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BW6: Evaluate how human health is affected by: inherited factors and environmental factors including nutrition; lifestyle choices; examine the role of micro-organisms in human health.

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Nature of Science:

NoS1, NoS4, NoS2, NoS6, NoS10

Other Science Strands:

PW4, BW4, BW7, BW9

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Junior Cycle Sceince BW6 Collaborative Planning Document 

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SE4034 Links to Key Skills and Important Principles

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Smoking- The Facts

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Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in Ireland with almost 6,000 smokers dying each year from tobacco related diseases. Smoking related deaths are mainly due to cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) and heart disease. Cigarettes contain over 4000 toxic chemicals, many of which are proven to cause cancer. Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body, causing many different illnesses and diseases. If you are a long-term smoker, on average, your life expectancy is about 10 years less than a non-smoker. The younger you are when you start smoking, the more likely you are to smoke for longer and to die early from smoking.
One in every two long term smokers will die from a tobacco related disease.
Cigarette Smoke contains the following

Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, including approximately 69 known cancer causing carcinogenic chemicals as well as over 400 other toxins. Nicotine is one of the main ingredients in a cigarette and it is a highly addictive. Smoke containing nicotine is inhaled into the lungs, and the nicotine reaches the brain in just six seconds. Cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide, a colourless, odorless, poisoness gas that is released on combustion. In smokers, carbon monoxide readily displaces Oxygen in the bloodstream and deprives the heart, brain and other vital organs of Oxygen.

Some familiar chemicals found in cigarettes:

Carbon Monoxide - car exaust fumes

Nicotine

Tar - used on roads

Arsenic - rat poison

Ammonia - cleaning chemical

Hydrogen Cyanide - gas chamber poison

Cyanide - deadly poison

Acetone - used in nail polish remover

DDT - Insecticide

Formaldehyde - used to preserve dead bodies

Sulfuric Acid - car batteries

Cadmium - used to recharge car batteries

Within one minute of starting to smoke, your heart rate begins to rise and it could increase by as much as 30% within the first 10 minutes of smoking.

By smoking you increase your risk of developing cancers and diseases, even if you do not smoke every day. The following cancers and diseases are common among smokers;

The Facts for Smokers are!

Smokers are more likely to get cancer than non-smokers. This is particularly true of lung cancer, throat cancer and mouth cancer, which hardly ever affect non-smokers.

The link between smoking and lung cancer is clear.

Ninety percent of lung cancer cases are due to smoking.

One in ten moderate smokers and almost one in five heavy smokers (more than 15 cigarettes a day) will die of lung cancer.

The more cigarettes you smoke in a day, and the longer you've smoked, the higher your risk of lung cancer. Similarly, the risk rises the deeper you inhale and the earlier in life you started smoking.

For ex-smokers, it takes approximately 15 years before the risk of lung cancer drops to the same as that of a non-smoker.

If you smoke, the risk of contracting mouth cancer is also four times higher than for a non-smoker. Cancer can start in many areas of the mouth, with the most common being on or underneath the tongue, or on the lips.

Other effects of smoking

Smoking raises blood pressure - a risk factor for heart attacks and stroke.

Couples who smoke are more likely to have fertility problems than couples who are non-smokers.

Smoking worsens asthma and counteracts asthma medication by worsening the inflammation of the airways that the medicine tries to ease.

Smoking stains your teeth and gums.

Smoking causes an acid taste in the mouth and contributes to the development of ulcers.

Smoking also affects your looks: smokers have paler skin and more wrinkles. This is because smoking reduces the blood and oxygen supply to the skin and lowers levels of vitamin A.

Smokers age quicker than non smokers.

Smoking is expensive.

Your sense of taste and smell are dulled. Enjoyment of food may be reduced.

Life insurance is more expensive.

What are the benefits of stopping smoking?

It's good for your health!

The benefits begin immediately. You reduce your risk of getting serious disease no matter what age you give up. However, the sooner you stop, the greater the reduction in your risk.

If you stop smoking before the age of 35, your life expectancy is only slightly less than that of people who have never smoked.

If you stop smoking before the age of 50, you decrease the risk of dying from smoking-related diseases by 50%.

Everyone knows you feel better when you give up smoking.

But, it is never too late to stop smoking to gain health benefits. Even if you already have COPD or heart disease, your outlook (prognosis) is much improved if you stop smoking.

The following health benefits will be noticed almost immediately after you give up smoking.

After 20 minutes: your blood pressure and pulse rate return to normal. Circulation improves in hands and feet.

After 8 hours: oxygen levels in the blood return to normal and your chance of heart attack starts to fall.

After 24 hours: poisonous carbon monoxide gas is eliminated from the body. The lungs start to clear out mucous and other debris.

After 48 hours: nicotine is no longer detectable in the body. Taste and smell improve.

After 72 hours: breathing becomes easier as the bronchial tubes relax and energy levels increase.

After 2 weeks: circulation improves, making walking and exercise easier.

After 3 to 9 months: coughing, shortness of breath and wheezing are reduced dramatically.

After 5 years: risk of heart attack falls to that of a non-smoker.

After 10 years: risk of lung cancer falls to about half that of a smoker.

Other benefits to stopping smoking

Chest infections and colds become less frequent

Food and drinks taste and smell much better.

Finances improve - more money in your pocket. The average smoker smoking 20 cigarettes per day can save a total of €4,380 per year! Click here to see how much you can save by giving up smoking.

You will feel good about yourself.

Contact Details for Quit Services in your area are available here.

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Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in Ireland with almost 6,000 smokers dying each year from tobacco related diseases. Smoking related deaths are mainly due to cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) and heart disease. Cigarettes contain over 4000 toxic chemicals, many of which are proven to cause cancer.

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Smoking- World Health Organisation

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Key facts

Tobacco kills up to half of its users who don't quit (1-3).

Tobacco kills more than 8 million people each year, including an estimated 1.3 million non-smokers who are exposed to second-hand smoke (4).

Around 80% of the world's 1.3 billion tobacco users live in low- and middle-income countries.

In 2020, 22.3% of the world's population used tobacco: 36.7% of men and 7.8% of women.

To address the tobacco epidemic, WHO Member States adopted the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) in 2003. Currently 182 countries are Parties to this treaty.

The WHO MPOWER measures are in line with the WHO FCTC and have been shown to save lives and reduce costs from averted healthcare expenditure.

Leading cause of death, illness and impoverishment

The tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced, killing over 8 million people a year around the world. More than 7 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while around 1.3 million are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke (4).

All forms of tobacco use are harmful, and there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco. Cigarette smoking is the most common form of tobacco use worldwide. Other tobacco products include waterpipe tobacco, cigars, cigarillos, heated tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco, pipe tobacco, bidis and kreteks, and smokeless tobacco products.

Around 80% of the 1.3 billion tobacco users worldwide live in low- and middle-income countries(5), where the burden of tobacco-related illness and death is heaviest. Tobacco use contributes to poverty by diverting household spending from basic needs such as food and shelter to tobacco. This spending behaviour is difficult to curb because tobacco is so addictive.

The economic costs of tobacco use are substantial and include significant health care costs for treating the diseases caused by tobacco use as well as the lost human capital that results from tobacco-attributable morbidity and mortality.

Key measures to reduce the demand for tobacco

Surveillance is key

Good monitoring tracks the extent and character of the tobacco epidemic and indicates how best to tailor policies. Almost half of the world's population are regularly asked about their tobacco use in nationally representative surveys among adults and adolescents.
More on monitoring tobacco use
Second-hand smoke kills

Second-hand smoke is the smoke that fills restaurants, offices, homes, or other enclosed spaces when people smoke tobacco products. There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke. Second-hand smoke causes serious cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, including coronary heart disease and lung cancer, and kills around 1.3 million people prematurely every year.

Over a quarter of the world's population living in 74 countries are protected by comprehensive national smoke-free laws.
More on second-hand smoke
Tobacco users need help to quit

Among smokers who are aware of the dangers of tobacco, most want to quit. Counselling and medication can more than double a tobacco user's chance of successful quitting.

National comprehensive cessation services with full or partial cost-coverage are available to assist tobacco users to quit in only 32 countries, representing around a third of the world's population.
More on quitting tobacco
Pictorial health warnings work

Hard-hitting anti-tobacco mass media campaigns and pictorial health warnings prevent children and other vulnerable groups from taking up tobacco use, and increase the number of tobacco users who quit.

Over half the world's population live in the 103 countries that meet best practice for graphic health warnings, which includes among other criteria, large (50% or more of the main areas of the package) pictorial health warnings displayed in the local language.

1.5 billion people live in the 36 countries that have aired at least one strong anti-tobacco mass media campaign within the last 2 years.
More on tobacco health warnings
Bans on tobacco advertising lower consumption

Tobacco advertising promotion and sponsorship (TAPS) increases and sustains tobacco use by effectively recruiting new tobacco users and discouraging tobacco users from quitting.

One third of countries (66), representing a quarter of the world's population, have completely banned all forms of TAPS.
More on tobacco advertising bans
Taxes are effective in reducing tobacco use

Tobacco taxes are the most cost-effective way to reduce tobacco use, especially among youth and low-income groups. A tax increase that increases tobacco prices by 10% decreases tobacco consumption by about 4% in high-income countries and about 5% in low- and middle-income countries.

Even so, high tobacco taxes are rarely implemented. Only 41 countries, with 12% of the world's population, have introduced taxes on tobacco products so that at least 75% of the retail price is tax.
More on tobacco taxes
Illicit trade of tobacco products must be stopped

The illicit trade in tobacco products poses major health, economic and security concerns around the world. It is estimated that 1 in every 10 cigarettes and tobacco products consumed globally is illicit.

Experience from many countries demonstrates that illicit trade can be successfully addressed even when tobacco taxes and prices are raised, resulting in increased tax revenues and reduced tobacco use.

The WHO FCTC Protocol to Eliminate the Illicit Trade of Tobacco Products (ITP) is the key supply side policy to reduce tobacco use and its health and economic consequences.
More on eliminating the illicit trade of tobacco products
Newer nicotine and tobacco products

Heated tobacco products (HTPs) are tobacco products that produce aerosols containing nicotine and toxic chemicals upon heating of the tobacco, or activation of a device containing the tobacco. They contain the highly addictive substance nicotine, non-tobacco additives and are often flavoured.

Despite claims of "risk reduction", there is no evidence to demonstrate that HTPs are less harmful than conventional tobacco products. Many toxicants found in tobacco smoke are at significantly lower levels in HTP aerosol but HTP aerosol contains other toxicants found sometimes at higher levels than in tobacco smoke, such as glycidol, pyridine, dimethyl trisulfide, acetoin and methylglyoxal.

Further, some toxicants found in HTP aerosols are not found in conventional cigarette smoke and may have associated health effects. Additionally, these products are highly variable and some of the toxicants found in the emissions of these products are carcinogens.
More on heated tobacco products

Electronic cigarettes (or e-cigarettes) are the most common form of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and electronic non-nicotine delivery systems (ENNDS) but there are others, such as e-cigars and e-pipes. ENDS contain varying amounts of nicotine and harmful emissions. Use of ENDS/ENNDS products is colloquially referred to as 'vaping'. However this does not mean that they are harmless or emit water vapour.

E-cigarette emissions typically contain nicotine and other toxic substances that are harmful to users and non-users who are exposed to the aerosols second-hand. Some products claiming to be nicotine-free have been found to contain nicotine.

More on e-cigarettes
Evidence reveals that these products are harmful to health and are not safe. However, it is too early to provide a clear answer on the long-term impacts of using them or being exposed to them. Some recent studies suggest that ENDS use can increase the risk of heart disease and lung disorders. Nicotine exposure in pregnant women can have negative health consequences on the fetus, and nicotine, which is a highly addictive substance is damaging for brain development.

Nicotine pouches are pre-portioned pouches that contain nicotine and are similar to traditional smokeless tobacco products such as snus in some respects including appearance, inclusion of nicotine and manner of use (placing them between the gum and lip). They are often promoted, as "tobacco-free", which can be used anywhere and in some jurisdictions, such as the US, they are referred to as "white pouches".

WHO response

There is a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the tobacco industry's interests and public health policy interests. The tobacco industry produces and promotes a product that has been proven scientifically to be addictive, to cause disease and death and to give rise to a variety of social ills, including increased poverty.

The scale of the human and economic tragedy that tobacco imposes is shocking, and also preventable. The tobacco industry is fighting to ensure the dangers of their products are concealed, but we are fighting back.

The WHO FCTC is a milestone in the promotion of public health. It is an evidence-based treaty that reaffirms the right of people to the highest standard of health, provides legal dimensions for international health cooperation and sets high standards for compliance. Since its entry into force in 2005, the WHO FCTC has 182 Parties covering more than 90% of the world's population.

In 2007, WHO introduced a practical, cost-effective initiative to scale up implementation of the demand reduction provisions of the WHO FCTC, called MPOWER.

Monitor tobacco use and prevention policies.

Protect people from tobacco use.

Offer help to quit tobacco use.

Warn about the dangers of tobacco.

Enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

Raise taxes on tobacco.

The 6 MPOWER measures are:

WHO has been monitoring MPOWER measures since 2007. For more details on progress made for tobacco control at global, regional and country level, please refer to the series of WHO reports on the global tobacco epidemic.

More on MPOWER

References

(1) Doll R, Peto R, Boreham J, Sutherland I. Mortality in relation to smoking: 50 years' observations on male British doctors. BMJ. 2004 Jun 26;328(7455):1519.

(2) Banks, E., Joshy, G., Weber, M.F. et al. Tobacco smoking and all-cause mortality in a large Australian cohort study: findings from a mature epidemic with current low smoking prevalence. BMC Med 13, 38 (2015).

(3) Siddiqi, K., Husain, S., Vidyasagaran, A. et al. Global burden of disease due to smokeless tobacco consumption in adults: an updated analysis of data from 127 countries. BMC Med 18, 222 (2020).

(4) Global Burden of Disease [database.Washington, DC: Institute of Health Metrics; 2019. IHME,accessed 17 July 2023

(5) WHO global report on trends in prevalence of tobacco use 2000-2025, fourth edition. WHO, Geneva, 2021

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Tobacco fact sheet from WHO providing key facts and information on surveillance, second-hand smoke, quitting, picture warnings, ad bans, taxes, WHO response.

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Tobacco smoking: Health impact, prevalence, correlates and interventions

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Background and objectives: Despite reductions in prevalence in recent years, tobacco smoking remains one of the main preventable causes of ill-health and premature death worldwide. This paper reviews the extent and nature of harms caused by smoking,…

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Science | Classroom-Based Assessments | Junior Cycle for Teachers (JCT)

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Science | Classroom-Based Assessments | Junior Cycle for Teachers (JCT)

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What should your heart rate be when working out, and how can you keep track of it? Our simple chart will help keep you in the target training zone, whether you want to lose weight or just maximize your workout. Find out what normal resting and maximum heart rates are for your age and how exercise intensity and other factors affect heart rate.

How do I get my heart rate in the target zone?

When you work out, are you doing too much or not enough? There's a simple way to know: Your target heart rate helps you hit the bullseye so you can get max benefit from every step, swing and squat. Even if you're not a gym rat or elite athlete, knowing your heart rate (or pulse) can help you track your health and fitness level.

What is a resting heart rate?

Your resting heart rate is the number of times your heart beats per minute when you're at rest. A good time to check it is in the morning after you've had a good night's sleep, before you get out of bed or grab that first cup of java!

Is resting heart rate different by age?

For most of us (adults), between 60 and 100 beats per minute (bpm) is normal. The rate can be affected by factors like stress, anxiety, hormones, medication, and how physically active you are. An athlete or more active person may have a resting heart rate as low as 40 beats per minute. Now that's chill!

When it comes to resting heart rate, lower is better. It usually means your heart muscle is in better condition and doesn't have to work as hard to maintain a steady beat. Studies have found that a higher resting heart rate is linked with lower physical fitness and higher blood pressure and body weight.

Know Your Numbers: Maximum and Target Heart Rate by Age

This table shows target heart rate zones for different ages. Your maximum heart rate is about 220 minus your age.

In the age category closest to yours, read across to find your target heart rates. Target heart rate during moderate intensity activities is about 50-70% of maximum heart rate, while during vigorous physical activity it's about 70-85% of maximum.

The figures are averages, so use them as a general guide.

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Track your normal resting, maximum or target heart rate with our simple chart and learn how exercise intensity can affect heart rate, losing weight and overall health.

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Critical Thinking- A key element in forming ideas for Classroom Based Assessments

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Response of heart rate to exercise

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Experiment resource

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In this activity, students will follow the steps of the scientific method to investigate the effect of exercise on heart rate. Students will learn to measure their pulse, calculate heart rate in beats per minute, collect data and analyze results. This experiment is a fun way to make learning come alive for your students. Simply download, and use with your class today! Also see: Year 6 Human Body Circulatory System Teaching PowerPoint Blood and the Circulatory System: Differentiated Worksheets Heartbeat Sequencing: Colour by Numbers (Ages 9 - 11) The physical activity contained within this resource may not fit your specific situation. It is your responsibility to decide whether to carry out the activity and, if you do, to ensure that the activity is safe for those participating. You are responsible for carrying out proper risk assessments on the activities and for providing appropriate supervision, including changing the activities as appropriate. We are not responsible for the health and safety of your group or environment and we cannot accept liability for any loss suffered by anyone undertaking any activity referred to or described in this resource. It is also your responsibility to ensure that you or the organisation you are organising it for has the relevant insurance to carry out the physical activity. If you are unsure in any way, we recommend that you take guidance from a suitably qualified professional. By using this resource, you acknowledge that it is the responsibility of supervising adults to ensure the safety of children in their care.