Health Risks of Smoking

Smoking is one of the main causes of serious health diseases, such as cancer, stroke and heart problems. If you have no plans of quitting today, having knowledge of the different types of illnesses that you may experience through years of smoking may change your perception and lead you to stop smoking.
In this section, you will discover how smoking affects various parts of the body including the eyes, nose, throat, lungs, heart, skin, blood, etc. Here are some possible health effects of smoking:

• Lung Cancer
• Heart Diseases
• High Blood Pressure
• Bad Breath
• Gum Disease
• Depression
• Snoring
• Diabetes
• Infertility on men and women
• Thyroid Disease
• Harmful effects on Bones and Joints

Why should I quit smoking?

Everyone knows that smoking can cause cancer when you get older, but did you know that it also has bad effects on your body right now? A cigarette contains about 4000 chemicals, and at least 43 of those chemicals are known to cause cancer in humans. Some of the other chemicals are found in products that are known to be poisonous. Some of the worst ones are:

• Nicotine: a deadly poison
• Arsenic: used in rat poison
• Methane: a component of rocket fuel
• Ammonia: found in floor cleaner
• Cadmium: used in batteries
• Carbon Monoxide: part of car exhaust
• Formaldehyde: used to preserve body tissue
• Butane: lighter fluid
• Hydrogen Cyanide: the poison used in gas chambers

Every time you inhale smoke from a cigarette, small amounts of these chemicals get into your blood through your lungs. They travel to all the parts of your body and cause harm.

Good Reasons for Quitting

Quitting smoking is one of the most important things you will ever do.

·         You will live longer and live better.

·         Quitting will lower your chance of having a heart attack, stroke, or cancer.

·         If you are pregnant, quitting smoking will improve your chances of having a healthy baby.

·         The people you live with, especially your children, will be healthier.

·         You will have extra money to spend on things other than cigarettes. 

Five Keys for Quitting

Studies have shown that these five steps will help you quit and quit for good. You have the best chances of quitting if you use them together.

1. Get ready.
2. Get support.
3. Learn new skills and behaviours.
4. Get medication and use it correctly.
5. Be prepared for relapse or difficult situations.

1.Get Ready

• Set a quit date.
• Change your environment.

Get rid of ALL cigarettes and ashtrays in your home, car, and place of work.
Don't let people smoke in your home.

• Review your past attempts to quit. Think about what worked and what did not.
• Once you quit, don't smoke—NOT EVEN A PUFF!

2. Get Support and Encouragement

Studies have shown that you have a better chance of being successful if you have help. You can get support in many ways:
·         Tell your family, friends, and co-workers that you are going to quit and want their support. Ask them not to smoke around you or leave cigarettes out.

·         Talk to your health care provider (for example, doctor, dentist, nurse, pharmacist, psychologist, or smoking counsellor).

·         Get individual, group, or telephone counselling. The more counselling you have, the better your chances are of quitting. Programs are given at local hospitals and health centres. Call your local health department for information about programs in your area.

3. Learn New Skills and Behaviours

·         Try to distract yourself from urges to smoke. Talk to someone, go for a walk, or get busy with a task.

·         When you first try to quit, change your routine. Use a different route to work. Drink tea instead of coffee. Eat breakfast in a different place.

·         Do something to reduce your stress. Take a hot bath, exercise, or read a book.

·         Plan something enjoyable to do every day.

·         Drink a lot of water and other fluids.

4. Get Medication and Use It Correctly

 ·        Ask your health care provider for advice and carefully read the information on the package.

5. Be Prepared for Relapse or Difficult Situations

Most relapses occur within the first 3 months after quitting. Don't be discouraged if you start smoking again. Remember, most people try several times before they finally quit. Here are some difficult situations to watch for: 

·         Alcohol. Avoid drinking alcohol. Drinking lowers your chances of success.

·         Other Smokers. Being around smoking can make you want to smoke.

·         Weight Gain. Many smokers will gain weight when they quit, usually less than 10 pounds. Eat a healthy diet and stay active. Don't let weight gain distract you from your main goal—quitting smoking. Some quit-smoking medications may help delay weight gain.

·         Bad Mood or Depression. There are a lot of ways to improve your mood other than smoking.

If you are having problems with any of these situations, talk to your doctor or other health care provider.

What can I do so I won't smoke again?

The hardest part about quitting is breaking the habits that go along with it. For example, if you are used to smoking with your friends when you are hanging out together, it will be hard to hang around with them and not smoke. The best way to keep from smoking is to not put yourself in situations with people who smoke and to stay away from places where you are used to smoking.

• Avoid places and situations where you normally smoke.
• Spend a few days or a week away from your friends who smoke.
• Go to non-smoking places with your friends, like the mall or the movies.
• Don't drink alcohol. Alcohol will likely lower your willpower and increase your chances of having a cigarette.
• If your family smokes, ask them to not smoke in your room.
• Exercise. It will take your mind off smoking, make you feel better, and keep you healthy.
• Plan activities during the first couple of weeks to take your mind off smoking. It will be easier to quit if you keep yourself busy.
• Buy lots of carrots, celery, and other healthy foods so you can munch instead of smoke.

Tips to Quit Smoking

1. Make an honest list of all the things you like about smoking. Draw a line down the centre of a piece of paper and write them on one side; on the other side make a list of all the things you dislike, such as how it can interfere with your health, work, family, etc., suggests Daniel Z. Lieberman, M.D., director of the Clinical Psychiatric Research Centre at George Washington University Medical Centre in Washington, D.C. Think about the list over time, and make changes. If you are brave enough, get feedback from family and friends about things they don't like about your use of cigarettes. When the negative side outweighs the positive side, you are ready to quit.

2. Then make another list of why quitting won't be easy. Be thorough, even if the list gets long and discouraging. Here's the important part: Next to each entry, list one or more options for overcoming that challenge. For instance, one item might be: "Nicotine is an addictive drug." Your option might be: "Try a nicotine replacement alternative." Another reason might be: "Smoking helps me deal with stress." Your option might be: "Take five-minute walks instead." The more you anticipate the challenges to quitting, and their solutions, the better your chance of success.

3. Set a quit date and write a "quit date contract" that includes your signature and that of a supportive witness.

4. Write all your reasons for quitting on an index card and keep it near you at all times. Here are some to get you started: "My daughter, my granddaughter, my husband, my wife..." You get the idea.

5. As you're getting ready to quit, stop buying cartons of cigarettes. Instead, only buy a pack at a time, and only carry two or three with you at a time (try putting them in an Altoids tin). Eventually you'll find that when you want a smoke, you won't have any immediately available. That will slowly wean you down to fewer cigarettes.

6. Keep a list of when you smoke, what you're doing at the time, and how bad the craving is for a week before quitting seeing if specific times of the day or activities increase your cravings, suggests Gaylene Mooney, chair of the American Association for Respiratory Care's Subcommittee on Smoking and Tobacco-Related Issues. Then arrange fun, unique things to do during those times, like some of the ones we recommend here.

7. Prepare a list of things to do when a craving hits. Suggestions include: take a walk, drink a glass of water, kiss your partner or child, throw the ball for the dog, wash the car, clean out a cupboard or closet, have sex, chew a piece of gum, wash your face, brush your teeth, take a nap, get a cup of coffee or tea, practice your deep breathing, light a candle. Make copies of the list and keep one with you at all times so when the craving hits, you can whip out the list and quickly do something from it.
8. When your quit date arrives, throw out anything that reminds you of smoking. That includes all smoking paraphernalia -- leftover cigarettes, matches, lighters, ashtrays, cigarette holders, even the lighter in your car.

9. Instead of a cigarette break at work, play a game of solitaire on your computer. It takes about the same time and is much more fun (although, like cigarettes, it can get addictive). If your company prohibits games like that, find another five-minute diversion: a phone call, a stroll, or eating a piece of fruit outdoors (but not where smokers congregate).

10. Switch to a cup of herbal tea whenever you usually have a cigarette. That might be at breakfast, midmorning, or after meals. The act of brewing the tea and slowly sipping it as it cools will provide the same stress relief as a hit of nicotine.

11. Switch your cigarette habit for a nut habit -- four nuts in their shell for every cigarette you want to smoke. This way, you're using your hands and your mouth, getting the same physical and oral sensations you get from smoking.

12. Carry some cinnamon-flavoured toothpicks with you. Suck on one whenever a cig craving hits.

13. Make an appointment with an acupuncturist. There's some evidence that auricular acupuncture (i.e., needles in the ears) curbs cigarette cravings quite successfully, says Ather Ali, N.D., a naturopathic physician completing a National Institutes of Health-sponsored postdoctoral research fellowship at the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Centre in Derby, Connecticut. You can even do it yourself by taping "seeds" (small beads) onto the acupuncture points and squeezing them whenever cravings arise.

14. Swing by the health food store for some Avena sativa (oat) extract. One study found that, taken at 1 millilitres four times daily, it helped habitual tobacco smokers significantly decrease the number of cigarettes they smoked.

15. Think of difficult things you have done in the past. Ask people who know you well to remind you of challenges you have successfully overcome, says Dr. Lieberman. This will give you the necessary self-confidence to stick with your pledge not to smoke.

16. To minimize cravings, change your routine. Sit in a different chair at breakfast or take a different route to work. If you usually have a drink and cigarette after work, change that to a walk. If you're used to a smoke with your morning coffee, switch to tea, or stop at Starbucks for a cup of java -- the chain is smoke-free.

17. Tell your friends, co-workers, boss, partner, kids, etc., how you feel about situations instead of bottling up your emotions. If something makes you angry, express it instead of smothering it with cigarette smoke. If you're bored, admit to yourself that you're bored and find something energetic to do instead of lighting up.
18. If you relapse, just start again. You haven't failed. Some people have to quit as many as eight times before they are successful.

19. Put all the money you're saving on cigarettes in a large glass jar. You want to physically see how much you've been spending. Earmark that money for something you've always dreamed of doing, but never thought you could afford, be it a cruise to Alaska or a first-class ticket to visit an old college friend.

20. Switch to decaf until you've been cigarette-free for two months. Too much caffeine while quitting can cause the jitters.

21. Create a smoke-free zone. Don't allow anyone to use tobacco in your home, car, or even while sitting next to you in a restaurant. Make actual "No Smoking" signs and hang them around your house and in your car.

22. Find a healthy snack food you can keep with you and use in place of cigarettes to quench that urge for oral gratification. For instance, try pistachio nuts, sunflower seeds, sugarless lollipops or gum, carrot or celery sticks. The last ones are best if you are concerned about weight gain.

23. Picture yourself playing tennis. Or go play tennis. British researchers found volunteers trying to quit smoking were better able to ignore their urges to smoke when they were told to visualize a tennis match.

24. Quit when you're in a good mood. Studies find that you're less likely to be a successful quitter if you quit when you're depressed or under a great deal of stress.

25. Post this list in a visible location in your house. Whenever you're tempted to light up, take a look at all the ways smoking can damage your health: