Stop Smoking for Better Health

Tue, Oct 6, 2009

Archives, Cancer, Dental Hygiene / Bad Breath, Heart Disease, Men's Health, Midlife Crisis, Women's Health

By Pratiek David

Stop Smoking - The days when smoking was considered an attractive habit are long gone. And the era when doctors assured us, via cigarette advertisements, that the future “cancer sticks” were in fact healthy, has become a distant memory.

Yet even today, according to the World Health Organization, almost 15 billion cigarettes are sold daily — or 10 million every minute worldwide.

Stop Smoking - The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention describes tobacco use as the most preventable risk to human health in developed as well as developing countries, and one of the leading causes of premature deaths worldwide.

Dr. Kartono Muhammad, former chairman of the Indonesian Medical Association now turned health care activist, says that aside from cancer, smokers often start to rely on nicotine — which has been classified as the most addictive substance in the world — in order to function normally.

Jeffery, a 24-year-old university student, says he was a chain smoker for seven years. “I usually smoked two packs a day, but if I was at a party on the weekend, maybe around three,” he says.

Stop Smoking - He quit smoking eight months ago and says that he still feels the urge to light up when around other smokers, but has managed to resist so far. “When I first quit smoking I felt that I couldn’t concentrate on my work, I had trouble sleeping and felt hungry all the time.”

Dr. Elly Ingkiriwang says that Jeffery’s reaction is typical of smokers who try to give up as a “lack of concentration, craving for food and difficulty in sleeping are all common symptoms among people who quit smoking without using nicotine substitutes.”

Stop Smoking However, an article published this year by the Journal of Neurochemistry, went further, describing a newly-discovered compound in tobacco, known only as a “procarcinogen,” which scientists define as a chemical substance that becomes carcinogenic when “altered by the metabolic process of the body.”

In other words, the compound causes an individual’s white blood cells to attack healthy cells, potentially leading to brain damage.

Various withdrawal symptoms occur among smokers when they decide to quit, especially among heavy smokers. The most common withdrawal symptom, as described by Dr. Kartono Muhammad, can manifest as depression, which occurs to most smokers after they quit as it can result in a lack of social contact, feelings of rejection and, in the most extreme cases, thoughts of suicide.

Another common withdrawal symptom is anxiety. This can result in sudden bursts of anger, lack of focus and an inability to control one’s emotions.

Many smokers who quit find themselves craving for food. This may seem harmless enough, but Dr. Muhammad describes it as “the most disliked symptom of them all.”

Michelle, a university student, gained 10 kilograms when she quit smoking. “It was the worst thing that ever happened to me and I was emotionally wrecked for two whole months,” she says.

Other symptoms include tingling in the hands and feet, sweating, cramps, nausea, headaches, and cold and flu symptoms as the lungs begin to clear of nicotine tar (including a sore throat, coughing, and other respiratory problems).

According to Dr. Muhammad, there are also many permanent effects for heavy smokers. If a person quits smoking and cancerous cells have developed without their knowledge, it is often too late for the cancer to be treated and can spread to other parts of the body. However, damaged cells have been known to heal and regenerate.

Contraction and clogging of the arteries and blood vessels can also occur, and unless bypass surgery is performed, heart attacks are common.

Stop Smoking The American Cancer Society states on its Web site that at least 30 percent of all cancer deaths — including cancers of the mouth, esophagus, larynx, stomach, penis and cervix — can be attributed to smoking, as are 87 percent of lung cancer cases, the leading cause of cancer deaths in both men and women in the US.

Smoking on a regular basis can also contribute to cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, asthma, premature aging, chest infections, diabetic retinopathy, tuberculosis, multiple sclerosis and Crohn’s disease.

Most of us are aware of these diseases and the media has been saturated with the information for years. So why do people decide to smoke in the first place?

Dr. Muhammad and Dr. Elly provide various reasons.

“Teens usually start to smoke because they think it makes them seem more adult, or they bow to peer pressure or experimentation,” Dr. Elly says.

“Adults usually smoke due to stress at home or work, or sometimes it may start as a social habit during business meetings with clients and eventually turns into a permanent addiction,” Dr. Muhammad adds.

Other reasons may also include emotional problems, or the perception that it makes the smoker look cooler, as often portrayed on TV or cinema.

Whatever the reason, medical experts are adamant that it is better to steer clear of tobacco rather than to become tangled in its dangerous web.

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