Archive for the ‘cigarette smoking’ Category
You see smokers today huddled outsice their office/restaurant/bar, smoking the cigarette they crave because they can’t do it inside. Now you can relieve the cravings and stay inside among your friends.
We have all heard of the risks associated with smoking cigarettes, but what are the risks of cigar smoking? Are the risks of smoking cigars just as dangerous, or more so? According to the National Cancer Instituted, regular cigar smoking can result in a major health threat.
Scientific research has linked cigar smoking with cancers of the larynx, lungs, esophagus, and oral cavity. Newer research also indicates that cigar smoking may be strongly linked to the development of cancer in the pancreas. Doctors also caution that individuals who regularly inhale while enjoying a cigar are also at greater risk of developing lung disease and heart problems.
The health threats smoking appear to increase dramatically in those individuals who smoke regularly and inhale while smoking. Someone who smokes three to four cigars each day will him or herself at eight times the risk of developing some kind of oral cancer than a nonsmoker. Unfortunately, we do not yet know the health risks of smoking the occasional cigar. It seems clear however that smoking cigars on a daily basis can pose serious health risks.
Many individuals wonder if cigars are as addictive as cigarettes. Many wonder why, for instance, so many people become addicted to cigarettes, and not cigars? The truth is that any tobacco product can become addictive because it contains nicotine. Witness the effects of smokeless tobacco products on individuals. These products, such as chewing tobacco, can become very addictive, simply because they contain tobacco, which in turn contains nicotine. Many cigar smokers do not inhale deeply, thus causing the nicotine to be inhaled superficially.
Cigarette smokers tend to inhale, causing the nicotine to be absorbed faster and more readily by the lungs. Even though most cigar smokers inhale the nicotine more superficially, it is still possible to become addicted if the user smokes cigars on a regular basis.
If nicotine is so addictive, why don’t more cigar smokers smoke more often? It appears that more people avoid becoming ‘hooked’ on cigars for several reasons. The most obvious reason is that the nicotine is inhaled much more superficially than in regular cigarette smoking, causing less nicotine to be absorbed by the body.
Also, cigars are not as readily accessible as cigarettes. They are viewed by most as a luxury item, saved for special occasions and used infrequently. However, when cigars are smoked on a regular basis, they can become addictive. The health risks of any kind of smoking increase dramatically as frequency of use increases.
Tim Staines
http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/the-health-risks-of-cigar-smoking-108687.html
Smoking cigarettes or marijuana has been known to cause a number of health problems, which may possibly include lowering your sperm count, your semen production, and even your libido (sex drive). There are hundreds of toxins in cigarettes and marijuana, many of which can cause diseases and health problems that will last a lifetime. A low sperm count will increase your chance of infertility and can have profound effects on your overall sex life, including erectile dysfunction. Men that smoke too much marijuana may find their sex drive declines very rapidly. We intend to clarify some issues between smoking and male semen production in this article.
Most people know about the variety of toxins in cigarettes – including tar, cyanide, ammonia, nicotine and many other chemicals that are known to be bad for your health. Some of the things that smoking can cause includes cancer, emphysema, asthma, and many more diseases. The second hand smoke from burning cigarettes as well as second hand exhaled smoke is well known to cause health problems in people that don’t even smoke, but are often exposed to it. These health issues are all fairly common knowledge, but did you know that cigarettes can be harmful to a mans sex drive, sperm production, fertility, and even his overall sexual performance.
Many studies have found an increased incidence of infertility, as well as decreased sperm production, in male smokers. Another relationship that some studies have found is an increased percentage of abnormal sperm, and sperm with poor motility (swimming irregularities, crooked tails, etc.). Such defects can effectively lower male fertility without even lowering sperm count, which also happens to be another unfortunate side effect of smoking. While most studies are conducted with cigarette smoke as opposed to marijuana, researchers believe that marijuana also causes many of the same problems that cigarettes do.
Besides reducing male fertility, smoking can ruin your libido and overall sexual virility. There is a link that has been found between smoking and impotence, for example. Many heavy smokers complain about weak erections and erectile difficulties. Another thing to think about is smoking before having sex might be turning your partner off if they are a non-smoker. During sex, most women don’t want to smell cigarette smoke on your breath, so make sure you don’t smell like you just lit up right before you came to bed. Smoking has also been said to make semen taste very bitter, which can lead to hurt feelings in the bedroom.
As you probably already know, smoking can be very detrimental to your overall health. Studies are finding that the complications cause by smoking also apply to sperm production, as well as your virility and libido. From the increased chance of infertility, to the higher rate of impotence, erectile dysfunction, and weak erections, cigarettes and marijuana can both be harmful to your sex life. Quitting smoking cigarettes or marijuana is not easy to do, but something that needs to be considered if you plan on having a healthy life and healthy family.
Jonathan Matthews
http://www.articlesbase.com/sexuality-articles/can-smoking-cigarettes-or-marijuana-lower-your-sperm-count-or-sex-drive-106103.html
You’ve made the decision to quit smoking you say? Make sure you really want to quit this time. Decide you’re going to quit no matter how scary you think it will be or how much you think you’ll miss smoking. Some people say “I really would like to quit but (you can fill in the words here)….” It’s a definite decision to want to quit. Your have to feel it! Know it! You have to be able to say honestly to yourself —yes, I can do this!
Secondly, you need to consider that there may be difficult times in the beginning stages of quitting smoking. But there may NOT be. How can I say that? For me personally, I sort of sailed through quitting smoking. After 28 years of smoking just about every day (that’s 10, 220 days!) I quit seemingly with little effort. It’s true. It wasn’t difficult for me. I’ll explain in a moment how it happened in my situation. Oh, I remember how great smoking was! And even though I didn’t think about quitting smoking hardly ever (because it was too painful to even THINK of giving up smoking), in the innermost part of me, I wanted to not be a slave to cigarettes anymore. 28 years was enough.
Lastly, and the most important in my opinion, is to incorporate some quiet time—whether it’s prayer, meditation or yoga—into your daily and/or hourly life. I say this because you need to calm your mind down or it will be full of negative and scary thoughts about quitting smoking. Personally (and this just sort of happened in my situation without any work on my part), the morning that became the first day of my not smoking ever again—I remember how there was a calmness about me (I really think it was Divine help if you were to ask me) that seemed to come out of nowhere. When the thoughts started coming into my mind like “it’s time to have your cigarette now. It’s bedtime”, I wouldn’t let the sentence finish. I would hear in my mind “it’s time to have your……” and I’d gently let my mind rise to a peaceful place and deliberately not finish the sentence. I did this for days, then weeks. Finally one day months later I realized I hadn’t thought of smoking for an entire day.
I also want to say that, know you can do hard things. So what if it’s hard? You can do it anyway. You must have realized by now that the difficult things in life are usually—or always—the most rewarding? But, hey, it wasn’t difficult for me and you could experience something similar to what I did when I quit smoking.
On a personal note, I can’t tell you what freedom I have, now that I’m a non-smoker and have been for 8 years. I don’t have to plan where to have my next cigarette, sneak out so no one will see me because I’m embarrassed to be a smoker, pay the ridiculous prices for cigarettes, etc. I still like the smell of a cigarette sometimes, but I will never pick one up to smoke again because the freedom is out of this world!
Linda Joy Allan
http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/how-to-quit-smoking-732527.html
Smoking is becoming more and more cost prohibitive. But it is the same for smokers as alcoholics, they pay whatever the price is. Price can reduce the consumption of cigarettes and in that way also prevent people to get lung cancer, a killing disease. For persons that stop smoking the lung function has increased and circulation has improved within three months.
By quitting cigarette smoking, you will also lower the risk of obtaining heart attack, lung cancer or other chronic diseases. For patients of lung cancer would learn how to stop smoking, in that way they would directly begin a lung cancer treatment. The longer-term benefits to quitting smoking are great, your lung power will begin to increase after only 2 weeks and will continue to do so over time.
Smoking can cause diseases of the cardiovascular system, myocardial infarction (heart attack), stroke, diseases of the respiratory tract such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) chronic bronchitis and emphysema, cancer (particularly lung cancer and cancers of the larynx and tongue), peripheral vascular disease, birth defects of pregnant smokers’ offspring, thromboangiitis obliterans, impotence, and in some cases it may develop cataracts that may cause blindness.
Weight
The health argument is simply not a heavy enough weight to tip the scales against all the other reasons the smoker has to continue the habit. Many that have quit smoking gain weight, and often rather much weight. That is a reason for many to start smoking again which is a bad solution also to the weight problem.
Exercise and keeping a regular routine for exercise is a key part of healthy living. When you stop smoking, the exercising will help you a lot to keep your weight. You can look at exercising like a recipe, and any good cook will tell you that a recipe can be completed without some of the ingredients called for, however the quality of the finished dish will not be the same.
Hypnosis can help you overcome fears of gaining weight and change your habitual reaction to situations when you automatically reach for a cigarette.
Money
Quitting smoking is tough but the rewards are huge both in terms of the quality of life and the amount of money you save. A calculation for one year shows a really good amount of money and if you add that with 30, 40 more years it is a huge amount of money you save!
With just a fraction of the money you will save, you can easily pay for qualified help to quit smoking. Will it be quit smoking laser treatment, hypnosis or any other treatment you choose.
Keith George
http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/quit-smoking-for-good-with-hypnosis-100984.html
The New Year is around the corner and many of us will be making resolutions. Every year, the top three New Years resolutions are to quit smoking, lose weight and handle finances better.
Most smokers will not keep their New Years Resolutions to quit smoking. How many times have you put give up smoking on your New Year resolutions list?
I put quit smoking on my New Years Resolution list every year for 10 years. My husband and I had a ritual every New Years Eve. I would smoke my last cigarette just before the clock struck midnight and on the stroke of midnight he would crush any left over cigarettes that I had. However, when I woke up in the morning I had this incredible longing for a cigarette. As the day progressed I got more and more bad tempered because I could not light up one of those little white sticks that had taken over my life. After a few days I gave in to temptation and bought some more cigarettes. And boy, did it feel good. Does it sound familiar?
But then, I caught my little boy with one of my cigarettes. It then dawned on me that this little angel that I brought into this world may never see his Mum grow old. I was slowly killing myself and it had to stop. I did not want to miss out on his first day at school, his first nativity play and his graduation. So, I decided to quit.
Believe me, it was not easy. The withdrawal symptoms where bad, but worth it in the end. I had a dry mouth and sore throat for days. But, I kept remembering my goal to see my little boy grow up. So I was even more determined to quit. Eventually, I did it and have been smoke free for 3 years now.
Really wanting to quit smoking will determine how successful you are in quitting.
*Set yourself a goal and keep remembering that goal.
*Find people who support your decision and know your pain.
*Break the habit.
*Be determined.
Even if you do gain weight, the health risks of smoking are far greater and you can tackle that issue when you have cleared the smoking addiction.
The best way to quit smoking is to combine a smoking cessation medication with a behavior modification program.
The health risks of smoking decreases immediately once you stop smoking for good. The health risks of smoking are not confined to smokers.
Make this year the year you make good on your resolution for the New Year.
Dawn Robertshaw
http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/quit-smoking-and-make-it-a-healthy-start-to-the-new-year-89107.html
It’s considered if a child inhales cigarette’s smoke at early age, he can become an inveterate smoker in future. However even if you were able to protect your child from cigarette’s smoke at his early age, all your efforts could be in vain when your child becomes a pupil.
Firstly, it happens because more often the child is followed by the curiosity and the wish to imitate somebody.
Secondly, street and coevals have an influence on a child as well as parents. It’s noticed that the first cigarette is smoked by the child in a company, even if he doesn’t want to do it at all. Just the moment comes when the coeval’s opinion becomes more important for him.
Thirdly, a cigarette turns out to be a good assistant during conversation. It’s hard to disprove the fact that at the age of 10-14, when teenagers only begin to grasp conversation skills, smoke’s curls are found to be a life buoy. Moreover, with the help of the cigarette it becomes easier to become acquainted with coevals, it’s enough to approach somebody to ask a lighter.
Fourthly, advertising panels, which are displayed along the streets, affect the child’s perception greatly. It’s very easy to suggest any idea to the child, and he believes that buying a cigarette pack he’ll become a world’s conqueror or will be like his favorite TV-hero.
So, what can we do in order to prevent your child from smoking? Or to break off this habit if he smokes already…First of all, be patient so as the child can hear and understand you and arm yourself with theoretical knowledge to examine the problem from different aspects. And, of course, you don’t have to lose heart after just another defeat in a struggle for the health of your child.
It’s very important to keep in mind the idea that the stories about horse, dying suffering from 100gr of nicotine, about smoker’s lungs, which look like a flabby stuff by the mature age, about the lung cancer etc. will be taken in with indifference by your child, despite of the fact that some information will seem to him rather interesting.
That’s why you don’t have to read long lectures about the harmful effect of smoking. Instead of this, provide your child with short objective information, giving him a possibility to draw conclusions by himself. Remember your first “contact” with cigarette (if this event takes place in your life) and the reason urged you to take this step – tell your child about this. There is nothing to be ashamed of, and your recollections just help to create the atmosphere of total trust.
Just remember, that children are interested in events that will happen to them in the immediate future, but not in 20 years or so. Therefore, you should pay attention to your child’s and his idol’s appearance: “Yeah, your friend Jane looks strikingly with the cigarette in her hands, but what do you think about yellow deposit on her teeth?” Don’t forget to tell him that woman, who smokes, suffers from wrinkles at her early age, the problems with lungs is also inevitable during smoking (bronchitis for example).
Keep in mind, that any kind of threat and taboo doesn’t affect the school-age person. If he wants to smoke, he’ll do it. But he will do it in such a way you won’t know about this fact.
Of course, it’s ridiculous to talk with a little child about the danger of smoking. Parents have to influence their child through emotions. Pay attention to the foul air in the room where somebody smokes. Try to take your child aside from the person, who smokes, saying at the same time: “I don’t want to inhale this cigarette’s smoke!”
Never criticize your child’s appearance, because such kind of remarks is fraught with consequences: your child will be convinced that he/she looks much better and more self-confident with a cigarette in his hands.
If you are a smoker – just try to get rid of this habit. Keep in mind one fact: if parents smoke, there is no question for the child either smoke or not to smoke…there is another question: when to begin?
Try to find a good school, hobby-group for your child. Keep an eye on what he does; help him to choose a congenial occupation in order not to loaf about.
If you have a daughter, explain her, that a young man, who doesn’t smoke, has more success among women, but not that one, who always has a cigarette in his mouth.
Helga Burns
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/forbidden-cigarette-98399.html
There are those individuals who are in rejection in regards to the relationship between heart disease and smoking. Often, this rejection is based upon self-denial and the need to smooth out any criticism deflected towards smoking; or the rejection comes from those who profit from the sale of cigarettes. Granted, smoking stays legal and a personal preference, but it is also a risky practice and individuals must recognize that a smoking habit can contribute to severe heart disease over time.
Past belief that contribute to heart disease
If you are an admirer of classic television programs or old movies, there is something that is so overpowering that it can not be ignored and that is the dreadful number (by today’s standards) of people who are smoking.
If you look at old episodes of Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, he carelessly puffs on a cigarette all the way through the bulk of the program; classic films of the 1930’s and 1940’s are full with actors puffing away during the duration of the program; and, most peculiar in display, there is a scene in 1973’s The Exorcist where the doctors are smoking in the examination scene.
Yes, at one time, smoking was so ordinary and present in the world that it gained a foothold in pop culture. The reason this was so widespread was because close to 50% of the community was seriously addicted to tobacco. Sadly, this compulsion was not without effect as significant volumes of lung cancer and heart disease amplified to coincide with the enormous spike in individuals who took pleasure in their cigarettes.
You are a smoker, and you cannot picture ever stopping. You are so addicted to the nicotine, that you do not care the fact that you cannot taste food or breathe properly for years. However, family and friends are becoming more and more worried for your health. Therefore, you should know that there is a direct association between smoking and heart disease.
How smoking creates heart disease
Whether it was in a magazine, or in the newspaper, undoubtedly you have seen the caution in regard to smoking and heart disease. However, you most likely just overlook it and think “It will never occur to me.” Well, the reality is that it can, and in all probability it will, if you do not quit smoking soon.
Firstly, have you ever been in a big city near a truck in traffic and had to shut your car window because of the fumes that were being expelled by the truck? Those fumes are carcinogens, and those carcinogens are what can be originated in your cigarettes.
The carcinogens found in cigarettes are part of the relationship between smoking and heart disease. These substances that are in the cigarette get absorbed into the blood flow. As the result, the blood is contaminated, and you have to remember that the blood is pumped through the heart.
As the blood is pumped through the heart, the nicotine from the cigarettes also develops in the blood flow. As a result, the blood becomes thick, which can create clots. Also, the nicotine will build up in the valves leading to the heart, which can become a risk factor for heart attack.
Smoking causes a number of devastating effects on the human body including respiratory problems, the stunting of development, etc. When it comes to the consequences on the human heart, continuous inhalation of smoke over an extended period of years, perhaps the most major effect that smoke has is the fact that it narrows the arteries. When this takes place, the blood flow through the arteries becomes limited. Needless to say, this is a hazardous state as a potential heart attack is a significant possibility.
Bear in mind the negative effects of smoking on the human heart are not immediate. Unlike, say, a cocaine overdose where an enormous influx of stimulation overloads the heart at one time, the effects of smoking are slow but sure. Because of this, even a person who has been smoking for an extended number of years may be able to avoid a severe condition provided they give up smoking before a destructive condition takes hold.
Needless to say, any smoker who has fears of contracting heart disease should throw the pack of cigarettes out the window as soon as possible. It would be the best health decisions a person could make.
So, now that you know the relationship between smoking and heart disease, you truly should consider stopping smoking. If you have just started smoking, you are at an advantage when it comes to your health, because the nicotine has not had adequate amount of time to create those serious health problems yet.
However, if you have been smoking for years, your health is in problem if you continue smoking. Possibly you have seen a picture of the lungs of a smoker, if you have not, one way to explain them is black trash bags. You surely do not desire your lungs to look like that now do you?
Further information concerning heart disease, risk factors of heart disease, and treatments of heart disease can be found here: Facts about Heart Disease.
Riza
http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/the-danger-of-smoking-in-relation-with-heart-disease-347270.html
Before the Baby Boomer period, no one was convinced that a each cigarette smoked puts the smoker one step closer to lung cancer. It was only in the period between 1946 and 1964 that experts were able to find conclusive evidence linking lung cancer to cigarette smoking.
The years following the boomer age saw the rise of anti-smoking campaigns and today, anti-smoking initiatives are still imposed at an accelerated pace.
According to the National Cancer Institute, cigarette smoking is the main culprit in 87 percent of lung cancer deaths and even plays a significant role in the development of cancers of the larynx, esophagus, bladder, oral cavity and pharynx. Not only that, smoking also increases the risk of suffering from cervical, stomach, kidney, pancreatic, and cervical cancers.
Nonsmokers are also at high-risk because secondhand smoking causes an estimated 3,000 lung cancer deaths among American nonsmokers. Children may also develop respiratory illness due to secondhand smoking and this sends a clear message to parents and guardians to be wary of their habits before it hits their loved ones.
There are more than 60 harmful elements that are known to cause cancer in tobacco smoke and a thousand other chemical agents. Smokers, already wary of the perils of their smoking habit, often seek the help of professionals and are advised to cease the act to decrease the risk of lung and other cancers, stroke, chronic lung disease, and even heart attack.
Stopping the deadly habit has immediate positive effects for both genders and all ages as it immediately begins to reduce the risk of lung and other cancers previously mentioned. Research has shown that the sooner the person quits, the more favorable is the effect. For instance, those who quit before they reach the age of 50 cut off their risk of getting cancer in the following 15 years as compared to those who still continue smoking.
I started smoking when I was in high school. It was the cool thing to do and the hardest habit to break. I finally quit when I wanted to get pregnant. I am reminded of how prevalent smoking was when I watch Mad Men, one of my favorite TV shows that takes place in the 50s. Man, we really thought we looked good as we were killing ourselves!
How about the rest of you boomers? Are you still smoking? Or have you successfully kicked the habit. Come join boomeryearbook and share your comments and experiences. We’d love to hear your stories.
www.boomeryearbook.com is a social networking site connecting the Baby Boomer generation. Share your thoughts, rediscover old friends, or expand your mind with brain games provided by clinical psychologist Dr. Karen Turner. Join today to discover the many ways we are helping Boomers connect for fun and profit.
Andrew clinton
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/baby-boomers-when-smoking-first-hit-hard-690957.html
Physicians are often asked whether it is harmful to smoke three cigarettes a day, or five, or fourteen, or a pack; people seem to seek a standard measurement. If they exceed it that would be bad; if they smoked fewer than the standard that would be all right. But no such figure can be set. For several of my patients, one cigarette a week would be too many cigarettes.
A better way to respond to questions about cigarette smoking, then, is to speak not of quantities but of habit patterns. You are smoking to excess if you do any one (or more) of the following:
Reach for a cigarette the first thing in the morning or the last thing at night.
Light a cigarette without realizing it, find yourself smoking, and wonder why you lit it and when.
Claim that you are unable to enjoy certain situations without a cigarette – your morning coffee, food, reading the paper, playing cards, and so on.
Feel it necessary to explain the number you smoke with such phrases as “They help me relax” and “I only take a puff or two, forget it, and then light another.”
Become severely upset when you find yourself in a “no smoking” area – certain theatres and public buildings, for example – and feel compelled to “duck out for a quick cigarette,” or are ready to risk public disapproval or punishment by “sneaking” a few puffs.
Find it almost unbearable when you are out of cigarettes, and are unable to tolerate the situation; instead, are willing to go to some lengths (dressing, walking to the corner store, stopping a stranger) to get a cigarette.
Feel that you have to smoke to show that (a) you are one of the gang, or (b) “adult.”
If with any degree of regularity you act or react in any of the ways described above, you are smoking to excess.
“Excess” means “more than what is right, proper or necessary.” When used in medicine, it means “more than is good for continued good health” We can eat too much, work too much, drink too much (including non-alcoholic liquids), sleep too much, and so on; and while any such excess is potentially troublesome, some excesses are worse than others.
Smoking must be put in that category, because it has vastly increased the incidence of lung cancer and coronary artery diseases, and because it plays a significant role in increasing the mortality rate in other pathologies.
Some people do more than one thing excessively; for example, they may smoke excessively and drink excessively and perhaps also work excessively. Since there is a reason for everything we do, there are reasons for this pattern of behavior. Usually the excess acts as an “escape mechanism” from an emotional problem. If the habit is removed but the cause is not, another habit generally develops. That is where the psychiatrist can make his unique contribution; he can seek out and remove the basic cause or causes for that particular emotional problem.
Excess can also be the result of an endless circle of action and reaction. An emotional problem causes anxiety; the anxiety itself causes greater anxiety. And as the anxiety continues to mount, feeding on itself and breeding itself, an escape mechanism becomes necessary. Relaxation effectively prevents this dangerous accretion of anxiety and tension, and one bonus you can achieve as the result of reading this book is learning how to relax.
Excess, we’ve seen, can take many forms. Psychology shows us that the individual makes an unconscious “choice” of his particular escape mechanism (or mechanisms), and that his choice is usually made through an unconscious association with what he thinks will bring gratification – excessive eating, drinking, playing, sleeping, working, or so on.
Jimmy Cox
http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/how-to-diagnose-whether-you-are-smoking-to-excess-134128.html