Monday 31 December 2012

Discovering the Harsh Withdrawal Symptoms in Your Quest to Stop Smoking
 
You have set out in a goal to stop smoking, this of course is a great idea, however are you really prepared for the potential consequences.  Of course, your health will enjoy a great benefit from the decreased smoking, but your body is going to have a period of adjustment as it works to handle all of the harsh effects that smoking has caused.  Being fully aware of these potential negative side effects will ensure that you are properly prepared to attempt quitting the right way.  Just saying that you want to quit is simply not enough, you need to actually make an effort and be prepared.

One of the most common side effects to quitting that you may experience is small spells of dizziness.  These are typically only present in the first few days as your body works to regulate hormone production.  If you just pause for a brief moment anytime the dizziness occurs it will generally pass quickly.  If you try to press forth with activities during these spells you could become injured so taking your time is critical.

Headaches are another common withdrawal symptom.  This is something that occurs very commonly.  Your best line of defense is any typical headache remedy that you prefer.  Many will opt with a mild pain reliever while others will focus on relaxing techniques.  Regardless of the method, try not to suffer too badly with a headache or it could encourage you to smoke to relieve the stress the headache is causing you.

Tightness in your chest and even coughing is another common withdrawal symptom.  As your body is adjusting to the lack of nicotine, it will start to also clear out the excess chemicals that are built up.  This can cause several different reactions.  Many people often mistake the chest tightening with having a heart attack.  If you are certain that it is a heart attack rather than just standard chest tightening, make sure to get immediate medical attention.

One of the last major withdrawal symptoms is tiredness.  While of course this is a problem that plagues almost anyone who can breathe it becomes an even bigger issue when trying to quit smoking.  Often smokers use cigarettes as a way to give them a boost of energy, this can be helpful while you are smoking but the lack of energy as you are trying to quit can make you stressed, as well as weaken your resolve to actually quit.

 
 Try to ensure that you are getting plenty of sleep to combat this symptom as much as possible.  Most people are able to return to their normal routine, minus the smoking after just a few short weeks.

Your body may experience additional withdrawal symptoms.  How you handle them is typically left up to you as long as they remain mild, however at any sign of serious health problems you need to seek the advice and supervision of a doctor to ensure that there are
not additional health problems that are being mislabeled as a withdrawal symptom. 


 Talking to your doctor and letting them know that you plan to quit is typically a good idea so that they can also closely monitor your physical health during the difficult struggle.  After all, an ounce of prevention is worth any time it may take to protect your health.

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Relieving the Stress of Quitting Smoking
 
 
Trying to figure out exactly how to reduce the stress that accompanies trying to quit smoking is never easy.  There are plenty of factors that can all work together to stress you out badly and learning how to avoid these potential problems is absolutely critical to success.  Unless you know what you are doing, you are going to find that it is very difficult to get the results that you need, without getting yourself into an even worse position.  Learning how to relieve stress is often able to go hand in hand with reducing smoking all on its own, so it is only natural that it can complicate trying to quit.

If you really want to quit smoking for good, you will need to learn how to relax and reduce stress.  Since your life is not likely to exist inside of a small bubble, you need to learn how to handle the stress.  This can mean activities such as yoga, meditation and even a nice relaxing shower or bath.  If you find that you are stressed at work, a small walk around the building or even a relaxing cup of tea may be in order.  You have to learn ways to adapt to the stress, without crumbling.  If you just try to ignore the stress in your life, you are going to find it much harder to quit smoking; ultimately, you will end up smoking even more than previously and damaging your health much more.

Look for a hobby that you can do to help you break free of the stresses of family and work.  Most people can agree that their job causes stress at some point in time.  Having a hobby to help you rid your life of stress even for a few moments at a time is very helpful.  This will allow you to come back to your job with a clear mind ready to start fresh again.  If you do not have a hobby, you need to look for one.  Just be sure that you select something that you enjoy which is relaxing.  This would make it a bad idea to look for a hobby that reminds you a lot of your job or other similar stressful situations.

Always look for time to relax by yourself.  Everyone needs time alone, and when you are trying to quit smoking, it is even more important.  You need these brief moments to yourself so that you can unplug from your life.  These brief moments are very helpful to your entire desire to quit smoking.  If you are always around people continuously, you will find that your patience levels start to decrease substantially.  This can make it much easier to snap, which in turn raises your stress level.  Even if you have to stay up an extra 10 minutes, or get up 10 minutes earlier, these precious moments to gather your thoughts will be treasured.

The fact that many people pick up smoking to help relieve stress is no secret.  This means to quit smoking for good you have to come up with stress relief or you will just be a yoyo between cigarettes for a very long period of time.  Working to conquer the desire to smoke is not easy, it involves a lot of work, and reducing the stress in your life is certainly a great place to start.  If you cannot eliminate the stress like most people, your next best option is to just learn how to properly deal with the stress, and these suggestions can help you to cope without reaching for cigarettes.

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The 2 Most Successful Factors to Quit Smoking for Good
Taking the steps to decide that you want to quit smoking is a huge commitment.  The dedication that is needed is absolutely essential to your success and can often be one of the only factors that will determine how successful you are.  If you find that you are struggling to quit smoking you are certainly not alone, seeking out appropriate help is always key to finding success in your quest to quit smoking. 

 Looking around at all of the excuses, reasons, purposes and methods that pertain to quitting smoking there are generally two very large factors that will determine your overall success.  Without these two factors you will almost always fail, with them you will typically walk away a successful non-smoker.


Your first critical success factor will be being determined to quit for your own reasons.  This means you need to decide for yourself that you want to quit.  Having the idea to quit smoking forced upon you will generally not work out well for yourself.  You have to decide all on your own that you are ready to quit smoking, this dedication to stop smoking will often be a huge driving force in your battle against cigarettes and you will probably need to pull strength from your decision.  Additionally, as everyone around you is asking why you want to quit, a good answer that you believe in will help you to resolve your determination each time you answer.


This might sound like nothing more than an excuse, but actually deciding for yourself that you want to quit is a huge boost to your mental approach.  If you approach quitting smoking with the idea that someone else is forcing you, then often you will make small mistakes that can sabotage your efforts.  You may not recognize these errors, but they are typically there.  Approaching the task of quitting smoking on your own will ensure that you are setting out to be successful and quit for good.  Those who quit for the reasons of someone else typically quit for only a short period of time.  Those who quit for themselves are the people who quit for good.


Your second critical success factor will be your actual approach.  If you approach the task of quitting smoking with the confidence that you will succeed no matter what, you will find that your determination is much stronger.  This increased determination can be very helpful as you are trying to fight off those late night cravings, or even the times when the urge to smoke appears and nobody is around to help you through it.  As a smoker, there are plenty of times when you will need your own self-control to really pull you through.  This comes from having the confidence to know that you can succeed.


If you merely approach quitting smoking with an attitude that you think you can quit, you will be sending yourself mixed signals.  These can create huge problems for yourself as you are struggling to maintain the self-control that is necessary to quit successfully.  Pulling your strength from yourself is very important.  Without the determination that you can in fact do this, you will fall into the temptation to smoke again much easier.  It is not a simple task to quit smoking, many people struggle for years to quit fully. 


Believing that you can quit smoking at some point is what will be a driving factor in your success.  The longer it takes to quit smoking the more likely you are to actually lose your determination.  This can spell disaster very quickly.  Keeping your determination strong starts from within, you need to be able to justify to yourself, your harshest critic exactly why you want to quit smoking.  The people in your family who are there for support are just for backup support.  You are your own best cheerleader and celebrating the small victories that you accomplish is very important to your success.  If you take the time to really stretch your confidence you will be in a great position to quit for good.

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Smoking Causes Wrinkles
 
Can smoking cause wrinkles? According to many experts, the answer is yes because it accelerates the normal aging process of your skin and contributes to wrinkles from appearing. You will not be able to see the direct effects of smoking immediately but it can after you have smoked for 10 years or so and the bad news is that this is irreversible.

Smoking is ranked only second to sun exposure as the leading cause of wrinkles. It interferes with the absorption of Vitamin A and C both of which provide us with skin protection. This is because nicotine the main ingredient in cigarettes promotes dehydration.

It also narrows the blood vessels in the outermost layers of the skin. THIs impairs blood flow depleting it of oxygen and important nutrients such as Vitamin A. It also damages collagen and elastin. These are both fibers that give your skin its strength and elasticity making it sag and wrinkle prematurely.

The heat from the cigarette causes irritation around the eyes and forces the smoker to squint more. This leads to increased wrinkles especially around the eyes. You will also develop hollowed cheeks around the mouth from many years of dragging this in between your lips.

This has also led doctors to believe that there is a relationship between wrinkles in the mouth and COPD or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as this may to airflow obstruction.
Aside from the wrinkles forming on your face, this will also be evident in other parts of the body including the inner arms even if these areas are covered by your clothes.

If you have been smoking for a very long time, someone who is in their 30’s may have similar wrinkles to a nonsmoker who is already in his or her 50’s.

So what is the morale of the story? Well, naturally quit smoking because no amount of anti-aging cream in the market will remove the wrinkles caused by cigarette smoking. Given that this vice is a habit, this is easier said than done so a lot of experts suggest that this should be done gradually.
If you fail to do so, you are just wasting time buying creams and moisturizers or even undergoing treatment with the help of a dermatologist because this will soon come back. What is worse is that these are very pricey.

If you are able to quit smoking, it also has other health benefits such as adding a few more years to your life and prevents you from being diagnosed with lung cancer and smoke related diseases in the future.

Aside from giving up this habit, you should also start by focusing on a healthy diet and exercise regularly. This will help bring blood to the surface of the skin and begin to replenish the capillaries with oxygen. You should also avoid drinking alcohol or caffeine as this also dehydrates the skin. To make sure you get your daily dose of Vitamin A and C, go take some food supplements.

Smoking causes wrinkles and other health related problems the longer you stick to this vice. Why should you wait before it is too late when you can look your age? If you can, quit right now because there are worse things than can happen aside from having wrinkles and your skin sag.

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How Meditation Can Help You Stop Smoking
 
Is it true that meditation can help you quit smoking? Have you ever thought about it? Can we possibly do something that easy to make you stop smoking? Everything is possible. What I am going to tell you in this article is what I have found. What you can do to stop smoking.

Meditation has long been considered as one of the very few ways by which man could access himself without really having to accommodate the intervention of the logical mind. Meditation helps relieve the stress of everyday life and it helps the person rejuvenate his mind to function more effectively. Apart from these, meditation is also considered as a cure to some diseases and disorders, especially those that are infiltrated mostly by stresses.

When people meditate you become more relaxed and clam about your everyday life. Some people smoke more when they are stressed. This is a proven fact. People often chain smoke because they are under stress. Your mind becomes weak from stress resulting to the deterioration of the body and the will to continue what was first a goal.  So there for when someone is constantly stressing and if you just take a second or however long you want, begin the process of meditation.

We already know that the cost of smoking is very expensive. When you smoke more than one pack a day, the cost that you are spending is very high. You probably do not realize that within a years time you can probably spend almost half of your earnings on smoking. Just think what you could have done with that money if you found what could help you stop smoking. Meditation could be one of the methods that could help you stop smoking.

Meditation to help quit the smoking habit acts in many different ways. The person from the pressure of temptations but on the other hand, the person will be rescued from the pressure of not being able to meet the goal. The former conceives the smoking cessation on a much brighter side since meditation could help drive the person with complete motivation to stay quit even when the mind calls for a last smoke.

They say quitting smoking is one of the hardest habits to quit. You have to put your mind into it. If you do not have your mind set to something then it will not be a focus. Meditation can help you get that mind frame that you are looking for. You have to take many things in consideration when wanting to quit a bad habit. It is very stressful and sometimes you will not succeed on your first try, but do not give up. There are other ways out there.

If you find out that meditation is not the way for you, then there are many other options out there you can find. Contact your local doctor or research it online. There are over the counter medicines out there you can try. You just have to find out what works best for you.

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Sunday 21 October 2012

What Does Smoking Do For You?

If I ask you the question "What does smoking do for you?" your answer, and everybody else's answers, will be totally different. Whether you have smoked before or not, I think you may still believe that smoking does have some positives to it. If it didn't, why would so many people get hooked in the first place? OK, so it is the nicotine that is addictive, but that must be because it is doing something good.

This is exactly what I used to believe. I knew that I was addicted to nicotine and I knew that the negatives about smoking far outweighed the positives, but I still believed there were some positives. I thought it helped me relax, others thought it helped them focus, I also thought it helped me handle stress (except most of my stress came from not being able to smoke in some situations) and still others said they just enjoyed it. I even thought I enjoyed the taste and the process of smoking.

Think about what I just said for a second. Smoking raises your heartbeat and blood pressure, we all know that, so how can it relax you? Some people smoke when they are bored, others smoke to unwind or to focus, how can a cigarette offer all those things? Most of them contradict one another. I'm not sure how I thought I enjoyed it, if I could only get hold of a brand that I despised, I would still smoke, and who enjoys feeling smoke go down their lungs? It's called suffocation.

It is all in the mind. When you feel stressed, you are also craving a cigarette, but the craving is so small you aren't aware, so you smoke a cigarette and feel a bit better, your mind then associates smoking with stress relief.

Fortunately, I learned that it is a common misconception that withdrawal pangs from cigarettes are unbearable and cause a lot of pain and irritability. Again, this is all in the mind. If you can sleep for 8 hours without even being woken up by withdrawal, why can't you face the thought of going 8 hours without a cigarette while you are awake? You start experiencing shakes, stress, anxiety etc, and this is all caused by the perception that you are missing out on something.

Smoking does nothing for you except enslave you to the idea that you can't live without it. The only things you can't live without are food and water, and maybe the Internet. If you can learn to accept these facts, and work on the psychological aspect of the smoking trap, you can quit very easily.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dominic_Wells
 
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Thursday 13 September 2012

Smoking Related Health Problems in Adolescents

Smoking Related Health Problems in Adolescents

Smoking is the cause of many diseases and kills about four hundred and forty two thousand
people every year in the United States. In spite of anti smoking campaigns and billboard warnings, more and more people are joining the bandwagon of smokers every year. Out of the total number  of new smokers, ninety percent are children and adolescents, replacing smokers who have quit or died early due to a disease caused by smoking. Smoking is the top cause of preventable and remature deaths, followed by obesity. 

Smoking not only increases the risk of lung disease, but also increases the risk of contracting lung cancer, oral cancer, emphysema, stroke and heart disease.  Certain statistics by the American Lung Associations show alarming results. Over five thousand adolescents smoke their very first cigarette every day, out of which over two thousand turn into regular smokers. Presently there are nearly five million adolescents smokers. Twenty percent of the twelfth graders moke cigarettes regularly.

Smoking has many harmful affects on the health of a human being. It damages the
cardiovascular system, causes high blood pressure, increases heart rate, increases the risk
of ischemic stroke, increases the risk of formation of blood clot formation, and decreases the oxygen amount which reaches the tissues in the body, reduces coronary blood flow & cardiac output, and damages the blood vessels. Smoking not only affects physical health, but mental health too. It causes psychological distress and depression.


Smoking not only affects the person who smokes but also other people who surround him/her. According to the American Heart Association, nearly thirty five thousand passive smokers die of smoke inhaled from a lit pipe, cigar or cigarette. People who do not smoke directly and inhale moke from a cigarette smoke by his/her neighbor is known as passive smoker, secondary smoker or indirect smoker. Among the passive smokers, women, children and infants are at a higher risk. Infants and children who are exposed to smoke develop asthma, frequent ear infections and may even experience infant death syndrome.

The symptoms experienced by econdary smokers are coughing, excess mucus formation in the airways, chest discomfort,chest pain, and lung irritation. They even feel irritation of throat, nose and eyes.

If the passive smokers experiences chest pain, it can be an indication of a heart disease.
Sometimes the symptoms of secondary smoking can coincide with the symptoms of other
medical conditions. Hence, it is recommended to contact the doctor immediately after the
surfacing of the symptoms.


In active smokers, smoking, apart from building up high cholesterol in blood, increases
the risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity, high blood pressure, physical inactivity and diabetes.So smoking cessation will not only reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, which is top of the list, but also decreases the risk by fifty percent of heart attacks and deaths caused by it.


But quitting smoking undertakes lots of physical and mental efforts. The person should
be made me tally relaxed and stress free. In case of adolescents, they can be asked to
exercise regularly and sleep adequately. The American Lung Association and
The American Academy of Otolaryngology have developed certain tips which can
be of great help to the smokers who are thinking of quitting. The smokers must
first be made to understand the reason for quitting. Stress only makes even more
difficult to quit smoking, so a stress free period should be chosen to quit. Family and
friends’ encouragement and support are extremely necessary to persuade the smoker to quit.


If the support isn’t sufficient, smokers can join a smoking cessation program or a support
group to attain their goals. A balanced diet is a must, along with lots of rest.
Sometimes taking nicotine replacement products, such as nicotine chewing gum, nicotine inhalers,
and nicotine patch, are a great help to smokers who want to quit. By using these products
the smokers can satisfy their nicotine craving.

The good thing is that these nicotine replacement products can deduct the poisonous gases and tars emitted by the cigarettes. But nursing and pregnant women should consult a doctor before trying nicotine replacement products. For such people non-nicotine alternative is available in the market. 

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