Who of us have ever walked in a place that was filled with some type of odor (smoke, cooking, etc) and felt it was very hard to breathe or catch our breath? An ocean breeze, a spring day when the wind blows just slightly or walking outside on a sunny day is the best especially when Read more
I’ve seen a lot of commercials about Nicorette, but have never really known what it was. According to its website, this gum has a small amount of nicotine in it to help you wean yourself off the nicotine your body has become accustomed to while smoking.
The website provides a ton of helpful information to help you quit while using their nicotine Read more
Picture adding four hours to each day. If you could would your life be better? Just image how those hours add up over the course of a week, months, years….a lifetime.
What could make having more time even better? Better health, more money? How about if you add $5 a day to your savings, which over the course of a year equals just under $2,000 tax free income.
To top it off, you will probably look, feel and smell better than ever.
How do you do this?
By quitting smoking.
Maybe you want to be able to share more birthdays with your kids and be a better role model for them. Or perhaps you want more energy and to breath easier. How about living to enjoy your retirement and use your money for something rather than cigarettes.
Tobacco smoke hurts anyone who breaths it whether first or second hand. Platelets in your blood stick together and may cause clots. It can also trigger a heart attack. It not only causes the problem but makes it worse.
Your family's health is effected by your smoking. Second hand smoke causes immediate harm to those who breath it.
It also makes tumors grow. So if you have cancer the immune system's tumor fighters that regularly go kill cancer cells are weakened by the tobacco smoke and can't do their job. And breathing the smoke when you already have cancer is doubly dangerous. It can make chemotherapy not do its job.
The lungs of a non-smoker are elastic, they expand when you breathe in and compress when you breathe out. Tobacco smoke damages the delicate lining so they no longer stretch or expand as well. When you quit smoking your coughing and wheezing will lessen and you'll breathe easier.
But continue to smoke and this will cause Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. People with this disease will slowly die from the obvious lack of air.
The next step from COPD is emphysema where lung tissue is destroyed. With this extreme lack of oxygen will make you weak and have to get oxygen from a tank.
People with Diabetes see the benefits of quitting right away. They have more control over their blood sugar levels. Smokers with diabetes have higher risks of amputation, heart and kidney disease, nerve damage, and eye disease that can cause blindness.
Researchers have found that smoking can damage a man's sperm by damaging his DNA. Smoking also reduces a woman's chances of getting pregnant.
Smoking during pregnancy can cause low birth weight, premature delivery, still birth and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS.
Smoking can make the placenta detach from the womb too early and cause premature babies.
Kids with asthma who breath secondhand smoke can have an attack. It can be severe enough to send them to the hospital or even kill them.
Over 300,000 children each year get infections such as ear infections, pneumonia and bronchitis caused from second hand smoke.
Nearly 3,000 nonsmokers die from lung cancer caused by secondhand smoke every year. Every cigarette you smoke damages your lungs. Even at age 65 quitting smoking can add years to your life. Ten years after you quit smoking your risk of dying from lung cancer drops by half.
In 2003 the city of Pueblo, Colorado did a public smoking ban in all public areas and the number of people hospitalized for heart attacks dropped 41% in three years.
If you don't smoke you can recover from surgery faster.
Your chance of cancer of the bladder, throat, esophagus, or mouth is cut in half within 5 years of quitting. One of every three cancer deaths in the U.S. wouldn't happen if no one smoked.
There is no exact science of knowing when to quit cigarette smoking. Your best gauge is you. Only you will know when you have hit your personal rock bottom. At that time you will suddenly feel beyond a shadow of a doubt it is YOUR time to quit.
So how do you know when you are there?
Be it a medical concern, condition or maybe you want to set an example for your children or your family – whatever motivates You will be the ultimate sign it is YOUR time to quit. When you know you are ready then the process of quitting smoking will become a much easier task than you ever imagined. The best answer I can give here is you will know because the idea of successful quitting far out weighs the desire to light another ciggy.
Most smokers have tried to quit or, at the very least, curtail their smoking activity. There is some positive personal feedback that will result for having modified your smoking habits. But ultimately you are still smoking.
I think one of the first things a smoker should admit to themselves is that they are weak when it comes to power of having a cigarette. Just admit you are powerless and cigarettes own you whether you like to admit or not! When it comes down to it on day three or four or ten or whatever…don't you usually wind up convincing yourself this isn't your time to quit? And once again, the cigarette wins! So just admit your are powerless and let's move onto the next step!
Remember one valuable thing about quitting. It is different and unique for each of us. Sort of like a lock and key effect. Just because someone you know quit using a certain method does not mean it will work for you.
Next, decide how you want to go about your method for quitting. Using a patch or maybe winding down your habit one cigarette at a time. Maybe joining forces with another smoker might be your thing? However, I would caution against using the buddy system because if one of you "cheats" and doesn't tell the other about your faux pas, then when they eventually find out you lied – where does that leave in your honesty to them and to yourself? It sort of creates a bad scenario between smoking friends. This is why knowing beyong your reasonable doubt will be the only true and accurate way to begin a successful non-smoking campaign.
For me when I quit smoking I visualized myself driving down the road – out of cigarettes – then driving past the convenience store and replenishing my supplies. Somehow that visual gave me strength plus it served as a form of entertainment for me at the same time! But the whole visual was a scenario of bravado that also inspired me because I already knew driving past the store and needing cigarettes somehow, someway didn't seem like a "normal sequence" for me!
Once you find your reasoning to quit, then the next step is to begin at the pace you feel most comfortable.
The rewards of a non-smoker are what you have already heard they will become. Your food tastes better. Your sense of smell returns. Your clothes smell and feel fresher. And your weekly budget suddenly allows for more important things in life that are positive – like manicures and massages! And we didn't touch on the health factor…yet! But it is ture that you will be able to climb stairs and go for longer walks than ever before without getting winded!
Smoking is as much a mental addiction as it is a physical addiction. Go find your reasons to quit and write them down. You will soon learn you have a lot more to live for and a lot more reasons to quit than you ever imagined…
In quitting smoking, as in breaking any addiction, sustained motivation is key. There are many different reasons why people attempt to quit smoking. By identifying which is the most important reason for you personally, you will have a clearer vision of exactly why you want to be smoke-free, and that vision can help sustain you when that one more cigarette looks so inviting. Here are 5 of the most common reasons cited for deciding to quit smoking. Read more
