Quitting The Smoking Habit

If you've made a resolution to quit smoking or if you are  a smoker you can quit the habit in 2013.

Quitting smoking, at any time has tremendous health benefits, but the younger you are when you quit the greater they are.

Quitting has immediate and long-term effects, the longer you stay quit the greater the effects.

Why Quit
Tobacco is a major health risk factor for non-communicable diseases and a big public health concern.

Almost 6 million people die each year due to smoking and 600,000 who are not smokers die from second-hand smoke.

Smoking delays or prevents recovery from unavoidable illnesses.

Quitting will prevent premature deaths from cancer, heart.attacks and strokes.

Quitting before starting a family will protect the unborn child will insure a healthy one.

Quitting is not easy, those who quit may face challenges that will prevent them from remaining tobacco free.

Quitting.
Many people quit cold-turkey, but many return to the habit. There is more help for smokers who want to quit than any other habit.
When you decide to quit ask for support, tell your spouse or other family members.

If you decide to go cold-turkey, start by cutting down on the number of cigarettes and by delaying the first cigarette until later in the day.

Many people suffer from withdrawal symptoms, they only last a few weeks. There are medications that relieve symptoms and block cravings.

Weight gain is one side effect of quitting, but this can be remedied by a simple weight control strategy.

Counseling combined with medication doubles the chances of success: although each on its own can be used.

Online and local self-help programs offer help, many are free. Checking your local community or health department could give you access to free help.

Text messaging is an alternative to traditional counseling, it is a new form of  mobile health(mHealth) that delivers messages at a time when behavour change is necessary.

If you don't succeed at the first attempt, don't give up. There is a lot of help, try another until you succeed.

Tips for Success

• Identify the situations, events or activities that make you want to smoke and write them down
• Avoid those situations that cause you to smoke
• Hang out with non-smokers
• Tell  your friends who smoke the reason why you can't hang out with them.
• Don't sit for long periods when you can smoke, be physically active instead.

When you succeed you can help others and advocate for smoking cessation initiatives.

There is a Consumer Health Education program that prepares people to quit, it combines healthy eating and weight loss with a strategy to quit.  For those concerned about weight gain it could be the answer.

Click here to read about it.

Smoking And Pelvic Pain In Pregnancy

Quitting the smoking habit is a good health decision for those planning to start a family. There are many pregnancy related problems that can be avoided by the no-smoking lifestyle. This report is about pelvic pain.

According to a research report, women who smoke during pregnancy are at increased risk for pregnancy related pelvic pain.

The report says that pelvic pain in pregnancy is common, about 14-33% of women develop this pain during pregnancy.

The study was done by Danish researchers who interviewed 5,000 women during and soon after pregnancy.

2,300 women who reported pelvic pain were compared with 2,700 who did not report the pain.

The result: Those who smoke and those who quit early in pregnancy are 20% more likely to have pregnancy related pain; it however, did not prove cause and effect.

Read report

 Based on this report, it is a wise  that couples include smoking cessation in their plans to start a family. Those who smoke should  make a serious commitment (before pregnancy)to quit.

There is a consumer health education program that prepares people to quit, it is combined with weight control and healthy eating.  The combination makes the program ideal for family planners.
Click to read about this program.

Sudden Deaths Not Caused By Exercise

Young adults, athletes and their parents should be relieved to know that the resources are not the problem of sudden cardiac arrest at sporting events.

A study found that the majority of sudden deaths occurring among young adults do not happen during exercise or on the field; they happen to people who are not exerting themselves.


More on the study.
Sudden Deaths Not Caused By Exercise

Looking Older Than One's Age-A Health Risk

Looking younger than one's age can be a sign of good health and may prevent heart disease and heart attacks. 

The risk factors that make us sick  can also make us look older than we are, with a significant difference between the two ages.

A study that highlights the difference between our  biological(real) age and our chronological age found the people who look older that their age have a greater risk of developing heart disease.

The study used signs of aging such as receding hairlines at the temples, baldness at the crown of the head, earlobe creases, yellowish fatty deposits around the eyelids, wrinkles and tallying crow's feet.

Participants were 11,000 Danish people and began in 1976; they were 40 years old and over at the start of the study.

Researchers found that the risk for heart disease and heart attacks increased with each additional sign of aging. 

When compared with those who had none of the signs of aging, those with 3-4 of the signs had a 57% greater risk for a heart attack and 39% greater risk for heart disease.

Heart disease and heart attacks are non-communicable diseases, their main risk factors are: smoking, unhealthy eating, physical inactivity, overweight, hypertension and high cholesterol.

By reducing or eliminating these risk factors early in life, one can expect not only to prevent these diseases but  to look and feel younger.

Read more on the study.

Click for a program hat prepares people to promote health and longevity

Proper Hand Washing For Your health

How often do you wash your hands, or how well do you wash your hands?

A recent survey shows that most people do not wash their hands properly and not all the time.

The survey of 1,000 people showed that they were washing their hands an average of 87% of the time after using a public washroom; 62% reported washing their hands without using soap.

Proper hand washing is a protection for our health, to maintain optimum health it is important.

Here are some hand washing tips:

• Wash between fingers and under fingernails
• Wash for 20 seconds
• Use soap, not just water.
• Dry with paper towel or let dry naturally
• Avoid using shared towels for drying
• Use hand sanitizers that are at least 60% alcohol
• Wash hands after coughing and sneezing

When to wash hands
-After using public washrooms
-After handling garbage
-After handling garbage containers
-Before preparing or handling meals
-After looking after a sick person
-During coughs and colds

Read about the survey and more on how hand washing should be done in the
TheSpec.com