Read these 21 Effects of Smoking Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Quit Smoking tips and hundreds of other topics.
Nicotine withdrawal symptoms vary from person to person. The symptoms peak around the second or third day after quitting and then level off. Your nicotine withdrawal symptoms may include:
- Increased appetite
- Cough
- Sweating
- Muscle aches and cramps
- Constipation or diarrhea
- Nausea
- Headache
- Sleep disturbances
- Weight gain
- Irritability
- Anxiety
- Depression
There is only one reason people smoke, it's because they are addicted. However, there are many triggers that will help put the next cigarette in a smokers mouth:
- Working under pressure
- Feeling depressed
- Talking on the phone
- Drinking alcohol
- Watching TV
- Driving
- After a meal
- Playing cards
- Drinking Coffee
- Watching someone else smoke
When you smoke during pregnancy, the chemicals in tobacco smoke are passed to your baby. These poisons can affect your unborn baby even before you know you are pregnant.
Consequences of smoking during pregnancy are serious, and can include:
- Miscarriage
- Still birth
- Premature delivery
- Underdeveloped ogans or body parts
There are a wide variety of feelings associated with the actions to quit smoking. Many times irritability plays a major role in withdrawal from cigarette smoke, which can lead to resentment and anger.
It's important to remember that an addiction is being fought here, and it isn't easy. Some ways to help keep your anger and other emotions in check during withdrawal are:
- Change your Habits:
Instead of letting your withdrawal get the best of you right after a meal (When most people light up) try replacing the cigarette with something else like doing the dishes or taking a walk, whatever works best for you.
- Keep a Journal:
Keep a "Quitting Smoking" journal which you commit to writing in daily, a place to release some anger and put it into words. It is a great way to get rid of unwanted feelings, and a great way to document your life changing struggle and successes that can be looked upon for the rest of your life.
- Get a Hobby:
Try something new! Introduce something into your life that you have an interest in like joining a softball team, fishing, or even basket weaving. When you make the decision to quit smoking, you make a decision to change your life so bringing something new to the table will not only help you quit but will enable you to make sure your habits have changed and you will stay smoke free.
Smokers face is essentially visual signa of smoking. The signs and issues associated with this are:
- Wrinkles
- Shriveling skin
- Purplish and grayish splotches on face
Although weight gain can have an impact on your health, it can be a small price to pay for quitting smoking. There are things you can do while quitting that will help reduce the risk of weight gain altogether. Try one or more of the following:
- Choose Healthy:
Keep healthy snacks like carrot sticks convenient so you can snack when you feel the urge while keeping it healthy.
- Stay Active:
Make sure to make exercise a part of your daily life. Simply walking or going for a swim will help keep you fit, and help limit the urge to smoke.
- Make a Production of Cooking:
Pick up a good cookbook full of healthy options to traditional recipes, and have some fun with it! It helps spice up your life and keeps things healthy, most importantly it's another way to beat the smoking habit by starting a new routine for your new smoke free lifestyle.
Smoking while using oral contraceptives can increase the risk of a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to stop smoking if you plan to use oral contreaceptives.
It has been proven that smoking cigarettes is both a mental and physical addiction. Just as you have to fight the addiction of nicotine when quitting, it is just as important to fight the other habits of smoking. These are just a couple of examples of the different mental and physical effects that cigarettes offer:
Smokers often acknowledge that if they quit smoking, they don't know what they will do with their hands instead!
Many people think they simply cannot live without smoking, as if cigarettes are a necessity to living.
An unknown component of tobacco smoke appears to destroy an important brain enzyme, monoamine oxidase.
The enzyme is vital for breaking down excess amounts of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that triggers pleasure-seeking behavior. Smokers have abnormally high levels of dopamine, which can encourage the smoker to seek the pleasure of more tobacco smoke.
Because smokers are continually smoking, it does not usually create the pleasure feelings by smoking after awhile, it simply seems to make a smoker feel "normal" because they are used to the high levels of dopamine.
Impotence is the repeated inability to have or maintain an erection.
One US study of men between the ages of 31 and 49 showed a 50% increase in the risk of impotence among smokers compared with men who had never smoked.
The bottom line is if you smoke, there is definately a risk for impotence.
Babies born to women who smoke can experience complications and health risks associated with low birth weight.
However if mothers can quit smoking within the first three months of pregnancy, the risk of low birth weight is dramatically decreased.
Popular belief is that if a cigarette contains less tar, it is better for you. However no evidence has been found to lead to a conclusion that a lower tar cigarette reducses health risks in any way.
There are many signs that lead to the conclusion that you are addicted to smoking. A smoker may not always recognize the signs or admit to being addicted, but most signs are apparent to friends and loved ones which include:
- Change in mood (Also known as mood swings.
- Irritability when not smoking, or making comments about "needing a cigarette" during stressful or boring times.
- Changes in the way the smoker emotionally handles situations.
- The simple need to make sure there is always a cigarette available to the smoker.
These are the sure tell signs that someone has become addicted to smoking cigarettes, especially in young people.
Women who smoke can experience reduced fertility.
One study estimated that the fertility of smoking women was 72% that of non-smokers.
Cigarette smoking may also affect male fertility, decreasing mobility and potency of the sperm.
Nicotine is known as one of the most addictive substances there is. Many people have just as hard of a time quitting smoking as quitting any other drug addiction.
This is why it can take two, three, and even more tries to successfully kick a smoking habit.
Genetic studies have found that some people can be born with addictive genetics, which in turn makes them more susceptable to things like smoking cigarettes and becoming alcoholics.
Although smoking is dangerous for anyone who smokes or is even exposed to second hand smoke, some examples of people that are at a higher risk are:
- Pregnant women
- Smokers over the age of 30
- Smokers that have respiratory illnesses such as asthma
- Diabetics
- Smokers with high blood pressure
Once a smoker quits and is successful at it, there will always be a danger of relapse. All it takes is a stressful life event or uncomfortable situation for someone to think about having "just one" cigarette. The problem is, there is usually another cigarette after the initial one, and it won't stop there.
The best thing to do is to resist all impulses to smoke once you have quit smoking. It's easier said than done. A good way to stop the urge is to remember everything you went through to get where you are now.
Simply put, yes. Not only can smoking cigarettes cause bronchitis, but it can cause different variations, some that many smokers must live with for life.
There is also a possibility of dying to due bronchitis, just another fatal health risk associated with smoking.
The risk of still birth is increased when a mother smokes even when the mother is in good health. For older mothers and mothers that have health issues, the risk can be significantly greater.
Before studies were done to test the amount of time it takes to become addicted to cigarettes after the first puff, it was thought that it took years to actually become addicted to nicotine.
What experts have found is that becoming addicted to cigarettes takes a small amount of time, anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks, maximum.
Essentially, this means that there isn't much time between that first cigarette and becoming dependent on them indefinately.
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