Heavy smokers cut back dramatically

Overall, the price of cigarettes increased from $3.96 per pack in 2001 to $4.41 per pack in 2004, largely due to increasing state taxes. To determine how these price increases affected smoking habits, the researchers examined each state separately. They found that the more cigarette prices went up, the more smokers cut back on cigarette consumption.

The researchers defined a heavier smoker as someone who smokes two packs (40 cigarettes) or more per day, and a lighter smoker as someone who smokes an average of one pack (20 cigarettes) per day. Based on the national statistics, heavy smokers would be expected to cut back on their daily cigarette consumption by 11, while lighter smokers would be expected to cut back by two per day. But in states that experienced a 35 percent of greater increase in cigarette taxes, heavy smokers reduced their average daily cigarette consumption by 14, a decrease of 35 percent. Lighter smokers in such states reduced their average daily consumption by only three cigarettes, or 15 percent.

The researchers tested to see if factors other than taxes might account for the drop in cigarette consumption, but found none of them to be significant. They noted that some of these factors might have contributed to the discrepancy between heavy and lighter smokers, however. For example, heavier smokers probably experience more social pressure and more severe health consequences to smoking, both of which may contribute to the decision to cut back.

Unfortunately, Cavazos-Rehg pointed out, reducing cigarette consumption is not nearly as good for your health as quitting altogether.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/038225_cigarette_taxes_smoking_behavior.html#ixzz2ll7jlIkd

Numbers show toll of smoking

The researchers cross-referenced information on 200,000 people who had participated in the U.S. National Health Interview Survey with information from the National Death Index. The Health Interview Survey is conducted every year on a representative cross-section of the U.S. population, while the Death Index includes every death certificate issued in the United States since 1986.

Among both men and women, smoking cut an average of 10 years off a person's life span. Put another way, smokers between the ages of 25 and 79 were three times more likely to die than people who had never smoked, and only half as likely to live until the age of 80.

Previous studies, conducted in the 1980s, contained very little information on women smokers, because smoking rates among women were so much lower when the adult participants in those studies were young. In contrast, the current study was able to track the mortality outcomes of many more lifelong female smokers. Strikingly, women were 50 percent more likely to die from smoking-related causes in the current study than in comparable studies conducted in the 1980s.

"Women who smoke like men, die like men," Jha said.

The good news was that quitting smoking dramatically increased life expectancy at all ages. Of the 10 years lost from being a smoker, people who quit smoking between the ages of 35 and 44 gained nine of those back. People who quit between the ages of 45 and 54 gained back six years, while people who quit between the ages of 55 and 64 recovered four.

There are now 1.3 billion smokers worldwide, and smoking is estimated to kill about one billion people in the 21st century, compared with the 100 million killed by smoking in the 20th century. The vast majority of smokers today live in low and middle-income countries, where quitting rates are also much lower.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/038941_quit_smoking_longevity_statistics.html#ixzz2ll7aMhhM

Smokers are often not 'health conscious' overall

Most teens who smoke also engage in other unhealthy, sometimes self-destructive behavior.

"It is not unusual for teenage smokers to engage in other unhealthy habits. Smoking and physical inactivity, for instance, often go hand in hand," study lead author Kimberly Horn, associate dean for research at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, in Washington, D.C., said in a university news release.

The teens in the study were divided into three groups. The group who increased their daily physical activity of at least 20 minutes with exercise equivalent to a short walk, "significantly reduced the number of cigarettes they smoked." They also took part in a smoking cessation program during the same period.


Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/040646_teenage_smoking_exercise_cessation.html#ixzz2ll7P9rb4

Alkalize the body and quit smoking in 14 days

Finally, smokers, you will never return to smoking once you alkalize your body. It is well documented that the typical contemporary Western food "regimen" can put you in a state of "metabolic acidosis." What's the escape from this disease-inclined state of existence? Organic fruits and vegetables are the answer. Get off meat, milk, gluten, grease and sugar and get a vegetable juicer and a smoothie "bullet" blender. Prolonged metabolic acidosis leeches calcium and magnesium from your bones and can lead to osteoporosis, kidney stone formation and kidney damage. This switch over to a plant and fruit based regimen provides instant energy, vitality, and detoxification. Also, drink only spring water or water that has been treated through reverse osmosis. Never drink tap water! Learn how to beat fatigue and stress by alkalizing. 

Finally, where do you combine chemical knowledge, behavior modification and Superfood nutrition in a one hour instructional video that teaches you how to stop smoking in 14 days or less, naturally? This can be simple. 

This is the break you've been waiting for. Let nutrition kick your cigarette fix, because when you kill the urge to smoke, you cut the habit naturally. Also, if you are not a smoker yourself, but you know someone who wants to quit, make sure they know about the dynamic duo, Maca and Mucuna. "Sanity" and good health for all smokers is just a click away!

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/041536_nutrition_cigarettes_addiction.html#ixzz2ll6T23Ei

Mucuna is the amazing herbal adaptogen

Then you have Mucuna, also known as velvet bean, which is capturing the interest of thousands of smokers worldwide who have the will to quit smoking but just can't clip that "nic-fix." Mucuna helps the weaning smoker balance out mood swings and dampen or even remove withdrawal symptoms
. This amazing herbal adaptogen is also a potent herbal aphrodisiac! An Indian herb also known as buffalo beans, the pod is simply ground up into a powder and put into capsules to help regulate dopamine efficiency in the body. This is where most smokers fall off the "cold turkey" attempts, because their dopamine levels are low or even non-existent without nicotine. Infuse Mucuna and they feel like they just took a drag, except this is all natural, so bye-bye cancer sticks! Mucuna is even known to treat Parkinson's disease. There is excellent research on this:. So where do you get high quality Mucuna? Puritan's Pride, of course. 

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/041536_nutrition_cigarettes_addiction.html#ixzz2ll6Jqysi

Superfoods "Dynamic Duo" ends the nicotine cravings

The key to quitting smoking and never lighting up again, or even ever wanting to, is to combine superfoods and behavior modification, and then you can escape cigarettes! And just what is the "Dynamic Duo Secret" to killing the cravings and escaping the nicotine prison? Well, without the "nic" patch, the pills, the gum, or electronic cigarettes, what other option is out there besides cold turkey, which only works for about 5% of those who attempt it? The dynamic duo "M&M" entails supplementing with Maca and Mucuna, two superfood/powder supplements most people have never even heard of, much less consumed. Superfood enthusiasts know all about the incredible nutritional powers of Maca. Grown in the high Andes mountains of Peru, Maca is packed with proteins, tannins and complex alkaloids, and can be added to any smoothie.  Where do you get high quality Maca? Mike Adams recommends this superfood and sells it at the Natural News Store online.. Most health food stores carry it also.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/041536_nutrition_cigarettes_addiction.html#ixzz2ll65Uq3n

Why does smoking raise cancer risk?

Scientists say there are over 4,000 compounds in cigarette smoke. A sizeable number of them are toxic - they are bad for us and damage our cells. Some of them cause cancer - they are carcinogenic.

Tobacco smoke consists mainly of:

• Nicotine - this is not carcinogenic. However, it is highly addictive. Smokers find it very hard to quit because they are hooked on the nicotine. Nicotine is an extremely fast-acting drug. It reaches the brain within 15 seconds of being inhaled. If cigarettes and other tobacco products had no nicotine, the number of people who smoke every day would drop drastically. Without nicotine, the tobacco industry would collapse.
  
  Nicotine is used as a highly controlled insecticide. Exposure to sufficient amounts can lead to vomiting, seizures, depression of the CNS (central nervous system), and growth retardation. It can also undermine a fetus' proper development.
• Carbon Monoxide - this is a poisonous gas. It has no smell or taste. The body finds it hard to differentiate carbon monoxide from oxygen and absorbs it into the bloodstream. Faulty boilers emit dangerous carbon monoxide, as do car exhausts.
  
  If there is enough carbon monoxide around you and you inhale it, you can go into a coma and die. Carbon monoxide decreases muscle and heart function, it causes fatigue, weakness, and dizziness. It is especially toxic for babies still in the womb, infants and indifividuals with heart or lung disease.
• Tar - consists of several cancer-causing chemicals. When a smoker inhales cigarette smoke, 70% of the tar remains in the lungs. Try the handkerchief test. Fill the mouth with smoke, don't inhale, and blow the smoke through the handkerchief. There will be a sticky, brown stain on the cloth. Do this again, but this time inhale and the blow the smoke through the cloth, there will only be a very faint light brown stain.

Source:http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/10566.php

Effects of smoking on how long you live and your quality of life

Cigarette smokers die younger than non-smokers. In fact, according to a study done in the late 1990s by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), smoking shortened male smokers’ lives by 13.2 years and female smokers’ lives by 14.5 years. Men and women who smoke are much more likely to die between the ages of 35 and 69 than those who have never smoked.

But not all of the health problems related to smoking result in deaths. Smoking affects a smoker’s health in many ways, harming nearly every organ of the body and causing many diseases. The diseases often seen are chronic bronchitis, emphysema, heart attacks, strokes, and cancer. And some studies have found that male smokers may be more likely to be sexually impotent (have erectile dysfunction) than non-smokers.

These problems can steal away a person’s quality of life long before death. Smoking-related illness can limit a person’s daily life by making it harder to breathe, get around, work, or play.

Source:http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/tobaccocancer/cigarettesmoking/cigarette-smoking-who-and-how-affects-health

Other health problems caused by smoking

As serious as cancer is, it accounts for less than half of the deaths related to smoking each year. Smoking is a major cause of many other deadly health problems − heart disease, aneurysms, bronchitis, emphysema, and stroke.

Using tobacco can damage a woman’s reproductive health and hurt babies. Tobacco use is linked with reduced fertility and a higher risk of miscarriage, early delivery (premature birth), and stillbirth. It’s also a cause of low birth-weight in infants. It has been linked to a higher risk of birth defects and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), too.

Smoking can make pneumonia and asthma worse and it has been linked to other health problems, including gum disease, cataracts, bone thinning, hip fractures, and peptic ulcers. Some studies have also linked smoking to macular degeneration, an eye disease that can cause blindness.

Smoking can cause or worsen poor blood flow in the arms and legs (peripheral vascular disease or PVD.) Surgery to improve the blood flow often doesn’t work in people who keep smoking. Because of this, many vascular surgeons (surgeons who work on blood vessels) won’t do certain surgeries on patients with PVD unless they stop smoking.

What kinds of illness and death are caused by smoking cigarettes?

About half of all Americans who keep smoking will die because of the habit. Each year about 443,000 people in the United States die from illnesses related to tobacco use. Smoking cigarettes kills more Americans than alcohol, car accidents, suicide, AIDS, homicide, and illegal drugs combined.

Source:http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/tobaccocancer/cigarettesmoking/cigarette-smoking-who-and-how-affects-health

High school and middle school students

Nationwide, 18% of high school students were smoking cigarettes in 2011. The most recent survey of middle school students, done in 2011, shows that about 4% were smoking cigarettes. In both high schools and middle schools, white and Hispanic students were more likely to smoke cigarettes than other races/ethnicities.

Source:http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/tobaccocancer/cigarettesmoking/cigarette-smoking-who-and-how-affects-health

Who smokes cigarettes?

Adults

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that about 43.8 million US adults were cigarette smokers in 2011 (the most recent year for which numbers are available). This is 19% of all adults (21.6% of men, 16.5% of women) − about 1 out of 5 people.

When broken down by race/ethnicity, the numbers were as follows:

Whites	20.6%
African Americans		19.4%
Hispanics		12.9%
American Indians/Alaska Natives		31.5%
Asian Americans		9.9%
Multi-racial people		27.4%

There were more cigarette smokers in the younger age groups. In 2011, the CDC reported 22.1% of people 25 to 44 years old were current smokers, compared with 7.9% of those aged 65 or older.

Source:http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/tobaccocancer/cigarettesmoking/cigarette-smoking-who-and-how-affects-health

What is Inside ? Cigarette

What's In Cigarette Smoke?

Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, including 43 known cancer-causing (carcinogenic) compounds and 400 other toxins. These include nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide, as well as formaldehyde, ammonia, 

hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, and DDT.

Nicotine is highly addictive. Smoke containing nicotine is inhaled into the lungs, and the nicotine reaches your brain in just six seconds.

Nicotine in small doses acts as a stimulant to the brain. In large doses, it's a depressant, inhibiting the flow of signals between nerve cells. In even larger doses, it's a lethal poison, affecting the heart, blood vessels, and hormones. Nicotine in the bloodstream acts to make the smoker feel calm.

As a cigarette is smoked, the amount of tar inhaled into the lungs increases, and the last puff contains more than twice as much tar as the first puff. Carbon monoxide makes it harder for red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout the body. Tar is a mixture of substances that together form a sticky mass in the lungs.

Most of the chemicals inhaled in cigarette smoke stay in the lungs. The more you inhale, the better it feels—and the greater the damage to your lungs.


Source:http://www.quitsmokingsupport.com/whatsinit.htm

WHY?! TELL ME WHY?! Is Quitting so hard?

Why quitting smoking can seem so hard

Smoking tobacco is both a physical addiction and a psychological habit. The nicotine from cigarettes provides a temporary, and addictive, high. Eliminating that regular fix of nicotine will cause your body to experience physical withdrawal symptoms and cravings. Because of nicotine’s “feel good” effect on the brain, you may also have become accustomed to smoking as a way of coping with stress, depression, anxiety, or even boredom.

At the same time, the act of smoking is ingrained as a daily ritual. It may be an automatic response for you to smoke a cigarette with your morning coffee, while taking a break from work or school, or during your commute home at the end of a long day. Perhaps friends, family members, and colleagues smoke, and it has become part of the way you relate with them.

To successfully quit smoking, you’ll need to address both the addiction and the habits and routines that go along with it.

Start your stop smoking plan with START

S = Set a quit date.

Choose a date within the next 2 weeks, so you have enough time to prepare without losing your motivation to quit. If you mainly smoke at work, quit on the weekend, so you have a few days to adjust to the change.

T = Tell family, friends, and co-workers that you plan to quit.

Let your friends and family in on your plan to quit smoking and tell them you need their support and encouragement to stop. Look for a quit buddy who wants to stop smoking as well. You can help each other get through the rough times.

A = Anticipate and plan for the challenges you'll face while quitting.

Most people who begin smoking again do so within the first 3 months. You can help yourself make it through by preparing ahead for common challenges, such as nicotine withdrawal and cigarette cravings.

R = Remove cigarettes and other tobacco products from your home, car, and work.

Throw away all of your cigarettes (no emergency pack!), lighters, ashtrays, and matches. Wash your clothes and freshen up anything that smells like smoke. Shampoo your car, clean your drapes and carpet, and steam your furniture.

T = Talk to your doctor about getting help to quit.

Your doctor can prescribe medication to help with withdrawal and suggest other alternatives. If you can't see a doctor, you can get many products over the counter at your local pharmacy or grocery store, including the nicotine patch, nicotine lozenges, and nicotine gum.



Source:http://www.helpguide.org/mental/quit_smoking_cessation.htm

Smoking Causes

Smoking is responsible for several diseases, such as cancer, long-term (chronic) respiratory diseases, andheart disease, as well as premature death.

Smoking causes cancer 90% of lung cancer patients developed their disease because of smoking.

 Lung cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer deaths in the world. Smokers also have a significantly higher risk of developing:

-Bladder cancer
-Kidney cancer
-Cancers of the pharynx and larynx (throat cancer)
-Mouth cancer
-Esophagus cancer
-Cancer of the pancreas
-Stomach cancer
-Some types of leukemia
-Cancer of the nose and sinuses
-Cervical cancer
-Bowel cancer
-Ovarian cancer
-In some cases, also breast cancer


Source:http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/10566.php