Not Smoking
Giving Up Smoking
Addiction to cigarettes is the most common and vicious of all the addictions, worse than trying to kick heroin! But, giving up smoking bring both short and long-term health benefits.
Some of the Dangers
There are 3,000 dangerous chemicals in cigarette smoking. There is up to 5% carbon monoxide (the same stuff that is in car exhaust fumes) and this stops your blood from absorbing oxygen properly.
The same tars that are used to surface roads are in tobacco smoke, and can cause cancer and of these, the most dangerous tar is a powerful nitroso chemical, one part per billion in food is a hazard: in tobacco smoke there are 5,000 parts per billion!
Ammonia; a chemical found in explosives, bleach and lavatory cleaners, Cyanide; a deadly poison and phenols; chemicals used in paint stripper are also inhaled when smoking tobacco.
Why then do people Smoke?
When nicotine reaches the brain, it makes the head spin and people feel stimulated and alert. The heart beat faster, so more blood circulates around the body per minute; people say they feel ready to get up and go. It reduces tension in muscles, which makes people feel relaxed and seems to relieve stress. Nicotine also seems to help people work by improving concentration; it can stave off boredom and fatigue.
Effects on your Health
The effects on your health are numerous but certainly not in a good way!
Lung Cancer: Smoking causes lung cancer, it can be less than six months from diagnosis to death. Cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, pancreas, kidney, cervix and breast are all more common in smokers.
Fatal Heart Disease: A heart attack can result from the effects of nicotine causing your heart to beat faster combined with a raise in your blood pressure.
Stroke: Smoking makes your blood thick and more likely to clot. A clot in the brain can mean permanent brain damage, paralysis, even death.
Gangrene: You’ve seen the TV commercials! That sticky blood can clot the arteries to your extremities – goodbye fingers and toes.
Emphysema and bronchitis: Air passages become clogged, narrow and damaged until you’re unable to breathe easily. Even those people who have taken up smoking recently are likely to have some early stages of emphysema.
Ulcers: Stomach and duodenal ulcers are way more likely to develop if you smoke.
Need Any More Reasons to Quit?
- Smoking speeds up the ageing of the skin.
- Premature death is double that of non-smokers.
- Smoking-related diseases kill 40% of smokers before they reach retirement.
What are the Benefits of Quitting?
Giving up smoking has instant benefits:
- Within 20 minutes blood pressure and pulse fall.
- Within 2 hours lung airways relax, making it easier to breathe, and the volume of air our lungs can hold increases.
- Within 8 hours carbon monoxide levels drop to normal and the oxygen level goes back up to normal.
- Within 24 hours the risk of a heart attack decreases.
- Within 48 hours damaged nerve endings start to regrow, so smell and taste become stronger.
- Within 1 to 3 months circulation improves; lung function improves by up to a third.
- Within 5 years the risk of lung cancer decreases by half.
- Within 10 years the risk of lung cancer is normal.
Helping Yourself Quit
Many people wonder if aids to quit smoking work and if they should try them. Most smoking experts agree, and I am with them, that there’s no substitute for willpower, but you could try nicotine gum or skin patches, hypnosis, acupuncture and going to smoking cessation clinics.
Smoking and Pregnancy:
Mothers: Don’t smoke when pregnant or you risk harming your unborn baby, having a miscarriage or giving birth to an underweight baby, vulnerable to infections.
Fathers: The children of fathers who smoke 20 or more cigarettes a day have a higher risk of cancer then children of non-smoking fathers. Smoking dmages sperm, so men should give up smoking at least three months before trying for a baby.
