HOW TO QUIT SMOKING

 

   Not every addiction is a bad thing, but addiction to smoking cigarettes is a bad thing.

Below are tips to quit smoking or to cut down the smoking habit :

*Make up your mind to quit, it's only you that can easily make yourself quit cigarettes.

* Know how much you’re smoking – keep a written record. If you smoke automatically, without paying much attention to the habit, it’s easy to smoke more. 

Ask yourself before each cigarette: do I really need it? Can I postpone smoking it or even just leave it? Practise regaining psychological control. You can use various other ploys to make yourself more aware of each cigarette: smoke in a specific, unusual place (try facing into a corner, for example), or use your opposite hand to hold the cigarette.

* Analyse your other habits, e.g. eating, drinking alcohol, visiting the bunk (ghetto smoking chamber), spending time in smokey environments or with other smokers. Work on changing any behaviours that are conducive to smoking.

*Decide in advance how many cigarettes you'll smoke the following day, and remove the rest from the pack, as it would force to not to smoke more than you budgeted.

*Put off lighting your first cigarette of the day a little later each day, don't start your day with cigarettes.

*Don’t smoke cigarettes down to the butt. Smoke them only half or three-quarters.

*Change to a brand you don’t like. Or, try changing to a milder brand a few weeks before your quit date to help your body get accustomed to less nicotine - but make sure you don’t smoke more mild cigarettes, inhale them more, or cover the holes in the filters, so if you take the Marlboro brand change to Dorchester or any other brand you really don't like. 

*Don't empty your ashtrays: this reminds you of how many cigarettes you've smoked each day, and is aesthetically unappealing. Some people keep their cigarette butts in a glass jar as graphic evidence of their ‘dirty habit’.

*Put your cigarettes in places that are awkward to reach (like on a high shelf), or keep them in hard-to-open containers. This also helps to make you more conscious of each cigarette smoked. ( I once told my friend who is an Arsenal fan to keep his cigarettes in the Champions league Trophy. LoL. #JustKidding)

*Finish one pack before you buy another, and don’t buy cigarettes in bulk.

*Don’t carry cigarettes on you when you go out, so you won't take them when you go out.

*Don’t ask for or accept cigarettes from other smokers.

*Ask successful ex-smokers what methods they use to stay on the straight and narrow, and consider incorporating these into your own life.

*Start thinking about a quit date.

Stay healthy..

SMOKING MAY TRIGGER MENTAL ILLNESS

Chemicals in tobacco may help trigger serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, a study suggests.

New research shows that smoking can triple the chances of developing psychosis.

Previously the fact that people with psychotic mental illnesses are more likely to smoke has been put down to non-causal factors, such as obtaining relief from distress or self-medication.

But now scientists believe something in tobacco might actually be responsible, alongside genetic and environmental influences.

'While it is always hard to determine the direction of causality, our findings indicate that smoking should be taken seriously as a possible risk factor for developing psychosis, and not dismissed simply as a consequence of the illness,' said Dr James MacCabe, a member of the team from King's College London.
The researchers analysed data from 61 observational studies involving almost 15,000 tobacco users and 273,000 non-users.

They found that 57 per cent of people treated for a first episode of psychosis were smokers. Psychotic patients were three times more likely to consume tobacco than individuals without severe mental illness.

The study also showed that daily smokers became psychotic around a year earlier than non-smokers.

The scientists, whose findings are reported in The Lancet Psychiatry medical journal, acknowledge that causality is difficult to prove.

One theory is a possible link between smoking and excess dopamine, a brain chemical that plays a role in transmitting nerve signals.

Professor Sir Robin Murray, from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College, said: 'Excess dopamine is the best biological explanation we have for psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia. It is possible that nicotine exposure, by increasing the release of dopamine, causes psychosis to develop.'

A proven link has already been found between cannabis use and psychosis in genetically vulnerable people.

Dr Sameer Jauhar, another member of the King's College team, said: 'Longer-term studies are required to investigate the relationship between daily smoking, sporadic smoking, nicotine dependence and the development of psychotic disorders.

'In view of the clear benefits of smoking cessation programs in this population, every effort should be made to implement change in smoking habits in this group of patients.'


Source : skynews