How to help a friend to quit smoking

February 18, 2012 by  
Filed under Health Effects

If you have a lot of friends that they are now smoking but you would like to help them to quit smoking whether they like or not and you do not know how to help them to stop smoking, you will find some information in this very useful for you to help your friend quit smoking is easy.

First of all, the most reason that people who try to quit smoking are not successful is they never make a stop smoking plan. They did not know what they should do in each stage of smoking. Therefore, it is very important to help your friends plan how to quit smoking before they start.

Next, the effects of stop smoking are also important. You have to help them to study about the effects during quit smoking to help them handle when those happen.

The third one is keep encourage them when they are in stop smoking period. Those people who are quitting smoking are very weak. They require a lot of encourage and support to fight with their desire to get to smoke. So, keep trying to encourage them is a very efficient idea. Sending messages or a little gift to support them are solutions.

In addition to have a stop smoking plan, study about its effects and encourage your friends, giving them a reward is a very significant way to help them stop smoking. The prize for your friend is not about how big or important it is but it will help to distract them when they are weak or when the desire to re-smoke almost wins them.

To help your friend to quit smoking is not a mission impossible. However, it requires only preparing and involving such as a good plan, pre-study, encouragement and a little prize.

For how to make a quit smoking plan please visithttp://how-to-quit-smoking-helptips.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-to-quit-smoking-9-tips-to-quit.html

For more information about how to quit smoking please visithttp://how-to-quit-smoking-helptips.blogspot.com/

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About the Author: rittawee -

Rittawee is a freelance writer – for more information please visit http://how-to-quit-smoking-helptips.blogspot.com/

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Quit smoking and you can still save your skin

February 14, 2012 by  
Filed under Health Effects

By Dr Nick Lowe

The harm smoking inflicts on the skin seems superficial compared to heart disease or lung cancer, but it is usually the first  -  and most visible  -  damage caused by the habit.

At my clinics in London and Los Angeles I often see women and men  -  some as young as 30  -  who want to rid themselves of the ravaged complexion that smoking has given them. My first message to them is simple: stop smoking.

Kate Moss
Kate Moss

Devoted smoker Kate Moss earlier this month (left), and aged 19 (right)

The good news is that if you do give up, the skin will start to repair itself. The bad news for those who can’t or won’t give up (such as devoted smoker Kate Moss) is that the later you leave it, the more irreversible the problems.

Smoking affects the entire body and when it is put under stress  -  in this case with a toxic concoction of carbon monoxide, cyanide, tar, formaldehyde and other chemicals  -  the brain diverts vitamins away from your skin to be used elsewhere.

Nicotine also reduces blood flow to the lower living layer of skin, or dermis, which results in less oxygen being delivered. Skin becomes sallow and the regularity and quality of cell production deteriorate, leading to dry, flaky skin that is less resilient to external stresses.

Over time the skin sags and wrinkles because the body cannot produce collagen effectively. Smoke saps the body of Vitamin C  -  a key component in the manufacturing of collagen  -  and disturbs the production of an enzyme called matrix metalloproteinase.

This enzyme should regulate collagen production but in smokers destroys more tissue than it produces, leading to skin that is lined and less plump.

All that sucking when you light up puts the skin under more stress, too. This leads to the signature hollow cheeks, crow’s feet and the puckered upper lip of a seasoned smoker. And even those who smoke and sun-worship but don’t yet look like a leather bag should give up because it can take 25 years for the damage to show.

So is this damage reversible? Yes, within reason. As soon as you stop smoking, your body is able to function more effectively. Within six weeks the skin will be visibly benefiting from increased oxygen and antioxidant levels, but you must adopt a strict skin-care regime.

Broad-spectrum (UVA and UVB) sunscreen is essential to stop the sun destroying any collagen that your now smoke-free body is producing.

Face cream should provide your skin with antioxidants and peptides  -  Vitamin A to speed up skin-cell turnover, Vitamin C to stimulate collagen production and Vitamin E to encourage healing. Peptides will signal to your brain that more collagen needs to be produced.

While clinical tests for lycopene supplements  -  an antioxidant found in red fruit, especially tomatoes  -  have focused on preventing and reversing skin damage caused by the sun, the destructive processes that smoking and sunbathing initiate are remarkably similar.

I always advocate an ex-smoker taking a lycopene supplement. And a fish-oil supplement with a high concentration of omega-3 will dampen inflammation, promote healing and aid moisture-retention in the dermis.

Take gentle exercise to oxygenate the skin’s surface but don’t overdo it  -  your body is healing itself and any sports-related injury will divert much-needed nutrients elsewhere.

Exfoliate twice a week  -  it sloughs away dead skin cells and sends messages to the brain to produce more collagen  -  and eat plenty of colourful fruits and vegetables to ensure that your body can metabolise vitamins effectively.

If wrinkles are visible, then it may be necessary to try a laser treatment, chemical-peel or wrinkle-filler  -  all of which promote collagen production.

When I was young and studying to be a doctor, no one realised the harm smoking caused. I started when I was 16, and joining the Navy only worsened my habit  -  a free tobacco ration ramped my intake up to 20 cigarettes a day.

It was only in the Seventies that I cut down, but I didn’t give up until I was 34. By then I was a professor at UCLA in health-obsessed California.

Despite my 20-year habit, I don’t believe you would think I had the skin of a long-term smoker. If you give up today, neither will you.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1358448/Quit-smoking-save-skin.html#ixzz1EeOrXV2M

The article was originally published on the Daily Mail

Smoking – Gum disease and tooth loss

January 28, 2012 by  
Filed under Health Effects

Tobacco contains a variety of toxins and chemicals that affect our well-being General. They can affect the body’s immune system and hinder the fight infections and diseases. Gum disease is a problem health that smoking can cause or worsen and it was reported that smokers are about five times more likely to suffer from the non-smokers.

Smoking can cause blood vessels that feed the gums to reduce and, conversely, decreases the supply of essential nutrients and oxygen to the tissues. If this condition persists for some time, then the bone that holds the teeth firmly in place gradually deteriorate, leading the loss of teeth and eventually tooth loss.

As a former smoker of twenty years for me, I experienced this first hand. At a visit to the dentist in particular my gums started to decrease and was told that if they were in the same condition and I do not smoke then my gums would be bleeding constantly. I also received a frank and about the risks of cancer of the throat and mouth in the negotiation.

This is one of many reasons to make that important decision to stop smoking or at least try. This is not a pleasant experience having your winning smile once turn into something quite the opposite. Who wants to drop that produce gums teeth long and winding? Not only are they unattractive to watch, but they can affect a person’s self confidence. How many people do you know who refuse to smile for a photo because of the state their teeth?

About the Author

For help to quit smoking visit herbal health home and in particular smoke deter

Stop Smoking : How to Quit Smoking & What to Expect

January 26, 2012 by  
Filed under Health Effects

What Happens to Your Body When You Stop Smoking?

November 29, 2011 by  
Filed under Health Effects

As any smoker can verify, giving up – and staying smoke-free – is one of the most difficult things to do. But if you are successful in giving up smoking, it is not only one of the healthiest steps you can take, it also decreases your chances of dying from smoking or any related diseases. An estimated 400,000 Americans die every year from the effects of smoking and in general, a smoker has about twice as much chance of a heart attack as a non-smoker.
Smoking actually affects almost every part of the body – not just the heart and lungs, as is commonly believed – and the effects of stopping smoking can be dramatic and sudden. However, the human body is amazingly resilient and will begin to heal itself almost immediately. If you have some idea of what to expect after you quit smoking, it’s perhaps a little bit easier to deal with the effects.
Just twenty minutes or so after smoking their last cigarette, a person’s blood pressure will return to normal and after just two days of being smoke-free, the chances of having a heart attack will be reduced. The heart and lungs will begin to repair the damage caused to them by smoking. And after two days, a person who has just stopped smoking may also notice that their sense of smell and taste is more heightened – and may want to eat more, as food tastes better.
Immediately after quitting, a smoker may also experience some unpleasant symptoms which are perfectly normal – sore gums, coughing, irregularity and a temporary weight gain, which is caused by the body retaining fluids. Many ex-smokers also feel irritable or tired or find it difficult to sleep. It might make you feel better to know that these are all signs of nicotine being removed from your body – most of it will have gone completely within several days.
You will also have nicotine withdrawal symptoms and it’s during the first few days and weeks after quitting that you will have to fight the urge not to smoke. Symptoms of nicotine withdrawal often resemble a mild dose of the flu and can include any or all of the following – irritability, insomnia or fatigue, headache, sore throat, tightness in the chest, dry mouth and lack of concentration. These symptoms can be unpleasant – but they will pass.
After a few weeks, the worst symptoms of nicotine withdrawal will start to diminish and the whole process should become easier. You will find that circulation improves and you may also find that walking and exercising are easier as your body readjusts to its new and healthier state. You will still probably have the occasional craving for a cigarette, but after a few weeks, it is a little bit easier not to give in.
The noticeable effects on your body will continue during the first year or so – sinus congestion and coughing will decrease and you should find that you generally have more energy than when you smoked. The cilia, or tiny hairs, start to grow back in the lungs, helping to clean the lungs, processing mucus produced by the body and generally reducing the chances of infection. However, you will have to wait an estimated fifteen years before your chance of developing coronary heart disease is the same as that of a person who has never smoked.
Of course, the longer you are smoke-free, the easier it is to stay that way. After a few months or so, the physical longings for a cigarette will have diminished to a large extent, although you need to be careful not to lapse and have just one cigarette, which may then lead to another. And the long term effects of giving up smoking are something that shouldn’t be taken for granted – a far lower chance of getting cancer or heart disease and perhaps just as importantly, a feeling of accomplishment and pride.

The authors at http://www.tips-on-stopping-smoking.com/giving-up-smoking.html are a voluntary group using there experience to help others through the trial and tribulations of giving up smoking. giving up smoking

The article was originally published at http://www.stopsmokingpulse.com/

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Smoking Facts About Gum Infection and the Dental Problem of Periodontal Disease

August 7, 2011 by  
Filed under Health Effects

Periodontal is the term used to refer to the tissue that supports the teeth. This support is not limited to just structural support but also to nutritional support.

Periodontal tissue includes both the gum tissue and the bones. Together they hold the teeth in place and provide the necessary oxygen and nutrition necessary for the living tooth to survive.

One of the health effects of smoking cigarettes is a reduction in blood flow to all the tissues in the mouth. Overtime the tissues become so starved for oxygen and nutrition that the gums and bones age prematurely and infection sets in.

smoking facts

Smoking Facts About the Oral Health Effects of Smoking Cigarettes

  • When there are dental problems like gum infection or bone loss, teeth become loose and eventually fall out.
  • There are twice as many toothless grins among smokers as there are among non-smokers.
  • A dose response relationship exists – a heavy smoker has almost 6 times the risk of periodontal gum disease as a non-smoker.
  • smoking reduces the amount and nature of saliva in the mouth – saliva in necessary to bathe the mouth and keep the teeth and gums clean and free from infection.

The article was originally published at:  http://www.smoking-facts-and-fiction.com

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