QUIT SMOKING GOODBYE CANCER

If you could see the harmful poisons that are really inside the cigarettes, you wouldn't smoke. just think of the negative benefits that you would get each time you smoke. REMEMBER THE WORD CANCER... IF YOU DO IT YOU WILL GET IT... QUIT SMOKING THEN GOODBYE CANCER!!!

TIMELINE - WHAT WILL HAPPEN AFTER YOU STOP SMOKING?

After 20 minutes – blood pressure and pulse rate decrease drastically. Excessive sweating of the hands and feet.
After 8 hours – Carbon Monoxide in your blood stream goes down and your blood oxygen level will go back to normal.
After 24 hours – heart attack is decrease instantly.
After 48 hours – taste buds returns to normal. Able to taste food just like before when you were not smoking. Your sense of smell returns to normal as well.
After 2 weeks – breathing becomes easier. You can do walking, jogging or playing basketball without feeling of breathless as you go along with it. The Phlegm production returns to normal and will be coughing, wheezing fewer. You would notice that your lungs are starting back to normal as you can feel that your breathing is not that difficult compared before. Your lungs starts to recover from the nicotine you inhaled.
After one year to 10 years – Your Chance of having a heart disease or other certain lung problems decreases and sometimes chances are greatly reduced.
Quitting Smoking is just very easy to do… it is just Mind Over Matter that stopping you to quit smoking.
Posted by Rose at 6:37 PM 3 comments

SMOKING - Why is it so HARD to QUIT?

The short answer is nicotine. The long answer is more complex. First, nicotine is physically addictive and, second, nicotine addiction also causes psychological changes in smokers because they connect its pleasurable feelings to many different aspects of their lives. Cigarette smoking becomes interwoven with their lives, so that when they try to quit smoking, they not only have to beat back an addiction to smoking, they also have to deal with dozens of triggers that can prompt a desire to smoke.

Nicotine is a drug that naturally occurs in tobacco. When you puff on a cigarette, you inhale nicotine in the smoke and it then spreads through your body. Nicotine interferes with communication between nerve cells. The result is a relaxing, pleasant feeling that makes you want to smoke more.

As you continue to smoke, your body adapts and becomes tolerant to nicotine. You have to smoke more cigarettes in order to achieve the same pleasant feeling. Because your body metabolizes nicotine quickly, the level of nicotine in your blood drops within a couple of hours and you find yourself needing to smoke repeatedly throughout the day to refresh the drug’s effect. At some point, enough nicotine may accumulate in your system that you may need only a certain number of cigarettes each day to keep the level stable.

The Power of Nicotine

You can become physically dependent on nicotine after just a few weeks of regular smoking. When you try to quit smoking, your body goes into nicotine withdrawal. Your system reacts to the absence of nicotine with symptoms including:

Irritability and impatience Hostility Anxiety Depression Headaches Fatigue Trouble sleeping Restlessness Difficulty concentrating Increase in appetite Decreased heart rate

HOW TO KEEP YOUR BRAIN SHARP?

Some ways to beat back memory loss include:

Keep your brain active. Challenging your brain and mental abilities is believed to stimulate brain cells and keep your thinking sharp. Reading, writing, developing a new skill, or relearning old skills are ways to give your brain a workout. You also can work on stimulating problem-solving and brain games and puzzles. These mental challenges should be a regular part of your life.

Let go of stress. Prolonged stress over many weeks has been shown to cause memory loss by altering brain chemistry and damaging the hippocampus, which is where the brain stores new memories.
Stay socially active. Relationships with other people can improve your mental performance. Social activities often are intellectually stimulating, which prompts good memory function. Friends also can provide support when you're feeling stressed. Research has linked loneliness with an increased risk of memory loss and dementia.

Exercise. Working out can keep blood flowing to the brain, leaving your brain cells well-nourished with oxygen and nutrients.

Don't smoke or abuse alcohol. Smokers have been shown to perform worse than nonsmokers in memory studies and tests of thinking skills. Heavy alcohol use is also known to cause memory loss.

Trauma. Head trauma is one of the major causes of memory loss, as well as something that can cause dementia later in life. Always use a helmet and other protective gear when participating in high-speed activities and contact sports.

NICOTINE REPLACEMENT THERAPHY

Nicotine replacement therapies (NRTs), such as nicotine gum and the transdermal nicotine patch, were the first pharmacological treatments approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in smoking cessation therapy. NRTs are used (in conjunction with behavioral support) to relieve withdrawal symptoms — they produce less severe physiological alterations than tobacco-based systems and generally provide users with lower overall nicotine levels than they receive with tobacco. An added benefit is that these forms of nicotine have little abuse potential since they do not produce the pleasurable effects of tobacco products — nor do they contain the carcinogens and gases associated with tobacco smoke. Behavioral treatments, even beyond what is recommended on packaging labels, have been shown to enhance the effectiveness of NRTs and improve long-term outcomes.

The FDA's approval of nicotine gum in 1984 marked the availability (by prescription) of the first NRT on the U.S. market. In 1996, the FDA approved Nicorette gum for over-the-counter (OTC) sales. Whereas nicotine gum provides some smokers with the desired control over dose and the ability to relieve cravings, others are unable to tolerate the taste and chewing demands. In 1991 and 1992, the FDA approved four transdermal nicotine patches, two of which became OTC products in 1996. In 1996 a nicotine nasal spray, and in 1998 a nicotine inhaler, also became available by prescription, thus meeting the needs of many additional tobacco users. All the NRT products — gum, patch, spray, and inhaler — appear to be equally effective.

TIPS ON HOW TO MANAGE COPD

When you are diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), you will have to make some adjustments in your life to help reduce your symptoms and conserve your energy. Taking steps to make your daily life easier can help control your shortness of breath, fatigue, and other common COPD symptoms.

Here are some strategies you can use every day to help you adjust to life with COPD.

Participate in pulmonary rehabilitation. Pulmonary rehabilitation for COPD "can improve [COPD patients'] quality of life, their breathlessness, and their functional strength,". Pulmonary rehabilitation consists of exercise, nutritional counseling, and education to help you learn to live with COPD. It helps "COPD patients stay active and functional and not have to give in to their disease".

Practice breathing control. Your respiratory therapist can teach you techniques such as pursed-lip breathing and diaphragmatic breathing. These can help reduce the shortness of breath you may sometimes feel during various activities.

Find shortcuts for your daily activities. Find ways to make your everyday activities easier to perform. For instance, when you get out of the shower, put on an absorbent robe rather than using your energy to towel-dry yourself.