Clean Air Hudson Health

Archive for the ‘Quit Smoking’ Category

Smoking by all means is hazardous to the health. In last few years, there had been much discussion on the hazards of passive smoking, whereby the children or adults staying with smokers were also found at high-risk of cancer due to inhaling the smoke. Here is a discussion on observations at our asthma clinic about the incidence of asthmatic exacerbation in children who though not directly exposed to smokers showing the similar affection, just due to staying in the same apartment.

At our asthma clinic, we always find children suffering with asthma, who give a history of having a smoker in their family. Children who play at the park where many people smoke in the evening also show severe asthmatic exacerbation. This has been attributed as ‘passive smoking’ where in children inhale the air polluted by a smoker. This is more common when you sit near or stay in a house of a smoker. It is also observed that this kind of passive smoking affects our body tissues as deeply as smoking affects a smoker’s organs. Thus it has always been kept on high alert.

There have always been measures to avoid passive smoking, such as having smoking and non-smoking sections in the public places like restaurants or gardens. In spite of that, the statistics or the incidence of children affected due to passive smoking has remained not much altered. In one of the monthly meetings to discuss various issues faced in the clinic, we had proposed this theory of micro-exposure to tobacco smoke in children who stay in apartments or houses situated in a crop-pattern like those of refugee camps. Though the history may not reveal any particular pattern of nearby incidence of smoking around the child, we have presumed that the smoking in the vicinity can pollute the air and the micro-particles can remain suspended in that air for longer time even days after the smoking has occurred.

Our theory has been supported by the research from the University of Rochester Medical Center who have reported that the housing type can be considered as a potential contributor to children’s exposure to cigarette smoke. The blood levels of cotinine found in the blood of such children proves this assumption. This also shows that the smoke or micro-particles can spread through ventilation pipes used in apartments and the child may not need to get exposed to the smoker directly.

Many parents are trying to limit their children’s tobacco smoke exposure by not allowing smoking in their apartments, but they say they can smell tobacco smoke coming from other apartments or from common areas. In spite of that, if we consider our assumptions and the observations of such studies to the general social arrangements, especially of creating smoking and non-smoking demarcation in the public places like restaurants and movie-theatres, it seems the arrangements are not enough to avoid the exposure to the cigarette-smoke pollutants.

If you are a non-smoker, and your spouse smokes you may be wondering what you can do to get him or her to stop smoking. As a hypnotist who helps people in the Greater Toronto area (Ontario, Canada) stop smoking with hypnosis I get asked this question all the time. Let’s begin with why you want your spouse to quit smoking. If is just because you can’t stand the smell or mess, your strategy will be different than if you are concerned about the health implications of his or her smoking. Focus on your ultimate outcome, not trying to force your partner to quit smoking.

I’ve yet to find an adult smoker that didn’t know that smoking is bad for them, but this knowledge doesn’t help them quit! I had a mental health nurse come to see me at my Toronto smoking cessation clinic, and she laughed about standing outside the hospital with her smoking buddy who was a cardiologist. These people knew more about the biological effects of smoking than we ever will, but this understanding did nothing to help them quit. If you nag your partner, the most likely outcome is that you will just create more resistance. Smokers need caring and loving support, not lectures about cancer and heart attacks.

Often spouses try emotional blackmail or control tactics and end up creating a power struggle and needless resistance. What works best is to come from a place of love so that you can talk with your partner about their smoking. Understand what smoking does for them. If you are able to discuss their habit in a non-threatening and loving way, you may find out that your spouse really wants to quit, but is afraid or doesn’t know how. If your love wants to kick the habit, then it becomes the two of you against the nasty habit instead of the two of you against each other. This will make your relationship stronger and the quit effort easier.

It may even surprise you to know that some smokers actually hate the habit but just can’t quit. They don’t believe they can cope without their crutch. However, if you try and force this type of person to quit, most often they will put up a smoke screen of anger or denial to prevent having to deal with uncomfortable feelings. What these people need to quit is love and support as well as help to change the belief systems and thought patterns that keep them hooked. Clearing out these patterns is the key to helping your partner break free.

The worst thing you can try to force your spouse to quit before they are ready since it will only make it harder for both of you. I’ve had people come to see me after a spouse said, “You get your butt in there and make him make you quit smoking.” Sure they come in to please their spouse, but they aren’t ready to quit, and they often put up so much resistance that I couldn’t work with them. Attempting to get someone to quit who isn’t ready is usually a recipe for disaster. At best it creates a lot of unnecessary struggle, but more often it results in a failed quit attempt. If your partner isn’t willing to quit, just accept it and continue to provide loving support so when they are ready you’ll be able to support them. Change the discussion to the subject of protecting your health and keeping your children clear of second hand smoke. Negotiate a code of conduct where your partner only smokes at designated times when the children aren’t home, and in designated locations outside the home. Make it about your rights to health and protecting your children, not about your partner’s right to smoke. Given the way attitudes have changed about smoking and research showing the dangers of secondhand smoke I’ve seen many cases where the smoking partner was very willing to cooperate as long as the negotiations were carried out in a loving and respectful manner.

What if that fails? Well then you have to ask yourself deeper questions about the value of your relationship and how important it is to you to live in a smoke free environment. If your spouse won’t quit or smoke outside, your best choices are either accept it, or move on if its something that you can’t live with. Just be sure that you don’t issue the ultimatum “it’s me or the smokes” unless are really serous about following though. Strong-arm tactics, emotional blackmail and other types of leverage usually just erode your relationship, which will make life unpleasant for both of you.

Coping with a spouse that doesn’t want to stop smoking isn’t easy, but if the situation is approached with sensitivity, love and respect, workable solutions are possible.

People who smoke and who also have symptoms of hypertension are increasing their risk of doing damage to their heart.

The big factor in hypertension is the narrowing of the blood vessels. With each puff from a cigarette, the blood vessels constrict even more, which will have a direct impact on high blood pressure, causing it to increase.

Hypertension risk factors:

Family history, gender, age, race, high body fat, stress and smoking.

Smoking contributes to the development of plaque on the walls of the blood vessels, resulting in a more narrow passageway which makes the work harder for the heart.

This puts added strain on the heart muscle and vessels, which can lead to inflammation. Additionally, the heart can become enlarged, which will affect the pumping action and the heart’s ability to circulate blood to the rest of the body.

How smoking affects you:

There are thousands of toxins in cigarettes which enter your body every time you smoke. This reduces the amount of oxygen present in your system.

Nicotine promotes the production of adrenalin in the adrenal gland, which restricts the blood vessels and increases blood pressure.

Chemical properties of cigarettes:

Benzene (petrol additive)

A colourless cyclic hydrocarbon obtained from coal and petroleum, used as a solvent in fuel and in chemical manufacture – and contained in cigarette smoke. It is a known carcinogen and is associated with leukaemia.

Formaldehyde (embalming fluid)

A colorless liquid, highly poisonous, used to preserve dead bodies – also found in cigarette smoke. Known to cause cancer, respiratory, skin and gastrointestinal problems.

Ammonia (toilet cleaner)

Used as a flavoring, frees nicotine from tobacco turning it into a gas, found in dry cleaning fluids.

Acetone (nail polish remover)

This substance is also used as a solvent and is found in the smoke of cigarettes.

Tar Particulate

This is a substance that enters the lungs when you inhale, with around 70% of it remaining their on the wall of the lungs.

Nicotine (insecticide/addictive drug)

An extremely addictive substance.

Carbon Monoxide (CO) (car exhaust fumes)

This gas is tasteless and without odor, but is fatal in large quantities.

Arsenic (rat poison),

Hydrogen Cyanide (gas chamber poison)

Hypertension increases your risk for heart attack, and smoking increases your blood pressure. If you are hypertensive and smoke, it would be in your best interest to stop smoking to avoid complications that could threaten your life.

Your health care professional can best assist you options available to help you kick the nicotine habit for good.

Cigars have been portrayed as high society compared with cigarettes. The increase of cigar smoking in the recent years are also seen to be associated with products that goes with the cigar smoking, like clippers and humidors have given a glamorous color cigars. Battles in which is more harmful for the health has been continuously debated between the cigarette and cigars. Both are harmful for smokers, disregards to which has higher chemical substances that causes health problems; cigar smoking and health risks goes hand in hand as the cigarette smoking, as well.

The cigar that is rampant in both young and old is causing health problems to its smokers, also. Cigar smoking and health problems that comes with it has been identified by health professionals by tests done on the components found in the smoke inhaled and released by the smokers. Smoking cigars causes different oral cancers, included are the cancers of the tongue, oral cavity and the lip. Deeper in the mouth are the cancers of the larynx, esophagus and pharynx, and the similarities of these cancers are the cure rate for all of them being low. This means that the cancer will always be with the individual who developed it.

Cigar smoking and the health risks on its smokers are based on its habitual users. As it is with cigarette smokers, the more cigars smoked the higher health risks the individual has. The same diseases developed by cigarette smokers can be developed by cigar smokers too. Generally viewing both cigar and cigarette smokers, they get the same toxic components from both smoking. Both have carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, ammonia, volatile aldehydes, and nicotine for the toxic components; benzene, vinyl chloride, arsenic, ethylene oxide, cadmium, chromium, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, and nitrosamines are their human carcinogens.

Cigar tobaccos have high concentrations of nitrates and nitrites, which are increased in levels when smoking into tobacco specified nitrosamines, human carcinogen in the most potent form known. Moreover, combustion of the tobacco in a cigar is a lot more incomplete compared to that of a cigarette, with this characteristic of the nonporous wrapper of the cigar, concentration of the ammonia, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides as well as tar is seen higher than that of a cigarette.

Most consumers or smokers does not have an idea as to what both has in store for them, producers of these cigars and cigarettes are pointing towards the other when health risks are discussed, nevertheless, both have the toxins, addictions and risks of many life-threatening diseases. To gain health, smoking has to be stopped whether with a cigar or a cigarette.

When it comes to methods for quitting smoking, there is no shortage of options. Some of them work well for people on their own, while others have to be used in conjunction with something else. Whatever the case may be, the task of stopping smoking is never easy and if you’ve been smoking for any number of years you will know this. It can cost quite a bit of money to finally land upon a method that works for you, but in the end getting a bit of help is the best way to go. You can even consult your doctor for methods that might help in quitting. There is medical science on your side so never lose hope.

Nicotine replacement can come in the form of patches, gum, and even inhalers. Patches are effective and they are placed on the skin, allowing for absorption of nicotine into the bloodstream. They can take some time to get used to since there is no way to control dosage when using a single patch. Nicotine gum is also popular and many people enjoy having something to keep their mouths occupied. Some people complain of the taste of these gums but there are many new types that incorporate decent flavours like mint and fruit. Nicotine inhalers are relatively new and they involve blasting spurts of nicotine into the mouth. They are compact and easily portable, allowing for great convenience in your task of quitting.

Many people try to use willpower when quitting smoking and this can work to a certain degree. You need a certain degree of resolve to be successful, but quite often willpower gets severely tested after a while. It can be especially hard when people are exposed to familiar triggers that make a person want to smoke again. So don’t feel bad if you can’t do it by yourself – nicotine is a fully addictive substance that may need other measures to stop using. It may also take a few tries to stop smoking so keep at it if you want to be successful one day.