Tobacco smoking

Enjoy Smoking without the Tar

January 26, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

: Image via Wikipedia

If you’ve ever tried to quit smoking you know exactly how difficult the process can be. For many that have smoked for years, getting off cigarettes can be much more difficult than stopping drinking or even quitting illegal drugs.

The commercials that tell people the dangers of smoking and paint a grim description of what’s going to happen to those that smoke are everywhere, yet many continue this unhealthy habit because they just can’t quit.

There may be some help, and it doesn’t involve chewing gum, wearing patches or going under hypnosis. Electronic cigarettes are becoming more popular as they give smokers the feeling of smoking while not ingesting nearly the harmful amount of chemicals they get from a regular cigarette. The active ingredient in cigarettes is nicotine, which helps with the addiction process. It’s not necessarily the nicotine that will kill you; it’s the harmful tar and chemicals that make cigarettes so deadly.

Electronic cigarettes still have nicotine, but they don’t have the same killer chemicals. They are available online and in many retail stores, so you can buy electronic cigarette products very easily. Plus, there are no flames with electronic cigarettes, so no more lighters and no more cigarette burns on the car seat. The smoke emitted from an e-cigarette is vapor, not smoke. It looks like smoke when it first comes out, but quickly fades as a burst of water vapor. There is no secondhand smoke, so kids are not subjected to your habit, yet the smoker still gets the satisfaction of having their cigarette and getting their nicotine.

If you’ve tried everything else, it’s time to try an electronic cigarette. There are so many advantages to smoking them: the effects are less dangerous, the pollution level is decreased, and your needs as a smoker are still being met with the habitual act of smoking.

Filed Under: Mental Health Guidance Tagged With: Cigarette, Electronic cigarette, Nicotine, Tobacco smoking

Using Electric Cigarettes in Hospitals

December 9, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

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There are so many places, most of them public places, where there are activities that are prohibited:

A shirt is required when dining in a restaurant.
No alcohol can be bought or sold on Sundays in some states.
There’s no smoking allowed in hospitals, on airplanes, or even in some restaurants.
Animals are not allowed in restaurants, stores, or coffee houses.

It’s unlikely that these places are going to change their rules, and if they do, there will probably be even stricter requirements in other areas if some allowances are made. These days, you have to think through your whole process of going somewhere when you plan a day out, especially to a public place, because there are so many rules you’ll have to follow.

There are alternatives that let you get around some of these strict rules, and some of these alternative are very accommodating and still allow you to enjoy the things that you like to do.

For instance, it’s a long-standing rule that you can’t smoke in a hospital. Everybody knows that doing so is a no-no, but they didn’t say you couldn’t use an electric cigarette! The neat thing about the device is that it’s odorless and virtually undetectable by sight, smell or sound, unless of course, someone is looking directly at you while you’re smoking it!

Many people who are used to smoking find that it’s a great alternative for their habit, especially when they find themselves in certain uncomfortable situations and need to smoke. A hospital is one of those places, more so if the smoker has a loved one in there and they have to visit them often. Having a smoke takes the edge away, but smoking an electric cigarette satisfies those urges and keeps the hospital security from escorting you out the front door!

Filed Under: Mental Health Guidance Tagged With: Cigarette, Electronic cigarette, Regina Benjamin, Tobacco smoking

Use Electronic Cigarettes to Kick an Unhealthy Habit

October 12, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

: Image by infomatique via Flickr

Smoking cigarettes is rude, unhealthy, and it’s getting harder to do all the time. Many restaurants, bars and other public places do not allow cigarette smoking. Cigarettes turn teeth yellow and reduce lung capacity. There is even evidence to suggest it may affect nearby secondhand smokers. Don’t hang on to a dirty, expensive habit. Purchase electronic cigarettes to kick the habit. Quitting is the healthy decision, and electronic cigarettes are a clean, safe alternative.

Electronic cigarettes look and feel like the real deal. Water vapor and nicotine are inside the electronic cigarette, but no carcinogens, tar or tobacco. None of the cancer-causing agents found in traditional cigarettes are present in the electronic version. Smokers will hold and puff their cigarette, as usual, but they won’t be endangering their lives by doing so. A small amount of nicotine provides the addictive substance that smokers crave.

By no means should electronic cigarettes be a lifelong alternative to kicking the smoking habit, but they can be a lifeline for those who want to quit. Often, smokers miss the motion of smoking and miss having something to hold in their hand. The electronic cigarette provides the addictive nicotine users need to help them get over the habit as well as the psychological comfort that comes with the smoking act. There is no patch to wear, no tasteless gum to chew, no tiny sensors to put onto the body…there is only a clean cigarette that won’t be an ugly health risk. Some electronic cigarettes are even customizable, so smokers can make their quitting tool look exactly like the brand of cigs they usually smoke. Sometimes, smokers need just a little help to quit. You can purchase electronic cigarette kits online and in some specialty stores.

Filed Under: Benefits Tagged With: Cigarette, Electronic cigarette, Health, Nicotine, Specific Substances, Substance abuse, Tobacco, Tobacco smoking

Quitting Smoking for Health

September 12, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

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If you want to maintain a healthy lifestyle, quitting cigarette smoking is a necessary first step. There is no end to literature, charts, and lawsuits related to the topic of smoking as an unhealthy pastime. If you’re still a smoker despite all the warnings and public messages cautioning against this addiction, perhaps you need a refresher.

Some Unhealthy Side Effects of Cigarette Smoking

Smoking is directly linked to lung cancer. Smokers are at ten times more risk of contracting lung cancer than non-smokers. Causality? Not too hard to put together! It causes blood pressure and heart rate to rise, which overworks the heart, leading to eventual heart complications. Each puff introduces carbon monoxide into your body. Carbon monoxide is the stuff that comes out of automobile exhausts that suicidal people inhale to kill themselves. Is that really a route you want to travel alongside? Cigarette smoking blocks blood vessels over time, causing heart attacks. Frequent, heavy smokers suffer from nicotine staining of their skin, particularly around the fingertips which hold the cigarette. This presents itself as a yellowed, brownish color, which isn’t too sexy. These and numerous other negative health effects are the direct result of cigarette smoking.

Quitting smoking, as Mark Twain said, is easy. He did it all the time. It’s just that keeping up the “quitting” part was difficult. There are as many ways to successfully quit as there are ways to begin the habit. Each person needs to find their own reason, their own method, which works for them. Some people find that hypnotism works, while others complete the process by mere strength of will alone, dropping the habit cold turkey.

It takes years, but after quitting cigarette smoking, the lungs eventually rid themselves of accumulated toxins such as tar and nicotine. The cravings for a cigarette subside, then disappear. Lung capacity can return, although this is an almost painfully slow process which takes years. However, as each of these stages passes, health slowly returns to the body, and normal functioning of internal organs can begin again. It’s a worthy process if you desire health.

Filed Under: Benefits Tagged With: Cigarette, Health, Tobacco smoking

Are E-Cigarettes Really Safer?

August 15, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

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The tar and other chemicals, along with all the carcinogens, are eliminated with an e-cigarette. There is an argument, of course, that inhaling nicotine vapor itself isn’t good for you – and that makes sense. Given the choice between inhaling only nicotine and inhaling nicotine along with all the other chemicals in a cigarette, the straight nicotine would appear to be the least dangerous. The best choice, of course, is to simply quit smoking, but that’s not quite as easy as it sounds. Cigarette smoking has been called more addictive than heroin, and some people simply can’t make themselves quit, no matter how hard they try. They see that it’s ruining their health, but yet they continue to smoke.

The patches and gums that are offered to smokers haven’t met with a great deal of success for most people. The prescription options can have nasty side effects, and some people just simply aren’t willing to use them. For people who’re running out of options, the e-cigarette can be a good alternative. It can help people move toward quitting their cigarette habit for good, or at least cut down on the amount of dangerous chemicals that they’re inhaling. Both of these options are better than simply continuing to smoke standard cigarettes.

Smoking is a leading cause of disease, but many smokers find it very hard to quit. Some of them just don’t want to stop smoking, but others have tried and failed so many times that they just aren’t sure they can try again. For smokers who want to quit, and for those who want to cut down on how much they’re spending on cigarettes, there’s the electronic cigarette. E-cigarettes have gained a lot of popularity recently because they can be used even in areas where there are ‘no smoking’ signs. They don’t actually put off any smoke at all, only water vapor. That lowers the risk to people around them, but are they really safe? It would seem as though they’re safer than standard cigarettes, because the only thing the smoker is inhaling is nicotine.
The tar and other chemicals, along with all the carcinogens, are eliminated with an e-cigarette. There is an argument, of course, that inhaling nicotine vapor itself isn’t good for you – and that makes sense. Given the choice between inhaling only nicotine and inhaling nicotine along with all the other chemicals in a cigarette, the straight nicotine would appear to be the least dangerous. The best choice, of course, is to simply quit smoking, but that’s not quite as easy as it sounds. Cigarette smoking has been called more addictive than heroin, and some people simply can’t make themselves quit, no matter how hard they try. They see that it’s ruining their health, but yet they continue to smoke.
The patches and gums that are offered to smokers haven’t met with a great deal of success for most people. The prescription options can have nasty side effects, and some people just simply aren’t willing to use them. For people who’re running out of options, the e-cigarette can be a good alternative. It can help people move toward quitting their cigarette habit for good, or at least cut down on the amount of dangerous chemicals that they’re inhaling. Both of these options are better than simply continuing to smoke standard cigarettes.

Filed Under: Benefits Tagged With: Cigarette, Nicotine, Smoking cessation, Tobacco smoking

E Cigarettes Address Psychological as Well as Physical Addictions

July 11, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

There is no doubting that nicotine is a physically addictive substance. Some organizations have even stated that nicotine addiction is as difficult to overcome as addictions to substances such as heroin and cocaine. Nicotine replacement therapies, therefore, seem like a smart alternative to smoking cigarettes. Sure, the nicotine itself isn’t good for your body, but nicotine gum and other products don’t carry the large number of carcinogens present in tobacco smoke. These products, however, often fail to help addicts quit smoking because they fail to address the role that psychological addiction plays in smoking cigarettes. E cigarettes provide a substitute that satisfies the psychological craving as well as the physical craving.

When a person becomes addicted to smoking tobacco, his or her brain begins to associate certain actions with pleasurable sensations. The very act of bringing the cigarette to one’s lips can cause the brain’s pleasure centers to light up in anticipation of the upcoming nicotine reward. The brain can also learn to associate the physical act of smoking with other pleasurable psychological states. If one commonly smokes cigarettes while drinking, then the physical act of smoking becomes closely associated with the pleasure obtained by ingesting alcohol. If one regularly smokes during work breaks, then the brain begins to link relaxation with the act of smoking.

E cigarettes satisfy the psychological craving by giving smokers a fake cigarette to inhale. The E cigarette looks and taste like a tobacco cigarette, so it tricks the brain into believing that you are actually smoking. Some companies even manufacture e cigarettes that replicate the appearance and flavor of certain types of cigarettes.

Over time, you can start to decrease the amount of nicotine that you use in the e cigarettes. You can also start to alter your mental associations by using e cigarettes less throughout the day. This approach helps you overcome addiction with much less suffering.

Filed Under: Mental Health Guidance Tagged With: Cigarette, Tobacco smoking