How Smoking Effects Your Health

Although the negative health effects of cigarette smoking cannot be debated, it remains the single most common cause of preventable deaths. Each year, over 430,000 people die as a result of a smoking related disease. Yet, over 50 million continue to smoke, including over 3 million teens. An estimated three thousand teenagers begin to smoke each day, and one thousand of them will eventually die as a result. According to the American Lung Association, cigarette smoking leads to 87% of lung cancers, emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Healthcare and lost productivity costs of $97.2 billion dollars per years arise from smoking related illnesses. Cigarettes contain over 19 known cancer-causing chemicals in addition to nicotine.

How Smoking Harms Your Body

Here’s why cigarette smoke causes so much damage to our bodies. While nicotine itself isn't thought to be carcinogenic, the highly addictive drug is toxic and potentially lethal in large doses. Long-term smokers have a much higher risk of developing a host of life threatening diseases. Just about any cancer you can think of, including cancer of the lung, mouth, nose, voice box, lip, tongue, nasal sinus, esophagus, throat, pancreas, bone marrow, kidney, cervix, liver, bladder and stomach can result from smoking.

Heart and lungs are most damaged by smoking

Lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema, are largely due to smoking. Heart disease, which includes coronary artery disease, heart attack and stroke are far more common in smokers. One of the effects of nicotine is constricting the blood vessels, which in turn causes high blood pressure. Another effect is raising your heart rate, which adds extra stress on your heart.

Not only does smoking affect the heart, but every part of your circulatory system. Your blood becomes thicker and stickier, further taxing the heart. The lining of the blood vessels is damaged, allowing fat deposits to adhere, and is most likely a significant cause of arteriosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries.

As a result, diminished circulation to the feet and hands leads to painful neuropathy, and impaired ability to fight local infections. This can lead to gangrene and sometimes requires amputation.

Inhaled smoke contains poison

The inhaled smoke contains many harmful substances, such as tar, carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, heavy metals and free radicals. Each of these damages the body in various ways. Tar is sticky and brown, containing many chemicals known to be carcinogenic, including benzopyrene. It also and stains teeth, fingernails and lung tissue.

It causes damage to the mouth, teeth and gums, as well as ulcers of the digestive system.
Osteoporosis is caused by a leeching of calcium from the bones and predisposes smokers to fractures. The hip joint is particularly vulnerable to fractures and Avascular Necrosis, a disorder where the bone dies.

Because carbon monoxide, a major component of the smoke, binds with higher affinity to hemoglobin, it displaces oxygen carried by the blood. Since less oxygen is carried within each blood cell, the heart must pump more blood through the body to transfer the same amount of oxygen to the cells.

Hydrogen cyanide prevents the lungs from cleaning themselves of poisonous chemicals. Cilia, the tiny hairs that help to clean the lungs by moving foreign substances out are damaged. Harmful chemicals are allowed to collect in the lungs, preventing oxygenation of the blood.

Other chemicals in smoke that damage the lungs include hydrocarbons, nitrous oxides, organic acids, phenols and oxidizing agents. Free radicals are highly reactive chemicals that can damage the heart muscles and blood vessels When they react with cholesterol plaques are formed, which increase the risk of arterial damage, heart disease and stroke. Finally, tobacco smoke contains dangerous metals including arsenic, cadmium, and lead. Many of these are known to cause cancer.

The tars in smoke can trigger cancer of the esophagus and throat. Smoking causes increased stomach acid secretion, leading to heartburn and ulcers. Smokers have higher rates of deadly pancreatic cancer. Many of the carcinogens from cigarettes are excreted in the urine where their presence can cause bladder cancer, which is often fatal. High blood pressure from smoking can damage the kidneys.

Smoking Damages Other Systems

Smoking adversely affects the reproductive system, especially in women. Many female smokers experience irregular or absent periods. Fertility is compromised, and menopause occurs one to two years earlier. The risk of cervical cancer is increased. For women over 35 taking oral contraceptives, there is a significantly increased risk of stroke or heart attack if they are smokers. Men, experience lower sperm count, more abnormal sperm with decreased motility. There is also an effect on the man’s level of sex hormones. Decrease circulations also predisposes male smokers to impotence as a result of overall compromised circulation and damage to the blood vessels in the penis. .
Smoker’s immune systems are impaired, leaving the smoker vulnerable to a host of minor infections. A smoker needs more time to recover from infections than a non-smoker. Coupled with diminished circulation, a smoker’s risk of infection from minor cuts or abrasions to the arms or legs skyrockets.

Cigarette smoking decreases bone density, promoting osteoporosis. Skin becomes dry and loses it’s elasticity as a result of poor circulation. Premature wrinkling is common. Irritation and inflammation of the stomach and intestines is frequently seen, including painful ulceration of the entire GI tract.

Even more serious are the risks to an unborn child if the mother smokes. Miscarriage is more common in women who smoke. Infants of smoking mothers are at increased risk of low birth weight, prematurity, cleft lip and palate, infections and SIDS.

Fasting Helps Quit Smoking

Smoking is very injurious to health. This is an undeniable truth. Inspite of knowing the dangerous consequences, people continue to smoke. A burning cigarette contains over two hundred poisonous substances that are carried by the blood to every cell in the body. Smoking leads to increased risk of infections and also leads to aging of skin.

But the good news is that, you are already on the road to recovery as you have taken the effort to browse through the Net to find ways to quit smoking. Also, you may be here to save a loved one who is clutched by the claws of smoking.

You can help yourself or someone you know, who wants to get out of smoking by advising them to fast. Yes, fasting is the best way to quit smoking. You may be deeply surprised at this statement. The fact is that it is nature’s best cure to rid yourself of this evil.

Physicians who have used this approach of fasting have recorded improvement or recovery from conditions of every description that patients had been needlessly suffering with for years.

What Should I Do ?

In order to get rid of your habit of smoking you need to fast for three days. Fast on brown rice and water or carrot juice three days in a row. If you can’t fast for three straight days, fast one day a week for three weeks or as close together as possible. Fasting leads to detoxification and improvement in organ function simultaneously.

The withdrawal symptoms of addiction to such drugs as alcohol, cocaine, nicotine and caffeine are resolved quickly while fasting. Most people are amazed at how easy it is to quit smoking while fasting. Those who have fasted, begin to respect their body in a new way that enables them to take better care of themselves in the future.

Acupuncture Proves Successful in Helping People Quit Smoking

(NaturalNews) Anyone who has tried to quit smoking knows how hard it can be. The withdrawal symptoms can be too much for many people to cope with for long, and as the stress and edginess builds the first thing they reach for is their trusty old smokes. There are many products and therapies such hypnosis, chewing gum, patches and yoga that all claim to take the edge off and help ease you through the difficult process of quitting smoking. But there is one therapy that many people would never consider, and one that is recommended by the World Health Organization (W.H.O.), acupuncture.

The first thing that many people try on the road to becoming a non-smoker is patches. These patches work by putting the addictive nicotine back in to the body therefore reducing your craving to smoke. The problem is that your body is still used to receiving nicotine, and as soon as you stop wearing the patches you will instantly reach for the smokes to satisfy this craving.

Another popular treatment for people who wish to stop smoking is hypnosis. Hypnosis is meant to work by strengthening your will power. It does this by repeating over and over again that you don't want to and don't need to smoke. This is all done while the patient is in a relaxed hypnotic state making the subconscious more open to outside suggestion. Hypnosis practitioners claim that taking part in these sessions will increase your chances of stopping smoking by 1000%. This jump goes from just 6%, with will power alone, to 60% with hypnosis sessions. The main problem with this form of treatment is that you have to believe 100% in hypnosis itself and as there is no real scientific evidence to back it up that can be very difficult for many people.

Acupuncture works by placing long thin needles at specific points all over the body. This will stimulate blood flow, therefore increasing the amount of oxygen that is delivered around your body and the number of toxins that are flushed out. These points are known as acupoints and have been used for thousands of years to help cure all sorts of ailments. But when it comes to smoking acupuncture is so effective because it deals with the main reason that most people smoke in the first place, stress. Experts claim that acupuncture has a success rate of around 85 and 90%, which would make it one of the most successful procedures for helping people quit smoking. The procedure helps relax the mind and releases endorphins in the body. These endorphins will give you an enhanced feeling of wellbeing and will block out any of the negative feelings associated with withdrawal symptoms.

It is thought that the majority of people who quit smoking will relapse at some point or another no matter what treatment they use. This makes your own will power the ultimate tool in the battle to quit the smokes. So in the end it comes down to one simple question, how much longer do you want to live?

How to Quit Smoking Even if You Love to Smoke

Let's face it, you probably enjoy some aspects of smoking. Some
people truly love to smoke. There's no denying that smoking
provides real benefits such as relaxation or feelings of
security.

So, how do you quit when you love to smoke?

YOU GOTTA WANNA

First and foremost, you have to have the desire to quit. If you
love smoking and don't want or plan to quit, then there's almost
no point in reading further. But if you honestly do want to
quit, then you have the first and most important ingredient for
quitting.

Is it possible to love smoking while simultaneously wanting to
quit? Of course! Think about any destructive behavior you or
other people engage in. For example, you may love to speed when
you drive around town, yet you know it is dangerous and you want
to quit doing it. Alcoholics have a love-hate relationship with
their drink. You smoke and enjoy it, but you know it is bad for
you.

DEVELOP THE DESIRE TO QUIT

"I love smoking too much to develop the desire to quit," you may
be saying. However, there are some simple steps you can take to
create the will to quit.

1. Make a list of the benefits you receive from smoking. Write
down as many benefits as you can think of.

2. Make a list of the bad things that have resulted or may
result from continuing to smoke.

3. Make a list of the reasons YOU want to quit. For example,
your list might include "live longer", "set a good example for
my children", "save money", etc. Everyone needs a purpose or a
reason to do anything before he or she is truly motivated to do
it. Make sure you know why you want to quit.

Read each of your lists at least once per day. These lists will
provide you with concrete motivation for quitting.

4. Make an appointment with your doctor and ask him or her to be
very frank with you about the destructiveness of smoking. Ask to
see pictures of lungs taken out of smokers' bodies. Have your
doctor explain what good things will happen after you quit.
Hearing and seeing these things from your doctor may influence
you more than anything else. After all, this person has devoted
their life to understanding the human body. They know the
truth, and most likely you'll believe what they have to say.

EXAMINE THE "BENEFITS"

Once you have a definite desire to quit smoking, it's time to
examine the so-called "benefits" of smoking. By now you should
have the "benefits of smoking" list that you made in step 1
above.

You must become very objective when you analyze your list. Is
each list item truly a benefit or just a "fix". If you smoke to
relax, ask yourself "how does a non-smoker deal with stress
without smoking?" If you smoke to relieve boredom are you
benefiting yourself temporarily by smoking, while paying for it
with reduced health and expensive cigarettes?

Look at each item in your list from the perspective of a non-
smoker. What would a non-smoker have to say about your list? How
does a non-smoker deal with the world without smoking? Can you
obtain the same or similar benefits without a cigarette?

Remember that much of the "positive" benefit of smoking is
temporary. The long-term effects of smoking are nearly all
negative.

FIND REPLACEMENTS

After examining the benefits you get from smoking, you need to
develop replacements for your cigarettes (and their effects) so
that you can continue to receive the benefits that smoking
provides you, but without the downside.

First, you need to understand that some of the so-called
benefits of smoking are really just a cruel lie. As your body
has grown accustomed to smoking and the accompanying physical
and chemical effects on your body, you have developed a need to
smoke to achieve these "benefits." You feel that the only way
you can relax is to smoke, and you do find that smoking calms
your nerves. But how long has it been since you relaxed on your
own, without the aid of a cigarette? Again, how does a non-
smoker relax? Smoking has become your crutch, when your ankle
really isn't broken.

So, on your list of "benefits of smoking" next to each benefit,
write down something you can do, other than smoking, that will
replicate the benefit.

For example, if the benefit you wrote down was that smoking
helps you sleep, you might write down that you would exercise
regularly. Exercise can aid your body in so many ways, including
better sleep. If you wrote that smoking helps you to get moving
in the morning, you might write down that you will listen to
your favorite high-energy music while you get dressed.

Be creative! This is the fun part. You get to re-invent your
life!

TURN LOVE TO DISGUST

If you love to smoke, you need to begin to despise it.

Switch to a different brand of cigarettes--one that you don't
like.

Look at yourself in the mirror when you smoke. Looks stupid,
doesn't it? No other animal in the world, even the lowliest,
purposefully inhales smoke. Why do you?

Look at your hands and teeth. They're disgusting, aren't they?
You're not going to get a date looking like that!

And you stink too! Yuck!

The cigarette companies are robbing you of $1,000 per year. Are
you going to let them get away with that? And your car smells
terrible. You won't be able to get as much for it when you sell
it.

You're a social outcast at restaurants. Nobody likes to smell
your stinky smoke.

Get the idea?

NOW GO OUT AND DO IT

You can read this and do nothing or you can follow the steps and
take ACTION! Nothing in your life worth doing happens magically.
You have to create your own magic by taking action. Action.
ACTION.