Quit Smoking Painlessly Now!

Looks like there is more reasons for women to quit smoking now that there is more proof that smoking is harmful for the fairer sex.

“Smoking is more harmful to women” – That’s what the USA researchers said in May 2009.

They said women who smoke develop lung damage earlier in life than men and it takes less cigarette exposure to cause damage in women compared to men.

Dr Inga-Cecolic Soerheim and researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and the University of Brigham in Norway said that their analysis showed that “women may be more vulnerable to the effects of smoking”.

The good doctor presented this at the American Thoracic Society in San Diego and she said her team analyzed 954 people in Norway with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) which includes lung problems from chronic bronchitis to emphysema. In the study 60% were men and the rest were women. All were current or former smokers. Overall both groups had similar lung impairment. They looked at folks under 60 years old and lighter smokers, they found women had more severe disease and worse lung function thatn mean.

“This means that female smokers in our study experienced reduced lung function at a lower level of smoking exposure and at an earlier age than men,” said Dr Soerheim. She suspected that the difference is related to anatomy. Because the fairer sex has smaller airway and that could make each cigarette potentially more dangerous. Also hormones may have a contributing role too.

Some believe that a few cigarettes a day is OK but just like the doctor said “in the low exposure group in this study, half the women actually had severe COPD.”

Perhaps, women, you should find out more about quitting smoking. I have some additional reading to suggest to you:

Additional Reading on lung detox and quit smoking:

Lung Detox

Quit Smoking Right Now program by Rick Beneteau

Hypnosis To Change Your Life by Steve G Jones.

Quit Smoking Painlessly Now.

Women from 27 to 44 years who smoke are twice as likely to develop pre-menstrual syndrome (PM) over the next 2 years, especially hormonally related symptoms like backaches, bloating, breast tenderness and acne.

According to Dr Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and her colleagues, smoking increases the risk of moderate to severe PMS and provides another reason for women especially adolescents and young women, not to smoke.

Smoking has been shown to affect levels of several different hormones and the handful of studies looking into PMS and smoking have suggested that women with the syndrome are more likely to be smokers.

These researchers looked at a subset of women who were PMS-free during the first 2 years of the study, comparing 1057 who did go on to develop PMS to 1968 who did not.

The women who were current smokers were 2.1 times more likely than non smokers to report PMS within 2 -4 years. Women who picked up smoking at a tender age had their risk increases.  Dr Bertone- Johnson said,

“Previous studies suggested that smoking may alter levels of oestrogen, progesterone, testosterone and other hormones, many of which may be involved in the development of PMS.”

“Some studies have found that smokers have shorter and more irregular menstrual cycles than non-smokers”

“Smoking may also lower levels of vitamin D in the body, which also may increase a woman’s risk of developing PMS”.

Additional Reading: Quit Smoking Painlessly Now.

Smoking causes

• premature aging of the skin and ruins your complexion.
• Loss of skin glow and vitality.
• premature facial wrinkling and leathery skin.
• crow’s feet.
• varicose veins.
• poor healing abilities.
• skin cancer.
• psoriasis.

Smoking reduces the amount of blood flowing to the skin and dries it out. It constructs the tiny capillaries that nourish the skin.

Smoking prevents oxygen and nutrients from getting to the skin . Over time, this means the skin loses elasticity and gets more wrinkled. The appearance of wrinkled, pale and grayish skin is four to five times more frequent in smokers than non-smokers. In 1971 an extensive study showed that the facial skin of long-term smokers was so terribly wrinkled that they looked as if they were 20 years older!

Quitting smoking improves the blood supply to the skin and gives previously pale skin a more ‘natural’ appearance. A smoker’s skin is more apt to wrinkle because the skin’s vitamin A content is low compared with that for a non-smoker. Vitamin A protects the skin against strong chemical substances that may damage or destroy it. Smoking also gets in the way of absorption of vitamin C – a vital antioxidant for skin protection and health By quitting, you will improve your skin tone and colour. You are less likely to get wrinkles around your eyes and mouth from squinting when smoke gets in your eyes and puckering up when you draw on a cigarette.

(extracted fromLarry Kunkel’s “Quit Smoking and Improve Your Looks” article)

Any woman who cherish her look should know about this: Smoking creates an imbalance in women’s hormone levels, which can lead to big changes in her body shape. Her hour glass body shape can give away to, say, an “apple” shape.

Smoking affects the endocrinal system – the glands that secrete hormones – and changes body shape, increasing the waist-to-hip ratio. So, despite the fact that many smokers are weighing less than non-smokers, smokers tend to have pot-belly with spindly legs. Smoking  upsets the hormone levels. This, in turn, resulted in smokers storing normal amount of fat in an abnormal way. So smokers tend to acquire an ‘apple’ shape.

When you quit smoking, it will means your body has a chance to get back to normal and recover from the abuses of smoking. If you are a woman-smoker who wants to look young should start puffing out that last stick o cigarette. That is more helpful than buying cosmetics and lotions and piling on your face and body!

Additional Read: Hypnosis To Change Your Life by Steve G Jones.

In a cross-cultural survey in Scotland and Singapore, only 1 in 3 respondents was aware that smoking can cause blindness!

The survey was conducted by a group at Scotland’s Ninewell Hospital and Singapore’s Alexandra Hospital from November 2007 to February 2008. Researchers polled 112 participants from Scotland and 163 participants from Singapore to compare their awareness of various smoking-related conditions as well as attitudes towards the use of graphic health warning labels printed on cigarette packs.

85% in both countries knew the risk of lung cancer, heart disease, mouth and throat cancer (oral cancer) and stroke but only about one-third of the respondents knew about smoking causes blindness.

According to Associate Professor Au EongKah Guan, head and senior consultant, department of ophthalmology and visual sciences of Alexandra Hospital and an investigator of the study: “Cigarette smoking increases the risk of age-related macular degeneration by 3-fold to 4-fold and cataract by 2 to 3-fold. Age-related macular degeneration is a deterioration in the health of the most sensitive part of the retina known as macula. A cataract is clouding of the normally clear crystalline lens in the eye.”

Currently the Singapore investigation study team is talking to its Health Promotion Board to add the warning “Smoking causes blindness on cigarette packs. Graphic warning labels have been circulation in in Singapore since 2004 and were later modified in 2006. You can see the graphic labels published at HPB to your left here. However, Australia is the only country so far to carry the graphic warning label which reads “Smoking causes Blindness”.

Incidentally, Britain is considering to get cigarette manufacturers to pack the cigarette in plain black and white box so that they look less attractive to youngsters.

Info Source: Mind Your Body, 4 June 2008

Well, if increased risk of cancer, heart diseases and other respiratory illness are not good enough reasons for smokers to quit smoking, perhaps this will.

According to The New York Times, epidemiological studies looked at more than 600 men and women, with 50% of them being smokers. After controlling for variables, researchers found a significant and consistent link between smoking and early greying. Scientists have long speculated that cigarette smoke may accelerate hair loss and premature greying. The association was largely due to toxins in smoke that can harm hair follicles and damage hormones.

Last year, another team studied the link in a group of 740 men in Taiwan aged 40 -91 years. After controlling for age and family histories, the researchers found a greater rate of hair loss among the smokers, a risk that grew with increasing smoking.

Whether the link is a result of tobacco toxins affecting the scalp or f smoking is causing severe disease that speed up aging, the point is smoking can lead to premature greying and hair loss.

By the way, if you are not aware, smoking causes blindness too. This has been confirmed by a joint study by hospitals in Scotland and Singapore. You can read it here.

Unless you are really committed and have a strong will, you will not succeed in quitting smoking overnight. If you think stop smoking is tough, trying to quit smoking is even more challenging for mothers-to-be.

Why is stop smoking during pregnancy tough?
Mothers-to-be are experiencing lots of changes physically, mentally and emotionally and the thoughts that nicotine, tars and other harmful chemicals in the cigarettes will hurt the babies torment them further. Yet, the thought of going cold turkey frighten and irritate them more. Can you imagine having both withdrawal pains with morning sickness like nausea, tummy cramps, etc?

What’s the consequences of smoking during pregnancy?
I have discussed at my FAQs on Stop Smoking post that “The baby may be born underweight, premature or dead. It has a higher risk to develop lung infection and other diseases. Some will die in the first year. If the baby survives, it may suffer from certain physical and mental deficiencies as it receives less oxygen. The smoke inhaled by a pregnant woman, whether directly or passively, will reduce the amount of oxygen to the placenta.”

So, is it easier to quit smoking during pregnancy through smoking aids? (more…)