Breathe Happy

Anti-smoking games are self-medication. We actually have access to various types of games that can impactfully benefit us. But, do we use them? From an apparent stand point, take video games.  No, seriously. Playing a video game of some kind can help distract you from the craving, as video games tend to take our minds elsewhere during play. From a scientific standpoint, engaging in different activities can be just as as comforting, such as having enjoyable non-smoking company over. This is important, because emotional isolation is ranked as high a risk factor for mortality in smokers.

As it turns out, combine loneliness and a smoking addiction, and you are increasing your risk. So, stay productive. An assistant professor of communication at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Hayeon Song) developed a video game relevant to our current physical habits, showing students what they might look like after twenty years of smoking tobacco. Results of the game led to increasing risk perceptions of health. Awareness can be the seed for change.

Some therapeutic elements of games, are they can keep your eye on a specific goal at all times, and help to mediate urges. Anti-smoking games range from “Hang Tabacco Man", using tobacco prevention vocabulary words, to online shooting games  such as “quit smoking”, where you can destroy cigarettes with e-cigarettes. You can also create for yourself an organic dose of education about the dangers of smoking with:

• Math (calculating costs for the habit ) 
• Science (demonstrations on the decaying effects of smoking ) 
• Geography (exploring countries and their cigarette use per capita ) 
• Reading Bar graphs (visual aid for statistics )

How will you educate yourself or involve yourself in some type of intervention or activity to break free?

*Image courtesy Flickr creative commons

Time to feel positive about yourself. Time to not feel guilty about smoking outside at home or in the garage to hide it from your family. Time to figure out why you smoke and how you will be able to quit.

Time to track your smoking. Where, when, and why. Time to understand why you smoke and pick a date to quit.

If you smoke, that new baby is three times more apt to die from SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Those children you are so proud of are more likely to contract asthma, ear infections, bronchitis, pneumonia and some other lung infections. And second-hand smoke is a killer. You wouldn't let your child step out infront of a truck if you could prevent it, would you? Why bring the poison right there to them then? And children of smokers are twice as apt to become smokers themselves.

How does smoking fit in with what you have planned for you life? Can you think of things you could do other than smoke? And the money you can save could send you and your family on a vacation.

Once you quit you need to stay away from those smoker hang outs. Ask smokers not to smoke around your children. If there are smokers at your job perhaps you can talk to the boss about banning it or atleast in certain areas.

You need to start being active three times a week. What type of area do you live in? Parks nearby or somewhere to walk? You could set a goal each time to walk a little further. Use a podimeter and see how many steps you take seeking a goal of 10,000 or more.

Life is a short endeavor. People are living longer now days but people who have chosen to smoke for 40-50 years and are diagnosed with COPD(Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) when they are in their golden years aren't going to enjoy those years like they would have if they had been smoke free for all those years. Instead they will be carrying a oxygen machine  around and huffing and puffing to make it upstairs. Yes, life is short.

The same governor who banned trans fats and tried to do away with large sugary drink, New Yorkcity governor Michael Bloomberg, is concerned enough with public health that he is now working on getting electric cigarettes banned in New York. Several ordinances are in the works. One that would classify these cigarettes as tabacco products. California's legistlature is looking at doing the same thing as well.

Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association has let several drafts of proposed bills that the New York City Council will soon vote on slip out into the media. They want to redefine "tobacco products". Under the New York Law, they will ban the flavored "e-liquid' from being sold in retail stores or anywhere other than age restricted tobacco bars. This would prohibit even an e-cigarette store in New York from selling the flavored e-cigarettes. And the law also mandates that all e-cigarette products are sold only in their original packaging.

Right now, e-cigarette smokers are allowed to light these up in certain places, such as bars and other public establishments.

(CASFAA is a non-profit organization increasing public awareness,education and encouragingtesting and development of products to achieve exceptable safety standards.) They state: "An e-cigarette is safer for the people around the smoker but it still gives the smoker the nicotine they crave and is little help in eliminating the addiction." They also emphasize that e-cigarettes have not been approved by the FDA. But Why? I believe it's because the electronic cigarettes haven't been on the market for very long and little data is available about the other chemicals used.

On the subject of the chemical risks of electronic cigarettes, Michael Siegel, a tobacco researcher at Boston University said in a paper just published in the Journal of Public Health Policy, that levels of certain harmful chemicals in e-cigarettes were on par with levels found in nicotine patches and hundreds of times lower than what's found in cigarettes. But does this just mean that health implications will just take longer to appear?

In a study done by ASH (Action on Smoking and Health), e-cigarettes have caused a wide variety of potentially serious problems "including racing pulse, dizziness, slurred speech, mouth ulcers,heartburn, coughing, diarrhea, and sore throat." They found that users have to suck much harde on the electronic cigaretes, because over time they may increasingly want more nicotine. Aerosal density decreases much the same as with traditional tobacco cigarres. It's similar to smoking a "light" cigarette and then building up to a more concentrated option. This may make the aerosal reach deeper in the lungs, and this could also mean that smokers of e-cigarettes may need to smoke more to get the needed amount of nicotine.

John Banzhaf, Executive Director of Action on Smoking and Health found that the electric cigarettes do emit a mixture of nicotine (contributes to heart attacks), and propylen glycol, (which is a respiratory irritant used in anti-freeze and known to cause respiratory infections) and other things that the FDA has labeled as carcinogenic and toxic.

So what do these conclusions tell us? It seems that finding a new product that addresses one problem is okay, but it doesn't necessarily erase other ones that are as bad or worse.

How can your family, spouse, or significant others help you quit smoking?

A better question would be: Why is it that your loved ones support is effective than your own ambition?!  It is the power of influence. Normally, we look up to these people, value their opinions, and while we may feel that the  things we do may not affect ourselves in the least, as soon as we learn that they too are affected, in negative ways, we feel empathy. Having built good relationships with loved ones, being a good person in life gives you the advantage of caring for others.

This, in turn, allows you to vicariously feel their emotions toward your addiction(s). It's just like when you see a child fall, cry, or experience fear. You are instantly overwhelmed with feelings urging you to protect that person. You may also have found yourself in some pretty brave situations where you did just that.

The same rules of love apply to you when you're in need, on your quest to quit smoking. Ask your loved ones what they think of your addiction, and how it affects them. Of course, it's a difficult question to ask, but it's important and shows them that you know they feel the pain of your actions. Tell them to not only express themselves, but to go ahead and surpass your emotional pain threshold if necessary, and to make the words count (and perhaps even hurt). Allow them to exhibit anger, a human response to feeling ultimately saddened and troubled. Communicate that the therapy of this shunning, may provide you with the protective instincts to quit smoking (in part) for the people you love, even if you’re having a hard time doing it for yourself.

Everyone knows that smoking whilst pregnant is bad for both baby and mother, but many couples hoping to start a family overlook the fact that smoking can adversely affect male fertility too.

Studies have shown that smoking causes a decrease in the quality of semen. Sperm concentration, that is the number of sperm present in a measured quantity of semen, is reduced by up to 23% in men who smoke. The motility of the sperm, i.e. its ability to swim, is also compromised with a 13% decrease. If the sperm are unable to swim strongly enough to reach the egg, fertilisation may not take place. Sperm morphology, the actual shape of the individual sperm, is also affected. This also interferes with effective swimming and can cause problems with fertilisation should the sperm manage to reach the egg at all. It has also been shown that male smokers experience abnormal hormone levels which will cause problems with fertility.

Poor sperm quality and hormonal imbalances may not cause infertility in all men, but for those whose sperm count is already poor these additional negative factors may be enough to render them infertile.

Research into the effect of male smoking on successful IVF treatment shows that smoking dramatically reduces the success rate of IVF treatment. Given the cost of multiple cycles of fertility treatments, it would be well worth giving up smoking before you embark on this route if you and your lady want to start a family any time soon.

Even if you're not at the stage where you want to father a child, smoking can have a seriously detrimental effect on your ability to even practice! Young men who smoke run a high risk of becoming impotent, depending upon their daily consumption of tobacco and the length of time they have smoked. Smokers are statistically twice as likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction as non-smokers.

Smoking causes hardening and narrowing of the arteries. As the heart becomes affected, it becomes less efficient and less able to maintain a good level of blood pressure to the extremities. To make matters worse, the blood vessels supplying the penis become narrowed. The end result is an inability for the affected individual to achieve and maintain an erection. Impotence in male smokers is extremely difficult to treat.

Luckily, it's not too late. Studies show that quitting smoking sooner rather than later will prevent long term impotency problems in young men and even those who have a longer term smoking habit will suffer less irreversible complications and will respond better to medication.

So, come on guys; if ever there was a really great incentive to quit this surely has to be it! Good luck!