Post by Heike on Jul 17, 2019 10:49:46 GMT -5
(Compiled from numerous sources; this is written primarily for women, but much can apply to men also)
What are some of the reasons women smoke?
The following are some of the reasons that women smoke:
- to cope with stress or anger;
- to avoid eating or to control weight;
- to cope with poverty or unemployment;
- smoking can seem like an old friend;
- smoking can be a reward after completing a task;
- to take a break from caring for others, such as children or elderly parents;
- to take a break from work responsibilities;
- to cope with relationship problems;
- to cope with feelings of powerlessness;
- to cope with the loneliness or boredom of social isolation;
- to maintain social connections;
- to create distance to cope with uncomfortable or dangerous social situations, addiction to other substances such as alcohol; or
- to give themselves a sense of control.
When you figure out some of the reasons that you smoke, you may be able to replace some cigarettes with different ways of coping. For example, with a short walk on your lunch hour, instead of a cigarette, you can take a break from the responsibilities of work, clear your head and get some exercise.
How does smoking affect my health?
Here are some ways that smoking might affect your health:
- You may have more frequent coughs, colds and minor illnesses than if you did not smoke.
- Smoking decreases your chances of getting pregnant.
- Smoking and using oral contraceptives (birth control pills) greatly increases your risk of strokes, heart attacks and vascular complications.
- Smoking while pregnant increases your chances of having a miscarriage, premature labour or a low birth-weight baby.
- Smoking while you are pregnant or a new mother increases the chances of -- Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
- Smoking decreases bone density and increases your chances of breaking a bone.
- You may reach menopause earlier than you would have if you did not smoke.
- You are more likely to suffer from strokes and heart attacks.
- You are more likely to have lung cancer and a variety other cancers than if you did not smoke. Smoking causes at least 85% of lung cancers. Smoking is also strongly linked to cervical cancer and breast cancer. In addition, it is linked to cancer of the bladder, kidney, pancreas, mouth, esophagus, larynx and colon.
How can I get healthier if I'm not ready to quit smoking?
Even if you are not ready to quit smoking, you can take some steps to improve you health.
- Eat a variety of healthy foods every day. Include high fiber foods such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans and lentils.
- Drink at least 8 glasses of water daily. Water helps to flush toxins out of your body and to keep your organs and skin hydrated. This may help with some of the dehydrating effects of cigarettes.
- Limit your use of alcohol and caffeine.
- Schedule regular visits with your health care providers and have an annual Pap test.
- Learn about how to care for your breasts throughout your lifetime.
- If you are over 35, learn what you can do to ease perimenopausal and menopausal discomforts.
- Practice relaxation exercises - deep breathing, yoga, and meditation are some of the ways that women find to slow down, take a break and relieve stress.
- Begin to exercise regularly. See your doctor for an overall health assessment prior to starting a new exercise program. Be aware that smoking does decrease the functioning of your lungs so you will need to start slowly.
- Increase your intake of Vitamin C as smoking depletes your body of this important vitamin.
- Reduce the number of cigarettes you smoke.
- Smoke lighter cigarettes, but only if you are comfortable with them. If you're not, you will wind up smoking more, and inhaling more deeply, to keep your body supplied with nicotine.
- Be comfortable with the length of the cigarettes that you smoke. If your cigarette is too short for you, you're more likely to smoke a second cigarette immediately after the first cigarette. And if your cigarette is too long, you may very likely be smoking more than necessary to be satisfied.
- Consider smoking all-natural smoke cigarettes, but only if you enjoy them. All-natural cigarettes lack the additives and preservatives that are found in most cigarette brands, which often are in themselves very addictive, making non-natural brands more addictive than their all-natural counterparts. But if you switch to all-natural cigarettes, please know in advance that you have withdrawal symptoms for about a weekk, just as if you were to quit smoking, but not nearly as intense. This is because zour body is screaming for the other chemicals that were in your old cigarette brand.
- If you smoke menthol cigarettes, consider switching to regulars. Women who smoke menthols inhale more deeply with each drag. Consequently, they take in more nicotine and toxins than smokers who smoke regulars. Menthol stimulates cold receptors in the throat, producing a cooling sensation, so smokers find the smoke less irritating as they inhale. Which leads them to inhale more deeply.
When you're finally ready to quit smoking.
If you decide to that you are ready to quit smoking, please think about this: 1) nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), and 2) your menstrual cycle.
- NRT is the use of various forms of nicotine delivery methods intended to replace nicotine obtained from smoking. These products are marketed for use in smoking cessation efforts to help deal with withdrawal symptoms and cravings caused by the loss of nicotine from cigarettes. Several forms of NRT have been marketed, including the nicotine patch, nicotine inhaler, nasal spray, gum, sublingual tablet, lozenge, and electronic cigarette. As a method of delivering nicotine into the bloodstream, NRT is thought to be is a comparatively less dangerous method than tobacco smoking. Most smoking related ailments are not caused by nicotine, but by other constituents of tobacco smoke such as carbon monoxide and the other 4000 chemicals present in tobacco. Nicotine merely serves to keep the smoker addicted. NRT reduces the urge to smoke that most smokers have in the early days of being quit, giving the smoker a better chance of keeping her quit. Pregnant women and light smokers should avoid NRT, and utilize behavioral counseling cessation interventions. No two women are the same and it is recommended to discuss with your doctor as to which nicotine replacement is best for you.
- Scientists have discovered powerful causal connections between the hormones and the need for cigarettes. Most doctors agree that women who quit smoking in the first half of their menstrual cycle, or the follicular phase (from the beginning of menstruation until ovulation, or the fourteenth day of the cycle), are not as likely to stay smoke-free, as women who quit smoking in the second half of their cycle, or the luteal phase (after ovulation, until menstruation begins) This is because the high quantities of progesterone is found during the luteal phase, which is helpful in clearing nicotine from the body. And this reduces withdrawal symptoms. Also during the luteal phase, women are less tempted to smoke when they see other smokers, because of reduced quantities of estrogen, which are much higher in the follicular phase.
What are some of the reasons women smoke?
Women smoke for many different reasons in addition to being physically addicted to the nicotine in cigarettes. When you are thinking about how smoking affects your health, it can help to know why you smoke.
The following are some of the reasons that women smoke:
- to cope with stress or anger;
- to avoid eating or to control weight;
- to cope with poverty or unemployment;
- smoking can seem like an old friend;
- smoking can be a reward after completing a task;
- to take a break from caring for others, such as children or elderly parents;
- to take a break from work responsibilities;
- to cope with relationship problems;
- to cope with feelings of powerlessness;
- to cope with the loneliness or boredom of social isolation;
- to maintain social connections;
- to create distance to cope with uncomfortable or dangerous social situations, addiction to other substances such as alcohol; or
- to give themselves a sense of control.
When you figure out some of the reasons that you smoke, you may be able to replace some cigarettes with different ways of coping. For example, with a short walk on your lunch hour, instead of a cigarette, you can take a break from the responsibilities of work, clear your head and get some exercise.
How does smoking affect my health?
Here are some ways that smoking might affect your health:
- You may have more frequent coughs, colds and minor illnesses than if you did not smoke.
- Smoking decreases your chances of getting pregnant.
- Smoking and using oral contraceptives (birth control pills) greatly increases your risk of strokes, heart attacks and vascular complications.
- Smoking while pregnant increases your chances of having a miscarriage, premature labour or a low birth-weight baby.
- Smoking while you are pregnant or a new mother increases the chances of -- Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
- Smoking decreases bone density and increases your chances of breaking a bone.
- You may reach menopause earlier than you would have if you did not smoke.
- You are more likely to suffer from strokes and heart attacks.
- You are more likely to have lung cancer and a variety other cancers than if you did not smoke. Smoking causes at least 85% of lung cancers. Smoking is also strongly linked to cervical cancer and breast cancer. In addition, it is linked to cancer of the bladder, kidney, pancreas, mouth, esophagus, larynx and colon.
How can I get healthier if I'm not ready to quit smoking?
Even if you are not ready to quit smoking, you can take some steps to improve you health.
- Eat a variety of healthy foods every day. Include high fiber foods such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans and lentils.
- Drink at least 8 glasses of water daily. Water helps to flush toxins out of your body and to keep your organs and skin hydrated. This may help with some of the dehydrating effects of cigarettes.
- Limit your use of alcohol and caffeine.
- Schedule regular visits with your health care providers and have an annual Pap test.
- Learn about how to care for your breasts throughout your lifetime.
- If you are over 35, learn what you can do to ease perimenopausal and menopausal discomforts.
- Practice relaxation exercises - deep breathing, yoga, and meditation are some of the ways that women find to slow down, take a break and relieve stress.
- Begin to exercise regularly. See your doctor for an overall health assessment prior to starting a new exercise program. Be aware that smoking does decrease the functioning of your lungs so you will need to start slowly.
- Increase your intake of Vitamin C as smoking depletes your body of this important vitamin.
- Reduce the number of cigarettes you smoke.
- Smoke lighter cigarettes, but only if you are comfortable with them. If you're not, you will wind up smoking more, and inhaling more deeply, to keep your body supplied with nicotine.
- Be comfortable with the length of the cigarettes that you smoke. If your cigarette is too short for you, you're more likely to smoke a second cigarette immediately after the first cigarette. And if your cigarette is too long, you may very likely be smoking more than necessary to be satisfied.
- Consider smoking all-natural smoke cigarettes, but only if you enjoy them. All-natural cigarettes lack the additives and preservatives that are found in most cigarette brands, which often are in themselves very addictive, making non-natural brands more addictive than their all-natural counterparts. But if you switch to all-natural cigarettes, please know in advance that you have withdrawal symptoms for about a weekk, just as if you were to quit smoking, but not nearly as intense. This is because zour body is screaming for the other chemicals that were in your old cigarette brand.
- If you smoke menthol cigarettes, consider switching to regulars. Women who smoke menthols inhale more deeply with each drag. Consequently, they take in more nicotine and toxins than smokers who smoke regulars. Menthol stimulates cold receptors in the throat, producing a cooling sensation, so smokers find the smoke less irritating as they inhale. Which leads them to inhale more deeply.
When you're finally ready to quit smoking.
If you decide to that you are ready to quit smoking, please think about this: 1) nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), and 2) your menstrual cycle.
- NRT is the use of various forms of nicotine delivery methods intended to replace nicotine obtained from smoking. These products are marketed for use in smoking cessation efforts to help deal with withdrawal symptoms and cravings caused by the loss of nicotine from cigarettes. Several forms of NRT have been marketed, including the nicotine patch, nicotine inhaler, nasal spray, gum, sublingual tablet, lozenge, and electronic cigarette. As a method of delivering nicotine into the bloodstream, NRT is thought to be is a comparatively less dangerous method than tobacco smoking. Most smoking related ailments are not caused by nicotine, but by other constituents of tobacco smoke such as carbon monoxide and the other 4000 chemicals present in tobacco. Nicotine merely serves to keep the smoker addicted. NRT reduces the urge to smoke that most smokers have in the early days of being quit, giving the smoker a better chance of keeping her quit. Pregnant women and light smokers should avoid NRT, and utilize behavioral counseling cessation interventions. No two women are the same and it is recommended to discuss with your doctor as to which nicotine replacement is best for you.
- Scientists have discovered powerful causal connections between the hormones and the need for cigarettes. Most doctors agree that women who quit smoking in the first half of their menstrual cycle, or the follicular phase (from the beginning of menstruation until ovulation, or the fourteenth day of the cycle), are not as likely to stay smoke-free, as women who quit smoking in the second half of their cycle, or the luteal phase (after ovulation, until menstruation begins) This is because the high quantities of progesterone is found during the luteal phase, which is helpful in clearing nicotine from the body. And this reduces withdrawal symptoms. Also during the luteal phase, women are less tempted to smoke when they see other smokers, because of reduced quantities of estrogen, which are much higher in the follicular phase.
