The Benefits If You Choose Quit Smoking

Every New Year’s Day thousands of people around the world take a look at their lives and decide to quit smoking cigarettes and take a healthier approach to living their life.

Unfortunately many people who make a New Year’s resolution whether to join a gym and get fit, go on a diet and loses weight or quit smoking cigarettes soon find their level of commitment and determination starting to wane and their personal goal moving further away rather than closer.

Making a commitment is however the first step and if you have decided to stop smoking New Year’s Day but then quickly give into temptation and begin smoking another cigarette then you need to learn from your mistake and begin the whole process of quitting smoking again until you finally succeed.

One way to stay committed is to have a list of strong reasons to stop smoking and then to know what the benefits of stopping smoking are.

One of the first benefits you will notice will be the amount of money you save. Smoking is an expensive habit that gets more expensive each year and once you stop smoking you will have more money to do and have some of the things that you always wanted but could not afford.

Another benefit is that you wont have to stand around outside in the cold, wind or the rain during the winter months, plan your day around your nicotine habit or feel uncomfortable in situation were you cannot smoke.

The most important benefit that comes after giving up smoking will be the health benefits that begin to occur after you smoke your last cigarette. These include an overall improvement in health and energy levels as your body begins the process of repairing itself after the damage caused by smoking.

However stopping smoking will be one of the hardest things you do all year or in your entire life for that matter and to increase the chances of success it is important to plan ahead before you stop smoking and make sure you are prepared and have decided on the stop smoking method or product you plan to use.

Smoking cessation methods and products include NRT products such as the nicotine patch, gum or inhaler or alternative methods such as acupuncture, aromatherapy or hypnosis but which ever way you choose to stop smoking it is your level of commitment that will be the most important factor on your side.

From the very moment that you smoke your last cigarette, your body is doing all it can to eliminate whatever it cannot use. Our bodies are like a huge conglomerate that owns many different manufacturing businesses. And each of those manufacturing plants are the trillions of cells that our body houses. When we add anything to our body, air, water, food, or any organic or inorganic substance, our body looks to identify it and send it to where it can be used in the manufacturing process. And what is our body manufacturing? Hormones, blood, lymph fluids, saliva, tears, new cells, whatever it needs to stay alive and functioning as well as possible.

So anything that our body cannot use is either stored or eliminated. Anything that comes into our body from cigarette smoking is not needed by our body. I never heard of a normal human being having a deficiency of any of the more than 4000 chemical compounds that a burning cigarette supplies to us. So what isn’t stored is released. Nicotine is one of the chemicals that leaves our body quickly. So quickly that it is felt almost immediately upon the cessation of your last cigarette. That’s the normal discomfort that a smoker feels that they associate with needing another cigarette. Some think it’s a craving, but it’s not. It’s just a mild sensation that goes away when you smoke. In most smokers it is so mild that if they are distracted by anything they will completely forget they were looking for a smoke.

So here’s what happens within 24 hours of your last smoke:

The human body is amazingly resilient. Within the first 20 minutes of quitting, the healing process begins. The benefits will continue to improve your health and quality of life for years. When you quit smoking, the benefits begin within minutes of your last cigarette.

At 20 minutes after quitting:

Blood pressure decreases
Pulse rate drops
Body temperature of hands and feet increases

At 8 hours:

Carbon monoxide level in blood drops to normal
Oxygen level in blood increases to normal

At 24 hours:

Chance of a heart attack decreases

So I’m sure you have some personal reasons to quit smoking, and it’s time to start focusing on them until you are so fed up with smoking and not having the control you want that you are ready to quit right now.

If you can muster up that kind of intensity on your own, that’s great! If not, don’t worry, all is not lost. Either way, when you need some help quitting smoking, there are a number of options available. One of the most common options is nicotine replacement therapy or NRT. You might know it as the patch. Another form is drug therapy, where your doctor will prescribe a powerful anti-depressant drug like wellbutrin to help you stabilize your emotions so you can quit. Another method with great success is hypnosis to quit smoking.

So why stop smoking?

o Within 20 minutes, your blood pressure, pulse rate and the temperature of your hands and feet return to normal.
o Within 8 hours, oxygen level in the blood increases to normal as carbon monoxide in blood decreases.
o In 24 hours, your risk of heart attack starts dropping.
o In 2 days, your nerve endings start to regrow, and your senses of smell and taste improve.
o In 3 days, breathing gets easier and lung capacity increases.
o Within 2 weeks to 3 months, circulation gets better; lung function improves up to 30%, and walking gets easier.
o Within 1 to 9 months, lung cilia regrow; coughing, sinus problems and shortness of breath decrease, and you’ll have more energy.
o After 7 years, ex-smokers’ mortality rates approach those of people who have never smoked.

It is very common for an individual to experience the following symptoms or side effects after you don’t smoke anymore.

o After you stop smoking, you might feel a little lightheaded or dizzy. This is due to the fact that about 40% of the oxygen in each red blood cell is replaced by carbon monoxide when you smoke.
o After you quit smoking, you might cough more. Smoking causes your body to produce extra mucus to try and protect your lungs from the additives in tobacco. The toxins in tobacco smoke paralyze and eventually kill the cilia (hair like cells) that wave back and forth to sweep particles out of the lungs. Once you stop, you don’t need the extra mucus; therefore, the cilia that are left move back into action and you cough to eliminate the excess mucus.
o After you don’t smoke anymore, you might experience feelings of withdrawal. This is due to your entire body being used to the artificial stimulation of nicotine and the 4,000 plus other chemicals in tobacco smoke.
o After you quit, emotionally, you may feel slightly depressed, anxious, antsy and jumpy. It is also quite normal to experience insomnia or have trouble concentrating.

I am often asked if there is an herbal to help with smoking. The primary quit smoking herbal I would suggest would be lobelia. Lobelia’s common name is Indian tobacco. Lobelia contains about 0.48% pyridine (piperidine) alkaloids composed mainly of lobeline with lesser amounts of lobelanine, lobelanidine, and other alkaloids. Lobelia, also contains resin, gum, lipids, and chelidonic acid. Lobelia is a very effective expectorant. Although it has a long history as an herb to curb smoking, it also has a long history in the use of asthma.

Lobelia causes broncho-constriction and is a respiratory stimulant. Lobelia also binds to nicotine acetylcholine receptors in ganglions, thus promoting the release of norepinephrine and epinephrine. It is this action on adrenal hormone secretion that is responsible for lobelia’s therapeutic effects. Lobelia is used to lessen nicotine withdrawal, as it has a similar action to nicotine.

Ingestion of toxic levels of lobelia as a quit smoking herbal usually result in vomiting thereby lessening the likelihood of a fatal outcome. As with any intensive dietary program, you should consult a healthcare professional.

Why should you quit smoking? Cigarette smoke contains over 4000 chemicals and when it’s inhaled the come together to form a tar like substance that sticks to the mouth, throat, lungs and stomach. Not only do the chemicals cause harm to the areas that they come into direct contact with, but it also impairs the ability for the body to receive oxygen rich blood. People who smoke are more than double or triple likely to get cataracts. Second hand smoke can cause damage to those around you, even family and friends who choose not to smoke.

There are many benefits of quitting smoking. Within one month of quitting, you will decrease your heart rate, and the level of carbon monoxide in your blood will also decrease, as will your risk of heart attacks. The long term benefits are multiple, including reducing risks for strokes, lung cancer, stomach cancer, bladder cancer, coronary heart disease, such as heart attack, chronic lunch diseases and chronic cough. If you have been a quitter for 5 years or more, your risk for a stroke is the same as the risk of a non-smoker. If you have been a quitter for 15 years or more, your heart attack risk is the same of a non-smoker.

You will need to have a serious mental commitment to quitting, if you choose to do so. You should have a quit date, as this is helpful in preparing your mind. You should mentally refer to yourself as a non-smoker and this can also prepare yourself mentally, for when you really are a non-smoker. You should get rid of all of your cigarettes and things that may tempt you to smoke from your home, workplace and car. Visit your chiropractor in Schaumburg for more healthy and helpful tips for smoking cigarettes.