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Willpower, Key To Stopping Smoking

February 3rd, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

“Just stop”, we’re told. Stop smoking, that is, by just deciding to stop. Wouldn’t it be great if it were that easy? But the fact is that both physiological changes and psychological issues play a role in any stop-smoking program. Even the most determined can rarely just flip a switch and never smoke cigarettes again.

Still, a commitment to do so has to be a part of any program. Only 6% on average will successfully stop smoking their first try. Summoning up the willpower to make that decision permanent is key to succeeding in the long run.

Up your odds by understanding what willpower is and how it functions in a stop smoking program.

In any area of life, we make many small choices. But the big ones are very rarely a matter of snapping the mental fingers and choosing a course of action. It takes more thought and effort than that. Those twin helpers are the link between willpower and achievement of the goal.

Stress is one major factor that starts individuals smoking, and keeps them at it year after year. Some event occurs, it’s evaluated as a negative impact over which we have little control, and we feel stress. The next action is to reach for a cigarette to restore calm.

At several points along that moving train of events it’s possible to interrupt the journey.

Start small. Look for those times when reaching for a cigarette is just a habitual move. You get up in the morning and reach for the first cigarette. Put them out of easy reach and exert willpower to forego the effort of getting them. Delay that cigarette after dinner, first by a few extra minutes then more and more. These small victories will reduce the number of cigarettes per day and strengthen your willpower.

As you gradually gain better control over impulses, your self-confidence grows. You feel in control. That reinforces the feeling that your willpower can be effective, that you can direct events rather than have them direct you.

Now, for the long term plan. Pick a day when you’ll stop smoking. Estimate how many cigarettes you have left so you run out by that date. Just as you would resist buying an item more expensive than you could afford, remind yourself of the high price of smoking - in dollars and health impact.

The first two weeks will be hardest, making the largest demands on your willpower. The cravings are strongest during this period. The chemical changes taking place as your body adjusts to lower levels of dopamine, flushes smoke ingredient-created compounds out of the body and other physical impacts will create the urge to resume.

Help yourself by thinking of the long term consequences. Stimulate your imagination by viewing photos of diseased lungs, remember the time you were short of breath walking up the hill. Assist your willpower in every way you can.

After that, the really hard part starts: sticking to the plan for a lifetime. Willpower isn’t just about choosing an action at the moment, but directing your life toward a better horizon. For more information on quiting smoking have a look at the quit-smoking-expert for useful information.

Why Quit Smoking?

January 25th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

Smoking is pleasurable, up to a point. That, after all, is why so many do it. If there were no gain, the practice would quickly die out. But a lot of meaning is stuffed into that innocent phrase ‘up to a point’. While the short term benefits of smoking cigarettes is real, the harm is equally real - and it’s potentially much more serious and long lasting.

There are several common factors that tend to lead someone to smoke. Stress, peer pressure and other psychological factors are present for virtually everyone. Substituting a toxic chemical for a healthier means of dealing with them is often viewed as simpler. But the long range consequences can be dire.

Official estimates are that 87% of lung cancer cases can be attributed to long-term, heavy smoking. The odds of stroke are 2-4 times higher for smokers than non-smokers. The risks of coronary heart disease are similar. For COPDs (chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases), such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis or asthma, the statistics are equally frightening. About 80-90% of COPD cases are among those who smoke.

The specific scientific facts took a few generations to establish. But there are now thousands of studies that correlate smoking with ill health effects. While the exact causes and links between smoking and stroke or cancer are still not fully known, the correlation is overwhelming.

The relationship, for example, between the increased build up of fatty deposits on the arteries as a result of smoking is well established. The effects on the lungs as tar builds up in the alveoli are plain to see. The hacking, reduced energy and other effects require no scientific study to know.

Several dozen carcinogenic compounds have been identified in cigarette smoke. They range from such familiar terms as tar and benzene to nitrosamines. Carbon monoxide is present in cigarette smoke, where it binds with hemoglobin to deprive the blood stream of needed oxygen.

Quitting isn’t easy. On average, only 6% succeed in stopping smoking permanently the first time they try. But it’s possible to be in that group, and to increase that number by joining it.

As with any long term health decision, it requires willpower. But that mental commitment can be aided by counseling as well as a wide range of products available today. Nicotine gum, patches and inhalers can help. Several non-nicotine alternatives are on the market, too. Anti-depressants like Zyban are an option. A newer prescription drug called Chantix has shown promise.

Dealing with the consequences of stopping smoking are trying. Weight gain is possible. Cravings are almost inevitable, for a while. But the long term benefits of quitting are real, immediate and enormous.

After a few years, the risks of stroke and heart disease return to what they are for non-smokers. The skin regenerates to a normal state. The overall energy level rises and the body and mind are better able to deal with the normal challenges of life.

Quit now and gain those advantages. The alternative is grim. For more information on quiting smoking have a look at the quit-smoking-expert for useful information.

Why Is Cigarette Smoking Habit Forming?

January 15th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

Nicotine is one of the most well known components of inhaled cigarette smoke. But is it addictive? Yes and no. The details that make clear that paradoxical statement are interesting.

Nicotine itself is not addictive. But then, neither is heroin. It’s what the body does with that compound that produces the result. Think that’s quibbling over words? Read on…

The average cigarette delivers between 1.2 – 2.9 mg of nicotine, according to data from the National Institute of Drug Abuse. But, of course, very few smokers limit themselves to one per day. The average one pack-per-day user will absorb between 20-40 mg per day. That may not sound like much, but the effects are considerable.

Nicotine stimulates regions of the brain in the area of the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland. Big words, but important ones. These areas play a large role in the endocrine system, the part of the body that regulates hormones.

Small doses of nicotine produce alertness, making cigarette smoke a stimulant. Larger doses act more like a sedative. So the impetus for smoking to become a habit is two-fold: cigarettes both stimulate and relax.

They do that by producing several effects.

Many drugs can’t penetrate the blood-brain barrier, the system that selectively allows only certain molecules into the brain. But nicotine manages to indirectly defeat that protective function. Nicotine increases the levels of endorphins, the well-known ‘runners high’ compounds.

It also affects the availability of dopamine in the brain, which is responsible to a large degree for the positive feelings associated with smoking. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a role in the brain associated with reinforcing desirable behavior. Signals are sent that say ’smoking is pleasurable’. Unfortunately, it doesn’t send signals that inform the smoker that ’smoking is also harmful’.

In addition, nicotine stimulates the adrenal glands. That causes them to release the hormone named after them, adrenaline. That in turn causes a spike in glucose levels, leading to increased respiration and heart rate, raising blood pressure.

Within limits, those latter effects are perceived as desirable. That’s the stimulating effect. But at the same time, over time, that result can wear arteries more rapidly than they otherwise would. Along with other compounds like carbon monoxide, CO, which tends to produce fatty deposits and harden vessels, the arteries are ‘aged’. They’re less effective at their purpose: delivering blood.

Nicotine has other effects on the body.

It suppresses insulin release from the pancreas. That hormone plays a critical role in regulating glucose. Excess glucose in the blood encourages the development of diabetes. Cigarette smoking doesn’t directly cause diabetes, but it slightly ups the odds. Combined with a statistical increase in obesity in many countries, upping the odds isn’t helpful.

Reducing the regular dosage of nicotine by reducing or quitting smoking, reverses many of the perceived pleasurable effects. As a result, quitting is more difficult. But using willpower, patches and other stop-smoking methods means keeping in mind that ‘long-term harmful’ outweighs ’short-term pleasurable’ by any rational calculation. For more information on quiting smoking have a look at the quit-smoking-expert for useful information.

What’s In Cigarette Smoke?

January 8th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

There are thousands of chemical compounds in cigarette smoke, many of them toxic. But simply displaying a long list of intimidating names, and even pointing out which are harmful, isn’t particularly helpful. In medicine, dosage is key.

Many of the compounds in cigarette smoke are found in only trace amounts, in the range of nanograms for one cigarette. A nanogram is one-billionth of a gram. One gram is about 3/100 of an ounce or 1 g = 0.0353 oz. Nevertheless, there are a dozen or so ingredients that are not only potentially toxic, but found in significant quantities.

Tar, for example, is a part of most cigarettes. It is found at different levels, from 10-14 mg per cigarette. Even so-called ‘low tar’ cigarettes typically contain 8-9 mg. Just like the counterpart which coats chimneys, it produces a black substance that lines the lung. That interferes with the action of the alveoli.

The alveoli are tiny sacs in the lungs that allow for oxygen to be transported into the blood stream. Their life-giving action can also be hindered by very low amounts of carbon monoxide (CO).

Carbon monoxide bonds with hemoglobin in the blood, a molecule that plays a significant role in transporting oxygen in the body. CO interferes with that role, rendering the oxygen unavailable. In concentrations as low as 400 parts per million it can cause headaches. It’s present in the average cigarette in the amount of 13.4 mg.

Nicotine, too, is one of the major ingredients. Indeed, it’s one of the primary reasons people continue to smoke cigarettes. Nicotine isn’t itself directly addictive. But it causes the brain to release dopamine, which produces some of the good feelings associated with the habit. Withdrawal symptoms are in part the result of those falling dopamine levels.

Though it varies by brand, approximately 1.2 mg of nicotine is present in each cigarette. The body absorbs less of a compound than is present in cigarette smoke. But up to about 70% of the total is inhaled. Also, most people smoke more than one cigarette per day. So, the total absorbed will be between 20-40 mg per day for the average smoker.

It’s also true that sometimes what sounds like a very tiny amount can do a lot of harm. For example, it may require only a few dozen molecules in the air for a scent to be strong enough to be picked up by a dog’s nose. Many of the systems in the human body are similarly sensitive.

There are several organic compounds present in cigarette smoke in even larger quantities. Today, labeling something organic is often a code-word for healthy. But in science, it simply means that something contains carbon (and usually oxygen and hydrogen, as well, often nitrogen, too). In other words, it contains elements often found in living entities. But not all organic compounds are healthy for all living things, particularly humans.

Benzene, for example, is a type of organic solvent, similar to paint thinner. In fact, a common ingredient of paint thinner, toluene, is also present in cigarette smoke. Benzene concentrations are nearly 50 micro grams and toluene’s nearly 74 micro grams.

These are only a few of the potentially harmful compounds in cigarette smoke. In sufficient concentration, when they build up in the lungs and elsewhere, that ‘potential’ is often converted into ‘actual’. The National Institute of Cancer estimates that about 87% of lung cancer cases are caused by cigarette smoking (30% of all cancers), many of them preventable.

It’s time to re-consider what you’re putting into your body. For more information on quiting smoking have a look at the quit-smoking-expert for useful information.

Stress and its role in Smoking

January 1st, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

Many smokers start or continue their habit in order to deal with stress. But quitting smoking increases stress itself. That double-whammy makes it doubly hard to stop. Understanding what creates stress and finding healthier ways to deal with it well help in that struggle.

At low dosages, nicotine is a stimulant. It increases heart rate and raises the blood pressure. Those biological changes interact to produce psychological ones. They’re perceived, up to a point, as pleasurable. At higher levels, nicotine induces a relaxing state.

Both those effects tend to alleviate stress. Stimulation generates alertness. That gives a positive feeling, induced to a degree by the dopamine generated in the brain, along with other changes to its pleasure centers. Inducing relaxation has a clear and direct influence on stress level.

Yet, physiologically, stress or anxiety and feeling the exhilaration of challenge are very similar. The key to the difference lies in how we evaluate the external events and the reactions to them within ourselves.

Few external events, if any, are inherently stressful. It depends on how we evaluate their potential impact on our goals and values. Yet, the facts that lead to that evaluation are real. The loss of a loved one, the risk of losing a job, even everyday situations such as someone changing lanes rapidly in front of us on the highway are all potentially stressful. There’s a high likelihood those will negatively impact what we want.

Turning to cigarette smoking to deal with that stress is, in part, substituting a chemical for a change in attitude.

We can, for example, conclude that everyone on the road is rude and dangerous. But that’s obviously an overgeneralization. Most people don’t take foolish risks on the road most of the time. The risk of lower income from losing a job can happen. But we might also get another, even better, job in a day or a week.

It’s difficult to take that positive attitude right at the moment of quitting smoking. That’s one of the reasons only about 6% of those who stop succeed long-term on their first try. One thing can help: build up that attitude before reaching for a cigarette. Work on it while engaging in the habit.

Look to events that are often associated with lighting up, even when they don’t directly involve stress. An after meal cigarette can be delayed. Delay it longer and longer each day or week. Before long, that one is eliminated from the daily nicotine dose.

Build a more long term solution to stress by saving a small part of your income each week or month. Let it lay in an account collecting interest. Small amounts build up over time and provide a cushion to fall back on if the job does disappear. That lowers the stress at the moment, but also all the time you’re saving. Knowing that money is there now in case it’s needed later reduces the stress that can come from imagining the worst in the future.

Look for ways to reevaluate situations that cause stress. No one becomes stoic overnight. Nor is the attitude that ‘nothing matters’ helpful, either. Some things do and should matter. But slowly building confidence in one’s ability to meet challenges successfully reduces the odds and frequency of stress.

That program eventually reduces the felt need to smoke, and increases the odds of being able to quit permanently. For more information on quiting smoking have a look at the quit-smoking-expert for useful information.

Smoking and Cancer

December 26th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Heavy, long-term cigarette smoking is often said to cause cancer, most prominently lung cancer and cancer of the larynx. And, the evidence is very strong, amounting to near certainty. But, interestingly enough, exactly how it does so is not fully known. It remains an active area of research.

Normal cells may be damaged, but they have the ability to repair themselves. In other cases, the cells are sloughed off and eliminated by the lymph system, then replaced by new ones. But this process can go awry. Cells can grow abnormally, taking on inappropriate shapes and performing incorrectly. When they do, and that growth reaches a certain level that the body can’t cope with, the result is cancer.

It is known that cigarette smoke contains many carcinogenic substances.

Tar, for example, is present in cigarette smoke chiefly from the burning paper that holds the tobacco, about 10-14 mg per cigarette. It gradually builds up in the alveoli, the small sacs in the lung that make possible absorption of oxygen into the blood stream. It’s believed that their presence is a continual irritant to the cells. That irritation eventually leads to uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells.

Other compounds, called nitrosamines, are present in varying amounts. They’re known to be carcinogenic from hundreds of clinical studies on small mammals. NNK is present in a very low concentration: 56.53 nanograms per cigarette. Other nitrosamines, like NNN and NAT, are present in roughly similar amounts.

A few dozen nanograms (one billionth of a gram - 1 g = 0.0353 oz) may sound like a small amount. But sometimes small amounts can have a large effect. Dog’s noses, for example, are so sensitive they can detect a few molecules of certain substances. Some systems in humans are equally sensitive to certain chemicals. Add to that the fact that many of the compounds and their effects are cumulative and the case begins to look very strong.

No study has found any link between cancer and consuming one or two cigarettes per day. But such smokers are extremely rare and the odds of them catching some other serious disease are so much higher it may be masked. A smoker who consumes a pack a day for 20 years has 2-4 times the chances of getting lung cancer than a non-smoker.

Non-smokers do, in fact get it. But that doesn’t show that smoking isn’t a cause, only that other causes can lead to the same effect. One reason scientists have good cause to believe that smoking increases the odds of getting lung cancer is just the odds cited above. Studies also show that lung cancer was much more rare prior to WWI when smoking rates were much lower. As the number of people smoking cigarettes rose, so did the cancer rate. Similarly, as people smoke more, the rates go up.

No single fact or study proves the case. But put enough of them together, over a long enough period, and eventually the case becomes very strong. So strong that saying ‘long-term, heavy smoking greatly increases the odds of acquiring lung cancer’ becomes a very reasonable statement indeed. It’s estimated that 87% of lung cancers are attributable to that habit.

Don’t let the odds get you. Start a stop-smoking program now. For more information on quiting smoking have a look at the quit-smoking-expert for useful information.

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