Stop Smoking Help

A leading cause of cancer deaths, smoking is universally responsible for major cancers, like cancers of the oesophagus, larynx, kidney, pancreas, and cervix. In addition, smoking increases the risk of chronic lung disease as well as heart disease. Smoking may also result in premature delivery and low birth weight, adversely affecting the unborn foetus.

Once a smoker stops smoking or even cuts down on smoking, he will feel substantially healthy; blood circulation begins to improve and the carbon monoxide levels in the blood begin to decline; pulse rate and blood pressure return to normal; sense of both taste and smell return; and it becomes easy to breathe.

Smokers definitely have reduced age expectancy, but smoking cessation can easily overturn these statistics and bring the smoker at par with the non-smoker, reducing the risk of smoking-related diseases like heart and chronic lung disease. Similarly, women who stop smoking prior to conception or those who quit within the first trimester can luckily reverse the risk of low birth weight and other pregnancy-associated risks. Stop smoking diminishes the risk for developing cancer and therefore smoking cessation benefits men and women at any age.

In the interim, quit smoking may also cause short-term after-effects like anxiety, irritability, hunger, tiredness, lack of concentration, weight gain, and insomnia, especially in those smokers who have smoked in high numbers for an extended period of time. However, these changes subside with time and the non-smokers then have the opportunity for a healthier future.

Medical professionals are an excellent source of information about concerned health risks of both smoking and smoking cessation. With adequate guidance and a strong will power any smoker can become a non-smoker in no time.

Reasons for Getting Hooked to Smoking

A state of being dependent on something is addiction and this could be either psychological or physical. Addiction triggers a neurotic or persistent urge to satisfy one’s dependency. This urge, also called cravings or desire, can prompt the onset of addiction. When the first craving is satisfied, other more intense cravings will arise and the cycle continues until you can no longer break the habit.

Nicotine dependency is the most common form of drug addiction for both men and women. Smoking addiction is generally nurtured during adolescence. Peer pressure is all pervasive and that can be hard to resist. In females, smoking may sometimes relieve mood fluctuations that are caused by hormonal changes; it can also temporarily alleviate anger, depression and mood swings by acting on the pleasure centers in the brain.

Cigarettes contain elements like nicotine that instigate smoking addiction. In-fact nicotine, a tough stimulant, is one of the most common factors that lead to smoking addiction. Essentially, on smoking nicotine directly permeates the brain, and relieves the smoker from tension. But, the anxiety only sets back in with greater intensity which again demands more nicotine. This alters the chemicals in the brain and conveniently becomes a reason to continue smoking.

If nicotine addiction has to be tackled, it needs to be completely eliminated from the system before a person can become smoke free. The nicotine ‘high’ normally comes from the release of dopamine, which is a "pleasure hormone".

Why Must I Stop Smoking?

Cigarette smoke is loaded with a variety of chemicals that can be poisonous to the human body. Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, many of which make smoking harmful and addictive. Because of the various problems that arise from tobacco smoking, it is essential that a smoker seriously considers becoming smoke free. The various reasons are that tobacco:

* Is extremely addictive when smoked and chewed
* Causes addiction as permanent as alcoholism; is harder to quit than heroin or cocaine
* Is not a medicine and has no therapeutic uses
* Prevents pre-cancerous cells from dying; in fact accelerates cancer tumor growth rates
* Contributes to artery hardening
* Has a metabolite which may cause cancer; is linked to lung cancer
* May kill brain cells and impair memory
* Is likely to cause brain damage and depression
* It also has the foetus destroying teratogen
* Kills half of all adult smokers prematurely


CRD: Anthony Delar