Essential Explanations to Quit Smoking

There are a lot of explanations to quit smoking, and the most obvious one is because your health is gradually deteriorating. You will also affect those around you by the second-hand smoke you generate, this is a problem for those around family members often.

7 Explanations Why You Should Quit Smoking

1. Deteriorates Your Senses

It will deteriorate your senses, which suggests that you won't be able to taste or smell as you could before.

2. Possibility of Cancer

Tobacco smoke is made up of carcinogens (cancer-inducing substance) which will boost your chance of acquiring cancer, because these will compromise the growth of your cells. Sometimes they will trigger your cells to replicate too rapidly or make them develop abnormally.

3. Carbon Monoxide Content

A large amount of carbon monoxide, a result of incomplete burning of fuels that contains carbon can be obtained from smoking. CO binds to hemoglobin of red blood cells which will then decrease the oxygen that the afflicted cells can transport.

4. Increase Proneness to Diseases

It will weaken your immune system, which will make you more susceptible to diseases especially respiratory ailments.

5. Decreases Antioxidants

It will lower your antioxidants. Antioxidants help restore the body's damaged cells. To improve your antioxidants, drink some tea or coffee.

6. Emphysema

Emphysema is an illness caused by an excessive amount of smoking. This illness steadily decays your lungs, which will then incur bronchitis and heart failure.

7. Smoking Kills

Smoking is accountable for increasing the death rate in the world. A hundreds of thousands of people die from smoke-induced diseases each year; even passive smokers tend to pick up smoke-induced diseases.

3 Basic Tips to Stop the Habit

1. Distract Yourself

By distracting yourself, you won't even feel the wanting to smoke. Try to read some books, socialize with non-smokers, listen to some music, etc.

2. Eat Bananas

Bananas are said to help restrain your craving to smoke. By including this in your daily diet, you will be able to suppress it for good.

3. Create an Oral Replacement

Some smokers smoke just to keep their mouths and fingers busy. Find a appropriate substitute for this, like mints, sweet candies, fruits, gum, etc. Not only will these serve as a replacement for cigarettes, but you will distract yourself from the thought of smoking as well.

In conclusion, it is a harmful and challenging habit to stop. Also, people find it more difficult to stop if there are people who nag them to stop; therefore, only you can truly help yourself quit smoking.

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Why Cigarette Advertising Is Being Banned

The earliest known marketing for tobacco products occurred in New York City during the 1780s. By the 1920s, cigarette advertising was pervasive in cities throughout the country. In the 1950s, the cigarette companies were a primary source of income for Madison Avenue. The advertising included signage, radio spots and television commercials, all inundating people with a pro-smoking message at every turn.

Targeting Children
These days, we take it for granted that cigarette advertising is being banned and heavily regulated. The idea that cigarette companies market to children is revolting, but this is precisely what was occurring, even as recent as the 1980s and 1990s. The cartoon character Joe Camel, which represented the Camel brand, is a famous example. The horrifying goal was to build a bond with potential consumers at a very young age. After all, most people start smoking as teens and children, not as adults.

The Free Speech Conundrum
Although cigarette advertising is being banned and regulated now, the road there was not an easy one. Important legal battles regarding cigarette advertising have been fought on the grounds of free speech. At what point is the government denying the cigarette companies and the consumers their basic rights? In the U.S., the negative effect on children eventually overrode most of the claims to free speech; nevertheless, in many countries, advertising control is severely limited because of this very issue.

Increased Regulation
In the U.S., strict regulation did not occur overnight. It was, and still is to some degree, a slow process benchmarked by small victories. Perhaps the biggest victories came when the tobacco companies began to lose major lawsuits filed by governments as well as smokers and families of smokers. For instance, many companies lost a lawsuit due to inadequate warning labels, and those victories made it much easier to increase regulation for those warning labels.

Cigarette Advertising
Congress passed an act in 1970 that banned cigarette ads on radio and TV. To this day, cigarette advertising continues legally on billboards and in newspapers and magazines; however, a 2003 agreement between major publishers and the cigarette companies put a stop to all advertisement in editions intended for school libraries. There is now also significant government control over warning labels and advertising directed at children. Cigarette companies have also agreed to advertising control as part of their lawsuit losses.

Outright Banning
Although cigarette advertising is being banned and heavily regulated, it will likely never be outright banned in countries like the U.S. In Canada, the cigarette companies have achieved victories due to their law-given rights, and this has impeded regulation considerably. Australia and the United Kingdom have both had success regulating cigarette advertising similar to the U.S. There are some countries, particularly smaller ones, where the advertising is banned outright. In countries like the U.S., this is unlikely to happen, and the ads will only go away entirely when the market eventually withers and dies.

These days, we take it for granted that cigarette advertising is being banned and heavily regulated.

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Nicotine Replacement Therapies Are Simply Not Effective

Before the 1990's, the only ways available to quit smoking involved counseling programs of one sort or another. They were either conducted one-on-one by psychologists who specialized in smoking cessation or commercially available programs that were taught in hotel seminars.

During the 1990's, many pharmaceutical companies introduced various products which introduce nicotine into the body of the smoker in such a way as to not further damage the lungs. Since these transdermal patches, mints, gums,vapors and electronic devices provide the nicotine without the harmful effects normally found in smoking tobacco, they were seen as a 'quick fix' and a relatively easy way to quit smoking.

All of these products are classified by the Food and Drug Administration as "Nicotine Replacement Therapies" (NRT), and, with the exception of the electronic devices, are approved for human use by the FDA. Once thought to be the "magic bullet" to solve the smoking problem, they have seriously failed to live up to the promise

The essential problem with these products is that. while they certainly provide a source of nicotine to satisfy a smoker's craving, they do absolutely nothing for the psychological or habitual aspects of the smoking problem. It is just much more complex than a simple physical addiction to the nicotine chemical!

For this reason, the relapse rate for these products is extremely high! In fact, fewer than 20% of the smokers who use these products are able to effectively quit smoking and remain smoke free for 12 months or more.

An independent study conducted at the Harvard School of Public and published in January of 2012, concluded that Nicotine Replacement Therapy products "are no more effective in long term smoking cessation then quitting on one's own".

Smokers who seriously desire to quit must use a comprehensive solution which addresses the physical nicotine addiction while also managing the habitual and psychological issues at the same time. Only such a comprehensive approach will seriously help a smoker to quit gracefully and to remain smoke free for a year or more.

If you use patches, gums, mints, lozenges, vapors or electronic cigarettes devices to introduce nicotine into your system. you can expect to relapse back to smoking your full quota of cigarettes within a few weeks. You may be unaware of the repetitive usage cycle that NRT products draw you into. As you struggle to quit and remain smoke free, you will probably go through many iterations of NRT use before giving up completely.

These failures to quit are totally unnecessary! In fact, for most smokers they leave you in a "failure state" in which you fail to quit smoking so many times that you naturally come to believe that quitting is impossible for you.

You owe it to yourself to commit to a counseling program to more effectively quit smoking. They are rarely a "quick fix", but they are far more effective. So, do your homework and research the various counseling programs that do not use NRT products or drugs as a "crutch". You will find local programs or several on the Internet which can provide real and guaranteed results. You can Quit Smoking!

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The Stumbling Blocks That Make It Difficult to Quit Smoking

If you ask different people who have successfully quit smoking how they managed to stop the habit, you will most likely get different answers. Different people have their own preferred method to stop the nasty habit of smoking, the only way to find out if a particular technique will work for you is by trying it out yourself. But the truth is that the method you choose for stopping your smoking habit is not all that it takes, you need to learn how to deal with the different stumbling blocks that causes people to go back to smoking. These stumbling blocks are stress, weight gain, and withdrawal symptoms.

Stress - This is the primary reason why people start smoking in the first place, and when you are starting to quit smoking, you start to worry how you can cope with stress without cigarettes. Yes, stress seems worse especially when you are just starting to stop smoking, but if you can just find other methods to deal with stress, your road to recovery will run straight. There are actually a lot of other stress relievers other than cigarettes; you can try exercising, meditation, and other relaxation techniques.

Weight Gain - This is one of the biggest concerns of smokers, especially women. But the truth is that you may only gain a couple of pounds after you stop smoking, and these extra pounds are quite easy to get rid of. Quitting cigarette smoking should be considered as a lifestyle change, coupled with healthy eating and exercise, you will no longer be worrying about gaining any extra weight.

Nicotine Withdrawals - Different people are affected by nicotine withdrawal symptoms in different ways, and the degree of severity varies as well. Common withdrawal symptoms that come when you stop smoking are anxiety, insomnia, difficulty concentrating, and increased appetite just to name a few. You should learn how to cope with these symptoms if you are really serious about quitting smoking. Like learning relaxation techniques to fight anxiety, healthy eating to improve your appetite and normalize your sleeping habits and others methods of coping.

No one says that it is easy to quit smoking for it will take a lot of diligence and discipline on a smoker's part. The first few weeks will definitely be a tough one, but just buck up and try your best to get through the difficulties and it will all be downhill after that.

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The Definite Reason To Why You Should Quit Smoking

Smoking has been a habit since 5000 BC. From then on, people have found smoking a vice difficult to quit because of the benefits they seem to enjoy. While smoking has actually been helpful to a lot of people in alleviating stress in the most pressured moments, the health risks are really deadly. In fact, these health risks are more than enough reasons why one should just quit smoking instead of continuing it despite the vice being hard to resist.

According to research, there are over 500,000 deaths that are recorded in a year in the United States which point out smoking-related diseases as the cause; furthermore, smoking even actually shortens the life span of the average person by about 13.2 to 14.5 years. A recent study also shows that the male population of China has a much shorter life expectancy because of smoking than their counterparts in countries where there are fewer smokers; in fact, it has been derived from studies that almost half of lifelong smokers would have deaths correlated to smoking.

Smoking also increases the risk of having a heart disease. The difference is so huge that even after years of quitting smoking, the risk does not decrease that much to equal the risk of those who have not smoked in their lifetime. It has also been discovered that smoking increases the chances of having Parkinson's disease, and it also worsens the symptoms of Crohn's disease.

What is also terrible about smoking is that it is not only the smoker whose body is harmed, but also those who inhale the smoke exhaled by the smokers. These people are called second-hand smokers, and their health risks are even more terrible. Those are just some of the many reasons. Generally speaking, to avoid killing one's self and harming other people, it is best that one should just quit smoking.

Even though these smokers are fully aware of the health risks, they still find it hard to quit. This may be because of the fact that smoking is a vice to that person, and the emotional and psychological distresses that one has undergone could really tempt the person to smoke. It may be hard to fully quit, but it is important that one seek the inspiration to finally let go of that cigarette and live a healthier lifestyle for the rest of the person's life. One should just quit smoking if he values his life or it may all be too late.

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Ten Different Ways You Can Use to Quit Smoking

Quitting smoking is one of the hardest challenges that you will have to face if you have been smoking for years, but it is something that you need to do if you ever want to live a healthy life. So to help you out here are 10 ways that you can use to quit smoking.

1. Exercise - Clinical studies have shown that people who exercise are less likely to crave a cigarette as compared to sedentary people.

2. Eat Healthy - Withdrawal symptoms due to your abrupt decline of nicotine intake can actually be countered by eating healthy foods and keeping yourself fit.

3. Stop Cold Turkey - Though this is the most difficult way to stop smoking, if you can manage to not smoke for the first week, despite the withdrawal symptoms, you will be able to stop smoking for good.

4. Look for Cigarette Alternatives - Some people find that chewing gum when they get a hankering for a cigarette actually helps. Or you can try using a fake cigarette to condition your brain to stop its nicotine dependency.

5. Using Prescription Drugs - There are prescription medication like Varenicline that reduces your craving for cigarettes and also diminishes the good feeling you get while smoking; but this option is only for extremely heavy smokers.

6. Nicotine Replacement Therapy - This is the most common method that people use to quit smoking. There are gums, patches, and sprays that provide your body with small amounts of nicotine, making it easier to wean yourself from cigarettes.

7. Join a Support Group - It really helps if you can talk with people who have been through the same things that you are going through. They can help you get enough motivation to see things through.

8. Avoid Smokers - Nothing can get you back on the bandwagon again than getting tempted to smoke again by the people around you. If you have friends who smoke, ask them if they could not smoke in front of you; and most importantly beg them to stop tempting you!

9. Set a Date for When You Will Permanently Quit - By giving yourself a deadline you are giving yourself a goal to reach for, making you more motivated to quit the habit.

10. Be Happy - The most common reason for people wanting to smoke is due to stress. So try to relax and free your mind from worries every once in a while so you can quit smoking for good.

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Simple Tips on How You Can Quit Smoking

You can ask any person who has successfully quit smoking if they had an easy time doing so and they will all tell you that it is no picnic. Non-smokers can be quite judgmental when they say that you can just simply stop smoking and be done with it, there is more to it than that. Smokers do know that there is nothing good that comes from smoking cigarettes, but they just cannot help themselves, they are already hooked. You cannot just flip a switch and suddenly not crave cigarettes anymore; it takes time and a whole lot of discipline to stop smoking.

If you are trying to quit smoking and you are having a rather hard time doing so, then here are a couple of suggestions that may be able to kick the habit for good:

Join a Support Group

If you are the only smoker in your family, odds are you will not get any helpful advice from any of them. They may mean well, but they will sound very judgmental and will only make you want to smoke more. By joining a support group of struggling and recovered smokers you can get real advice from people who know exactly what you are going through because they went through the same experiences as well.

And since they know just how hard quitting smoking is they have a lot of advice that they can share with you to somehow make things a bit easier.

Wean Yourself Gradually from Cigarettes

Some people may say that the easiest way to stop smoking is to just quit cold turkey, but that is not necessarily true. If you abruptly just stop smoking the withdrawal symptoms would come rushing in all at once, and in full force; sometimes the symptoms would be so severe that you will swear that you are losing your mind. The real best way to stop smoking is by gradually decreasing the amount of cigarettes you are smoking a day, right until you can comfortably stop smoking altogether. Doing it this way will lessen the effects of the withdrawal symptoms and make it easier for you to stop.

Hopefully these tips can somehow ease the burden when you're trying to quit smoking. It can be really difficult at first, but if you can just manage to fight temptation and your own urges to smoke during the first few weeks then you are well on your way to recovery.

   If you can't quit smoking, then you will let yourself be continuously overcome by a senseless desire.

Time and again we've heard stories that relate how quitting smoking is easier said than done. This idea points to the power that is inherent in smoking tobacco - power over human psyche that renders the smoker so powerless over the habit. In spite of these experiences, hopeful calls for people to stop smoking are being trumpeted everywhere with their terrifying slogan: Smoking kills.

Smoking Can Kill but You Probably Won't Quit

That the slogan is true and that cigarette is seemingly the only consumer product that can kill its consumers when used as directed could still be ineffective in convincing a smoking slave to get out of captivity. So you may sometimes tell yourself you just don't want to smoke but the feeling of wanting to smoke still looms. Or, you probably had already claimed that to quit smoking is the easiest task you have ever done, but you had gone through the same ordeal a thousand times! And listen and be warned! Make sure you wouldn't come to that point when you would say "I don't get to smoke. I have to smoke" because it means you will be giving in to the habit's clout. So the safest cigarette is the last one. Make that your last indeed.

Some Tips to Help You Out

Smoking is a habit that can not only affect your relationship with people that matter to you but also destroy your self-esteem. There will always be that gnawing feeling that something is amiss and that can only be corrected by eliminating the habit. It is really pointless to go on with the habit while being subjected to its negative effects. Think about the following strategies.

Believe that you can quit. Then write a list of the things that you would surely do. Make sure that you write down the reason/s why you are choosing to quit. Also, take note of the date you would start saying you are finally free of this habit. Get your friends and family to help you in this decision.
Exercising, especially breathing exercises can help. Breathing in more oxygen can lessen toxicity in the body and help in changing of mindset, experts say.

With these things about this ferocious habit being made clear, there is really no point why anyone should not quit smoking or try this immoral habit at all.

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5 Ways How Acupuncture Helps Smoking

For some people, quitting smoking is as easy as one, two, and three. But for others, it takes lots of time and effort, and sometimes money. There are alternative therapies however, that are proven to help a person quit smoking at no or less risk, such as acupuncture.

Acupuncture and smoking sounds bizarre right? Well, you might want to give it a try first. Anyway, there's nothing wrong it. It's a healthy, risk-free therapy that will benefit you. How will acupuncture help you quit smoking?

1. It lowers down stress levels that trigger smoking. The calming effect of acupuncture makes it easier for people to quit smoking. Acupuncture stimulates the production of endorphin's or the 'feel good' chemicals in the brain that are responsible for the feeling of happiness. Some people, who are in a state of severe stress, often find comfort in smoking. Just one session of acupuncture can make a significant reduction in your stress levels.

2. It alleviates withdrawal symptoms. Some smokers have the full determination to quit but find it hard to cope with the difficulties that come with the withdrawal symptoms. Acupuncture is scientifically proven to be effective in addressing chronic pain issues and other mental disorders including depression and anxiety. If you're currently in the smoking cessation process, you will benefit from undergoing acupuncture. It also 

alleviates agitation, nervousness, and other signs of mental distress.

3. It helps lower down the smoking intervals. Smokers who have went through acupuncture treatments significantly reduced the number of times they smoke, a study reveal.

4. It's a great complimentary treatment for quitting smoking. There are smoking cessation drugs that don't do well with other medications. Being a natural treatment, you can use acupuncture in conjunction with your present smoking cessation treatment.

5. It's for all ages. Whether you're a teenager, a working professional, or an adult in late 50s, you will benefit from acupuncture. It's a safe therapy that will work for anyone.

Yes, acupuncture will not only assist you in quitting smoking, it can also help you recover from the negative effects of tobacco use. The liver for instance, greatly benefits from this alternative therapy. Our liver has a tendency to become heavily dependent on smoking that it chases the harmful chemicals from tobacco. And with these chemicals, the liver starts to malfunction. Acupuncture has a restorative effect in our body organs. It restores the flow of energy in your body, improves blood circulation, and makes you feel well.

Nicotine addiction is something you can't easily crack and get rid of. It takes more than any nicotine replacement products and a strong will power. Quitting is long and difficult process and not every smoker is capable enough to fight the urge and cravings of nicotine addiction. Prevention is still the best medicine.

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Not Smoking Is A Lifestyle

Transitioning from smoker to non-smoker is a much more complex proposition than most realize. The most important step that you can take is to choose activities that appeal to you. Think of it this way: You wouldn't go on an all-fish diet if you didn't like the taste of fish. Smoking is a significant aspect of your life. When you stop, it will leave a hole. It is paramount that you fill that hole with activities that you actually enjoy.

Quitting

You can apply this concept of the path of least resistance to the quitting process as well. The key to quitting is to sleep better, eat better, exercise better and be more active overall, both physically and mentally. In other words, successfully quitting smoking is a matter of changing your lifestyle. When you quit, keep a journal of successes and failures. If quitting takes several attempts, this journal will help you improve each time you try.

Habit

We are creatures of habit, and our lifestyle is a collection of those habits. The easiest way to abandon a negative habit is to replace it with a positive one. In order to create good habits, choose activities that appeal to you. If you dislike running or jogging, then maybe you can replace that with riding a bicycle or extended dog walks. Find something that works for you.

Eating Right

Eating right is important for everyone, but it is especially important for the person who has quit smoking. Smoking provides the body with sugar, which is why it suppresses appetite. When that sugar is gone, appetite will increase, which means great opportunity for bad habits to form. Overcome this by eating often but in small amounts. You may even need to eat six to eight times a day, but that's all right as long as you're eating healthy foods and staying within a reasonable calorie limit.

Exercise

The key to proper exercise to sticking to it, and in order to stick to it, you need to make it a habit. Find the exercise that you enjoy most and start with that. In the beginning, structure is the key. Optimal exertion can come later. Once you start to form exercise habits, you're find yourself more open to broadening your horizons.

Lifestyle Activities

Many smokers lead inactive lifestyles. Exercising is a good start in changing that, but it's not enough alone. You have to fill your life with activities that will challenge you mentally. If you feel forced to do stuff, then you're not likely to succeed, which is why it so important to choose activities that appeal to you.

Conclusion

The mental aspect is the most important factor in changing your lifestyle. When you quit smoking, think of it as a beginning and not an end. If you approach this process as an exciting opportunity to course correct your life, you'll increase the odds for success considerably.

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Top 9 Medical Methods to Quit Smoking

If you're among those people who tried to quit smoking, you'll probably know that willpower alone is not sufficient enough to get you through. The withdrawal period and the symptoms that go with it can overwhelm the unprepared. While it is true that proper mindset is important, medical intervention can also plays an important role in helping you get through the rough times.

 1. Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) (patches, nicotine gum, etc). 

With NRT, nicotine is directly delivered into your system usually through your skin. NRT gums, patches, and lozenges contain lower dosage of nicotine compared to cigarettes. The problem with NRT is that you're substituting nicotine with nicotine, only that you don't smoke it. However, you can still get addicted with nicotine gum just like your addiction to cigarettes therefore NRT is not a good solution in my humble opinion.

2. Chantix (Varenicline) 
Varenicline creates a sort of barricade between nicotine and your brain so that your body does not feel any physical gratification every time you smoke.  However side effects are noted among its users. The most reported side effects include headache, nausea, and insomnia, and in worst cases suicidal tendencies have been recorded.

3. Bupropion (Zyban) 
Bupropion Hydrochloride creates "feel good" chemicals identical to what you feel when you smoke. A 36% success rate has been reported from clinical trials. However, like varenicline, side effects like headaches, insomnia, nausea, and dry mouth are experienced. Seizures are also experienced by some users.

4. Acupuncture and Acupressure 
Acupuncture uses needles to restore your energy flow. Needles are inserted in different energy point. Acupressure uses the same concept as acupuncture, only that it uses hands and pressure. However, there is no concrete study to support the success of these methods.

5. Laser Treatment 
This is among the most expensive smoking cessation therapies. The process involve in this method is identical to that of acupressure and acupuncture, only that it uses laser lights.

6. Lobelia 
In effect, lobelia fools your body and makes it believe that it's getting the same sensation that of nicotine. However, because of the high toxicity of this herb, it is not commercially sold. Low doses of lobelia can speed up your pulse and respiration, high doses on the other hand slows them down. Sweating, heart palpitations and dizziness are the known side effects of this drug. Extreme caution is recommended.

7. Hypnotherapy 
Hypnotherapy has been a practice for centuries, however its success as smoking cessation therapy greatly depends whether you believe it to work or not. When combined with other forms of therapies, it shows improvements for smokers with the right mindset.

8. Bioresonance 

Like laser treatment, bioresonance is not readily available and very expensive treatment. It electronically changes your body's energy frequencies. However, further research is needed to support its effectiveness in smoking cessation.

9. Other Herbal Alternatives 
Peppermint and cinnamon bark are among the known beneficial alternative herbs to help smokers quit. There are a lot of herbal medicines available online through different health stores. Just be very extra cautious when buying these alternative medicines.

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Why smokers' skin 'ages' faster

Scientists think they may have discovered why smokers look older than people who do not smoke. They claim that simply looking at a person's face could show whether he or she is a smoker. A study by dermatologists, published in The Lancet, shows that smoking activates the genes responsible for a skin enzyme that breaks down collagen in the skin. Collagen is the main structural protein of the skin and keeps it elasticated.

When this starts to disintegrate, skin begins to sag and wrinkle.

Professor Antony Young and his colleagues from Guys, Kings and St Thomas' School of Medicine, in London, measured concentrations of the gene MMP-1, which breaks down collagen.

 

Wrinkly skin

They studied the buttock skin of 14 smokers and 14 non-smokers and found significantly more MMP-1 genetic material in the skin of smokers.

Professor Young said: "Smoking exerts such a noticeable effect on the skin that it's often possible to detect whether or not a person is a smoker simply by looking at his or her face.

"Smokers have more wrinkles and their skin tends to have a greyish pallor compared to non-smokers.

"Smoking cigarettes activates this enzyme that breaks down the skin collagen.

"We did not know that before, we suspected it from studies done in the test-tube, but this is the first proof."

Professor Young also warned of the dangers of solar ultra-violet radiation, which has a particularly detrimental effect on the skin of the face.

Amanda Sandford, research manager for Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), said she hoped this would act as a warning, particularly to young smokers.

"It's ironic that teenagers often start smoking in the hope of appearing more mature but it probably never occurs to them by middle-age they will really start to look older than their age due to effects of smoking.

"For smokers, middle-age starts in their early 30s as the tell-tale wrinkles around the mouth and eyes begin to appear.

"Young female smokers are likely to be wasting money on anti-ageing face creams if they continue to smoke.

"The best beauty treatment by far is to quit smoking."

The Tobacco Manufacturers Association criticised the study saying it was too small and inconclusive.

A spokesman said: "This latest piece of research is too small in sample to be of real significance.

"The investigators themselves use the words 'might' and 'possibly' in their conclusions and admit that sun's rays could be an important factor."

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Quit Smoking and Save the Skin!

Finding out how to stop smoking can benefit the physical body in many ways. Quitting smoking decreases the risk for certain cancers, heart and cardiovascular diseases, improves general health and mood and prevents the development of respiratory illnesses. However, quitting smoking can also hinder ageing and one cosmetic-related reason to quit smoking is younger looking skin. Let's take a look at some of the ways that smoking impacts the skin in order to further underscore the importance of smoking cessation:

· Skin tone: Smoking causes people to have a poor skin tone. Smokers' skin tends to be blotchy, sallow, pale and uneven. This is because the skin is continuously deprived of the vital nutrients, oxygen and especially fluid it needs to stay healthy when people inhale tobacco smoke.

· Skin that sags: Smoking causes the skin to sag. The plethora of chemicals and toxin in tobacco smoke destroy collagen and elastin over time-the compounds responsible for keeping the skin young and elastic.

· Smoker's pucker: Smokers' use muscles around their mouths that create a wrinkle effect-a permanent pucker wrinkle.

· Wrinkles: Smoking cigarettes damages the blood vessels in the skin and causes it to age faster. As a result, people develop deep lines and wrinkles at a younger age and they have an overall look to their face that is unhealthy.

Above are just a few of the main ways that tobacco smoke can damage the skin if it is chronically inhaled over time. Many people who start smoking in their teens or twenties do not worry about these effects because they are basking in the glory of youth-how can their skin ever get wrinkles? The trouble is that youth has a time limit and smoking makes that time limit critically short. Once smokers hit their thirties, the ageing process accelerates rapidly.

The good news is that the adverse effects of smoking can always be mitigated by learning how to stop smoking. As soon as a smoker gives up cigarettes, the health damage begins to reverse and over time the body heals. It is never too late to quit smoking.

Smoking is indeed a difficult habit to kick, but that is just what it is-a habit. When smokers learn that the power to stop smoking is in their own minds, they can then channel their thought process towards positive health choices that steer them away from tobacco. It is a tough but worthwhile path to follow, but the health benefits far outweigh the initial psychological discomfort of giving up such a dangerous habit. For those who continue to struggle, hypnosis is an easy alternative. Hypnotherapy can successfully change a persons habit in just one session although some people require more than one. Of course there are other therapies so check out what is available.

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The Danger Behind Secondhand Smoke

 What is secondhand smoke?

Secondhand smoke refers to tobacco smoke that is passively breathed in by people in the vicinity of a person who is smoking. Terms that have been used to refer to secondhand smoke are passive smoking, involuntary smoking, or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). Secondhand smoke is a mixture of the smoke from the tobacco product itself (termed sidestream smoke) and exhaled smoke from the smoker (known as mainstream smoke).

When a nonsmoker inhales secondhand smoke, he or she is exposed to the same toxins and chemicals, including nicotine, as the smoker.

Exposure of children to secondhand smoke also increases their health risks; and children are especially vulnerable to the effects of environmental tobacco smoke. About 35% of U.S. children live in homes where smoking occurs regularly. Research has shown that 50% to 75% of children in the U.S. have detectable levels of cotinine (the breakdown product of nicotine) in their blood, so even children who do not live with smokers may be at risk for adverse effects of secondhand smoke. Chemicals from tobacco smoke inhaled by a nursing mother are also known to reach breast milk.

What causes secondhand smoke?

Cigarettes are the most common sources of secondhand smoke, followed by cigarettes and pipe smoke. People can be exposed to environmental tobacco smoke anywhere - in their homes, in the workplace, and in recreational settings.

What are the health risks of secondhand smoke?

Secondhand smoke carries many health risks. At least 250 harmful chemicals have been identified in secondhand smoke, including at least 50 carcinogens (chemicals that are known to cause cancer). Just some of the dangerous chemicals present in secondhand smoke include vinyl chloride, cadmium, benzene, arsenic, and ethylene oxide.

Secondhand smoke is known to cause cancer. It has been classified as a "known human carcinogen" by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It is also associated with cardiovascular and respiratory diseases as well as other serious health conditions

Lung cancer and secondhand smoke

Passive smoking is an established risk factor for the development of lung cancer. Research has shown that nonsmokers who reside with a smoker have a 20% to 30% increase in risk for developing lung cancer when compared with nonsmokers who do not reside with a smoker. An estimated 3,400 lung cancer deaths that occur each year in the U.S. are attributable to passive smoking.

Cardiovascular disease and secondhand smoke

Like cigarette smoking itself, secondhand smoke is a significant risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease and heart attack. An estimated 46,000 deaths from heart disease in non-smokers who live with smokers occur every year in the U.S.

Other lung diseases and secondhand smoke

Coughing, chest congestion, and decreased lung function can also occur in those exposed to passive smoke. Babies exposed to secondhand smoke can also develop serious respiratory infections. In the U.S., passive smoking is believed to cause 150,000 to 300,000 lung infections (such as pneumonia and bronchitis) in children younger than 18 months of age each year.

Secondhand smoke and other effects on children

In addition to the risk of pneumonia and respiratory infections in babies exposed to secondhand smoke (see above), passive smoke is known to increase the severity of asthma in children with this condition. About 750,000 middle ear infections in children are also estimated to occur each year as a result of exposure to secondhand smoke. Babies who are exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Source:http://www.cigarettesflavours.com/cigarettes-flavors/smoking-remains-at-21-since-2005-54-of-children-exposed-to-secondhand-smoke/

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Find the Best and Easy Ways to Stop Smoking for You

Quitting smoking is not easy to do and it requires effort on the path of the smoker. Addiction to cigarette is serious and quitting it might be uncomfortable at first. However, you can still find an easy ways to stop smoking. So, what are the things that you need to do when you want to quit smoking?

Easy Ways to Stop Smoking: Tips and Suggestions

1. Enumerate your reasons and write them down – thinking about the best reasons why you need to stop smoking is an example of an easy way to stop smoking. You should be specific concerning your reasons. Some people who want to quit smoking are worried about their health condition and they are afraid to get sick because of this bad habit.
2. Set your attainable goals – you have to set your objective and that is to quit smoking completely. However, doing this is not easy as simply saying it. You can start on working for your aim by limiting your cigarette consumption. If you used to smoke 1 pack a day, you may try to have 1 stick a day until you learn that you can control yourself not to smoke at all.
3. Be active and join outdoor activities – trying to quit smoking without having any alternative for that would be ineffective. Another easy way to stop smoking that you can do is to be active in sports. You should focus yourself on doing your hobbies like playing basketball. You need to think of having a healthy lifestyle rather than spending your time on smoking if you are bored.
4. Increase water intake – another example of an easy way to stop smoking is drinking plenty of water daily. If you do not want water, you may prefer cranberry juice. Try to consume at least 2 liters of water every day.
5. Use aids to stop smoking – for some smokers, chewing carrot sticks is already enough to gain control over their cravings for cigarette. If this easy way to stop smoking is not effective for you, you may use any nicotine-replacement products out there. Patches, nicotine inhalers or gums could answer your cravings yet you must never attempt to rely on them.
6. Make a change in your lifestyle – you have to pay attention to your current health status. You know that cigarette smoking can kill you and this habit that can make you feel relaxed also comes with consequences, all the more reason why you need to avoid it.

All you need to do is to exert effort and determination to overcome smoking while doing the easy way to stop smoking you preferred. If you wish to attain the best results, you may prefer to use all tips given here. Set your goals and find the suitable and easy way to stop smoking for you.

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