Smoking is a dirty habit. Smokers drop ashes and discard spent butts, often on the ground, where they create an environmental problem. Smokers have yellow fingernails, brown teeth, and darkened nose hairs. Their breath and clothing reeks of smoke. Smoking causes all sorts of serious diseases. Here are just some of the side effects of smoking:
- Higher risk of stroke and brain damage
- Lung cancer
- Heart disease
- High blood pressure
- Associated with a higher risk of the eye disease macular degeneration
- Cancers of the mouth and throat
Even worse, these side effects aren’t limited to the smoker. Secondhand smoke is toxic and deadly to anyone inhaling it. It’s very possible for a nonsmoker to get lung cancer after being exposed to secondhand cigarette smoke.
Believe That You Can Quit
One in five deaths can be traced to smoking. Many people have quit smoking, some on their own, and others with some kind of intervention or assistance. Here are some ideas: Your text to link….
- Medical assistance
There are a number of drugs that your doctor can prescribe for you to help you quit smoking. These work best with some kind of counseling, but even their own, they are effective for helping people kick the smoking habit.
- Varenicline, also known as Chantix
This drug helps to reduce withdrawal symptoms and also reduces craving for cigarettes.
It works about 50% better than nicotine patches, gums and lozenges.
- Buproprion
Also used to treat depression, buproprion helps to reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms.
- Nicotine replacement products
These come in several different forms as noted above and have helped many people quit. They’re not as effective as the two others and have the added disadvantage of containing nicotine, while the medications do not. Nicotine is actually a poison and not good for the body. But if temporary use of nicotine replacement products helps a person quit, then that is acceptable. As an advantage, these products can be purchased in drug stores and do not need a doctor’s prescription.
Triggers
People who smoke cigarettes, as well as people who use drugs in general, often respond to triggers in their environment which encourage the negative behavior. For example, if you have always smoked a cigarette with your morning coffee, and the urge to do so is overwhelming, then that cup of coffee is a trigger. Triggers are very powerful and most smokers don’t even realize they have them. Perhaps you smoke while watching the basketball game, or with a beer in the evening. These are all triggers. If you can, identify and eliminate them, at least for awhile. Identify, avoid or conquer your triggers.
If a trigger can’t be eliminated, then keep a supply of hard candies and gum handy at all times to satisfy the oral urge. Most temptations pass within minutes, so try to get over the initial push to smoke when triggers hit.
The Commitment
Smoking utterly destroys not only your own health, but that of those around you. It’s not fair to you or your friends and loved ones. Commit to be smoke-free and pursue some of the suggestions you read here today to help you reach your goal of being a permanent nonsmoker.
