Exercises for smoking addicts - Nicotine level

Exercise

 Strenuous physical activity, if your physician says you are up to it, can help work off irritation from not having a cigarette in your mouth. Even mild calisthenics and stretching exercises and walks can help relax you. Breathe deeply from time to time. 

Deep breathing can have a calming effect. The time after meals can be difficult. Instead of a cigarette, try a mouth wash. Change habit patterns that have gone with after-meal smoking. Immediately after eating, if you are used to relaxing in one chair, use another; if you are used to reading a newspaper, read a magazine or book instead, or try a puzzle.

 Reward yourself. Have your favorite meal on Q day.

Treat yourself to things you like best-except cigarettes. After saving some money from not smoking, reward yourself with a present: a new record, book, and trinket.

IF YOU CAN'T QUIT SMOKING ENTIRELY

If you have tried to quit before and failed, you may be surprised this time. You may, indeed, succeed now. Circumstances, motivation, will- power, and ability to break a habit do not remain stationary forever. If you must smoke? smoke cigarettes with less tar and nicotine. Don't smoke a cigarette all the way down; leave at least the last third, which yields twice as much tar and nicotine as the first third. Take fewer puffs on each cigarette. Reduce inhaling; don't consciously inhale.

Smoke fewer cigarettes each day. Cigarette users, unable to stop smoking entirely, should shift to a pipe or cigars. While there still is some risk of mouth cancer, overall mortality of cigar and pipe smokers is only a little higher than among nonsmokers if the smoke is not inhaled. A good trick is to use an unlighted pipe to get the feeling of something held in the mouth or hand. 

Addictive smoking and how to quit it? dangers of addictive smoking

ADDICTIVE SMOKING

If you are this type of smoker, you are in- variably aware any time you are not smoking. The lack of a cigarette even briefly builds need, desire, and discomfort. You may enjoy a cigarette only very briefly, if at all, but suffer for lack of one. Tapering off may not work. The only solution may be to quit cold.

Once you have gone through the pain of breaking your psychological addiction, you are not likely to go back to smoking again. Some addictive smokers find it helpful to do just the reverse of tapering off during the week before the day, actually doubling their smoking, forcing themselves to smoke until their bodies revolt against the double dose of tar and nicotine. 

That Last Week In the week before Q day, go over your reasons for not smoking: the disease risk, the cost, the cough, the bad breath, the bad taste, etc. Each evening, before falling asleep, concentrate on one dire result of smoking: repeat and repeat that fact and another the next night, etc.

Remind yourself all during the week of some clearly established facts: that if you keep on smoking, you risk losing six and a half years of life; if you smoke heavily, and you have twice the chance of dying between 25 and 65 as a nonsmoker. 

Are the six minutes of pleasure, if such they really be, in a cigarette worth six fewer minutes of life? Consider that 100,000 American doctors have quit cigarette smoking. Q day On Q day, you get up-and' don't smoke. You may find it helpful to drink water often; to nibble fruit, celery, carrots; to suck candy mints or chew gum. You may resort mild good if it helps-to chewing bits of fresh ginger or biting a clove when you start reaching for a cigarette. 

Types of smoking- Tips to quit smoking

Along with determination to break the habit, you need deep motivation to sustain your determination. Think carefully and then write out for yourself a list of reasons why you smoke, and another list of reasons why you should give up cigarettes. 

Another Aid Get to know you-in terms of smoking behavior. You may well be able to place yourself in one of four categories of smoking behavior suggested by Dr. Silvan Tomkins:

1. HABITUAL SMOKING. If you are basically a habitual smoker, you may hardly be aware many times that you even have a cigarette in your mouth. Perhaps you once thought of smoking as a status symbol; now it is automatic.

If you fall into this category, it is important for you to become aware of when you are smoking; and knowledge of your smoking pattern will be a significant first step toward change.

2. POSITIVE EFFECT SMOKING. For this type of smoker, smoking seems to serve as either stimulant or relaxant. He or she may most enjoy handling of a cigarette or the sight of smoke curling out of the mouth. If you fall into this category and can persuade yourself to make the effort, you may find abandoning cigarettes relatively easy.

3. NEGATIVE EFFECT SMOKING. This is smoking to reduce feelings of distress, fear, shame, or disgust.

 If you are this type of smoker, you may not smoke at all when things go well-on vacations, at parties, etc.-but you reach for a cigarette when there are problems and when you are under tension. If you are, indeed, this type of smoker, you may find it relatively easy to give up smoking-only to reach for a cigarette on a tough day. For you, a strong substitute, such as nibbling ginger root, may be helpful. 

How to quit Smoking? Tips to quit smoking

HOW TO QUIT

Some find the quitting process relatively easy; many do not. But it would be a mistake to believe that if you have tried to quit in the past and have failed, you are doomed to go on smoking. If you have failed before, that in itself does not mean that you are hopelessly weak-willed. Beyond determination alone, you need insight, a plan, and a constructive attitude. 

One of the most important factors in quitting is to view the process positively. If you look upon it as simply giving up something of value, you may feel sorry for yourself. Rather, you have to view the process as Smoking one of teaching yourself-because of knowledge that it will represent a tremendous gain-a more rewarding behavior pattern.

There have been many methods suggested for quitting, and the American Cancer Society has compiled the recommendations of recognized experts in cigarette-withdrawal programs. To begin with, set a date when you plan to quit. Call it a day; that will be complete quitting day. You may want to give yourself as much as a month to get ready for the day. And getting ready can involve a gradual reduction in the number of cigarettes you smoke day by day. 

A good system is to determine that you will smoke only once an hour or that you will stop smoking between the hours of 9 and 10, 11 and 12, 12 and I, 1 and 2, 3 and 4, etc. And then extend the nonsmoking time by half an hour, an hour, and more. You may find it helpful, too, to smoke just half of each cigarette.

Deliberately, make it an effort to light a cigarette. If you habitually carry your pack in a certain pocket, now start using another pocket so you have to do some fumbling for a smoke. If you habitually use your right hand to bring a cigarette to your mouth, determine to use the left hand. Wrap your pack in several sheets of paper so it becomes an involved process to get at a cigarette. Shift from a brand you like to one you don't like.

 Each time before actually lighting up, make it a point to ask you a direct question: Do I really want this cigarette right now, or am I just lighting up out of habit? For whatever else it is, cigarette smoking is a habit, and anything you can do to put even small crimps in the automation involved can be a help. Undertake something else preparatory to the day.

Benefits of Stopping smoking

THE REWARDS OF STOPPING

It is better, of course, never to start smoking. But the rewards of stopping are great. Recent studies show that if smoking is stopped before lung cancer has actually started, lung tissue tends to heal itself. Even for those who have smoked long and heavily, the lung cancer risk begins to decrease about one year after the habit is abandoned and then continues to decrease progressively until after ten years it is very little higher than for people who have never smoked regularly.

 One recent study compared the lung cancer death rate among British physicians, a large proportion of who have stopped smoking, with that of the population in general. The physicians' death rate from the disease declined 30 percent while the lung cancer rate for British men in general increased 25 percent. The death rate from coronary heart disease decreases rapidly with cessation of smoking. 

And while some people who stop smoking weight, and overweight is a factor in heart disease, it has been calculated that a man of average weight who has customarily smoked 40 cigarettes a day and stops would have to gain at least 75 pounds to offset the added years of life he can expect from no smoking. In chronic bronchitis and emphysema, for which immediate cessation of smoking is an essential part of treatment, elimination of the habit reduces cough and other symptoms within a few weeks.

While lung tissue destroyed by emphysema is not replaced, usually the progress of the disease is slowed down and may even be arrested. According to Dr. Donald Frederickson, Director of New York City's Smoking Control Program, who has had considerable experience with people who wish to give up smoking, a major reason for the desire, even among the young, is to avoid not just possible death from lung cancer or heart disease but to minimize the risk of early disability.

Dr. Frederickson reports that many smokers tell him: "Dying doesn't bother me- after all, once you're dead, you're dead. And I calculate my chances of developing lung cancer to be relatively small. But the idea of spending fifteen or twenty years with a chronic disease, that interferes with the enjoyment of life and reduces my ability to function-well, that's too much. 

Smoking just isn't worth it." There are, in addition, many other rewards of abandoning the habit: a better taste in the mouth and a better taste of foods; reduced fatigue and shortness of breath; sounder sleep; amelioration and even disappearance of cough and nasal stuffiness; fewer headaches; reduced tensions; greater safety. Cigarette breath will disappear. 

There will be no more cigarette burn holes in clothing, furniture, rugs, and table cloths. And there will be money savings, a significant amount in the course of a year. There are, at this writing, 19 million ex-cigarette smokers in the country.

About one of every five adult men has dropped the habit. And those who give it up report a great sense of satisfaction, a tremendous pride in being able to do it. 

Smoking causes Cardiovascular dieseases

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

The most common cause of death in the United States is coronary heart disease, and over the past 20 years many studies have shown an association between this disease and smoking. In coronary heart disease, the coronary arteries which nourish the heart muscle itself become narrowed by deposits. When one of the coronary arteries becomes obstructed, usually by a clot that forms in the narrowed, roughened vessel, a heart attack results.

Certainly many factors may enter into the development of coronary artery disease. Sedentary living is one. Diet, particularly diet heavily laden with fats, is another. Excess weight may be involved. High blood pressure is an important factor. But cigarette smoking has been found to be associated with the disease to the point that, as far back as 1965. 

Smoking studies and research on lung cancer and cardio problems

A United States study found death rates for men aged 45 to 64 to be 6.6 times as high for smokers; in the age group 65 to 84, 11.4 times as high. For women smokers, it is, overall, 4.9 times as high as for nonsmokers and 7.4 times as high for the heavier smokers.

Smoking: American heart Association authorities stated that 100,000 preventable deaths each year are associated with cigarette  as published by the National Cancer Institute, "Smoking in the Death Rates of One Million Men and Women," the conclusions were reached: In the 45 to 54 year age group, deaths from coronary heart disease are 2.8 times as high for men as high for women smoking a pack or more of cigarettes or nonsmokers. 

The greater the number of cigarettes smoked, the inhalation, and the earlier the age when smoking starts, better the death rate. And autopsies of people dying from diseases him coronary heart disease show more plaques, or roughened, on which clots can develop and much more extensive atherosele - the coronary arteries of smokers than nonsmokers.

Many studies show that smokers have larger amounts of cholesterol in the blood than nonsmokers. Other studies indicate that smoking prevent clotting of blood, which increases risk of clot formation in the coronary arteries. Smoking also increases the work load of the heart, forcing it to pump more blood more rapidly because the carbon monoxide from smoke reduces the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood and impairs the elasticity and gas-exchange capacity of the lungs. 

There is evidence, too, of an association between cigarette smoking and strokes, which annually kill 200,000 Americans. An American Cancer society study found that stroke death rates are 74 percent higher among women and 38 percent higher among men who smoke cigarettes than among nonsmokers. 

RESPIRATORY DISEASES on American Men and Women

RESPIRATORY DISEASES

Chronic bronchitis is an inflammation of the bronchial tubes. As the cells that line the tubes become irritated, they secrete excessive amounts of mucus, whereupon a chronic cough develops as part of the body's effort to get rid of the excess mucus and the irritants. 

The persistent deep coughing and the thick mucus make breathing difficult. Emphysema, which is often, associated with chronic bronchitis, involves loss of lung elasticity. As a result, the lungs are less able to expand and contract in normal fashion. Gradually, with progression of the disease, air sacs in the lungs are destroyed.

The lungs now are less able to obtain adequate amounts of oxygen and get rid of carbon dioxide, causing the heart to work harder in the effort to circulate blood so as to get enough oxygen to body tissues. Heart failure is the most common immediate cause of death. Between 1945 and 1965, deaths from chronic bronchitis and emphysema in the United States shot up from 2,038 to 22,686-a more rapid increase than for any other cause of death. Lung cancer patients die relatively quickly. 

Those with chronic bronchitis and emphysema are disabled, partially or completely, for many years.

As one chest specialist has remarked: "I make my living taking care of patients with chest diseases. I agree about the seriousness of lung cancer but I want to add that the person who gets lung cancer from smoking is lucky in comparison to the patient who gets emphysema, because lung cancer is usually of short duration while patients with emphysema spend years of their lives gasping and struggling for breath."

Many factors can be involved in the development of bronchitis and emphysema: repeated infections, asthma, and air pollution. But cigarette smoking is more important, involving intensely polluted air. A 10-year British study shows that the death rate for bronchitis and emphysema is 6.8 times as high for those smoking 1 to 14 cigarettes a day as for those who do not smoke; 12.8 times as high for those smoking 15 to 24 cigarettes; 21.2 times as high for those smoking 25 or more. 

American Women smoking and the problems for non-smokers

 Women smoking a pack or more a day the risk is more than 4 times as great as the other women. Inhaling is a significant factor. Every smoker gets some smoke into his Lung, but purposeful inhalation multiplies the amount. Men who think they do not inhale or inhale only slightly have 8 times the risk and men who inhale deeply have 14 times the risk of lung cancer as against non-smokers. Women who do not inhale or who inhale only slightly have it and women who inhale moderately or deeply 3.7 times the risk in comparison with those who do not smoke. 

The earlier smoking starts, the greater the risk. Men who begin before 10 years of age have nearly 5 times as much risk as those who start after the women who start before 25 run twice the risk of women who start Liter. Although lung cancer sometimes does occur in nonsmokers, this is so relatively rare that it is estimated by authorities that at least 90 percent of lung cancer deaths would not occur if there were no smoking of cigarettes. Other cancers are associated with smoking.

The incidence of cancer of the larynx is 6 times as great and that of cancer of the esophagus 4 times as great in men cigarette smokers, aged 45 to 64, as in nonsmokers. Similarly, cancer of the pancreas is 2.7 times as great, cancer of the liver and biliary passages 2.8 times, cancer of the urinary bladder 2 times, cancer of stomach and kidney 1.4 times, and leukemia 1.4 times as great. 

Women smokers have death rates 1.8 times as high as nonsmokers for cancer of the mouth, larynx, esophagus, and pancreas. Pipe and cigar smokers have rates for lung cancer twice as high as nonsmokers; for cancer of the oral cavity, 4.9 times as great; for cancer of esophagus and larynx, 3 to 4 times as high. While the cancer death rates associated with smoking are not as high in women as in men, it seems likely that they will catch up because of the great increase of smoking by women in recent years. 

Smoking chemicals- Nicotine- lung cancer - smoking problems

Smoking

Smoke, too, are millions of tiny particles, called particulate matter. It is this matter which, upon condensation, forms of own mass called tar.

Tar contains nicotine and more than a dozen known to trigger cancer when applied to the skin or breathing of laboratory animals. The chemicals are called carcinogenic of their cancer-producing activity. In studies in which one of the chemicals benzpyrene, has been diluted 1,000 times and placed in partition of pellets implanted in the cheek pouches of hamsters, 90 percent of the animals have developed mouth cancer within 25 weeks. 

Nicotine, a colorless oily compound, occurs in cigarettes in a range of 1 to 2 milligrams. In concentrated form, nicotine is a potent poison and 10 milligrams, which form about one drop, will if injected kill an average human. Among the other chemicals in cigarette smoke are phenols, which interfere with the action of the cilia, the hair like projections which line the respiratory tract and have a protective action.

Other chemicals are Irritants contributing to cigarette cough, and some are believed to be involved in the gradual deterioration of the lungs in emphysema. The person just beginning to smoke experiences symptoms of mild nicotine poisoning, such as rapid pulse, faintness, dizziness, nausea, and clammy skin. Sometimes even long-experienced smokers develop one or more of the symptoms. 

Smoking life problems, ageing, breathing problems, cancer, lung cancer etc

By 1967, there was evidence that, including women, there were on any average day 800 deaths in the United States attributable to cigarette smoking: 175 due to cancer, 375 to diseases of heart and circulatory system, 250 to chronic bronchitis, emphysema, peptic ulcers, and other diseases. Cigarette smoking is the major villain, but studies do show some relationship of cigar and pipe smoking to coronary heart disease and circulatory system disease, and to cancers of mouth, pharynx, and larynx. 

The non inhaling mouth smoker, which is what the usual cigar and pipe smoker tends to be, must realize that there is still 25 to 50 percent absorption of nicotine from the mouth (compared to 90 percent from the lungs when smoke is inhaled) and for the heavy mouth smoker this can be a real hazard. But the overall death rate is much less influenced by cigar and pipe smoking. For example, for men smoking only cigars the death rate is 22 percent higher than for nonsmokers between ages 45 and 64, and 5 percent higher after 65. For pipe smokers, it is 11 percent higher than for nonsmokers between 45 and 64, 2 percent higher after 65.

  

THE HARMFUL SUBSTANCES

Tobacco smoke is made up of gases, vapors, and chemical compounds with the proportions varying depending upon the type of tobacco, how it is smoked, and the burning temperature. While a cigarette is being puffed, the burning zone temperature reaches about 1580°F (water boils at 212°F). One of the potentially harmful gases in cigarette smoke is a powerful poison, hydrogen cyanide. Another is carbon monoxide, which is present in a concentration 400 times greater than what is considered a safe level in industry. Carbon monoxide combines with hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying substance in red blood cells.

Studies indicate that as much as 6 percent of the hemoglobin in the blood of an average smoker is taken up and inactivated by carbon monoxide; in a heavy smoker, 8 percent. Taking the place of oxygen, carbon monoxide leads to shortness of breath on exertion. 

Smoking Causes - Cautions - problems

In the seventeenth century, there was even a book authored by a London physician on smoking, Panacea, or the Universal Medicine. The book dedicated a drop of tobacco juice in each ear to cure deafness, a leaf on the head to cure headache, a leaf on a tooth for toothache. And, in the form of ointments, powders, leaves or concoctions, tobacco was suggested as a cure for burns, wounds, cancers, sciatica, diseases of the liver, spleen and womb, worms, colic, warts, corns, and mad dog bites.

The smoking of tobacco in paper wrappers as small cigars or cigarettes began in Spain in the seventeenth century and gradually spread. But the really tremendous spurt in cigarette smoking came during World War 1 with free distribution of cigarettes to soldiers, followed not long after-ward by acceptance of cigarette smoking by women. Even a century ago, Dr.Oliver Wendell Holmes, author, poet, and distinguished physician and Harvard Medical School professor, was writing: "I think tobacco often does a great deal of harm to health.

 I myself gave it up many years ago. I think self-narcotization is a rather ignoble substitute for undisturbed self." Early in this century some reports began to appear in medical journals suggesting an apparent relationship between smoking and specific diseases. In 1927, Dr. F. E. Tylecote in England reported that in virtually every case of lung cancer he had seen or known about, the patient was a regular smoker. But striking evidence of the effects of smoking was yet to come.

THE MODERN INDICTMENT In 1938, Dr. Raymond Pearl of Johns Hopkins University published a study on smoking and length of life based on findings in 2,094 men who did not use tobacco, 2,814 moderate smokers, and 1,905 heavy smokers, Dr. Pearl concluded that smoking is unquestionably associated with a reduction in length of life. For example, between the years of 30 and 50, the chances of dying are 15 percent greater for a moderate and 98 percent greater for a heavy smoker than for a nonsmoker. 

By 1965, studies of mortality rates of smokers and nonsmokers had extensive enough for Dr. Luther Terry, then Surgeon General, to report that 240,000 men would die that year prematurely from diseases associated with cigarette smoking. About 138,000 of the premature deaths would be from diseases clearly associated with smoking, such as cancer of the lung, larynx, oral cavity, esophagus and bladder, as well as bronchitis, emphysema, and coronary heart disease. Another 102,000 deaths would result from diseases in which the relationship to cigarette smoking, while not so obvious, is nevertheless well indicated. These figures did not include women.