Posts Tagged ‘About’

Five Top Reasons to Quit Smoking

Sunday, November 2nd, 2008

The thought of quitting smoking produces a paralyzing fear in some people. They know they want to quit, but the comforting effect of inhaling smoke along with the nicotine is not easily given up. Many people do want to quit smoking cigarettes for various reasons, although these reasons are not sufficient motivation to quit. Many who smoke will always find a reason to smoke if they want to. Listed below are five reasons to quit smoking.

The first reason to quit is that you may live longer and live healthier. This is absolutely true as the days string together and you have a successful recovery from using nicotine and/or other tobacco products. Although no one can forecast the future and truly know how long we will live, quitting smoking may give you the edge you need to live a longer and healthier life.

Your children wanting you to quit is seen as the second reason. Quitting tobacco products and smoking is actually one of the greatest things you could do for your family. You could be a role model to your children and your grandchildren; someone they would want to emulate. When an adult in the family does not smoke the children are much less apt to. If your children do not smoke as an adolescent or teenager they are much less apt to as an adult.

The third reason to quit smoking is that your breathing will become much easier and you will regain your lost energy. Both of these are true providing you follow a regime of psychological and behavioral changes throughout your quitting process.

The fourth reason is you will have a much greater chance of lowering the risk of heart attack, stroke, or cancer by quitting. This is all true, although you will never regain the pure body you had before you started smoking, stopping now significantly reduces these risks the longer you do not smoke.

The fifth and final reason to stop smoking is that the cost of cigarettes is becoming too expensive. This is very true and you can see it on a daily basis. One more cost of smoking relates to the medical costs associated with usage. Quitting may cut the medical costs significantly over time. Add the two together and there is quite a sum to pay if you continue smoking.

Do you really want to quit or are you ambivalent about it? Deciding that you want to quit smoking and making a commitment to stop will provide motivation to follow through. The five listed reasons are just a few known for quiting smoking. You can use any reason that means something to you to quit. The road can go uphill for only so long, then the process of quitting will become easier. Make your commitment to stop today—you will be happy you did.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/five-top-reasons-to-quit-smoking-580215.html

The Best Way to Quit Smoking

Sunday, November 2nd, 2008

The first and foremost of the reasons to quit smoking is your health. If the smoker is fully aware of the health risks of smoking, he or she may say it

How to Help a Friend Quit Smoking

Sunday, November 2nd, 2008

How to help a friend quit smoking

Smoking is the number one preventable cause of death in the U.S. Smoking causes lung cancer, heart attacks, emphysema, and stroke. People who smoke have much shorter life expectancies than people who don’t.

How do you help a friend or family member quit smoking? It isn’t easy. Smoking is a difficult habit to break. Smoking is an addiction with physiological and psychological components.

Nevertheless, there are things you can do to help someone quit smoking. In my talk I will explain how to present a smoker with information on the health consequences of smoking, how to develop a Quit Smoking Plan, and how to persuade a smoker to follow such a plan.

I realize that by talking about the health affects of smoking I run the risk of depressing the whole audience. I promise to move quickly to the more practical question of how to quit.

The health consequences of smoking are well documented. Two places to find such information are the Mayo Clinic website and the American Lung Association website.

Smoking is responsible for nearly one in five deaths in the United States. Almost half a million people die every year from the consequences of smoking.

On average, smokers die 13 to 14 years sooner than nonsmokers do.

Lung cancer is the No.1 cause of cancer death in the United States.

Almost 90,000 Americans die each year of coronary heart disease caused by smoking. Smokers have triple the risk of coronary heart disease that nonsmokers have.

Smoking raises your blood pressure, cholesterol level and your risk of blood clots. A smoker is two to six times more likely to have a heart attack, and the more you smoke, the higher your risk.

Depending on how well you know a smoker, you could simply mention these websites or print out and discuss the information with the smoker.

After reviewing the health affects of smoking, the next step in quitting smoking is the Quit Smoking Plan.

A quit smoking plan is a detailed list of steps that someone should take to quit smoking. It is usually not realistic for someone to just wake up one day and quit smoking. A certain amount of planning and preparation is needed.

A quit smoking plan should mention some of the health and other reasons that provide the motivation for a smoker to quit.

A quit smoking plan should set a quit date, which is a date sometime in the near future, when the smoker will plan to stop smoking. This gives a smoker time to prepare to kick the habit.

The bulk of the quit smoking plan contains a series of actions the smoker needs to take to get ready to quit. Such actions include joining a local smoking cessation class, identifying a group of people who can provide support when the smoker quits, and reviewing the quit smoking literature available on the ALA website. This website contains a detailed seven module program called Freedom from Smoking which describes how to quit smoking.

A smoker can also join a gym or get a treadmill, because exercise is helpful for someone giving up smoking. In addition, smokers can consult a doctor or pharmacist about nicotine patches and gum and become familiar with smokeless cigarettes as an alternative to smoking.

Other possibilities include starting deep breathing yoga exercises, using relaxation CDs, or squeezing a physical therapy ball to relieve tension. A quit smoking plan needs to be tailored a bit for each individual.

A Quit Smoking Plan is fairly easy to prepare. The hard part is getting a smoker to follow the plan.

There is no guaranteed way to get a smoker to follow a quit smoking plan. However there are some things you can try.

To get the smoker’s attention you might try sending the smoker some of the anti smoking merchandise available for sale on the ALA web site. There you can order T shirts and other items with slogans urging people not to smoke.

You may be able to convince the smoker to prepare a quit smoking plan. If not, you can prepare one yourself and give it to the smoker. You can also talk about the plan with the smoker and explain the importance of each step of the plan.

Repetition is a useful tool of persuasion, so remind the smoker as often as possible of the quit smoking day and the need to prepare for it.

Explain to the smoker that the withdrawal symptoms are worst in the first 7 to 10 days after quitting. This may enable the smoker to get through the first few days.

Spending some money on the effort may also help. For example, if the smoker cannot afford a quit smoking class or an exercise program, you could pay for it yourself. This will show that you take the issue seriously, and they should too.

Preaching to or nagging the smoker not to smoke is probably not that helpful. Part of what you do will depend on the smoker’s attitude. The smoker may have no interest in quitting and rebuff your efforts entirely. Or, he or she might have some interest in giving up smoking, but may be unwilling to follow every step of the quit smoking plan. In some cases a smoker might need just a little nudge to quit smoking.

Another possibility is that after the quit smoking date the smoker succeeds in cutting down on smoking but does not quit entirely. In this case you need to praise the smoker’s effort to quit but also remind the smoker that it is necessary to quit completely. Review the reasons to quit with the smoker – often health benefits alone are not enough to persuade a smoker to quit. Also review the parts of the quit smoking plan that were not followed and try to get the smoker to follow those parts of the plan as well.

You are doing a friend a big favor by trying to help him or her quit smoking.

To be successful, you need the right tools. Consult relevant websites for information on the health affects of smoking. Prepare a detailed quit smoking plan. Convince the smoker to follow the plan.

46 million Americans who once smoked have successfully quit. It isn’t easy, but the health benefits are considerable.

You may feel bad if your friend does not quit. The best thing to do in that case is to say “good try.” Quitting smoking often takes several attempts, and each attempt is a step forward.

If you have a friend or family member who smokes, try helping them to quit. Stick with it. If you are not successful on the first attempt, remember the old adage, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/how-to-help-a-friend-quit-smoking-520974.html

Best Ways to Stop Smoking

Sunday, November 2nd, 2008

Quitting smoking

is one of the hardest things you might ever have to do. Once you become addicted to smoking, quitting can be a monumental task, and one that takes much time, effort, and determination. It can be one of the best things you ever do for yourself, and something you should strongly consider, but, you are the only one that commit to doing this?it

The Best Acne Herbal Treatments

Saturday, November 1st, 2008

The Best Acne Herbal Treatments

By: Darren Brent

No matter your age, acne is a problem that no one wants. The misery of acne is mostly caused by our sebaceous glands producing too much sebum, also known as oil. Due to the over production of oil, the skin pores increase in blockage and bacterial areas. It is the bacteria and increased oil production that causes the acne to form. But natural acne herbal treatments are the first method to try.

Knowing how acne happens is one thing, but knowing exactly why is a difficult task at hand when there are several various reasons as to pin pointing each case

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