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Breathing Happy Author

Blessings of Freedom

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When I was smoking, hardly a day went by that I didn't seriously consider quitting. Your own personal mileage may vary, but I would imagine that as a fellow smoker, you have had similar feelings. The expense of the habit always loomed large, and this was before all of the serious hikes in taxation occurred. The madness of having to pay some $8.00 a pack puts a serious dent in anyone's walking around money. This article is filed under the heading "Benefits of Quitting". However, I would like to refer to these benefits, as blessings. It is truly a blessing not to feel like lighting up immediately after a meal. Sneaking around to smoke when it is looked upon unfavorably by those around you, is then no longer an activity that consumes your time.

Think about the day when you are free of the withdrawal symptoms, and the shakiness and irritability that comes between fixes of your favorite drug, nicotine.  Imagine a day when you can walk up stairs without feeling winded, when you can get out of bed without coughing your head off. These are all blessings. Not the least of which, is throwing down those sticks and knowing that you will no longer smell like an nasty ashtray. Nor will your clothing reek and sometimes sustain burn holes. You will have more money in your pocket. It will be money which you can use to truly treat yourself.

Your sharpened sense of smell will enhance your everyday experience. When you are no longer a slave to the habit, you can enjoy these blessings of freedom. You no longer need to plan how to keep the habit fed, and you can remove those seeds of doubt that constantly nag at you. Will I have to carry around an oxygen bottle or be confined to a hospital bed from emphysema or COPD or cancer? To be released from worrying about those scenarios is indeed not just a benefit, but truly a blessing. Perhaps the most meaningful benefit is that you can again be a role model to a youngster, and that would be the greatest blessing of all.

Weight Gain & Quitting Smoking

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It's an urban myth that ex-smokers always gain weight as soon as they quit. Only a small number actually gain more than a couple of pounds and this usually occurs during the first few months of quitting. This is largely because smokers generally weigh less than non-smokers, although the reasons for this are not clear. It is known that nicotine speeds up the metabolism by about 10% which would cause a smoker to burn around 200 calories per day more on average than someone who doesn't smoke. Smoke also damages the taste buds which makes food less enjoyable and a cigarette distracts the smoker from eating and therefore ingesting calories.

A few tiny changes in your diet and lifestyle will keep the flab at bay while you're quitting. Try choosing fruit or yoghurt instead of crisps or chocolate; cut down alcohol to one or two small drinks per week and use low fat spread on your toast instead of butter. You could also swap your usual mints for sugar free ones too and nibble on fruit or carrot sticks instead of boiled sweets.

Some people experience an increased appetite when they quit smoking, probably because their sense of taste and smell gets better. It can also be tempting to replace your usual after dinner cigarette with extra nibbles or polish off left overs. The best way to fend off hunger pangs is to eat little and often. Stick to three main meals each day but make sure you have a piece of fruit or yoghurt to hand for mid-morning and afternoon snacking. Never go shopping on an empty stomach – it's virtually impossible to walk past the sweetie display at the checkout without picking up something sweet and full of calories!

Despite what many diet books would have us believe, it's actually easier to keep your weight stable if 55 to 60% of your daily food intake consists of complex, unrefined carbohydrates. Examples of complex carbs are; fruit and vegetables, potatoes, wholemeal bread, rice, pasta and porridge.

Exercise is great for helping you quit as well as keeping your weight under control. And did you know that the greater your muscle mass, the more calories you will burn as your metabolism increases? Exercise also reduces any stress you may be feeling while you're going through the process of quitting and will treble your sense of achievement and motivation. After all, not only are you winning the war against the dreaded ciggies, you're also getting yourself fit and losing weight! Win, win win!

And even if you do put on a couple of pounds, always remember that quitting cigarettes is the best move you can make for your health so never let a small setback like that deflect you from your ultimate goal. Even if you did put on two stone in weight (which you won't), your future health would be far less compromised than it would be if you continued smoking.

Realism- COPD and Relationships

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Most cases of COPD are caused by smoking. But there is about a 20% chance that the illness is caused by other pollutants in the air besides cigarette smoke. Nearly everyone is vulnerable, due to what they inhale. In the past, COPD was mostly something men got, until recently, when it was found that more women are smoking. Women are actually a bit more subseptible to this disease because their lungs are smaller.

COPD, or common obstructive pulmonary disease is a term for several lung disorders such as chronic bronchitas and emphysema. After having trouble catching your breath and coughing for several years and finally getting a diagnosis from the doctor, there may be some familial grieving and even some depression that needs some support.

COPD has generally taken several decades to creep up on a perso,n and so they may be rather out of shape and even living a more sedetary lifestyle. Physical activity can help a person feel better. Getting up and moving, doing some exercises like bike riding, all of this can give a person with COPD more lung capacity and help them to live a better life.

30 minutes of exercise daily, or even three sets of ten minute sessions daily can do the trick. Using an inhaler will make it easier to begin with. Your local hospital probably has a program for COPD patients where they can learn to improve their breathing by learning to exercise and reduce stress. This should also include a resistance training program to improve balance, stability and muscle strength.

Many patients ask if they should give up their sexual relationships and the answer is no. Sex is actually good relaxation and physical activity.

If the COPD patient is still smoking, it is a good idea to ask for support from his or her family. Helping your loved one to relax will help them with COPD symptoms and make life more enjoyable. For women, COPD may get even more advanced. She needs to have her partner understand that she may be less energetic than he is.

Family members might offer to accompany their loved one to the gym or on walks. Having a buddy can really help exercise go by more quickly and be more enjoyable. Reach out to family members who seem to be reclusive after getting the COPD diagnosis. Take them to get groceries or for a walk in the park. Some COPD patients who use oxygen equipment do not like to be seen. Actually, the equipment is becoming much smaller and easier to handle and manuver, and it is becoming more common to see people using it.

Depression is common after the diagnosis. Having family members and friends who have become knowledgeable about COPD can help the patient feel better about themselves. We all need that sometimes. Those who have severe cases, should join a program where they can meet other people in the same situation. A good choice of a program is Better Breathers Club. They have social gatherings and occasional guest speakers and some have an exercise program. To contact a Better Breathers Club in your area, you will want to call your local hospital or the American Lung Association.

Yeah, it’s All That

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I had been an off-and-on smoker for perhaps forty years. When I smoked, (and there were long periods when I didn't pick up), I smoked cigarettes, pipes, and cigars. I always had the idea that I could take them or leave them. That worked for awhile, but as the years stretched on, I felt that ability slipping away into serious addiction. Funny how addicts can rationalize, deny, intellectualize, and use every other manner of defense mechanism in order to protect their addiction. A friend had smoked heavily during pregnancy and as a result her baby was born prematurely. He was so small that my wedding ring fit over his small hand. It was a miracle that he even survived.

Was that enough to get me to reconsider my addiction? Hardly. I was still smoking even as I ran competitive 5 and 10k races. Certainly incongruent, if not insane in some small manner. I had heard that nicotine addiction could be harder to break than a stubborn crack habit. I watched as friends and relatives died of heart disease and lung cancer. Lovely people reduced by chronic pulmonary obstructive disease to a state of barely functioning as a result of smoking. I certainly had some motivation to quit then, didn't I? I'd quit for awhile and then go back for no good reason. Sound familiar? It was then I had the great fortune to be able to work with alcoholics, cocaine addicts, and crackheads. A good number of these addicts are helped by a twelve step program in which the main rule is to stay clean for 24 hours.

Those in AA have a motto: "One Day at a Time". I noted that there are a lot of differing methods people have used to quit smoking- hypnosis, nicotine lozenges, cold turkey. I tried the cold turkey method, but I also used the principles and actions of the 12 step program as my support group in order to break this sorrowful cycle. I can now state that I have been smoke free for 8 months and feel a renewal of spirit and energy, a sublime happiness. May you find the method that works for you, but do it now. Make a call to 1-800-QUIT, get a hypnosis session, talk with your doctor. You will be serenely happy that you finally got free.

Big Thank You to BH and the Community

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Hello everyone!

To the breathinghappy.com people, the community and the readers, on behalf of my family we’d like to thank everyone!

With my breathinghappy.com earnings from writing, I was able to take my family out last July 25. We had a blast. It was Ally’s 9th birthday and they rode a carousel. Mommy rode the carousel too!  Read more

Manhattan’s First E-cigarette Store Opens

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E-cigarettes are the latest tool in the armoury of those looking to kick the smoking habit for good. Almost overnight the electronic cigarette business has mushroomed and there are now dozens of brands to choose from. It was only a matter of time before the traditional street corner tobacco kiosk was joined by an e-cigarette specific equivalent, and sure enough Manhattan's first such store opened on the Lower East Side last week. This venture joins their other small operation Queens and there are plans to open a second large store in Brooklyn later in the year.

The store exclusively sells e-cigarettes and accessories and customers are encouraged to sample the various flavours and nicotine strengths on offer before they buy. The featured brand is VapeNY. The cigarettes can be tailored to customers' specific requirements; flavour and strength etc. You can even choose different colours and patterns. Users concede that e-cigarettes don't taste the same as the real thing although if the vapour is right, the experience is pretty close to smoking for real.

Demand for e-cigarettes is now so great and growing so rapidly that established major brands such as Playboy and Marlboro have recently announced their intention to launch their own brands. E-cigarettes are proving contentious however as they fall into a grey area as regards regulation. Public health organisations are demanding caution and have expressed the need to further investigate and assess potential risks.

In the UK, e-cigarettes are currently permitted in pubs, restaurants and bars although there have already been calls from anti-smoking groups for their use to be banned. These groups argue that the impact of their use on health has not been fully investigated. It is also feared that children may be attracted to e-cigarettes because of their many fruity and sweet flavours and the fact that they look "cool". This may ultimately lead to children taking up smoking for real. Minors under the age of 16 are currently prohibited from purchasing the devices.

E-cigarettes are powered by a battery which uses the heat reaction as the user inhales to vaporise the nicotine-filled liquid cartridge and in doing so creates a smoke-like mist. The resultant vapour is a mixture of water, vegetable glycerine and propylene glycol. Recent research published by the University of Catania in Italy indicates that 10% of e-cigarette users reported the devices assisted them in giving up smoking. Other reports from unspecified sources however suggest that inhaling the vapour they produce can actually cause respiratory problems including blockages. The general consensus among users is that it is the toxins and tar contained in tobacco and smoke that are dangerous to health, not the nicotine. It is not thought likely that anyone could overdose on nicotine from "vaping" e-cigarettes.

One thing is for certain; e-cigarettes are here to stay and if they help to save the lives of those who take up "vaping" instead of smoking, that can only be a good thing.

Tips For Dealing With Nicotine Withdrawals While Quitting

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Quitting an addiction, particularly when the substance is smoking, is one the hardest things to do. The body and mind are very powerful, especially in working together. When starting to quit, have a plan about what to do when the nicotine withdrawals start to occur, so that you don't go back to smoking.  You also don't want to resort to binge eating and go from one addition to the next, and then back again.

Yes this is very hard. When you work three times as hard at it, I think you will be more successful in not going back to it. Here are a few tips:

1. Choose your method to quit, date and time.  Some of you may want to cut down one cigarette a day until the pack is done and not go back to it. Others may want to quit cold turkey.

2. Have a plan ready for when nicotine withdrawals occur. It should be a plan with goals that doesn't involve food or going back to smoking. Utilize this plan fully until your through this stage.

3. If you can do pushups when you feel the withdrawals, do them. Seriously!

4. Meditate and your mind to a place that you want to be.  Or do other forms of meditation.

Here is one meditation exercise to get through your withdrawals: You are in a bike race. You notice in your peripheral vision that the person behind you is coming up on your left to pass you. As that person passes you, you notice that they are the new you winning, leaving the old you behind. How do you feel now?

Work very hard at it.  Keep these tips in mind and keep focused. Add in some exercise and good nutrition. Here's to wishing you well with your new healthier life.

 

 

All votes and comments are welcome.

COPD- After the Diagnosis

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Instead of the being out of breath just because of age, you now know that it is COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Just doing common household chores or taking a walk can make the majority of COPD patients experience shortness of breath. This disorder includes a group of Read more

Hearing Loss Linked to Prenatal Smoking

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In the past few years, many discoveries have been made about the type of damage that smoking during a pregnancy can cause. A particular study, recently published on the JAMA Otolaryngology, describes one of such latest findings.

Often, teenagers will encounter trouble hearing, and this had been attributed for a long time to the use of headphones, the proclivity to attend loud concerts and other similar causes. However, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey that took into account youths between the ages of 12 and 15 in 2005 and 2006, confirmed that about 16% of the parents admitted to prenatal smoke exposure, and subsequently, the children in this subgroup were three times as likely to experience hearing loss as the children whose mothers had not smoked during the pregnancy.

Smoking as an epidemic

The widespread use of tobacco means that pregnant women are more and more commonly smoking during the early stages, even if they do quit down the line. However, it has been discovered that those that smoked even just for the first trimester, many times before they even found out they were pregnant, also had repercussions on the health of their children.

The only viable solution is quitting smoking preemptively, as due to the nature of pregnancy and the cycles and lifestyle of a particular woman, several weeks could pass before a pregnancy is detected. This could lead to the mother inadvertently smoking or engaging in other damaging acts even if she willingly quits them down the line.

Among the consequences of loss of hearing in adolescents, the natural issue of a potential disability is not top of the list. Studies report that loss of hearing can result in a diminished IQ, it could also have social and academic effects, and could even result in the child dropping out of school or engaging in damaging behavior.

Image: Freedigitalphotos.net

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COPD – Give Up Smoking Before It’s Too Late!

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My friend Carole was really looking forward to her approaching retirement. There was so much she would at last have the time to do; playing golf, tennis and bridge with her many friends, walking through the forest with her dog and finally getting around to booking the cycling holidays she has always promised herself. She knew Read more