31.10.07

Hypnotherapy can help you Stop Smoking

Looking at hypnotherapy as a way to help you stop smoking is a very viable option and the choice of stop smoking hypnotherapists is growing.

Common questions about hypnosis and hypnotherapy worry some people but when you are ready to stop smoking there are safe and practical sessions and either making a personal appointment with a hypnotherapist or subscribing to an online course featuring MP3 downloads can really help you to stop smoking for good.

Hypnotherapy helps many people stop smoking by delving deep inside the human mind and eradicating those desires and fears that keep people smoking. The addiction to cigarettes can be broken with one or two sessions and further hypnotherapy can eradicate all doubts and desires for nicotine and cigarettes.

Hypnotherapy works by the power of suggestion. Some hypnotherapists may push you to loathe and detest cigarettes. Others will help you confirm what you already know, that nicotine is a dangerous and addictive drug and cigarettes are a path to ill health and an early grave.

Emphasis on feeling good about yourself and creating a feeling of power over your addiction to nicotine will help beat the cravings of the addiction. Stopping smoking will become easier and you will not feel the need to smoke.

The MP3 downloads available from a number of hypnotherapists can enforce the desire to quit smoking for good and keep you free from the harm and poisons in cigarettes. Simple techniques can help with the stress relief and your cravings for cigarettes will be gone before you know it.

25.10.07

Just the facts on youth and smoking

See how much you know about youth and smoking in Canada. The facts could astound you. Answer true or false to the following statements.

  1. Almost all adult smokers began smoking before they could legally buy cigarettes.
  2. The sophistication, fun and glamour messages seen in ads, or in the movies, do not play an important role in getting young people to start smoking.
  3. Teenagers smoke more than a billion cigarettes a year.
  4. Children exposed to Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) from parents have more childhood illnesses than children in smoke-free homes.
  5. One out of 10 teens that try smoking get hooked.
  6. Research has shown that tobacco prevention programs should be taught continuously from kindergarten through high school if students are to lead a smoke-free lifestyle.

Answers

  1. True. And among teen smokers, females had their first cigarette by approximately the age of 12 and males by the age of 13.
  2. False. Kids are twice as likely to be influenced by advertising as they are from peer pressure. Young people are three times more likely to smoke if their film heroes smoke.
  3. True. Teenagers do smoke more than a billion cigarettes a year, resulting in retail sales worth over $400 million. The average teen spends $1,000 per year on cigarettes.
  4. True. Children exposed to ETS in homes have a higher number of childhood illnesses than children in Smoke-free homes. For example, in Canada there are 2,200 bronchitis hospitalizations, 11,000 ear infections and 180,000 asthma cases per year.
  5. False. In fact, the number is much higher. Eight out of 10 teens that try smoking get hooked. Seventy percent of 15-19 year-old smokers report at least one attempt to quit smoking over the last 12 months.
  6. True. Building a foundation in the early grades gives students a head start in gaining an awareness and attitude to shape a healthy lifestyle. A new and innovative smoking prevention program is now available to all elementary and high schools in Ontario through The Lung Association.

24.10.07

Exercise & Erectile Dysfunction

A healthy body nurtures a healthy relationship. A happy and fulfilled sex life makes a relationship last forever. To attain maximum sexual satisfaction, a person is required to possess a physique devoid of any physical or psychological complication. Erectile dysfunction (ED) is one of the most common forms of sexual ailment suffered by millions of male worldwide. It dampens the sexual spirit of a man and devastates his sexual life.

According to research, the incidence of ED increases if a man leads an unhealthy lifestyle. Intake of smoking and alcohol can lead to anxiety and hamper your sexual conduct. That means you need to rely on the old stalwarts of exercising, keeping your body lean and not smoking. This can be a wonderful way to delay the onset of ED, and that's pretty significant.

Modification of risk factors can affect your sexual function. Losing weight, stopping smoking and doing more exercise are associated with better sexual health. Here we're beginning to see an increasing body of evidence that physical exercise can modify the appearance of our sexual life by changing our lifestyle in a positive manner.

Normally, if you ask most people about their erectile function, even if they're overweight, hypertensive and smokers, they'll say it's all in their head but their body is screaming out to them. The real fact is that the penis is a barometer of the health of the vascular system and when it's not working right, you need to listen to that. So, in this regard, cardiovascular exercise can be of immense help to reshape your sexuality.

Pelvic floor exercise can enhance your sexual controls. The pelvic floor training under the guidance of a physiotherapist can improve the functioning of your sex organs. It can be done by tightening the pelvic floor muscles as if you are trying to prevent gas passing. In addition, emphasis is placed on the ability to retract the penis and lift the scrotum using pelvic muscles.

So, if you desire to have a wonderful sex life then stop ignoring your physical health. Only a healthy physique can empower you sexuality and help you attain your hidden fantasies.

10.10.07

The Nicotine Myth

Congratulations. You have managed to quit smoking. Your relatives will applaud and your smoking friends will look on in envy of you. Be proud of yourself. You have done what so many others claim they cannot – Quit Smoking for Good!

Enjoy the moments you now have. Those moments when you realize that you will not crave a cigarette ever again.

You realized that the cravings are all mental. Not physical as the tobacco companies and manufacturers of the Nicotine Gum, Nicotine Patches and Inhalators would have had you believe.

Your cravings were merely Mental Habits that have formed over your years of smoking and being around cigarettes and other smokers.

The MYTH of nicotine addictions has been promoted for one reason alone – to keep you addicted to NICOTINE. You have now realized that these were all LIES.

Gums, patches, inhalators all contain NICOTINE. The one drug you were addicted to.

Now you have seen through the lies and now you know that you do not need nicotine in your life.

From this moment on your cigarette free life will improve. Every day you will notice the new FREEDOM you have achieved in quitting smoking forever.

6.10.07

Positive And Negative Effects To Expect When You Quit Smoking

Before you read the rest of this article, understand that quitting smoking can be one of the best things you can do for yourself as a smoker. You are guaranteeing a healthier life, and a longer life. Make no mistake; no negative effect you may observe when you quit smoking is so bad that you will decide to keep smoking. There are no positive effects by continuing to smoke, but when you quit, you may notice some changes that you may not have expected. Since the pros outweigh the cons when you quit smoking, I will address the negative aspects of quitting first. The first thing a smoker will notice when they kick the habit is sudden mood changes and mood disorders.

Having probably smoked for years, you have come to the point to where you end up smoking when you feel stressed, or are in a bad mood. Once you stop smoking, you will no longer have this psychological outlet. Quitting smoking can cause depression in a small percentage of people who are strong enough to quit. Your body and mind may also have a hard time dealing with the removal of such a powerful drug as nicotine so suddenly. Expect your body and mind to take about 3 to 6 months to get this need out of its system. One of the most common complaints of former smokers is that they gained weight. This has nothing to do with the fact that you quit, but rather people who do quit replace their addictive smoking behavior by putting something else in their mouth, which would be food. This also seems to be natural, and a safe outlet, when kept in control.

But what about the good things about quitting smoking? Too numerous to list here, but for starters, one will notice a drop in blood pressure and a normal, slower pulse. This can even be noticed after having quit for only an hour. Of course your risk for a heart attack will decrease and you will regain a stronger sense of taste and smell. Your lung capacity will increase, you'll find that exercise and even just walking around become easier (since you can provide your blood and muscles with more oxygen now), and you'll find that any sinus problems you may have had while smoking are now gone. But most importantly, those who quit smoking decrease their chances of getting lung cancer by 50%. In fact, the risk of any cancer decreases after one quits smoking.

4.10.07

10 Powerful Tips to Stop Smoking

Whether you are using Nicotine Replacement Therapy, Hypnosis or just Cold Turkey, these strategies and hints are for aiding you to stop smoking and are sure to assist you in helping your neurology change and thus enable you to stop smoking with ease. It is up to you to ensure that you do these things to really enhance what you are doing, the more effort you put into these exercises, the easier it is to stop smoking for good.

Powerful Stop Smoking Hint 1

Being a smoker is like cycling with stabilisers attached to the wheels, you can find it hard to be balanced without smoking. Now, when you cycle freely again, the natural balance returns.

When people smoke, more than half of what they breathe is fresh air - pulled through the cigarette right down into the lungs. So if you feel any cravings you can instantly overcome them by taking three deeper breaths. Imagine breathing from that space just below your belly button. Whenever you do this you put more oxygen into your bloodstream. This means you can use deep breaths to change the way you feel instantly and give you power over the way you feel and help you let go of those old cravings and thus making it easier to stop smoking.

Powerful Stop Smoking Hint 2

Next, think now of all the reasons you don't like smoking, the reasons that it's bad and the reasons you want to stop smoking. Write down the key words on a piece of paper. For example, you experience breathlessness, it's dirty, filthy and your clothes smell, your friends and family are concerned and it's expensive, unsociable and so on. Then, on the other side of the paper, write down all the reasons why you'll feel good when you've succeeded in stopping. You'll feel healthier, you’ll feel in control of your self, your senses are enhanced, your hair and clothes will smell fresher and so on. Whenever you need to, look at that piece of paper.

Powerful Stop Smoking Hint 3

Next, we are going to programme your mind to feel disgusted by cigarettes. I want you recall 4 times when you thought to yourself "I've gotta quit", or that you felt disgusted about smoking. Maybe you just felt really unhealthy, or your doctor told you in a particular tone of voice 'You've got to quit' or somebody you know was badly affected by smoking. Take a moment now to come up with 4 different times that you felt that you have to quit or were disgusted by smoking.

Remember each of those times, one after another, as though they are happening now. I want you to keep going through those memories and make them as vivid as possible. The more vivid you make those memories, the easier it will be to stop smoking. See what you saw, hear what you heard and feel how you felt. I want you to take a few minutes now to keep going through those memories again and again, overlap each memory with the next until you are totally and utterly disgusted by cigarettes.

Powerful Stop Smoking Hint 4

Have a think to yourself about the consequences of you not stopping smoking now, if you just carry on and on. Imagine it, what will happen if you carry on smoking. What are the consequences? Imagine yourself in 6 months time, a years time, even 5 years time if you do not stop smoking now. Think of all the detrimental effects of not stopping right now and how a simple decision you make today can make such an impact on your future.

Next, imagine how much better is your life going to be when you stop smoking. Really imagine it's months from now and you successfully stopped. Smoking is a thing of the past, something you used to do. Keep that feeling with you and imagine having it tomorrow, and for the rest of next week. In your mind, imagine stepping in to that non-smoking version of you and feel how it feels to be a non-smoker.

Powerful Stop Smoking Hint 5

Also, your mind is very sensitive to associations, so it's very important that you have a clear out and remove all tobacco products from your environment. Move some of the furniture in your house and at work. Smokers are accustomed to smoking in certain situations. So, for example, if you used to smoke on the telephone at work move the phone to the other side of the desk. Throw away ashtrays, old lighters and anything that you used to associate with smoking. Make your environment conducive to stopping smoking.

Powerful Stop Smoking Hint 6

Smokers sometimes use their habit to give themselves little breaks during the day. Taking a break is good for you, so carry on taking that time off - but do something different. Walk round the block, have a cup of tea or drink of water, or do some of the techniques on this programme. In fact, if possible drink a lot of fruit juice. When you stop smoking the body goes through a big change. The blood sugar levels tend to fall, the digestion is slowed down and your body starts to eject the tar and poisons that have accumulated. Fresh fruit juice contains fructose which restores your blood sugar levels, vitamin C which helps clear out impurities and high levels of water and fibre to keep your digestion going. Also try to eat fruit every day for at least two weeks after you have stopped.

Also when you stop, cut your caffeine intake by half. Nicotine breaks down caffeine so without nicotine a little coffee will have a big effect. Drink 8-10 glasses of water (ideally bottled) to help wash out your system.

Powerful Stop Smoking Hint 7

You were used to using cigarettes to signal to your body to release happy chemicals, so next we are going to programme some good feelings into your future. Allow yourself to fully remember now a time when you felt very deep ecstasy, pleasure or bliss, right now. Take a moment to recall it as vividly as possible. Remember that time - see what you saw, hear what you heard and feel how good you felt. Where abouts in your body were those feelings, imagine turning them up and spreading them through your body to make them more intense.

Keep going through the memory, as soon as it finishes, go through it again and again, all the time squeezing your thumb and finger together. In your mind, make those images big and bright, sounds loud and harmonious and feelings strong and intensified. We are making an associational link between the squeeze of your fingers and that good feeling.

Okay, stop and relax. Now if you have done that correctly when you squeeze your thumb and finger together you should feel that good feeling again. Go ahead do that now, squeeze thumb and finger and remember that good feeling.

Now we're going to programme good feelings to happen automatically whenever you are in a situation where you used to smoke but now you stop smoking.

So, next I'd like you to squeeze your thumb and finger together, get that good feeling going and now imagine being in several situations where you would have smoked, but being there feeling great without a cigarette. See what you'll see hear and take that good feeling into those situations without a need for a cigarette.

Imagine being in a situation where someone offers you a cigarette and you confidently say 'No thanks, I don't smoke'. And feel fantastic about it!

Powerful Stop Smoking Hint 8

Get social support. Your commitment to stopping smoking for the rest of your life can be made much easier by talking about it to friends and family and letting them support you. They will congratulate you on doing so well too! You really did stop smoking.

Powerful Stop Smoking Hint 9

Be aware of making excuses for yourself. Some people talk themselves into smoking, especially if they encounter a stressful situation and in the past they used to deal with it by smoking. If those old thoughts pop into your head, shout the word “STOP” in your head, to stop the thoughts from progressing. Nicotine just stresses your body more and is like that itch that can never be properly scratched; the more you smoke, the more you have to. So say “STOP” and steer clear of old slippery slopes.

Powerful Stop Smoking Hint 10

Reward yourself. Congratulate yourself. Feel how good it feels to stop smoking and be a non-smoker. Treat yourself each time you get past a certain milestone; the first week or first month, the six month target. Let yourself know that you did something really special here.

Keep on using your brain, stretching it and helping your self, by running through these exercises time after time; you are sure to be able to make it easier and easier and successfully stop smoking for good.

Smoking and Breast Cancer

Breast cancer occurs when cells in the breast begin to grow out of control enabling them to invade nearby tissues or spread throughout the body. Collections of these out of control tissues are called tumors. However, not all breast tumors are considered cancerous since certain types of large cells just cannot be spread or threaten a person’s life and this kind of tumor is called benign tumor. On the other hand, the tumors that can spread all throughout the body or invade nearby tissues are considered cancerous cells and are malignant. Cancer cells usually comes from either ducts or glands in the breast that is why it may take months or even years for a tumor to be notice in the breast. Breast tumors are screened with the use of mammograms that are rather accurate in screening tumor or cancer cells.

Women are much prone to develop breast cancer that men. Only 1% to 2% of men have been known to have cases of breast cancer. The early onset of menstruation in women at the age of 12 increases the risk for a breast cancer on the other hand an early menopausal period may reduce the risk of breast cancer. The risk for women to have breast cancer increases with age in fact a study shows that women over 50 are more likely to develop breast cancer. Nevertheless, the incidence of breast cancer among younger women is also increasing in an alarming rate that is why more women of ages 20s to 30s have subjected themselves to be diagnosed.

Breast cancer is not only acquired but also can be inherited. For women who have genetic mutation such as BRCA1 or BRCA2 has an 80% risk of developing breast cancer. Women who have first-degree relative diagnosed to have breast cancer increase their risk of also acquiring breast cancer. Moreover, women with first-degree relative that are diagnosed to have breast cancer before menopause increase the risk for them in acquiring breast cancer.

Some factors contribute to the occurrence of breast cancer and these are as follows: smoking, alcohol and radiation exposure. Women who are smoking will increase their chances to have breast cancer. Aside from that, high intakes of alcohol have been found to be a source of breast cancer. Radiation exposure is another factor that contributes to breast cancer. Studies have shown that women as well as children who have undergone high-dose radiation therapy have a much higher chance of having breast cancer.