Tobacco in The News
CHICAGO (Reuters) - California's large-scale tobacco control campaign has saved $86 billion in health care costs in its first 15 years, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
Cancer Survivor Tells Students in Utah About Dangers of Chew
CLEARFIELD - As the handsome star of his high school baseball team in the small town of Stewardson, Ill., Gruen Von Behrens always had a date come Friday night. But after four years of chewing up to half a can of Copenhagen per day, he would soon hear children ask their mothers why "that man looks like a monster."
Spanish Study Shows Smoking-Sport Link
GRANADA, Spain, Aug. 26 (UPI) - Spanish researchers say they have found a direct relation between sports and cutting adolescent tobacco usage. Samplings of 3,000 adolescents ages 13 to 18 found 80 percent of those who played a sport did not smoke.
Free Email Courses to Help You Stop Smoking
Give yourself a head start with your quit program by signing up for one or all of the following free email courses here at About.com Smoking Cessation.Designed to help you quit smoking successfully by giving you the tools and information you need to overcome nicotine addiction, these newsletters will arrive in your email box daily. Save them and read through the links at your leisure.
There is no time like the present to quit smoking, so dig your heels in and get started!
Prepare to Quit Smoking - A Free E-Mail Course
This in-depth 6-part free email course will help you prepare for a successful quit program. Topics covered include developing the will to quit smoking, reviewing reasons to quit, quit smoking benefits, quit smoking aids,and how to find support for your quit program. You'll get info on supplies to gather ahead of time to help manage physical withdrawal from nicotine.
Quit Time - A Free E-Mail Course
This e-mail course will give you information about how to manage your first several weeks of smoking cessation. You'll receive a newsletter daily for 5 days in your mailbox, and the tips provided will help you stay smoke free for the first week and beyond. We'll cover nicotine withdrawal, managing the urge to smoke, minimizing weight gain, and more.
If you'd like to combine the above 2 courses into one longer, uninterrupted email course, choose Quit Smoking 101 below:
Quit Smoking 101 - A Free E-Mail Course
This 10-part free newsletter course is geared toward giving you a quick overview of how to prepare for your quit program, along with information on how to survive the first weeks of withdrawal. Give yourself this headstart. It will help you make this the last time you ever have to quit smoking.
Photo © Stockxpert
Quit Smoking Monday Messages
Building the determination to quit smoking is a difficult task, because nicotine addiction has a way of breaking down our will to try as quickly as we work to create it.
Of the 26 years I smoked, 16 of them were unhappy smoker years. Sixteen! These were the years I spent wishing I could find a way to quit on the one hand, and feeding my habit day in and day out on the other. I worried about quitting before a smoking-related disease caught up with me, and I hated how weak and powerless I felt to make that happen. Smoking had imprisoned me, and I didn't know how to break the chains. It was a miserable way to live.
The Value of a Support Community for Addiction Recovery
All that changed when I found the support forum here at About.come Smoking Cessation on the ninth day of what was to be my last quit attempt. I met people who were going through the same discomforts I was and learned what they were doing to cope. I also found a wealth of information from forum members who were ahead of me in cessation and had practical advice to offer. There was magic happening within the walls of this virtual community, I knew I'd found the tools I needed to kick this habit out of my life, once and for all.
Today, that forum is every bit as active as it was the day I found it, nearly 7 years ago. I invite you to fix yourself a cup of tea and take some time to browse through the current discussions taking place at the forum now. You'll come away inspired, and if you're still smoking, perhaps with the beginnings of the resolve you need to quit permanently too.
Image © Stockxpert
Take The Quit Smoking Monday Pledge
Healthy Monday encourages us to think of every Monday as a day that we can begin work anew on goals that we have for ourselves. If you're still smoking, put your cigarettes down and get started on your quit program today.
We all have the ability to quit smoking successfully, and we all deserve a life that is free of addiction. Honor your life by choosing Monday as the day to start and reinforce your quit program.
You can quit smoking ... and we’re here to help you, one simple Monday at a time.
Image © healthymonday.org
There is No Such Thing as Just One Cigarette
Thoughts of smoking just one cigarette have been the ruin of many a good quit program. It's important for us to realize ahead of time that the mental contortions we go through when we first quit smoking are a normal part of the recovery process.
If you've just quit smoking, a little preparation will keep you in the drivers seat when your mind starts to wander and smoking seems like a good option.
Related:
Tobacco in The News
A new Defense Department virtual anti-smoking campaign targets junior enlisted personnel between the ages of 18 and 25. "Quit Tobacco. Make Everyone Proud" is centered on an interactive Web site that allows users to develop a personal plan for quitting, according to the Air Force.
Cigarettes in Movies Seen to Cause Teen Smoking
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Tobacco promotions and depictions of smoking in movies cause teenagers to start smoking, according to a sweeping report on tobacco in the media released on Thursday.
Survey Raises Questions on What it Takes to Butt Out
Lung tumours, blood clots, removal of the voice box, even early death. But smoking also affects the work and social lives of smokers and non-smokers, a recent survey of more than 3,000 Canadians suggests.
Coping With Stress When You Quit Smoking
Once we move through recovery form nicotine addiction, our ability to manage stress is often greatly improved. Early smoking cessation however, actually increases the level of stress most of us feel temporarily. Physically, our bodies are reacting to withdrawal from nicotine and the thousands of chemicals in cigarettes. Emotionally, we're dealing with the loss of the habit, which, for most of us is where the real work of smoking cessation lies.
Use these tips to help you manage stress as you recover from nicotine addiction, and remember - healing comes gradually. As you erase old associations and habits one by one, replacing them with new, healthier choices, quit-related stress will be reduced and your ability to manage other stress in your life improved. Be patient with yourself and allow recovery to unfold for you as it will.
Related: Photo © Stockxpert
Smoking and Metabolism
Cigarette smoking increases a person's metabolic rate in part by forcing the heart to beat faster. When a cigarette is inhaled, the smoker's heart may beat 10 to 20 times more per minute for a period of time. This causes extra stress on the heart and plays a role in heart disease, the most common cause of smoking-related death. A smoking habit of 20 cigarettes a day puts approximately the same amount of stress on the heart as 90 pounds of extra weight would. When we stop smoking, heart rate slows down somewhat, causing metabolism to dip a bit as well. This can in turn trigger a slight weight gain.
Let's take a look at what you can do to keep your weight under control as you move through the process of recovery from nicotine addiction.
Related:
- 12 Weeks to Weight Loss - A Free Email Course
Quit Smoking Monday Messages
There are two types of cravings people experience in the early days of smoking cessation.
Physical cravings are your body's reaction to nicotine withdrawal. You may feel a tightness in your throat or belly, accompanied by feelings of tension or mild anxiety. Once you quit using nicotine, the worst of physical withdrawal is over within 3-5 days.
Video: What Happens When You Quit Smoking?
Image © Blausen Medical
Psychological cravings are triggered by the events in our daily lives. Years of smoking taught us to react to literally everything by lighting a cigarette. When we were happy, we'd celebrate by lighting up. When we got angry, smoking would calm us down, or so we thought. Tired? Smoke a cigarette to stay awake. Hungry? Feed yourself a smoke. This list goes on.
Practice and Patience
How you choose to react to a craving can either increase or decrease its power over you. Try a little reverse psychology - instead of tensing up for a fight when the urge to smoke hits, relax and mentally lean into it. Let the craving wash over you, and accept it as a sign of healing, which is just what it is. The urge will run its course and pass. Practice makes perfect with this technique. You'll get the hang of it in time and will find it empowering.
Healing from nicotine addiction is a process of gradual release that happens one day at a time. Be patient with yourself and allow recovery to unfold for you as it will. Enjoy the journey, and be sure to keep your focus on the day you have in front of you. Your power to affect change in your life is always in the present - so make today count.
Related:
- Managing The Urge to Smoke - Forum Member Tips
Healthy Monday encourages us to think of every Monday as a day that we can begin work anew on goals that we have for ourselves. If you're still smoking, put your cigarettes down and get started on your quit program today.
We all have the ability to quit smoking successfully, and we all deserve a life that is free of addiction. Honor your life by choosing Monday as the day to start and reinforce your quit program.
You can quit smoking ... and we’re here to help you, one simple Monday at a time.
Image © healthymonday.org
The Risk of Stroke for Young Women Who Smoke
Study findings published in the August 15 issue of the American Heart Association's journal Stroke indicate that the risk of stroke for young women who smoke is directly related to the number of cigarettes they smoke. When compared to nonsmokers, the risk of stroke was:
- 2.2 times greater for women smoking one to 10 cigarettes a day
- 4.3 times greater for those smoking 21 to 39 cigarettes a day
- 9.1 times greater for those smoking two packs a day or more.
Stroke Risk in Women Smokers Goes Up by Each Cigarette - HealthDay News
Related:
Image © A.D.A.M.Addicted to Nicotine Gum
- "I quit smoking 8 months ago, and I used nicotine gum to help me do it. I still chew the gum, and I think I may be addicted to it/ I only chew a couple of pieces of nicotine gum a day, though. Isn't that a lot better than smoking a pack of cigarettes everyday?"