Ciggyfree Blog & Gov Alert

Make the most of the national smoking ban on Monday by swapping cigarettes for exercise, says Philip Carling of the Sports Council for Wales

THE ban on smoking will revolutionise the very face of Wales’ public indoor spaces, transforming them into healthier, smoke-free zones as the last cigarettes are stubbed out in nightclubs, restaurants, and pub ash-trays from Angelsey to Monmouthshire.

Smokers can take the ban more personally by making a pledge to integrate 30 minutes physical activity five times a week into their lifestyle, even if they are not intending to stub out the habit for good. It’s all part of Health Challenge Wales.

The message that ’smoking is bad for you’ is so old now that people have stopped giving it their full attention. Instead I would urge adults to consider that physical activity has profound benefits and can only enhance your wellbeing, regardless of whether you smoke.

The pub smoking ban offers a perfect opportunity for smokers to adopt a healthier more active lifestyle. If, like many smokers throughout Wales, you’re dreading its onset, now is the time to start putting the benefits of physical activity into practice. It has been proven that exercise is one of the best ways to help smokers kick the habit, and by stopping you are benefiting the health of the nation.

Research shows that smoking kills around 114,000 people in the UK each year owing to smoking related cancers, cardiovascular and lung disease, or high blood pressure leading to heart attacks and stroke. Exercise reduces the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke, lowers the chance of lung cancer, boosts circulation and helps maintain a healthy blood pressure.

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A new survey released today by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids finds that most Americans are not aware of the dangerous chemicals in cigarettes and cigarette smoke. The survey found that 71 percent of adults and 79 percent of teens could not name a single chemical found in cigarette smoke, other than tar and nicotine. Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals, including at least 69 that cause cancer and many more that are hazardous.

Chemicals in cigarette smoke include arsenic (used in rat poison, causes cancer in humans), ammonia (used in household cleaners, can irritate the respiratory tract and elevate blood pressure), formaldehyde (used to embalm bodies, causes nasal cancer and can damage the lungs, skin and digestive system), and polonium 210 (a highly radioactive element that causes cancer). To raise awareness about these and other hazardous chemicals in cigarettes, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids has launched a new web site — http://www.whatareyousmoking.org

The survey also found powerful evidence that children are still being bombarded by tobacco advertising. Teens are almost twice as likely as adults to recall seeing advertising for cigarettes or spit tobacco in the previous two weeks — 49 percent of teens recalled seeing tobacco advertising, while only 26 percent of adults did.

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Researchers Say It Takes Genes, Viruses and Cigarettes

Physicians say that smoking is by far the biggest cause of emphysema, but why doesn’t every smoker get the disease? If you asked Michael Holtzman, M.D., that question, he might answer that for most cases of emphysema you need a mix of genes, viruses and cigarettes.

Emphysema and the associated condition of chronic bronchitis are both disorders that contribute to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States.

Research by Holtzman and his colleagues at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that someone destined to suffer from COPD may start with a susceptible genetic makeup and then experience a severe viral lung infection in early childhood.

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For those who have gone through life shying away from anything involving numbers, the demonstration of the principle of compound interest is usually an eye-opening revelation.

It’s quite simply, actually. Money set aside today accrues interest, if it is wisely invested. But so does the interest on what you set aside yesterday. Over a longtime span, this snowballing of interest on interest can build up to a sizable nest egg.

That’s why financial advisors always tell you to start saving for retirement while you are younger, even if the amounts you set aside are fairly small. It is also why tax policies that make investment income from retirement savings tax exempt can have such a powerful impact on wealth, even if the income you draw from those plans later in life is fully taxed.

It’s a story about numbers, so it takes a few to explain it. If you are in a 25-percent tax bracket, and set $100 dollars of your after-tax wages aside each month, after 40 years you would have about $134,000 in savings to spend as you wished. But if you saved with pre-tax dollars, in a tax-exempt account, your nest egg would be almost double that size, more than $265,000. Even after paying taxes on the income you draw out, you’d be well ahead.

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Breathing exercises too can prove to be useful in controlling the urge to
smoke. It is common knowledge that the human body takes in a lot of toxic
substances, both through the air and through food and drink. Apart from
this, various toxins are also released in the body as a result of the
various processes that are going on. These toxins have to be released on a
continuous basis or else they will accumulate in the body with serious
results.

One of the best ways of releasing these toxins is by means of exhaling while
breathing. One funny fact is that most of do not breathe properly. Just take
a look at the picture like this. With each breath that we take, we take in
oxygen. This oxygen is carried by the blood to every cell of the body and
every cell must indeed get enough oxygen not just to survive but to remain
healthy as well.

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Cigarettes look deceptively simple, consisting of paper tubes containing chopped up tobacco leaf, usually with a filter at the mouth end. In fact, they are highly engineered products, designed to deliver a steady dose of nicotine.

Cigarette tobacco is blended from two main leaf varieties: yellowish ‘bright’, also known as Virginia where it was originally grown, contains 2.5-3% nicotine; and ‘burley’ tobacco which has higher nicotine content (3.5-4%). US blends also contain up to 10% of imported ‘oriental’ tobacco which is aromatic but relatively low (less than 2%) in nicotine.

In addition to the leaf blend, cigarettes contain ‘fillers’ which are made from the stems and other bits of tobacco which would otherwise be waste products. These are mixed with water and various flavorings and additives. The ratio of filler varies among brands.

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Nowhere in any industry does the term “killer marketing” apply better than in Big Tobacco. If Big Tobacco is successful in marketing its products to existing addicts, ex addicts and new victims, it will definitely kill its target audience. And it seems that marketing executives have become so “clever” (if that’s the word you would use to describe somebody who’s found a way into talking somebody into doing something that will end his or her life) it frightens me.

One of my Quit Buds has been smoke-free for 233 days. Her addiction manifested in the form of Camels before she decided to break free. I can’t imagine that a tobacco company could know that she specifically had quit, or hadn’t purchased any of their product in over 200 days… but something caused them to decide to send her some coupons this week. They had never sent her coupons in the mail before. It freaked her out.

What was worse - they came in the exact shape and size of a pack of sickarettes.

Her words are the best to use in describing her feelings…

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By BRIAN DONALDSON, The Herald
Original Publication Date: March 13 2007
Reproduced with the permission of The Herald, Glasgow © Newsquest (Herald & Times) Ltd.

AS THESE things go, “I’m going to cure the world of smoking” is up there with the world’s best catchphrases. These words were uttered by Allen Carr on July 15, 1983, the day when he stubbed out his last cigarette.

Convinced he had discovered a method based mainly on the logical reasons smokers need to quit (rather than on the sea of drugs and patches and gums and hypnotists on the market), he would soon coin it Easyway, which would heal millions of their nicotine dependency.

Carr’s second wife Joyce had heard it all before, the muggy reek on his clothes continued evidence of the 100-a-day routine he’d cultivated throughout his working life. That day, she witnessed him have such a fierce coughing fit that a heavy nosebleed ensued.

Traumatised by the event, Carr’s first instinct was to light up. The bleeding intensified. Appalled, Joyce demanded he visit a hypnotherapist who had helped a family friend.

Dubious, but willing to placate his wife, Carr went along and had his eyes opened, not by the treatment but by one statement from the therapist: “Do you realise smoking is just nicotine addiction and if you quit for long enough, you will eventually be free?”

Many variations on this mantra are repeated in Carr’s books and by the ex-smoker therapists who work in his clinics, helping keep the success rate around the 95% mark they proudly boast.

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Okay, I’ll come clean. I once smoked. This surprises people, as I don’t look like a smoker, whatever that means.

Smoking is serious and quitting is very difficult. I quit for good 20 years ago. I told myself that all I had to do was get through that day. I smoked no small amount and I am not proud of it. Smoking promotes dishonesty. Smokers don’t really tell you how much they smoke.

Smoking is a serious addiction. I still say that I am one cigarette away from being a pack-and-a-half-a-day smoker. While the first puff may be nauseating, soon I’d be craving another one even if I didn’t really want it.

My mom died of lung cancer at the young age of 63. Smoking kills and it doesn’t do it nicely. Smoking puts stress on your heart, affects your blood pressure and if you are pregnant it has been associated with a higher incidence of miscarriage and low birth weight. One day I woke up and realized smoking controlled me and it was time to be honest with myself.

I had to be ready and no one could push me to quit. I didn’t just have to quit smoking, though. I had to relinquish an entire set of events that over the years had become connected to smoking. This was the hard work. Smoking signaled relaxation. It was wonderful with a cup of coffee, a conversation, a meal or a phone call. I needed to learn how to laugh, cry, drink a beverage and drive a car without a cigarette.

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In case I’ve misled anybody in any of my posts… I do not disdain the patch. I quit using the patch. I used it as directed, for all 3 levels. I’ve been quit 1 Year, 2 Months, 1 Week, 13 hours, 3 minutes and 59 seconds. Thanks to the patch, somewhere in the world there are 4,746 cigarettes that were not smoked by me. I don’t see anything wrong with quitting CT if you can do it. I don’t see anything wrong with any method now available legally in this country. If you find a way that works for you - use it.

As for me, I owe my monetary savings of $1,307.78 and “life” savings of 1 Month, 5 Days, 6 hours and 6 minutes to the strength the patch gave me.

I have never intended in any way to say quitting by means of the patch is bad. I will say that nicotine is a powerful, mind-numbing drug. I’ll shout that part from the rooftops. And I’ll also go so far as to say that nicotine is a powerfully addictive drug at that. But quitting by means of the patch is, in my opinion, the best thing that has happened to me health-wise since my children were born.

~GareK

Tobacco has taken its toll on Haines resident Jim Hamp. His wife and mother both died of tobacco-related cancers, and Hamp is dying from emphysema.

A longtime charter and commercial fisherman, Hamp, 68, now has to wear a nasal cannula (a plastic hose that pumps oxygen from a tank into his nose) and rarely has the energy to visit is boat. Some days he barely has the energy to reach across the kitchen table. After smoking for 50 years, Hamp said he’d trade all the pleasure he got from cigarettes for one more good day of breathing. Now that he’s dying, Hamp wants to warn young smokers about what awaits them.

“Tobacco is just a matter of time. It doesn’t matter who you are,” Hamp said. “Why tempt how long? You’re playing with your life.”

Even though he sold cigarettes when he was growing up, Hamp said he didn’t start smoking until after he went to college. He said both of his parents smoked and it was the accepted thing to do. When he was in the military, more than 200 of the 244 soldiers in his company smoked. Within a year of starting, Hamp said he was smoking 1 1/2 packs a day.

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Dain Bramage is what you get when you quit by using the patch, and my daugher’s got it in spades right now. Please don’t think I’m poking fun at my own daughter! I only know the syndrome because I myself used the patch as directed, and I instantly lost about 80% of my IQ points. The first 2 weeks of my Quit were like being strung out on some kind of mind-numbing drug.

Oh wait - the 21 mg patch is a mind numbing drug!

Thankfully my girl has a good job with a good boss and good people to work with. I contract my services out, which means if I don’t work, I don’t eat. Quite literally, my whole livelihood was at stake. If I am unproductive I don’t pay bills, I don’t have electricity, I don’t have internet, I don’t have anything unless I have the ability to work and get stuff done. So here’s what I did.

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Today is the first anniversary of my quit. A whole year. It’s a milestone that, a year ago, looked unreachable to me. Now, it seems like it’s not a real big deal. It really feels like just another day in the one-day-at-a-time chain. So I really don’t think it’s a major achievement, I really don’t think I have reached a goal, but it is a good place to evaluate the quit.

The nature of the quit is so much different today than a year ago. When I first started it was a real effort to get through the next minute without running to the nearest convenience store to buy some cigarettes, and smoke them all one after the other. Now I forget I ever smoked for long periods of time, punctuated by short, sharp cravings.

When I smoked my last one, looking ahead to a year without smoking was beyond my imagination. It looked like way more than I could ever do. Now, I can’t imagine going back to smoking.

Last year, I thought I would need a lot of help to get through the tough times, and keep on my quit. Now I know that no one can quit for me, I have to do it, or fail, on my own.

Last year I had no idea that I had the power to quit. Today I know I have that power.

I haven’t had a lot to say on the blog here for the last few months. I feel like I just ran out of stuff to talk about. The quit continues, just like before, one day at a time. The challenges still come up, and I have to still respect the fact that I am one puff away from my old habit of more than a pack a day. I am not completely free of any danger of relapse.

But I am hanging in there, I am a non-smoker. I don’t even really want to smoke anymore. That’s the real promised land of quitting – the total reversal of attitude about smoking. Being a smoker sucks – big time.

Good luck to all of us quitters, and just keep free for one more day at a time. It adds up.

Zzyzx

The end of the week last week got really busy for me. I can’t go too long without wanting to write, though. I’ve kept a journal most of my life, and found writing to be particularly theraputic as I have gone through this journey of discovery I call “My Quit“.

Sometimes I kick myself for not having kept some of the things I wrote over at QuitNet. I wrote a humor piece on the Quit Farts that I’d love to get back, especially now. For some reason they seem to have returned. Couldn’t be that I’ve increased the fiber in my diet huh?

I read a comment one of you wrote to an earlier post of mine - the comment was about how hard life was for me early on. It got me thinking. It took me a long time, when I was younger, to let go of that kind of self-talk. I’ve wanted to find some way to explain how I’ve grown to think about it and, of course, it was given to me… in the form of an email a friend sent. I want to share it with you now.

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She didn’t know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose. In response, her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire until the water in the pots came to a boil…

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