General Health Journal

If you follow our guidelines you will be much more likely to accomplish your goal of stopping smoking.

1. Don’t try and cut down how many cigarettes you smoke.

Even if you only smoke 3 cigarettes a day you are still damaging your long term health. Studies have shown that if you simply try and cut down the number of cigarettes you smoke each day, you are more than likely to end up back at your original amount within a month.

Many people also try and change to “low tar” style cigarettes – again, this is not a good approach to stopping smoking. Nicotine is addictive – people who switch to low nicotine cigarettes just end up smoking more of them and ingesting the same quantity of the harmful substances they were originally.

2. List the reasons for wanting to quit.

You may find it helps to write down all the reasons why you want to quit – pin this up somewhere you will see it daily to keep you on track to stop the habit.

Some example reasons:

• Have a healthier lifestyle
• Be a good role-model to your children/relatives
• Protect your co-workers or family from inhaling your 2nd hand smoke
• Keeping your clothing/house/workplace smelling fresh
• Saving money

You should read your list out loud at least once a day – keeping your reasons to quit fresh in your head will make you far more likely to stick to it.

3. 50% of smokers over 18 years old have already quit – you can join them.

There are literally millions of people alive today who now live their day to day lives without the need to poison their lungs. If all of these people can quit, you can join them with a little will power.

4. It will take effort to stop smoking.

A major step in the battle to stop smoking is knowing you need to quit in the first place. If you are already reading this you are on the road to redemption. There are many ways to quit smoking, including nicotine patches, nicotine gum and hypnotherapy. Almost all smokers experience nicotine withdrawal when they attempt to quit – this is natural and is just your body purging itself of the poison you have put in it. Just try and take it one day at a time, and before you know it you will no longer be thinking of cigarettes.

5. Help is available

There are plenty online resources available to you – please use them if you feel it will help you. You should also contact your local doctor for confidential advice.

Healthy Living stop smoking

Being healthy doesn’t mean that a person must follow strict nutrition philosophies, staying thin or depriving someone in eating the food you like. It is about feeling healthy, getting enough energy and keeping the body as healthy as possible. This can be achieved by learning the basic nutrition and incorporating it with proper exercises. Choosing the right food and avoiding the type of food that will put your body at risk will help a person to become risk free from illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

Eating food rich in calories, fiber and carbohydrates are among the basic nutrients the body needed that. An active body should maintain a balance between the intake and the expenditure, it means that the body should not eat more food than the body uses. The body needs 2000 calories a day depending on the age, height, weight, sex and physical activity. Eating the right amount of food can help the person become healthier than before. It can help if the person will eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, legumes and grains which high in complex carbohydrates, vitamins, fiber and minerals with low fat and free from bad cholesterol. Special diets such as diabetic diets can also be good for the body.

Drinking a lot of water is also vital for a healthy body. The body needs water to flush the systems, especially the kidneys and the bladder. It helps remove the waste products and toxins. The best way to eat smart is to know what to eat and how you eat. Chew the food slowly, there are some who tend to eat fast because they are in hurry they don’t know that it might cause risk in their health.

Healthy Living Diet, Energy, Food

Smoking is one of the leading causes of lung diseases. Ironically, it is the number 1 cause of preventable diseases in America.

If you are trying to quit smoking, but hardly making any progress by yourself, try to seek for the experts’ help. There are a lot of ways to break this deadly habit. You can go for counseling, take up alternative therapy like acupuncture, nicotine replacement therapy, and even perseverance.

Study shows that only four to five percent of smokers who tried to quit were successful on their first attempt. But a big jump in success rate was observed for repeated attempts which show an overwhelming 40 to 50 percent.

For those who still in to smoking, you might want to consider these facts.

Lung cancer is responsible for a large percent of lung related deaths around the world. Smoking can greatly increase the risk of incurring this disease.

Smoking makes you more prone to Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) which can lead to cervical cancer.

Macular degeneration is the leading cause eye problem, specifically, blindness amongst elderly. Smoking increases the risk of developing this age-related degeneration.

Other deadly diseases that you might incur if you don’t stop smoking are heart diseases and stroke. Experts say that fewer cigarettes can improve blood ability to carry oxygen.

Aside from the ugly yellow stain it leaves on your teeth, smoking can make you loose them if you don’t stop kick those butts.

Study shows that fertility may be improved if you quit smoking.

These are just some of the reasons why you must leave your smokey ways. This just doesn’t improve your life, but also avoid early cause of death.

Healthy Living Lung Disease, Smoking

A long life is a healthy and happy life. Secrets of longevity have been long sought by scientists fascinated by stories dating back to the philosophers of ancient Greece and to characters of biblical times. Jeanne Calment, a Frenchwoman who passed away in 1997, is the longest lived person at 122 years of age. With these as inspiration, scientists and health professionals are in the search for the answer to longer human lifespan and perhaps the key to the fountain of youth.

Canada, among the world’s richest countries, has the longest life expectancy today at 80 years. Canadians have access to excellent healthcare, hygiene, diet and lifestyle. But more factors influence the life expectancy of an individual. The people of Okinawa in Japan practice a tradition of taking in a quantity of food just enough for their bodies. Called the Hara Hachi Bu, this custom of eating just right has made Okinawans live longer than any other populace.

In Denmark, Danish who have higher levels of education lived longer. Men who spent more years studying had longer life expectancy at 2.7 years, while women were at 2.2 years. Although these numbers are well calculated, women still outlive men by about 5 years. Studies made in the Netherlands may have found a link, the female menstruation. It gives out a hormone that benefits the heart. During menstruation and pregnancy, the heart pumps more. This is found to be similar to exercising which is good for the heart, both male and female.

Though women can reach the age of 90, this is also possible to men. Lifestyle checks help to achieve this. In a study, researchers conclude that men should watch their ideal weight, quit or don’t smoke at all, maintain normal blood pressures, no instance of diabetes, and exercise and related activities are necessary for longer life. Normal blood pressure adds 4 years, ideal weight adds 1 to 3 years, not smoking adds 14 years, low cholesterol adds 4 years, and regular exercise about 1 to 3 years.

Winning and achieving success may also be vital to a long and happy life. A study found out that Nobel Prize winners lived longer lives by about 1.4 years than the nominees. Given that every single one of them was well-educated and successful individuals already add to the years that they have lived. But you don’t have to shoot for that status. You can achieve longevity through other, easier means. Just keeping a positive attitude adds 7.5 years. Leading an industrious and organized life adds 2 to 4 years.

Healthy Living Health, Long Life