The
Sidman Institute, Inc.
Featuring
The Sidman Solution®
Implementing Positive Changes Through The Subconscious Mind
|
Implementing Positive Changes Through The Subconscious Mind |
Smoking
Smoking-related diseases claim an estimated 440,000 American lives each year, including those affected indirectly, such as babies born prematurely due to prenatal maternal smoking and some of the victims of secondhand exposure to tobacco's carcinogens. Smoking costs the United States approximately $150 billion each year in health-care costs and lost productivity. Cigarettes contain at least 43 distinct cancer-causing chemicals. Smoking is directly responsible for 87 percent of lung cancer cases and causes most cases of emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Smoking is also a major factor in coronary heart disease and stroke; may be causally related to malignancies in other parts of the body; and has been linked to a variety of other conditions and disorders, including slowed healing of wounds, fertility, and peptic ulcer disease. Smoking in pregnancy accounts for an estimated 20 to 30 percent of low-birth weight babies, up to 14 percent of pre-term deliveries, and some 10 percent of all infant deaths. Even apparently healthy, full-term babies of smokers have been found to be born with narrowed airways and curtailed lung function. Only about 30 percent of women who smoke stop smoking when they find they are pregnant; the proportion of quitters is highest among married women and women with higher levels of educational attainment. In 1999, 12.3 percent of women who gave birth smoked during pregnancy. Smoking by parents is also associated with a wide range of adverse effects in their children, including exacerbation of asthma, increased frequency of colds and ear infections, and sudden infant death syndrome. An estimated 150,000 to 300,000 cases of lower respiratory tract infections in children less than 18 months of age, resulting in 7,500 to 15,000 annual hospitalizations, are caused by secondhand smoke. Approximately 22.2 million American women are smokers. Current female smokers aged 35 years or older are 12 times more likely to die prematurely from lung cancer than nonsmoking females. More American women die annually from lung cancer than any other type of cancer; for example, lung cancer will cause an estimated 65,700 female deaths in 2002, compared with 39,600 estimated female deaths caused by breast cancer. When smoke is inhaled, nicotine is carried deep into the lungs where it is absorbed quickly into the bloodstream and carried to the heart, brain, liver, and spleen. Nicotine affects many parts of the body, including the heart and blood vessels, the hormonal system, the body's metabolism, and the brain. Nicotine can be found in breast milk of smokers. During pregnancy, nicotine freely crosses the placenta and has been found in amniotic fluid and the umbilical cord blood of newborn infants. Nicotine produces pleasurable feelings that make the smoker want to smoke more and also acts as a depressant by interfering with the flow of information between nerve cells. As the nervous system adapts to nicotine, smokers tend to increase the number of cigarettes they smoke, and hence the amount of nicotine in their blood. After a while, the smoker develops a tolerance to the drug, which leads to an increase in smoking over time. Eventually, the smoker reaches a certain nicotine level and then smokes to maintain this level of nicotine. Health concerns usually top the list of reasons people give for quitting smoking. But smokers may not be aware of how many illnesses they may avoid by kicking the habit. Nearly everyone knows that smoking can cause lung cancer, but few people realize it is also a risk factor for cancer of the mouth, voice box (larynx), bladder, kidney, pancreas, cervix, stomach, and some leukemias. Smoking causes serious respiratory diseases such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis for up to 20% of smokers. These progressive lung diseases, grouped under the term COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) are usually diagnosed in current or former smokers in their 60s and 70s. COPD causes chronic illness and disability and is eventually fatal. Smokers also have twice the risk of dying of heart attacks, as nonsmokers and smoking is a major risk factor for peripheral vascular disease, a narrowing of the blood vessels that carry blood to the leg and arm muscles. Kicking the tobacco habit also offers benefits that you'll notice immediately and some that will develop gradually in the first few weeks. These rewards can improve day-to-day life substantially:
The prospect of better health is a major reason for quitting, but there are others as well. Smoking is expensive. The economic costs of smoking are estimated to be about $3,391 per smoker per year. Smoking not only harms your health but the health of those around you. Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (also called ETS, passive smoking or second hand smoke) includes exhaled smoke as well as smoke from burning cigarettes. Studies have shown that environmental tobacco smoke can cause lung cancer in healthy nonsmokers. It is also associated with sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and low-birth weight infants. Smoking by mothers is linked to a higher risk of their babies developing asthma in childhood, especially if the mother smokes while pregnant. Babies and children raised in a household where there is smoking have more ear infections, colds, bronchitis, and other respiratory problems than children from nonsmoking families. Environmental smoke can also cause eye irritation, headaches, nausea, and dizziness. Quitting smoking is a lot like losing weight; it takes a strong commitment over a long period of time. If you have been smoking for any length of time, smoking has become linked with nearly everything you do, waking up in the morning, eating, reading, watching TV, and drinking coffee, etc. It is necessary to "un-link" smoking from these activities. That is why, even if you are using a nicotine replacement, you may still have strong urges to smoke. One way to overcome these urges or cravings is to identify and neutralize their emotional triggers. Most stop smoking programs are designed to help smokers recognize and cope with problems that come up during quitting and to provide support and encouragement in staying quit. Smokers often mention stress as one of the reasons for going back to smoking. Stress is a part of all of our lives, smokers and nonsmokers alike. The difference is, smokers have come to use nicotine to help cope with stress. When quitting with The Sidman Solution®, stress in all its forms is reduced, thereby eliminating the need to smoke. It addresses the underlying issues and the emotional triggers governing the psychological cravings for nicotine. Also, The Sidman Solution® is very successful in relieving the withdrawal symptoms attendant to smoking cessation and is the leading edge of hypnotherapeutic treatment for smoking and other substance abuse issues without the use of prescription medications. Contact Us Today to see how we can help you quit smoking!
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: American Cancer Society American College of
Obstetricians & Gynecologists American Heart Association American Lung Association National Cancer Institute National Women's Health
Information Center (NWHIC) Nicotine Anonymous Office on Smoking & Health
|
|
|