BAD BREATH AND SMOKING
Posted by Exclow in Reason Why to Quit Smoking on Monday, November 9, 2009
There are many sources and causes of bad breath other than smoking, the most common cases of bad breath is caused by problems coming from within the mouth, for instance poor oral hygiene or even gum diseases.
There are people that have some degree of bad breath after they sleep, it is commonly referred to as morning bad breath. This case of bad breath is normal since the mouth stagnates and gets dry overnight. However this bad breath will clear away when the flow of saliva is restored, most likely after taking breakfast.
Also drinks, foods or medicines can lead to bad breath; the chemicals in the food can get into the blood streams and will then be breathed out from the person’s lungs. The most commonly know is the smell of garlic or other spicy foods and also alcoholic drinks. This bad breath is temporary as the smell will wear off after some time.
What will also cause bad breath is the deposition of food debris, plaque and also gum diseases. The smell of the already smoked cigarette is in itself bad breath.
It is normal that the more you stimulate less saliva production you are also increasing your chances of having bad breath, additionally when you have periodontal or dental problems you will have bad breath, smoking contributes to a lot of these damages for instance mouth ulcerations or other mouth diseases caused by smoking or deposition of nicotine.
To keep yourself free from bad breath due to smoking, it is advised that you note that cigarettes or cigars contain tar and nicotine that will build up on tongues, teeth or even the cheeks, aside from that it should be noted that smoking irritates the tissues of your mouth, this will tend to dry your mouth as saliva is inhibited, this in turn will increase the growth and build up of bacteria.
If you cannot quit smoking, it is good to observe good oral hygiene to get rid of the bad breath. After smoking it is advisable that you use mouthwashes that will get rid of the bad breath.
Since smoking inhibits saliva production, a smoker should drink plenty of water so that the mouth will not be left dry. A dry mouth is a favorite place for odor-causing bacteria.
A permanent solution to getting rid of bad breath is to totally quit smoking; this cannot be done once thus you should do it step by step. This should however not make you live with the bad breath, there are these solutions: regularly brush your teeth, always clean your tongue, use antiseptic mouth washes and floss your teeth to get rid of the food debris that will decompose and lead to bad breath.
Health Risk : Smoking and Heart Diseases
Posted by Exclow in Health Risks of Smoking, Reason Why to Quit Smoking
There are several causes of heart disease and smoking is one of them. And, there are many diseases which can develop from smoking and heart disease is one of them. Cigarette smoking is actually a major cause of heart attack, stroke and peripheral vascular disease.
Peripheral vascular disease refers to a range of abnormal conditions that affect the veins outside your heart, generally obstructing flow of blood in arteries. Smoking is very famous like a celebrity star, in different ways. In exchange from the pleasure of smoking, your life is the price you pay.
Types Of Heart Diseases
There are several types of heart disease, but the major ones are the atherosclerosis, coronary, rheumatic, congenital, myocarditis, angina, and arrythmia heart disease. Although heart disease can be deadly, it is also preventable.
The most basic and simple ways to prevent heart disease is to exercise regularly, eat heart-healthy diet, maintain healthy weight, avoid smoking, and have regular health screenings. It is never too late for anybody to change lifestyles and practice healthy habits for the betterment ones welfare.
Smoking and heart disease may not come hand in hand because not everyone with heart disease used to smoke, but we can’t ignore the fact that smokers may develop heart disease in a latter time or any other serious disease for that matter.
Chemicals In Tobacco Smoke Are The Main Culprits
Smoking kills more and more people each year and almost 40 % of those who died from smoking die from heart and blood vessel disease. Tobacco smoke contains thousands of chemicals in which many of them are poisonous.
Nicotine in tobacco smoke can increase blood pressure causing the heart to work harder. Carbon monoxide replaces oxygen in your blood. Smoking adds to the obstruction of the arteries which can lead to heart attack and other heart-related conditions.
And, smokers have greater risk of death from coronary heart disease compare to non-smokers. Aren’t these reasons enough for you to quit smoking? If at earlier time you stop smoking and heart disease is what you want to evade from, then, you must value your life so much.
How Long Does Nicotine Stay in Your System
Posted by Exclow in Reason Why to Quit Smoking on Thursday, October 15, 2009
The Process of nicotine and how long it stays in your system:
When the chemicals of nicotine enter your bloodstream, the body is sent into over drive trying to compensate for the damage being done to the body. As this process is taking place the chemical reaction causes a rapid blood flow from the heart, creating a chain reaction in which blood pressure rises and the heart rate increases causing the arteries to tighten and become narrower.
It is known that carbon monoxide in association with smoking and its effect on the body causes a decrease in the oxygen level that is carried to the blood. When all effects of nicotine and this are put together, the body becomes deprived in search of more oxygen supply for both the blood itself and cells in the body.
Once nicotine has entered the body, it is transformed and turned into a substance called cotinine. The time it actually takes for cotinine to rid itself from the body varies and can be a quicker process for those with a high metabolism.
It can usually take several days or up to a week plus for it to clear your system being that you steer clear from smoking including second hand smoking.
Is there a solution?
The obvious answer here is to completely quit smoking! That is in the best interest of your own health and well being. The best possible answer here is to drink plenty of water and or to sweat out the toxins. By doing both you can eliminate or speed up the process of traces of nicotine within your bloodstreamWhy Do People Smoke?
Posted by Exclow in Reason Why to Quit Smoking on Monday, October 5, 2009
Cigarette manufactures have been required to put warnings on all their packages of cigarettes to tell smokers that cigarette smoking is dangerous to health. But still people smoke. Why do they want to put something into their mouth and suck on it till addictive toxins go inside lungs and do damage? People who smoke claim that cigarettes really have a calming effect when we feel stressed. This is due to nicotine delivered from tobacco by smoking. The very rapid absorption of nicotine (nicotine takes just ten seconds to reach the brain once smoke entered the lungs) and the high blood pressure levels that result, promote rapid and strong behavioral reinforcement from smoking.
The advantages of smoking are immediate and true whereas the disadvantages are delayed and likely. The positive consequences of smoking include reduced irritability, induced relaxation, increased sense of control, sensory stimulation, and maintain group affiliation etc. Nicotine once enter the brain act as a tranquilizer thus makes the smoker experience relax though for few minutes but in fact smoking cause more stress internally. Thinking that smoking reduces stress and makes calm is really a great time waste says Mitchell.
There are many negative consequences. First cigarettes are legal drugs. Smoking is unnecessarily a waste of money. Cigarettes are the most addictive and destructive over-the-counter drug known to man. Cigarette smoking is equivocal to lung cancer. Researches have shown that depression is twice as common to people who smoke against those who do not smoke. Apart from nicotine, tobacco contains cyanide, nitrogen oxide, and carbon monoxide, all of which are harmful chemicals and are used as poison.
Health Effects of Smoking
Posted by Exclow in Health Risks of Smoking on Monday, September 21, 2009
"Smoking-related diseases claim an estimated 438,000 American lives each year, including those affected indirectly, such as babies born prematurely due to prenatal maternal smoking and victims of “secondhand” exposure to tobacco’s carcinogens..."
Let’s take a look at the health effects of smoking i.e. what actually happens inside your body each time you light up. Think about how quickly tobacco smoke can produce harmful effects. The following are some of the health risk of smoking.
Your Eyes, Nose, & Throat
The health effects of smoking can be found on your eyes, nose and throat. Within a few seconds of your first puff, irritating gases such as formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and others begin to work on sensitive membranes of your eyes, nose, and throat.
Your eyes water, your nose runs, and your throat is irritated. If you continue smoking, these irritating gases will contribute to your smoker’s cough. Continued smoking produces abnormal thickening in the membranes lining your throat, accompanied by cellular changes that resemble those that occur in throat cancer.
Lungs
The health effects of smoking are very dangerous with regards to lungs. Continued exposure can entirely paralyze the lungs’ natural cleansing process. (Smoking and Lung Cancer)
- Your respiratory rate increases, forcing your lungs to work harder.
- Irritating gases produce chemical injury to the tissues of your lungs. This speeds up the production of mucus and leads to an increased tendency to cough up sputum.
- Excess mucus serves as a breeding ground for a variety of bacteria and viruses. You become more prone to colds, flu, bronchitis, and other respiratory infections. And if you do come down with an infection, your body is less able to fight it, because smoking impairs the ability of the white blood cells to fight invading organisms.
- The lining of your bronchi begins to thicken, predisposing you to cancer. Most lung cancers arise in the bronchial lining.
- Smoke weakens the free-roving scavenger cells that remove foreign particles from the air sacs of the lungs. Continued smoke exposure adversely affects elastin, which is the enzyme that keeps your lungs flexible, predisposing you to emphysema.
- Many of the compounds you inhale are deposited as a layer of sticky tar on the lining of your throat and bronchi and in the delicate air sacs of your lungs. A pack-a-day smoker pours about a pint - 16 ounces - of tar into his or her lungs each year. This tar is rich in cancer producing chemicals.
Quit Smoking Motivation Tips
Posted by Exclow in Quit Smoking Motivations
"He who cannot change the very fabric of his thought will never be able to change reality..."
~Anwar Sadat~
Does quit smoking was one of your New Years Resolutions? What motivates you to quit smoking? Nagging by your spouse is rarely a motivation to quit smoking. It takes a lot of resolve to stop smoking habit and it isn’t easy.
You not only miss the effects of the nicotine, but the habit is there and if you’ve smoked for a long time, it’s well fixed in both body and mind. No matter why you have decided to quit smoking, you will probably need help.
Quit Smoking Products
Several products on the market can help you kick the habit. You can pick up at most any drugstore patches, gum, and mints. You may substitute hard candy when the desire to smoke hits you.
If you’re worried about weight gain, try sugarless candy or fresh veggies. It’s important to fill your hands and mouth with something to help you not reach for that cigarette.
Motivation
Motivation is significant if you want to quit smoking. Your motivation might be a new baby in the home, being pregnant and wanting a healthy baby, early signs of lung cancer (Smoking and Lung Cancer), or the onset of heart disease are all good physical motivational reasons. Maybe you just don’t want to smell like an old ashtray all the time.
Quick Tips to Help You Quit Smoking and Keep It
Posted by Exclow in Quit Smoking Tips
By Fred H. Kelley
1. Believe in yourself. Believe that you can quit. Think about some of the most difficult things you have done in your life and realize that you have the guts and determination to quit smoking. It's up to you.
2. After reading this list, sit down and write your own list, customized to your personality and way of doing things. Create you own plan for quitting.
3. Write down why you want to quit (the benefits of quitting): live longer, feel better, for your family, save money, smell better, find a mate more easily, etc. You know what's bad about smoking and you know what you'll get by quitting. Put it on paper and read it daily.
4. Ask your family and friends to support your decision to quit. Ask them to be completely supportive and non-judgmental. Let them know ahead of time that you will probably be irritable and even irrational while you withdraw from your smoking habit.
5. Set a quit date. Decide what day you will extinguish your cigarettes forever. Write it down. Plan for it. Prepare your mind for the "first day of the rest of your life". You might even hold a small ceremony when you smoke you last cigarette, or on the morning of the quit date.
6. Talk with your doctor about quitting. Support and guidance from a physician is a proven way to better your chances to quit.
7. Begin an exercise program. Exercise is simply incompatible with smoking. Exercise relieves stress and helps your body recover from years of damage from cigarettes. If necessary, start slow, with a short walk once or twice per day. Build up to 30 to 40 minutes of rigorous activity, 3 or 4 times per week. Consult your physician before beginning any exercise program.
8. Do some deep breathing each day for 3 to 5 minutes. Breathe in through your nose very slowly, hold the breath for a few seconds, and exhale very slowly through your mouth. Try doing
your breathing with your eyes closed and go to step 9.
9. Visualize your way to becoming a non-smoker. While doing your deep breathing in step 8, you can close your eyes and begin to imagine yourself as a non-smoker. See yourself enjoying your exercise in step 7. See yourself turning down a cigarette that someone offers you. See yourself throwing all your cigarettes away, and winning a gold medal for doing so. Develop your own
creative visualizations. Visualization works.
10. Cut back on cigarettes gradually (if you cut back gradually, be sure to set a quit date on which you WILL quit). Ways to cut back gradually include: plan how many cigarettes you will smoke each day until your quit date, making the number you smoke smaller each day; buy only one pack at a time; change brands so you don't enjoy smoking as much; give your cigarettes to someone else, so that you have to ask for them each time you want to smoke.
11. Quit smoking "cold turkey". Many smokers find that the only way they can truly quit once and for all is to just quit abruptly without trying to slowly taper off. Find the method that works best for you: gradually quitting or cold turkey. If one way doesn't work do the other.
12. Find another smoker who is trying to quit, and help each other with positive words and by lending an ear when quitting becomes difficult. Visit this Bulletin Board and this Chat Room to find a "quit buddy."
13. Have your teeth cleaned. Enjoy the way your teeth look and feel and plan to keep them that way.
14. After you quit, plan to celebrate the milestones in your journey to becoming a non-smoker. After two weeks of being smoke-free, see a movie. After a month, go to a fancy restaurant (be sure to sit in the non-smoking section). After three months, go for a long weekend to a favorite get-away. After six months, buy yourself something frivolous. After a year, have a party for yourself. Invite your family and friends to your "birthday" party and celebrate your new chance at a long, healthy life.
15. Drink lots of water. Water is good for you anyway, and most people don't get enough. It will help flush the nicotine and other chemicals out of your body, plus it can help reduce cravings by fulfilling the "oral desires" that you may have.
16. Learn what triggers your desire for a cigarette, such as stress, the end of a meal, arrival at work, entering a bar, etc. Avoid these triggers or if that's impossible, plan alternative ways to deal with the triggers.
17. Find something to hold in your hand and mouth, to replace cigarettes. Consider drinking straws or you might try an artificial cigarette called E-Z Quit found here: http://www.quitsmoking.com/ezquit.htm
18. Write yourself an inspirational song or poem about quitting, cigarettes, and what it means to you to quit. Read it daily.
19. Keep a picture of your family or someone very important to you with you at all times. On a piece of paper, write the words "I'm quitting for myself and for you (or "them")". Tape your written message to the picture. Whenever you have the urge to smoke, look at the picture and read the message.
20. Whenever you have a craving for a cigarette, instead of lighting up, write down your feelings or whatever is on your mind. Keep this "journal" with you at all times.
Good luck in your efforts to quit smoking. It's worth it!
What Are the Risks of Cigarette Smoking
Posted by Exclow in Reason Why to Quit Smoking on Monday, September 14, 2009
Smoking kills over 400,000 people a year -- more than one in six people in the United States -- making it more lethal than AIDS, automobile accidents, homicides, suicides, drug overdoses, and fires combined. It is estimated that the U.S. spends an astounding $50 billion each year on smoking-related health costs. Smoking may be even more dangerous now than 30 years ago, most likely because the lower tar and nicotine levels in most cigarette brands cause people to inhale more deeply. In one study only 42% of male lifelong smokers reached the age of 73 compared to 78% of nonsmokers.
People who are exposed to second-hand or side-stream smoke are also at risk. Smoke that is exhaled not only contains the same dangerous contaminants as inhaled smoke, but the exhaled smoke particles are smaller, so that they can reach distant sites in the lungs of involuntary or passive smokers and do great harm.
Does Smoking Affect Blood Pressure?
Smoking a cigarette raises the blood pressure by 5-10 mm Hg for about 30 minutes. If this is combined with drinking a cup of coffee, the effects are bigger and last longer.
Despite this, numerous epidemiological studies have found that people with hypertension are not more likely to be smokers than those with normal blood pressure, and conversely, that smokers are not more likely to be hypertensive than non-smokers. One possible explanation for this might be that smokers tend to weigh less than non-smokers, and that the effects of obesity and smoking on blood pressure cancel each other out. But even when smokers and non-smokers of the same body weight are compared their blood pressures are the same. This is probably because the blood pressure measurements are usually made when people are not smoking. If you smoke a pack a day, it will raise your average daytime pressure by about 5 mm Hg, even though your doctor may not detect this during an office visit.
The important thing about smoking is not what it does to your blood pressure, but that it greatly increases your risk of heart disease.
WHO - Smoking is a greater cause of death and disability that any single disease
Posted by Exclow in Reason Why to Quit Smoking
Heart attack and stroke
UK studies show that smokers in their 30s and 40s are five times more likely to have a heart attack than non-smokers. Tobacco contributes to the hardening of the arteries, which can then become blocked and starve the heart of bloodflow, causing the attack. Often, smokers who develop this will require complex and risky heart bypass surgery. If you smoke for a lifetime, there is a 50% chance that your eventual death will be smoking-related - half of all these deaths will be in middle age. Smoking also increases the risk of having a stroke.
Lung problems
Another primary health risk associated with smoking are lung cancer, which kills more than 20,000 people in the UK every year. US studies have shown that men who smoke increase their chances of dying from the disease by more than 22 times. Women who smoke increase this risk by nearly 12 times. Lung cancer is a difficult cancer to treat - long term survival rates are poor. Smoking also increases the risk of oral, uterine, liver, kidney, bladder, stomach, and cervical cancers, and leukaemia. Another health problem associated with tobacco is emphysema, which, when combined with chronic bronchitis, produces chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The lung damage which causes emphysema is irreversible, and makes it extremely difficult to breathe.
Harm to children
Smoking in pregnancy greatly increases the risk of miscarriage, is associated with lower birthweight babies, and inhibited child development. Smoking by parents following the birth is linked to sudden infant death syndrome, or cot death, and higher rates of infant respiratory illness, such as bronchitis, colds, and pneumonia. Nicotine, an ingredient of tobacco, is listed as an addictive substance by the US authorities. Although the health risks of smoking are culmulative, giving up can yield health benefits regardless of the age of the patient, or the length of time they have been smoking.
Future impact
By 2020, the WHO expects the worldwide death toll to reach 10 million, causing 17.7% of all deaths in developed countries. There are believed to be 1.1 billion smokers in the world, 800,000 of them in developing countries.
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The Law of Addiction - Info
Posted by Exclow in The Law of Addiction on Monday, June 1, 2009
Smokers are often furious with me because they believe I caused them to go back to smoking. Why do they think this? Well, I have this nasty habit of making a really big deal any time a clinic participant takes one puff or maybe just a few cigarettes. The smoker feels I am so persuasive in my arguments that he has no choice but to have a full-fledged relapse. In his opinion, I forced him back to the life-time dependency which will impair his health and may eventually cost him his life. He is convinced that if I had not made such a major issue out of the incident, he would just have smoked that one time and would never have done it again. How can I sleep each night knowing what I have done? I sleep quite well, thank you. For, you see, I am not responsible for these people's relapses to cigarettes. They can take full credit for becoming smokers again. They relapsed because they broke the one major law of nicotine addiction - they took a puff. This is not my law. I am not setting myself up to be judge, jury, and executioner. The law of physiological addiction states that administration of a drug to an addict will cause reestablishment of the dependence on that substance. I didn't write that law. I don't execute that law. My job is much simpler than that. All I do is interpret the law. This means, by taking a puff, the smoker either goes back to full-fledged smoking or goes through the withdrawal process associated with quitting. Most don't opt for the withdrawal. Every clinic has a number of participants who have quit in the past for one year or longer. In fact, I had one clinic participant who had stopped for a period of 24 years before he relapsed. He never heard that such a law existed, that even after 24 years, the ex-smoker is not totally freed from his imprisonment of addiction. He didn't understand that the day he tossed his "last" cigarette, he was placed "on probation" for the rest of his life. But ignorance of the law is not excusable - not the way the laws of a physiological nature are written. By the American standards of justice, this seems to be cruel and unusual punishment. But this is the way things are. Maybe instead of going to a smoking clinic, a recently relapsed person should contact his attorney to plead his case of why he should be able to have an occasional cigarette when he desires. Maybe he can cheat just once, get a sympathetic jury, be judged innocent, and walk out of the courtroom a free and independent person. Surely, in pleading his case before twelve impartial people, he will probably have no problem convincing them that he is innocent of any wrong doing. And, as he happily walks out of court a free and independent person, he will probably have an uncontrollable urge and then light a cigarette. Don't look for loop-holes in the law of addiction. You will be convicting yourself back to smoking. While it may seem harsh and unfair, to many, smoking is a crime punishable by death. Don't try to cheat the system - NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF!
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