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#Post#: 2398--------------------------------------------------
Re: SMOKING
DIR By: lubhan
Date: December 14, 2016, 11:14 am
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some talking tips
The key to finding out how your kids feel about the topic of
smoking can be as simple as sitting them down, asking them good
questions and listening carefully to their answers. But getting
this conversation started is anything but easy.
As parents, we need to find ways to break down the uncomfortable
barriers and address the issues candidly and honestly, discover
ways to keep the topic in our communication, and explore
inventive ways to help our kids say no. As our children grow,
the need for this type of open communication remains constant.
Kids change their minds all the time. That’s why we, as
parents, can’t ever think we’re "home free." Influences from
movies, television, advertising and friends constantly make it
challenging for kids to say no to smoking. We need to find ways
to open the door to communication, and keep it open so our
children feel comfortable talking with us about peer pressure,
feel confident asking tough questions, and are open to the idea
of seeking our advice when it comes to saying no. Remember, in
these conversations, it’s important to speak from the heart,
avoid being judgmental and never lecture.
By establishing this type of open communication environment, we
can be sure that our children will feel comfortable and
confident talking with us and listening to the advice we have to
share.
#Post#: 2399--------------------------------------------------
Re: SMOKING
DIR By: lubhan
Date: December 14, 2016, 11:14 am
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here's what parents need to know:
Children often believe they are invincible, and therefore are
not always moved simply by talking about the health risks
involved with smoking. This fact makes it very challenging when
you’re talking to kids who are particularly gifted at denying
that anything bad might ever happen to them. How do we, then,
approach this “invincible” audience? The challenge is to
make the risks of smoking more real and immediate. The solution
is to talk early and often. Let them know how you feel and find
out how they feel about the topic. Nearly 90 percent of smokers
begin before the age of 18. The time you spend and the words you
share can make a dramatic difference in their lives.
#Post#: 2400--------------------------------------------------
Re: SMOKING
DIR By: lubhan
Date: December 14, 2016, 11:14 am
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here's what kids need to know:
Our kids need to know how we feel about smoking. Even though we,
as parents, will never seem as cool to our kids as the cool kids
in school, what we tell them about smoking can make a
difference. In fact, studies have proven that kids whose parents
were on record with them that they would be upset if they were
caught smoking were much less likely to smoke. Talk with them
about your feelings and let them know the types of consequences
that will be involved if they do decide to experiment. Remember
not to be too heavy-handed or punitive, but make your points
clear. By communicating openly and honestly, you and your child
can come to an agreement about cigarettes together.
#Post#: 2401--------------------------------------------------
Re: SMOKING
DIR By: lubhan
Date: December 14, 2016, 11:16 am
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Are smokeless tobacco products a better alternative to smoking?
No. The risk of lung cancer is less, but smokeless tobacco is
still associated with many serious health problems. The amount
of nicotine absorbed from smokeless tobacco products i.e.
chewing tobacco and snuff is usually more than that from a
cigarette. Overall, you receive about the same amount of
nicotine as regular smokers. The most harmful cancer-causing
substances in smokeless tobacco are tobacco-specific
nitrosamines (TSNAs), which have been found at levels 100 times
higher than the nitrosamines permitted in certain foods like
beer and bacon.
Advertisement
The juice from smokeless tobacco products is absorbed directly
through the lining of the mouth, which causes sores and white
patches that often lead to oral cancer. Smokeless tobacco users
also greatly increase their risk of other cancers including
those of the throat, voice box and oesophagus. Other effects of
smokeless tobacco use include chronic bad breath, stained teeth,
gum disease, tooth decay, tooth loss, tooth abrasion and loss of
bone in the jaw. Users may also have problems with high blood
pressure and increased risk for heart disease
#Post#: 2402--------------------------------------------------
Re: SMOKING
DIR By: lubhan
Date: December 14, 2016, 11:17 am
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What about ‘safer’ cigarettes like low tar, filtered and
menthol?
They aren’t really safer. If you smoke a cigarette with low
tar and nicotine content in exactly the same way as a high-tar,
high-nicotine cigarette, the negative effects will be less. But
when smokers change to ‘mild’ brands, they often smoke more
to get the same nicotine dose as before, often without realising
they’re doing so.
Advertisement
A low-tar cigarette can be just as harmful as a high-tar
cigarette if you take deeper drags, inhale more frequently or
smoke cigarettes to a shorter butt length. Even if you smoke
exactly the same as before, the health benefits are very small
compared to the benefits of giving up. Also, smoking mild
cigarettes is still smoking: you’re reinforcing the habit, and
will be more likely to smoke other cigarette brands if mild
brands aren’t available.
Menthol cigarettes produce a cooler sensation in the throat when
smoke is inhaled. This may make them more damaging than
non-menthol cigarettes, because you can inhale more deeply and
hold the smoke for longer.
#Post#: 2403--------------------------------------------------
Re: SMOKING
DIR By: lubhan
Date: December 14, 2016, 11:20 am
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Is there any risk if you smoke but don't inhale?
Yes. Even if you don't inhale directly from the cigarette, you
will still be breathing the smoke second-hand.
#Post#: 2404--------------------------------------------------
Re: SMOKING
DIR By: lubhan
Date: December 14, 2016, 11:22 am
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Many smokers are worried they will put on weight if they stop
smoking, but in reality only a small number put on more than a
few pounds.
Weight gain usually happens in the first months of quitting, and
ex-smokers tend to put on average 3-5kg (6-11lb). However, on
average smokers weigh 3-5kg less than non-smokers.
The reasons why smokers generally weigh less than non-smokers
are not well understood.
Nicotine speeds up the body's metabolism, but only by the small
amount of 10 per cent. It may also be because smoke damage to
taste buds makes food less enjoyable, or that a cigarette can
distract attention from appetite and is a zero calorie option.
Think about your diet
Just a few small changes in your diet and exercise habits can
compensate for the artificial way nicotine increases metabolism.
This is because the slimming effect of nicotine is small and
correlates to about 150-200 calories a day, or 7-9 grams of fat.
You can compensate for this by either:
eating a piece of fruit, low-fat cereal bar or yoghurt instead
of your daily bag of crisps or chocolate
cutting out one alcohol drink a day
using a thin scrape of butter instead of spreading it thick.
Don't get hungry
You may find your appetite increases when you stop smoking.
Ex-smokers are often more interested in food because a benefit
of quitting is your sense of taste and smell improves.
But it can also be because of the role cigarettes played in your
routine. For example, without an after-dinner cigarette to end a
meal, you may be tempted to eat any extra food that's been
cooked.
And consuming 20 cigarettes a day meant putting your hand to
your mouth about 200 times a day - so it's no surprise you want
to replace those cigarettes with things like cakes, sweets and
crisps.
So what you can you do? The trick is to eat often and little so
you avoid becoming hungry. That means three main meals and two
or three snacks in the course of the day.
If that sounds a lot - it isn't. It's about regulating your
appetite, not quantity of food. Put another way, instead of
eating a sandwich with yoghurt and fruit for lunch, just eat the
sandwich and keep the yoghurt and fruit as mid-morning and
mid-afternoon snacks.
It's also a good idea to keep grapes, rice cakes, low-fat
yoghurt etc at home, ready for those pangs of hunger when you
get in from work. And don't shop on an empty stomach - you won't
be able to resist tempting treats when your hunger is doing the
talking.
Carbohydrates are important
It is easier to maintain normal weight if 55-60 per cent of your
daily food consists of carbohydrates. This is because a
carbohydrate-rich diet tends to burn more calories. Examples of
carbohydrate rich foods include:
vegetables
fruit
bread
potatoes
rice
pasta
porridge.
Muscles are a bonus
Exercise is a great way of keeping your weight down. Half an
hour's brisk walk every day will burn up those 200 calories that
20 cigarettes used to.
Exercise doesn't just benefit weight, it increases your sense of
wellbeing, reduces stress levels and just by 'doing' something
you are preventing boredom - a great expander of appetite.
And if you stick with it, you will go on to develop a greater
muscle mass that increases your metabolism and burns up even
more calories.
A little transgression is OK
If your craving for sweet things is irresistible, choose sweets,
wine gums or liquorice with a maximum fat content of 2g per
100g. This is better than chocolate or crisps, which have a high
fat content.
While there is space in a well-balanced diet for the occasional
treat, it's a common mistake to think that tasty food and a low
fat intake are mutually exclusive.
How much fat is too much?
According to the Food Standards Agency:
20g of fat per 100g is a lot
3g of fat per 100g qualifies as low fat.
A good habit to get into at the supermarket is to read nutrition
labels on all the foods you buy for calories, salt and fat. Just
choosing lower fat sauces for pastas and meat can make a big
difference to your daily calorie intake.
You'll also discover that this doesn't mean sticking to
low-fat/lite/light ranges: a standard tomato-based pasta sauce
is likely to have less fat that a 'low-fat' cheesy, creamy
counterpart.
Don't think 'I can't'
Did you know?
Stopping smoking is the best thing you can do for your health.
You would have to gain at least four stone in weight before the
risk to your health is close to that of smoking.
Our brains find it very hard to deal with the words 'no' and
'not'. Thinking about not eating actually leaves us thinking
about food, which makes us more hungry.
The first pang of hunger is a sign that it's time for a healthy
snack - not clenching your teeth and willing yourself not to
eat.
Above all, don't let weight worries put you off quitting, or
panic if you do start to gain a few pounds once you've stopped.
You can tackle weight gain later down the line when you're more
comfortable with not smoking
#Post#: 2405--------------------------------------------------
Re: SMOKING
DIR By: lubhan
Date: December 14, 2016, 11:25 am
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Nicotine
Nicotine is a powerful insecticide and poisonous for the nervous
systems. Furthermore, there is enough (50 mg) in four cigarettes
to kill a man in just a few minutes if it were injected directly
into the bloodstream. Indeed, fatalities have occurred with
children after they had swallowed cigarettes or cigarette butts.
When diluted in smoke, nicotine reaches the brain in just seven
seconds, it stimulates the brain cells and then blocks the
nervous impulse. This is where addiction to tobacco arises.
Nicotine also causes accelerated heart rate, but at the same
time it leads to contracting and hardening of the arteries: the
heart pumps more but receives less blood. The result is twice as
many coronary attacks. Nicotine thus also increases the
consumption of lipids (which is why it has a weight-loss effect)
and induces temporary hyperglycaemia (hence the appetite
suppressing effect).
Carbon monoxide (CO)
This is the asphyxiating gas produced by cars, which makes up
1.5% of exhaust fumes. But smokers inhaling cigarette smoke
breathe in 3.2% carbon monoxide and directly from the source.
Oxygen is mostly transported in blood by haemoglobin. When we
smoke, however, the carbon monoxide attaches itself to the
haemoglobin 203 times more quickly than oxygen does, thereby
displacing the oxygen; this in turn asphyxiates the organism.
This causes the following cardiovascular complaints: narrowing
of the arteries, blood clots, arteritis, gangrene, heart attack,
etc. . . . but also a loss of reflexes and visual and mental
problems. It takes between six and 24 hours for the carbon
monoxide to leave the blood system.
Irritants
These substances paralyse and then destroy the cilia of the
bronchial tubes, responsible for filtering and cleaning the
lungs. They slow down respiratory output and irritate the mucus
membranes, causing coughs, infections and chronic bronchitis.
Tars
As the cilia are blocked (see paragraph above), the tars in the
cigarette smoke are deposited and collect on the walls of the
respiratory tract and the lungs, and cause them to turn black.
So, just because a smoker is not coughing, it doesn't mean that
he or she is healthy! And this fact merely serves to pour water
on one of the most common and poorest excuses given by smokers.
The carcinogenic action of the tars is well known: they are
responsible for 95% of lung cancers. It takes two days at least
after cessation of smoking for the cilia to start functioning
properly again, albeit only gradually. By smoking one packet of
cigarettes every day, a smoker is pouring a cupful of these tars
into his or her lungs every year (225 grams on average)!
Chemistry of Tobacco Smoke
No less than 4000 irritating, suffocating, dissolving,
inflammable, toxic, poisonous, carcinogenic gases and substances
and even radioactive compounds (nickel, polonium, plutonium,
etc.) have been identified in tobacco smoke. Some of these are
listed hereafter: Benzopyrene, dibenzopyrene, benzene, isoprene,
toluene (hydorcarbons); naphthylamines; nickel, polonium,
plutonium, arsenic, cadmium (metallic constituents); carbon
dioxide, methane, ammonia, nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide,
hydrogen sulphide (gases); methyl alcohol, thanol, glycerol or
glycerine, glycol (alcohols and esters); acetaldehyde, acrolein,
acetone (aldehydes and ketones); cyanhydric or prussic acid,
carboxyl derivatives (acids); chrysene, pyrrolidine, nicoteine,
nicotinine, nicoteline, nornicotine, nitrosamines (alkaloids or
bases); cresol (phenols), etc.
Please forward to all your well wishers, friends, relatives, etc
to prevent them from smoking!!!
#Post#: 2406--------------------------------------------------
Re: SMOKING
DIR By: lubhan
Date: December 14, 2016, 11:29 am
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Facts About Smoking
Hurting Yourself Smoking is an addiction. Tobacco smoke
contains nicotine, a drug that is addictive and can make it very
hard, but not impossible, to quit.
More than 400,000 deaths in the U.S. each year are from
smoking-related illnesses. Smoking greatly increases your risks
for lung cancer and many other cancers.
Hurting Others Smoking harms not just the smoker, but also
family members, coworkers and others who breathe the smoker's
cigarette smoke, called secondhand smoke.
Among infants to 18 months of age, secondhand smoke is
associated with as many as 300,000 cases of bronchitis and
pneumonia each year.
Secondhand smoke from a parent's cigarette increases a
child's chances for middle ear problems, causes coughing and
wheezing, and worsens asthma conditions.
If both parents smoke, a teenager is more than twice as
likely to smoke than a young person whose parents are both
non-smokers. In households where only one parent smokes, young
people are also more likely to start smoking.
Pregnant women who smoke are more likely to deliver babies
whose weights are too low for the babies' good health. If all
women quit smoking during pregnancy, about 4,000 new babies
would not die each year.
Why Quit? Quitting smoking makes a difference right away -
you can taste and smell food better. Your breath smells better.
Your cough goes away. This happens for men and women of all
ages, even those who are older. It happens for healthy people as
well as those who already have a disease or condition caused by
smoking.
Quitting smoking cuts the risk of lung cancer, many other
cancers, heart disease, stroke, other lung diseases, and other
respiratory illnesses.
Ex-smokers have better health than current smokers.
Ex-smokers have fewer days of illness, fewer health complaints,
and less bronchitis and pneumonia than current smokers.
Quitting smoking saves money. A pack-a-day smoker, who pays
$2 per pack can, expect to save more than $700 per year. It
appears that the price of cigarettes will continue to rise in
coming years, as will the financial rewards of quitting.
Quitting Tips
Getting Ready to Quit
Set a date for quitting. If possible, have a friend quit
smoking with you.
Notice when and why you smoke. Try to find the things in
your daily life that you often do while smoking (such as
drinking your morning cup of coffee or driving a car).
Change your smoking routines: Keep your cigarettes in a
different place. Smoke with your other hand. Don't do anything
else when smoking. Think about how you feel when you smoke.
Smoke only in certain places, such as outdoors.
When you want a cigarette, wait a few minutes. Try to think
of something to do instead of smoking; you might chew gum or
drink a glass of water.
Buy one pack of cigarettes at a time. Switch to a brand of
cigarettes you don't like.
On the Day You Quit
Get rid of all your cigarettes. Put away your ashtrays.
Change your morning routine. When you eat breakfast, don't
sit in the same place at the kitchen table. Stay busy.
When you get the urge to smoke, do something else instead.
Carry other things to put in your mouth, such as gum, hard
candy, or a toothpick.
Reward yourself at the end of the day for not smoking. See a
movie or go out and enjoy your favorite meal.
Staying Quit
Don't worry if you are sleepier or more short-tempered than
usual; these feelings will pass.
Try to exercisep;take walks or ride a bike.
Consider the positive things about quitting, such as how
much you like yourself as a non-smoker, health benefits for you
and your family, and the example you set for others around you.
A positive attitude will help you through the tough times.
When you feel tense, try to keep busy, think about ways to
solve the problem, tell yourself that smoking won't make it any
better, and go do something else.
Eat regular meals. Feeling hungry is sometimes mistaken for
the desire to smoke.
Start a money jar with the money you save by not buying
cigarettes.
Let others know that you have quit smokingp;most people will
support you. Many of your smoking friends may want to know how
you quit. It's good to talk to others about your quitting.
If you slip and smoke, don't be discouraged. Many former
smokers tried to stop several times before they finally
succeeded. Quit again.
If you need more help, see your doctor.
He or she may prescribe nicotine gum or a nicotine patch to help
you break your addiction to cigarettes.
#Post#: 2407--------------------------------------------------
Re: SMOKING
DIR By: lubhan
Date: December 14, 2016, 11:31 am
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When Smokers Quit: the health benefits
For the vast majority of smokers, quitting smoking is the single
best thing they can do to improve the length and quality of
their lives.
The health benefits of quitting occur for all types of tobacco
users, men and women, young and old. Even those who already have
smoking-related problems such as heart disease can benefit.
When you give up tobacco, your body starts to renew itself as
early as the first day of quitting.
After 8 hours:
Carbon monoxide in your body drops.
Oxygen level in your blood increases to normal.
After 2 days:
Your sense of smell and taste will improve. You will enjoy your
food more.
Your risk of heart attack begins to decrease.
After 3 4 days:
Bronchial tubes relax and your lung capacity will have
increased, making breathing easier.
After 2 weeks:
Blood flow improves; nicotine has passed from your body.
Within 2 weeks to 3 months:
Circulation will improve, making walking and running easier;
lung functioning increases up to 30%.
Within 6 to 9 months:
Youll experience less coughing, sinus congestion, tiredness and
shortness of breath.
After 1 year:
Your risk of heart disease will be about half of what it would
have been if you continued to smoke.
After 5 years:
Your risk of stroke will be substantially reduced; within 5 to
15 years after quitting, it becomes about the same as a
non-smokers.
After 10 years:
Your risk of dying from lung cancer will be about half of what
it would have been if you had continued to smoke.
Your risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder,
kidney, and pancreas will also decrease.
Within 15 years:
Your risk of dying from a heart attack is equal to a person who
never smoked.
Other benefits of quitting
Although reducing your chances of premature death and illness is
important, they aren't the only benefits of quitting smoking.
Youll be in control cigarettes will no longer control you or
your lifestyle.
Your self-image and self-confidence will improve.
You'll feel proud of your ability to overcome something so
challenging.
You will have more energy to do the things you love.
And then, of course, the other stuff:
Your smoking will no longer be a bad influence on younger
children (including your brothers and sisters).
Think of the money you will save by not buying tobacco,
lighters, ashtrays, matches and so on.
You will look and feel younger. Smokers are more likely to
wrinkle at an earlier age and have deeper wrinkles.
Your clothes may last longer (no chance of accidentally burning
a hole).
Quitting smoking reduces bad breath. Many people dont like
kissing smokers because of the smell.
No more nagging from people asking when youre going to quit.
No more yellow teeth or fingers or bad breath.
Regardless of your sport or activity, your performance,
endurance and ability to play the game will improve after you
quit smoking.
No need to worry about which restaurant you go to or whether you
can smoke in a particular place.
No more looks of disapproval or feelings of guilt.
It's never too late to quit smoking.
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