Effects of smoking on you and your loved ones

Smoking is the greatest cause of death and disability. Statistics from the World Health Organisation say that smoking is responsible for approximately five million deaths worldwide per year. Smoking effects on human health are serious and in many cases, deadly. Cigarettes contain 4000 chemicals approximately, most of which are toxic.

When quit smoking help is sought, it dramatically improves your chances of avoiding myriad biological and physiological smoking effects. In fact, smoking effects can be seen on all parts of your body, which include the urinary tract, digestion, bones as well as the reproductive system. Additionally, smoking effects can also be seen on blood capillaries and oxygen flow. Bronchitis and pneumonia are the secondhand smoking effects in infants up to 18 months of age. Secondhand smoking effects can also manifest as middle ear problems, coughing, wheezing, severe asthma attacks and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Let’s face it; most smokers really enjoy their ciggie. In spite of wanting to, many are unable to quit smoking because of the severe cravings. So, how to quit smoking when you actually love to smoke? How to quit smoking if in your heart you really don’t want to? The first step to quit smoking is to wish deep down your heart that you want to quit. Once you get around this part, there is quit smoking help around for you to make it easier for you.

Quit smoking help is available in the form of written material like books and magazines; Chantix; cigarette substitutes like nicotine lozenges, patches and gum; exercise and fitness and hypnosis. Online guidance can also prove to be a good place to start with. When a person tries to quit smoking, the body starts to take some quick actions in response to the shortage of nicotine in the system. Over a period of time you are likely to suffer severe withdrawal symptoms like nervousness, tension and anxiety; increased anger, frustration and irritability; restlessness; fatigue; insomnia; concentration problems; headaches, weight gain and increased appetite as the harmful toxins are removed from the body.

Although the health risks of smoking are cumulative, quit smoking with Chantix, or other nicotine substitutes and get health benefits regardless of age or the length of time you have been smoking.

Are you planning to quit smoking cigarettes? - Tips to Quit smoking

Cigarette smoking is the most common habit among people throughout the world. Most men, women and teenagers smoke cigarettes for a variety of reasons. Some may smoke to relieve the stress in their lives, some may smoke for fun, and teenagers mostly smoke under peer pressure or simply to imitate their favorite actors who can be seen smoking in movies or TV programs.

Despite a ban on smoking in public places by many countries of the world, smoking is still the leading cause of preventable deaths and diseases among people throughout the world. It has been confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

If you are a smoker and are planning to quit, you can easily get support or help from sources out there that provide tips to quit smoking. You can join any quit smoking program in your area and get support or help for your quit smoking efforts.

Tips to quit smoking

• Get support from a counselor who can provide you with some excellent tips to quit smoking
• You can also get support or help from your family members or friends in your efforts to quit smoking
• Make some lifestyle changes and seek company of those people who support your quit smoking efforts
• Join any quit smoking program and follow the tips to quit smoking provided to you, be it telephone counseling or face-to-face talk
• Get support in the form of prescription drugs like Zyban or Chantix for your quit smoking help in consultation with a medical doctor

Zyban and Chantix are both prescription drugs that help in quitting smoking successfully. Unlike nicotine replacement therapies, these drugs are free from nicotine. Zyban is an anti-depressant and contains bupropion as its main ingredient whilst Chantix contains varenicline as its active ingredient.

At present, Chantix is considered the most popular drug for quit smoking. It doesn’t contain nicotine but does reduce the nicotine cravings by mimicking its effect in the brain. It stimulates the nicotine receptors without actually providing any nicotine. This is very unlike nicotine replacement therapies that treat nicotine cravings by injecting small but consistent doses of nicotine. With Chantix treatment, many smokers have successfully kicked this habit. You can also take this quit smoking medication, provided it’s prescribed to you by a doctor after a thorough check up.

Why Quit Smoking?

Before you try to convince your friend to quit smoking, it is very important for you to understand why one should quit smoking. Better understanding of the subject will help you convince your friend better and hopefully helping your friend to quit smoking for life.

Those who have witnessed the ruthless impact of cigarettes on a person’s life say the battle to quit smoking today is actually a battle to save a diseased or dying body tomorrow. Smoking puts you on high risk of life threatening diseases such as lung cancer besides cancers of the esophagus, larynx, kidney, pancreas, and cervix. Smoking also increases the risk of other health problems, such as chronic lung disease and heart disease. Smoking during pregnancy can have adverse effects on the unborn child, such as premature delivery and low birth weight.

While quitting smoking may be hard the health benefits when you "quit smoking" are immediate and substantial. Almost immediately, a person's circulation begins to improve and a person's pulse rate and blood pressure, which may be abnormally high while smoking, begin to return to normal. Within a few days of quitting, a person's sense of taste and smell return, and breathing becomes increasingly easier.

How to Quit Smoking?

Here we come to the most crucial part. Just verbal talks on quitting smoke serve absolutely no purpose unless a person is determined to quit smoking. For your dear friends who have decided to put an end to this unhealthy addiction, here are some tips on how to quit smoking -

• Avoid people and places that tempt you to smoke. Most smokers have smoking partners and favorite corners where they hang out for smoking. Strictly avoid these high temptation people and places!
  

• Use oral substitutes such as sugarless gum or hard candy, cinnamon sticks, or artificial cigarettes. Quite a number of people feel that oral substitutes are invaluable for people who have decided to quit smoking.
  

• Avoid alcohol and coffee as these tend to stimulate the desire for a cigarette. Experts also advise to drink lots of water and fluids the first few days, to help flush out the nicotine and other poisons from the body.
  

• Practice deep breathing when you experience the urge to smoke. As you breathe, gently remind yourself the goodness of quitting smoke and your determination to quit.
  

• Delay the urge. If you have a strong tendency to smoke at a particular moment tell yourself you must wait at least 10 minutes. This helps as the urge to smoke only lasts a few minutes, and will then pass.
  

• Go for exercise and develop hobbies to keep you positively occupied and avoid the temptation to smoke again.
  

• Take help of quit smoking aids such as Chantix (Varenicline). The drug imitates the effects of nicotine to reduce cravings and withdrawal effects when you stop smoking. Chantix also cuts off all the pleasures of smoking and thereby help in quitting.

Quit Smoking Help

Always remember quitting is hard but very much possible. To achieve your quitting goal you may seek help of hundreds of organizations, friends and family members who are more than willing to offer you "quit smoking help". Apart from organizations, you may also seek assistance from your doctor, dentist, local hospital or employer who may offer you information, counseling and moral support. Tell your support group in advance about your quit date so that they may offer you quit smoking help when required.

The first quit smoking help you can offer yourself is to throw away all your cigarettes, lighters and ashtrays. Also make persistent and determined efforts to avoid places, people and situations that are likely to tempt you to smoke. For a few days you are likely to suffer from withdrawal symptoms such as anger, depression, splitting headaches besides others. Request your family members, friends and colleagues for tolerance and help you quit smoke.

If you do not wish to go through the difficult process of leaving cold turkey, request your doctor to prescribe quit smoking help drugs like Chantix. Manufactured by Pfizer, "Chantix" is a non-nicotine medication that fights nicotine cravings and reduces withdrawal symptoms. The ingredient inhibits the nicotine in cigarette smoke from binding to the nicotinic receptors in the brain and helps reduce the effects of dangerous nicotine. The drug therefore removes the pleasure out of smoking so that you don’t feel like lighting another cigarette in your life!

Smoking: a harmful habit

Smoking is a common yet bad habit that contains many health risks. You might be aware about health risks of first hand smoke and second hand smoke. But now, another hand is added to smoke known as third hand smoke, which can affect anyone who comes to a place where a smoker has smoked a cigarette. Third hand smoke is in the form of all the residual toxins that are left in the air after a cigarette has been extinguished.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has already issued warnings that Smoking is injurious to health. This statement is also imprinted on every pack of cigarettes. However, paying no heed to these warnings, the majority of people go on smoking for many years.