Marijuana use also has the potential to promote
cancer of the lungs and other parts of the
respiratory tract because it contains irritants and
carcinogens. In fact, marijuana smoke contains
50 to 70 percent more carcinogenic
hydrocarbons than does tobacco smoke. It
also produces high levels of an enzyme that
converts certain hydrocarbons into their
carcinogenic form—levels that may accelerate
the changes that ultimately produce malignant
cells. Marijuana users usually inhale more
deeply and hold their breath longer than tobacco
smokers do, which increases the lungs’
exposure to carcinogenic smoke. These facts
suggest that, puff for puff, smoking marijuana
may increase the risk of cancer more than
smoking tobacco.
Other Health Effects
Some of marijuana’s adverse health effects may occur
because THC impairs the immune system’s ability
to fight off infectious diseases and cancer. In
laboratory experiments that exposed animal and
human cells to THC or other marijuana ingredients,
the normal disease-preventing reactions of many of
the key types of immune cells were inhibited. In
other studies, mice exposed to THC or related
substances were more likely than unexposed mice to
develop bacterial infections and tumors.
Effects of Heavy Marijuana Use on Learning
and Social Behavior
Depression, anxiety, and personality disturbances
have been associated with marijuana use.
Research clearly demonstrates that marijuana
has potential to cause problems in daily life or
make a person’s existing problems worse.
Because marijuana compromises the ability to
learn and remember information, the more a
person uses marijuana the more he or she is
likely to fall behind in accumulating intellectual,
job, or social skills. Moreover, research has
shown that marijuana’s adverse impact on
memory and learning can last for days or
weeks after the acute effects of the drug wear
off.
Students who smoke marijuana get
lower grades and are less likely
to graduate from high school,
compared with their non-smoking
peers. A study of 129 college
students found that, for heavy
users of marijuana (those who
smoked the drug at least 27 of the
preceding 30 days), critical skills
related to attention, memory, and
learning were significantly
impaired even after they had not
used the drug for at least 24
hours.
The heavy marijuana users in the study
had more trouble sustaining and shifting
their attention and in registering,
organizing, and using information than did
the study participants who had used
marijuana no more than 3 of the previous
30 days. As a result, someone who
smokes marijuana every day may be
functioning at a reduced intellectual
level all of the time.
More recently, the same researchers
showed that the ability of a group of longterm heavy marijuana users to recall
words from a list remained impaired for a
week after quitting, but returned to normal
within 4 weeks.
In another study, marijuana users reported
that use of the drug impaired several
important measures of life achievement
including cognitive abilities, career status,
social life, and physical and mental health.
Effects on Pregnancy
Research has shown that babies born to women who used
marijuana during their pregnancies display altered
responses to visual stimuli, increased tremulousness,
and a high-pitched cry, which may indicate neurological
problems in development. During infancy and preschool
years, marijuana-exposed children have been observed
to have more behavioral problems than unexposed
children and poorer performance on tasks of visual
perception, language comprehension, sustained
attention, and memory. In school, these children are more
likely to exhibit deficits in decision-making skills,
memory, and the ability to remain attentive.
Addictive Potential
Long-term marijuana use can lead to
addiction for some people; that is, they
use the drug compulsively even though it
interferes with family, school, work, and
recreational activities. Drug craving and
withdrawal symptoms can make it hard for
long-term marijuana smokers to stop using
the drug. People trying to quit report
irritability, sleeplessness, and anxiety.
They also display increased aggression on
psychological tests, peaking approximately
one week after the last use of the drug.