You can and need to quit smoking!
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We've all heard the statistics. Smoking is the number one preventable risk factor for a variety of diseases in our society. One in five deaths in the United States can be directly attributed to smoking. It increases the risks of cardiovascular disease, strokes, blood clots, emphysema and other respiratory diseases. It intensifies all forms of cancer, particularly oral, pharyngeal, esophageal and lung cancers. Sadly, its effects are felt as intently if not more so by passive smokers. Babies born to mothers that smoke are at increased risk of premature birth, low birth weight, still birth, respiratory and cognitive problems. If smoking is so dangerous, then why are nearly 25 percent of adult Americans and 3 million teenagers smoking? In a simple word, addiction. Nicotine, the addictive and highly carcinogenic (cancer causing) chemical in cigarette smoke, is as difficult to conquer as addictions to heroin, cocaine or alcohol. When a person inhales cigarette smoke, nicotine binds to receptors in the brain causing brain chemicals to be released. These chemicals in turn cause the individual to become relaxed, experience an elevation in mood, an increase in heart rate and an increase in blood pressure. Essentially, the person gets "a rush". Over time, as the person's brain adapts to the chemical release, it increases the number of receptors. As a result, the person desiring the rush craves the nicotine and continues smoking. Hence the addictive cycle. Couple that with the perceived benefits of relaxation, weight loss, decreased irritability and increased alertness and you have a nearly impossible addiction to break.But it is essential that the cycle of addiction be broken, and now there are several ways to get a motivated smoker on her way.Once the decision to quit has been made, a date needs to be set when the individual will no longer use cigarettes, and by which she will get rid of all her smoking paraphernalia. In addition to enlisting the aid and support of family and friends and enrolling in a smoking cessation support program, the therapies outlined below are of great assistance in helping smokers quit.
