Posts Tagged ‘habits’

What Smoking Can Do To Your Health

Friday, March 9th, 2012

Smoking can produce all kinds of health problems, but two of the most common are emphysema and lung cancer, both of which have an impact on your lungs and capacity to breathe properly. This has a serious effect on your quality of life since you will become unable to walk a lot or exert yourself in any way.

Smoking also has an effect on the brain in that it creates psychological addiction to nicotine. Nicotine addiction is very powerful because it causes the release of opioids which results in a feeling of satisfaction and relaxation.

However, the chemical receptors that acquire the opioids lose their effectiveness by as far as 30% after a while which leads to smokers smoking more and more to achieve the same state of satisfaction. Addiction is nearby.

Smoking is not good for the eyes. The forty odd carcinogenic chemicals in cigarette smoke are not good for eyes, nor is the actual smoke itself as smoking tends to dehydrate the skin and the eyes. Cataracts may be the result in some cases.

Smoking has an effect on your sense of smell which many individuals confuse with the sense of taste. Therefore, smokers may not smell their food properly but put it down to damaged taste buds. This lost sense of smell normally returns a whileafter quitting smoking.

Smoking affects the thyroid because of the cyanide in the smoke. Smokers are more likely to develop hyperthyroidism which has an effect on all the body’s major organs including the skin because of the hormones that the thyroid produces to regulate them. Smokers are also more likely to get the bulging eyes associated with some thyroid issues particularly Graves’ Disease.

Smoking will result in premature aging particularly of the skin which will lose its elasticity early causing sagging and wrinkling. This is brought around by a restricted blood flow in the epidermis which means a restricted flow of oxygen to the upper skin. Collagen and elastin are damaged as a result.

It has been claimed that one cigarette a day kills all the germs in the mouth more effectively than toothpaste, but smokers smoke a lot more than this and that has a seriously deleterious impact on oral hygiene.

Tar from smoke is not healthy for teeth and leaves them yellow and deeply stained. Smokers are fur times more likely to suffer from periodontal disease than non-smokers.

Smoking will impede the flow of blood to the gums as elsewhere, but the impact here is to cause the gums to recede revealing delicate nerves and bone which will react to hot and cold food and drink. Receding gums also allow germs easier access to your blood and a way into your body.

Tooth decay follows more rapidly as food and germ get up behind the shrivelled gums. Smokers are six times more likely to develop cancer of the mouth and throat than usual.

Smoking results in poor circulation which affects the extremities especially the feet and calfs. As the body attempts to work more to deliver an adequate amount of blood to the feet, blood clots and varicose veins can be the result. In extreme cases gangrene may ensue leading to the amputation of toes, feet and even legs.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on numerous topics, is currently concerned with quitting smoking statistics. If you are interested in quitting, visit our web site now: Health Risks to Smoking

Stopping Smoking Cigarettes

Sunday, May 8th, 2011

Smoking cigarettes used to be a great deal more widespread than it is today. Now most smokers are searching for methods of stopping smoking. This is because smokers and the general public at large are more aware of the risks of smoking cigarettes nowadays.

Just look at films manufactured in the Sixties and before, everyone is smoking. It shows how common smoking was compared with today. This would not be possible now as you may not smoke in public places, on public transport, in restaurants or in bars any more in most Western countries and elsewhere too.

The difficulty with smoking is that not only the smoker suffers, so does everyone around about the smoker. This is called passive smoking and it has an effect on people working or living with smokers – a barmaid or a spouse for example. So, all these people are risking their health so that tobacco businesses can get richer.

No matter how long someone has been smoking, it is possible to stop the habit. Anyone who has stopped smoking will tell you that stopping smoking cigarettes is all to do with the mind. You really have to want to stop smoking or you will not do it successfully.

Individuals have different ways of stopping smoking cigarettes. Some say that nicotine patches or nicotine gum help, because you can wean yourself off nicotine slowly without having to inhale the poisonous smoke of cigarettes. Nicotine is highly addictive and most of the chemical withdrawal symptoms have to do with the shortage of nicotine in the body.

Most individuals find that the single effective way of stopping smoking cigarettes is to give up smoking dead – in one go. It is very difficult to cut down or to swap to a weaker brand. You are still inhaling poisonous smoke. It is still no good to you or anyone around you.

Cutting down or switching brands is not effective, because you will still smoke other smokers’ and you will still be in a smokers’ environment. You will also find yourself smoking tomorrow’s five cigarettes today, promising not to smoke any the next day. That never works. You have to quit smoking dead.

There are a number of situations that can provide the motivation to quit smoking cigarettes. Illness is usually high on the list. A few years ago two friends of mine who smoked heavily stopped smoking cigarettes within weeks of each other.

One was in his sixties and had smoked for almost sixty years: he was told that his lungs were beginning to go, but that if he stopped smoking, the shock might kill him. He stopped smoking one morning and is still alive, but what a dilemma!

The other was in his fifties and drove a lot as a travelling salesman. The physician told him that he would almost certainly have to have a leg removed next year, if he did not give up smoking and that the other may go a year or so after that. He stopped smoking instantly and still has both legs.

So it seems that the trick to stopping smoking cigarettes successfully is to find your motivation (do you want to live long enough to see the grandkids married?) and bear that image in front of you at all times. Take nicotine substitutes if you have to and keep away from environments where people smoke more, like taverns.Join a sports club instead, something like tennis, table tennis, swimming or even chess.

If you want to start quitting smoking cigarettes, you could do far worse than visit our free web site on Quitting Smoking

So, You Want To Stop Smoking?

Friday, May 6th, 2011

If you are a smoker, then the overwhelming odds are that you have tried to give up smoking, even if you never told anyone that you were attempting to give up. The old joke among smokers is that they have given up giving up.

That is a real pity and a very sad joke. Most smokers began when they were young and impressionable, but it takes a great deal of willpower to give up for good.

If you are attempting to stop smoking, then I hope that some of the suggestions set out below will be of use to you in your task to kick the habit. The truth is that it takes most people years to really give up smoking, although there are lots of people who give up one day and never smoke again – ever.

It just depends on the type of person you are really. Individuals can cut down gradually and others know that if they are going to stop, then they need to make a clean break once and for all.

It is straightforward to judge progress with the person who ceases from one day to the next, but a great deal harder to do the same with someone who cuts down. For example, how long is someone going to take to cut down from one packet a day to two?

How does a partner know when someone is smoking ten cigarettes an evening, that they have not already smoked thirty during the day? It is a big problem.

In the end, the quitter is alone and if he or she wants to tell lies about their progress, they can. No-one else will know, but at the end of the day, they are just telling lies and trying to fool themselves that they are trying to give up smoking. Having said that, a smoker must reward himself for every step of real progress.

A decent tip is not to rely on just one strategy to give up. For example, you could wear a patch and reduce your intake by five or ten real cigarettes each week. Try nicotine gum at the same time.

Always tell people that you are giving up and never take a cigarette off anyone and never offer anyone one either. Do not get into ’rounds’ or ‘flashes’ of sharing cigarettes.

If you find that you smoke more whilst you are in a stressful situation, such as at the time to submit the end of year accounts, hold off trying to quit until after then. One of the times that most smokers have a big difficulty cutting down is when they are in the pub drinking alcohol with their friends. This is almost certainly the hardest time to overcome the habit.

Many people like a cigarette with a drink after work and if you fit into this category, endeavour to go home from work for a drink or give up smoking with a friend and take it in turns to go to their house and yours for a drink after you finish work. Once the first three months are over, you could go back to the pub and see how you get on or you simply may not want to anymore.

If you are considering how to quit smoking cigarettes, please go over to our website right now at: Quitting Smoking

Quit Smoking Items

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

You see it written everywhere, don’t you: “Smoking causes cancer”. Isn’t this health warning visible on every cigarette pack today? Yet there are millions of people who know it and still smoke. Smoking isn’t healthy. It causes cancer, severe cardiac illnesses, etc to anyone who smokes continuously.

Although a countless amount of people are still addicted to smoking, there are millions who want or have to quit smoking. This can be very hard, especially due of the cravings they get and nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Quit smoking aids are useful during such times in order to reduce craving and the effects of addiction withdrawal.

However, one of the advantages of living in a hi-tech world is that a wide selection of aids to help quit smoking can be found on the market easily. Some of the most commonly used aids to quit smoking are nicotine chewing gum, nicotine patches, lozenges, inhalers, anti-withdrawal medications, hypnosis and herbal remedies and nicotine nasal sprays.

Not everyone can use nicotine patches or chewing gum successfully, because it doesn’t work the same way on everyone. It varies from one person to another. Items to help smokers stop are designed to help a person give up their unhealthy habit of smoking and also to reduce the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal.

Some of the best-known items to quit smoking on the market are Zyban and Chantix. Zyban is not recommended for use by everyone although it is quite good at reducing the discomforts associated with nicotine withdrawal. Some people who have tried hard to quit smoking, have been unsuccessful. For individuals like that, Zyban has been the answer to stopping smoking for good. There have been certain side-effects linked to the drug that include having a dry mouth, dizziness, migraine headaches, insomnia and a change in appetite.

Chantix is another product to help you quit smoking that many people try these today. Using this has helped reduce the level of satisfaction that smokers derive from smoking and also minimize nicotine withdrawal symptoms. People who use Chantix find it an easy, painless way of supporting their aim of stopping smoking. The pleasure of smoking is reduced and as a result, they become less likely to take another cigarette.

While it’s true that the market has more than enough aids to quitting smoking, one of the best items is your own will power and determination. It is better than any drug that can be taken to stop smoking. If you have no motivation or willingness to stop smoking, then the best product to quit smoking in the world won’t help you. In this case, you would probably stop smoking for a brief period of time and then restart your old habit again when your will power lapses.

If you are trying to stop smoking, you ought to go to our free website on Quitting Smoking

Why Should I Quit Smoking?

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

Giving up an addiction which you’ve had most of your life can be extremely difficult. Many smokers who want to quit their unhealthy habit hesitate because they feel that it’s too late or it’s too hard for them to stop. Fortunately this is not true. It’s never too late to change a bad habit.

The whole process of quitting smoking will probably take a long time and will require determination and courage by the smoker. Although at first it may be painfull to step away from being addicted to nicotine, as a smoker who wants to stop, it is best to focus on the benefits of quitting smoking that you will get.

It’s a well-known fact that smoking is the cause of many different kinds of cancers and illnesses. Doctors say that each time a person smokes a cigarette, he or she is losing part of their life time, fitness, money and also esteem. We live in a world of many anti-smoking agencies trying to ban smoking that smokers are generally not seen in a favourable light. So why not consider the benefits of quitting smoking and dump your addiction instead of losing everything for the sake of a cigarette?

As they say, ‘health is wealth’ and one of the biggest benefits of quitting smoking is improved health. It really does not matter if you’ve smoked for a couple of years or have been a chain smoker for 30 years. What does matter is that you have decided to quit and starting from that day, you will live a richer life with fewer illnesses and less time in a doctor’s surgery.

The benefits of stopping smoking are not only an increased health and an increase in life expectancy, but it can also have a positive effect on social life – you will have more friends and more (self) respect. When a smoker quits this deadly addiction he or she will run less risk of developing cancer or heart disease and it will also mean that the ex-smoker will breathe fresher air instead of air polluted with cigarette smoke, which will mean far less coughing and wheezing.

The benefits of stopping smoking are almost boundless. For example, smoking can have an adverse effect on sexual health, dumping the habit would mean an increase in fertility rate. Moreover, unlike previously, you’ll have whiter teeth, fresher breath and a higher energy level. Furthermore, family and friends will have fresh air to breathe at last. Another benefit is the savings in your purse. Cigarettes are very costly, so, quitting smoking would mean that the money that was spent on cigarettes could be used for other good causes like as treating yourself to a little bit of what you fancy.

The benefits of giving up smoking are indeed many and the advantages of smoking are yet to be uncovered. Sure, it brings in a lot of tax revenue and keeps a group of people in gainful employment, but then smokers also take more time off sick and spend more time at the doctor’s than their non-smoking colleagues. Smokers reply that it calms their nerves, but so would other relaxation techniques such as yoga even sitting down. Let’s face it, public mood has swung far against smoking with smokers more often than not being vilified and pitied these days. Smokers also look rather pathetic nipping out of the office, restaurant or pub for a cigarette every hour or so, don’t they?

If you are thinking about trying how to quit smoking cigarettes, please go over to our website now at: Quitting Smoking

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How do I Stop Smoking?

Saturday, August 8th, 2009

Once a person decides that it’s high time he or she stopped smoking, it is best to start immediately. However, how do you quit smoking, when you have been smoking for a number of years? Smoking is a very difficult addiction to break because tobacco contains the compound called nicotine which is addictive to both the mind and body.

Several studies have shown that each time you smoke a cigarette, it costs you around 5 to 20 minutes of your life. Apart from weakening the body, smoking leaves a person with halitosis, yellow teeth, wrinkles, lower bone density, fertility problems that will inevitably affect the sexual health of both men and women and a higher risk of being infected with deadly diseases such as lung cancer. Smoking is costly and can reduce the life span of a person by around 10 years or even more.

Ways to quit smoking can be found in many places and there are also various types of medication that can be prescribed. Many smokers are prescribed nicotine replacements such as nicotine gums, nicotine patches, lozenges, inhalers, etc. But the real problem with all of these is that they mainly treat the physical aspect of how smoking affects the body. The truth is that more than the body, it is the mind that is addicted to smoking.

The hard part of quitting smoking comes when trying to deal with the mind. A smoker’s mind generally becomes convinced that their happiness, enjoyment and leading a stress free life, all depend on smoking. Understanding the fact that this is not the case is one of the most pivotal issues in stopping smoking.

One of the most important things to bear in mind when attempting to stop smoking, is the cessation of such relationships in the mind. Smokers think that they have to smoke a cigarette to help them cope with daily issues. Once you can to overcome this dependency, in time your mind will learn to deal with daily problems without requiring a cigarette.

A good piece of advice when trying to stop smoking can be to attend counselling classes and get advice from someone who is an ex-smoker, ie a person who has undergone similar experiences. Talking about your fears about quitting smoking and thereby relieving the doubts you have by going to such sessions can be helpful to anyone who is trying to stop smoking.

If you have made up your mind that you should to quit smoking, don’t hesitate, grab the bull by the horns and start stopping now. You will soon start to notice the difference to your health. You will find that exercising will be easier, your fitness level will rise quickly, food will taste far better and your mouth will be fresher.

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Stop Smoking Aids

Friday, July 17th, 2009

You hear it everywhere, don’t you: “Smoking causes cancer”. Isn’t this health warning printed on every packet of cigarettes today? Yet there are millions of people who, despite knowing it, still smoke. Everybody knows that smoking isn’t healthy. It causes cancer or severe cardiac illness to anyone who smokes regularly.

Although a countless number of people are still addicted to smoking, there are millions who want to stop smoking. This can be very hard, especially because of the cravings they feel and nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Quit smoking items are helpful during these situations in order to reduce craving and addiction withdrawal.

However, one of the benefits of living in a hi-tech world is that a wide selection of aids to help quit smoking can be found on the market easily. Some of the most commonly used items to quit smoking are nicotine chewing gum, nicotine patches, lozenges, inhalers, anti-withdrawal medications, hypnosis and herbal remedies and nicotine nasal sprays.

Not everyone gets any benefit from nicotine patches or chewing gum, as it doesn’t have the same effect on everyone. The results vary from one person to another. Aids to help smokers quit are designed to help a person give up their unhealthy habit of smoking and also to reduce the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal.

Some of the best-known items to quit smoking on the market are Zyban and Chantix. Zyban is not recommended for use by everyone although it is quite good at reducing the discomforts associated with nicotine withdrawal. Some people who have made a big effort to quit smoking, have been unsuccessful. For individuals like that, Zyban has been the answer to stopping smoking for good. There have been certain side-effects linked to the drug that include having a dry mouth, dizziness, migraine headaches, insomnia and a change in appetite.

Chantix is another product to help you stop smoking that many use today. Using this has helped reduce the level of satisfaction that smokers derive from smoking and also minimize nicotine withdrawal symptoms. People who use Chantix find it an easy, painless process of supporting their goal of quitting smoking. The pleasure of smoking dissolves and as a result, they become less likely to take another cigarette.

While it’s a fact that the market has plenty aids to quitting smoking, one of the best aids is your own will power and determination. It is better than any product you can buy to quit smoking. If you have no motivation or desire to quit smoking, then the best product to stop smoking in the world can’t help you. In this case, you probably would stop smoking for a brief period of time and then restart your old habit again after your will power lapses.

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Quitting Smoking Benefits

Monday, June 15th, 2009

Giving up an addiction which you’ve had most of your life is be very difficult. Many smokers who want to quit their unhealthy habit hesitate because they feel that it’s too late or it’s too hard for them to quit. Fortunately this is not true. It’s never too late to change a bad habit.

The whole process of stopping smoking takes a fairly long time and requires dedication, determination and courage by the smoker. Although at first it may be hardl to move away from being addicted to nicotine, as a smoker who wants to quit, it is better to focus the mind on the benefits of stopping smoking that will come with time.

It’s a well-known fact that smoking causes all sorts of cancers and illnesses. Experts say that each time a person smokes a cigarette, he or she loses part of their life time, fitness, money and even esteem. We live in a world of so many anti-smoking agencies and institutions working against smoking that smokers are generally not seen in a good light. So why not think about the benefits of stopping smoking and lose your addiction instead of losing everything for the sake of a cigarette?

They say that health is wealth and one of the top benefits of quitting smoking is to live a higher quality of life. It does not matter whether you’ve smoked for a couple of years or have been a chain smoker all your life. What matters is that you have decided to quit. Starting from that day, you will be able to live a richer life with fewer infections meaning less suffering in hospital.

The benefits of quitting smoking are not only an improvement in health and an increase in life span, but it can also have a positive effect on social life. Once a smoker quits this deadly addiction he or she will have a lower risk of developing cancer and heart disease. It will also mean that the ex-smoker will breathe in fresher air instead of cigarette smoke, which will mean less instances of coughing and breathlessness.

The benefits of quitting smoking are almost boundless. For example, smoking can have an adverse effect on sexual health, dumping the habit would mean an increase in fertility rate. Moreover, unlike previously, you’ll have whiter teeth, fresher breath and a higher energy level. Furthermore, family and friends will have fresh air to breathe at last. Another benefit is the savings in your purse. Cigarettes are very expensive, therefore, quitting smoking would mean that the money that was spent on cigarettes could be used for other good causes such as treating yourself to a little bit of what you fancy.

The benefits of giving up smoking are indeed many and the plus-points of smoking are yet to be discovered. For sure, it brings in a lot of tax revenue and keeps some people in gainful employment, but then smokers also take more time off sick and spend more time in hospital than their non-smoking colleagues. Smokers reply that it calms their nerves, but so would other relaxation techniques such as yoga even sitting down. Let’s face it, public opinion has moved against smoking with smokers more often than not being vilified and pitied these days. Smokers also look rather pathetic nipping out of the office, restaurant or pub for a cigarette every hour or so, don’t they?

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