The Difficulty in Kicking the Habit

Smokers may have started smoking because their friends did or because it seemed cool. But they keep on smoking because they became addicted to nicotine, one of the chemicals in cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. Nicotine is both a stimulant and a depressant. That means nicotine increases the heart rate at first and makes people feel more alert (like caffeine, another stimulant). Then it causes depression and fatigue. The depression and fatigue — and the drug withdrawal from nicotine — make people crave another cigarette to perk up again. According to many experts, the nicotine in tobacco is as addictive as cocaine or heroin.

But don't be discouraged; millions of Americans have permanently quit smoking. These strategies can help you quit, too:

Put it in writing. People who want to make a change often are more successful when they put it in writing. So write down all the reasons why you want to quit smoking, such as the money you will save or the stamina you'll gain for playing sports. Keep that list where you can see it, and add to it as you think of new reasons.

Get support. People whose friends and family help them quit are much more likely to succeed. If you don't want to tell your parents or family that you smoke, make sure your friends know, and consider confiding in a counselor or other adult you trust. And if you're having a hard time finding people to support you (if, say, all your friends smoke and none of them is interested in quitting), you might consider joining a support group, either in person or online.

Strategies That Work

Set a quit date. Pick a day that you'll stop smoking. Tell your friends (and your family, if they know you smoke) that you're going to quit smoking on that day. Just think of that day as a dividing line between the smoking you and the new and improved nonsmoker you'll become. Mark it on your calendar.

Throw away your cigarettes — all of your cigarettes. People can't stop smoking with cigarettes still around to tempt them. Even toss out that emergency pack you have stashed in the secret pocket of your backpack. Get rid of your ashtrays and lighters, too.

Wash all your clothes. Get rid of the smell of cigarettes as much as you can by washing all your clothes and having your coats or sweaters dry-cleaned. If you smoked in your car, clean that out, too.

Think about your triggers. You're probably aware of the situations when you tend to smoke, such as after meals, when you're at your best friend's house, while drinking coffee, or as you're driving. These situations are your triggers for smoking — it feels automatic to have a cigarette when you're in them. Once you've figured out your triggers, try these tips:

• Avoid these situations. For example, if you smoke when you drive, get a ride to school, walk, or take the bus for a few weeks. If you normally smoke after meals, make it a point to do something else after you eat, like read or call a friend.
• Change the place. If you and your friends usually smoke in restaurants or get takeout and eat in the car, suggest that you sit in the no-smoking section the next time you go out to eat.
• Substitute something else for cigarettes. It can be hard to get used to not holding something and having something in your mouth. If you have this problem, stock up on carrot sticks, sugar-free gum, mints, toothpicks, or even lollipops.

Physical and Mental Effects

Expect some physical symptoms. If you smoke regularly, you're probably physically addicted to nicotine and your body may experience some symptoms of withdrawal when you quit. These may include:

• headaches or stomachaches
• crabbiness, jumpiness, or depression
• lack of energy
• dry mouth or sore throat
• desire to pig out

Luckily, the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal will pass — so be patient. Try not to give in and sneak a smoke because you'll just have to deal with the symptoms longer.

Keep yourself busy. Many people find it's best to quit on a Monday, when they have school or work to keep them busy. The more distracted you are, the less likely you'll be to crave cigarettes. Staying active is also a good way to make sure you keep your weight down and your energy up, even as you're experiencing the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal.

Quit gradually. Some people find that gradually decreasing the number of cigarettes they smoke each day is an effective way to quit. However, this strategy doesn't work for everyone — you may find you have to stop completely at once. This is known as "cold turkey."

Use a nicotine replacement if you need to. If you find that none of these strategies is working, you might talk to your doctor about treatments. Using a nicotine replacement, such as gum, patches, inhalers, or nasal sprays, can be very helpful. Sprays and inhalers are available by prescription only, and it's important to see your doctor before buying the patch and gum over the counter. That way, your doctor can help you find the solution that will work best for you. For example, the patch requires the least effort on your part, but it doesn't offer the almost instantaneous nicotine kick that gum does.

Slip-Ups Happen

If you slip up, don't give up! Major changes sometimes have false starts. If you're like many people, you may quit successfully for weeks or even months and then suddenly have a craving that's so strong you feel like you have to give in. Or maybe you accidentally find yourself in one of your trigger situations and give in to temptation. If you slip up, it doesn't mean you've failed, it just means you're human. Here are some ways to get back on track:

• Think about your slip as one mistake. Take notice of when and why it happened and move on.
• Did you become a heavy smoker after one cigarette? We didn't think so — it happened more gradually, over time. Keep in mind that one cigarette didn't make you a smoker to start with, so smoking one cigarette (or even two or three) after you've quit doesn't make you a smoker again.
• Remind yourself why you've quit and how well you've done — or have someone in your support group, family, or friends do this for you.

Reward yourself. As you already know, quitting smoking isn't easy. Give yourself a well-deserved reward! Set aside the money you usually spend on cigarettes. When you've stayed tobacco free for a week, 2 weeks, or a month, buy yourself a treat like a new CD, book, movie, or some clothes. And every smoke-free year, celebrate again. You earned it.

Smoking Is Unhealthy For Our Daily Life

Smoking Is Unhealthy For Our Daily Life

When your parents were young, people could buy cigarettes and smoke pretty much anywhere — even in hospitals! Ads for cigarettes were all over the place. Today we're more aware about how bad smoking is for our health. Smoking is restricted or banned in almost all public places and cigarette companies are no longer allowed to advertise on TV, radio, and in many magazines.

Almost everyone knows that smoking causes cancer, emphysema, and heart disease; that it can shorten your life by 10 years or more; and that the habit can cost a smoker thousands of dollars a year. So how come people are still lighting up? The answer, in a word, is addiction.

Once You Start, It's Hard to Stop

Smoking is a hard habit to break because tobacco contains nicotine, which is highly addictive. Like heroin or other addictive drugs, the body and mind quickly become so used to the nicotine in cigarettes that a person needs to have it just to feel normal.

People start smoking for a variety of different reasons. Some think it looks cool. Others start because their family members or friends smoke. Statistics show that about 9 out of 10 tobacco users start before they're 18 years old. Most adults who started smoking in their teens never expected to become addicted. That's why people say it's just so much easier to not start smoking at all.

How Smoking Affects Your Health

There are no physical reasons to start smoking. The body doesn't need tobacco the way it needs food, water, sleep, and exercise. In fact, many of the chemicals in cigarettes, like nicotine and cyanide, are actually poisons that can kill in high enough doses.

The body is smart. It goes on the defense when it's being poisoned. For this reason, many people find it takes several tries to get started smoking: First-time smokers often feel pain or burning in the throat and lungs, and some people feel sick or even throw up the first few times they try tobacco.

• Bad skin. Because smoking restricts blood vessels, it can prevent oxygen and nutrients from getting to the skin — which is why smokers often appear pale and unhealthy. An Italian study also linked smoking to an increased risk of getting a type of skin rash called psoriasis.
• Bad breath. Cigarettes leave smokers with a condition called halitosis, or persistent bad breath.
• Bad-smelling clothes and hair. The smell of stale smoke tends to linger — not just on people's clothing, but on their hair, furniture, and cars. And it's often hard to get the smell of smoke out.
• Reduced athletic performance. People who smoke usually can't compete with nonsmoking peers because the physical effects of smoking (like rapid heartbeat, decreased circulation, and shortness of breath) impair sports performance.
• Greater risk of injury and slower healing time. Smoking affects the body's ability to produce collagen, so common sports injuries, such as damage to tendons and ligaments, will heal more slowly in smokers than nonsmokers.
• Increased risk of illness. Studies show that smokers get more colds, flu, bronchitis, and pneumonia than nonsmokers. And people with certain health conditions, like asthma, become more sick if they smoke (and often if they're just around people who smoke). Because teens who smoke as a way to manage weight often light up instead of eating, their bodies lack the nutrients they need to grow, develop, and fight off illness properly.

Kicking Butts and Staying Smoke Free

All forms of tobacco — cigarettes, pipes, cigars, and smokeless tobacco — are hazardous. It doesn't help to substitute products that seem like they're better for you than regular cigarettes, such as filtered or low-tar cigarettes.

The only thing that really helps a person avoid the problems associated with smoking is staying smoke free. This isn't always easy, especially if everyone around you is smoking and offering you cigarettes. It may help to have your reasons for not smoking ready for times you may feel the pressure, such as "I just don't like it" or "I want to stay in shape for soccer" (or football, basketball, or other sport).

Why is smoking unhealthy?

Its unhealthy in many ways. We;ll start from the top: It yellows your teeth, ruins the enamil, causes mouth sores or mouth cancer. It can cause esophigal cancer, eshophigal cancer, . IT manly kills your lungs. It constricts your air and causes coughing, wheezing, and ore phlem. It causes lung cancer and destroys your lungs. Eventually, some people suffocate.

Smokers know smoking is unhealthy, smells bad

When I am depressed, "they" are there. When I am happy, "they" are there. When I feel like everything is coming crashing down, "they" are there. "They" are my Marlboro Lights ... in a box.

Why do people treat me like I am from Mars because I like to smoke? True, I am addicted, but I also love the sensation of a good smoke.

I also like other smokers, the "real smokers," the ones who have cigarettes on them at all times and get cranky when they get down to two or three left in their pack and smoke immediately when they get up in the morning. Not the ones who "smoke when they drink" or do it occasionally - get with it or quit it.

By the way, a note to all you nonsmokers - we (smokers) know cigarettes are going to kill us. We know they smell bad to you people. You don't have to tell us every time you get the chance. Do you honestly think smokers are oblivious to the fact they are detrimental to our health? Trust me, we know.

There is something so hypocritical about someone who is clutching their 20th cup of coffee of the day to look at me and tell me smoking is bad and they would never allow their bodies to become dependent on something. Someone would be more socially accepted if they were hooked on pills; at least there isn't second-hand Xanax.

My favorite of all the smoking community would have to be the former smoker; not only do they always have interesting stories about how they quit, (cold turkey, hypnosis, sabbatical to northern Canada, patches, gum, patches and gum,) but they always want to let smokers know how easy it was. But ask them, anyone who has quit smoking, how long it's been since they smoked, and you will get a reply like "two years, eight months, one week, three days, 14 hours, seven minutes and 22 seconds." They are constantly thinking about cigarettes.

And to the people who think by not buying cigarettes they have "quit" smoking, if you are going to kill yourself with harmful carcinogens: Please do it on your own dime. Also, smoking three or four cigarettes a day when you usually smoke a pack doesn't mean you have quit or practically quit. You still smoke.
So, now when smokers can actually find a place to smoke, it's like there is a big neon sign flashing above our heads with an arrow pointing down that reads "second-class citizens" or "gawk at these people so they know how terrible they are." It is really getting out of hand.

There is actually such a thing as a nonsmoking Alcoholics Anonymous, which is a place where reformed alcoholics can go without the hassle of that pesky smoke, which makes sense, considering the emphasis alcoholics place on their health. Plus, cigarette smoke could drown out the smell of their Aqua Velva and Jim Beam.

I'm not trying to pick on alcoholics since that would make everything I have said so far pointless. My point is that we are all different, and we all like different things. Life is too short not to do what makes you happy, and if smoking makes you happy, do it and be proud. Especially since, if you smoke, your life will be way too short to spend it unhappy.



Brandon is a senior journalism major from Belfry. He is a sports writer for The Progress.

Smoking can depreciate intellegence

Smoking in old age appears to be linked to intellectual impairment over the age of 64, research has found. A team from the Institute of Psychiatry in London carried out a community survey of an area of England

They studied more than 630 people aged 65 and over. smoking and drinking habits were recorded at the beginning of the study. The volunteers' intellectual powers were also assessed. After excluding those who had already had evidence of intellectual impairment//, everyone else was followed up a year later to see whether there was any evidence of a decline in intellect.

Of the 415 people who could be retested, one in 14 had suffered significant intellectual decline. The researchers found that smokers were up to five times more likely to have evidence of significant intellectual decline than either non-smokers or former smokers.

This was after taking account of factors known to affect brain function in older people, such as depression and alcohol use. Researcher Martin Prince said: "Our results indicate that persistent cigarette-smoking into late life increases the risk of cognitive impairment."

Smoking contributes to vascular disease and atherosclerosis, conditions which narrow and harden the arteries and impair blood supply to all parts of the body, including the brain. The researchers suggest that this may explain why smoking has an impact on intellect.

The study also found that people who drank moderately before the age of 65 were marginally less likely to have a decline in their mental powers than either heavy or non-alcoholics.