How Long Does Nicotine Stay in the Bloodstream?

How Long Does Nicotine Stay in the Bloodstream ?  Read more to find out!  Nicotine is just one ingredient contained in tobacco products.  Tobacco smoke is known to contain more than 4000 compounds, many of which are toxic to the human body including arsenic, carbon monoxide, DDT, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide, methane, nitrous oxide to name just a few.

Nicotine is found in both tobacco leaves and smoke and is as addictive as heroin.  One interesting fact about nicotine is how fast it moves through your bloodstream.  After you inhale from a cigarette or other tobacco product, you retain 90% of the nicotine it contains.  This nicotine travels in your bloodstream along with oxygen and will reach your brain in less than 10 seconds, affecting not only your brain and central nervous system, but also your hypothalamus and pituitary gland (meaning that is also affects your hormone system). 

However, a few minutes later, the effects of the nicotine disappear.  This is why many people who smoke, feel the urge to smoke more often to maintain the same results.

Did you know that since nicotine is absorbed into your bloodstream, traces of it can be found throughout your entire body -- even in your hair and eyes?

On another note, most American cigarettes are made from a lighter blend of tobacco which gives off an acidic smoke when burned, while other tobacco products (those used in pipes, cigars, etc.) use a darker tobacco which gives off an alkaline smoke.  Why is this important?  Well, the acid/alkaline balance (pH content) of the smoke will determine the amount of nicotine absorbed through your mouth when you smoke.  Generally, the darker and more alkaline the tobacco, the more nicotine that gets absorbed through your mouth.

Nicotine is also unusual in that it can either be used as a stimulant to your body or as a depressant.  When you take short, rapid puffs from a cigarette, the smaller amounts of nicotine stimulate your central nervous system causing you to feel charged up.  However, when you take slow drags of a cigarette, the larger dose of nicotine slow your nerve impulses causing you to feel relaxed.

Therefore, a person who smokes can alter their mood very easily depending on the style of smoking they use.  You can see how smoking can have so much power over you -- giving you the ability to control your moods.  This is one reason smoking is so addictive.  So why try to quit?  Learn more here.

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