Why And How To Stop Smoking

WHY?

• Think of those who care and love you very much. Every piece of news related to smoking is bad. Isn’t that bad enough?
• Tobacco and tobacco smoke are cancer’s best friends. Close friends with respiratory problems and heart diseases (e.g. atherosclerosis).
• Smoking increases the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), also called chronic obstructive lung disease.
• There is growing evidence that smoking can lead to AMD (age-related macular degeneration), a degenerative condition occurring at the
  back of the eye (macula) resulting in blindness.
• There is an increased risk of developing cataracts.
• Smokers may develop complications in diverticular disease.
  Source: “Smoking may be associated with complications in diverticular disease” S. Papagrigoriadis, et al. British Journal of Surgery (1999) 86:923-926
• Smoking can suppress the body’s immune function.
• Smoking contributes to chronic sinusitis.
• Smoked or chewed tobacco worsens gum disease.
• Tobacco can cause hemorrhoids to flare up.
• Chain smokers (over 20 cigarettes a day) are 13 times more likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis than non-smokers.
• Women who smoke during early pregnancy can increase a child’s risk of developing autism.
• Cigarettes, like alcohol, coffee and fizzy drinks are known to have an adverse effect on the secretion of the female hormone estrogen. Estrogen is linked to healthy bone strength.
• Nicotine is just as addictive as cocaine or heroin.
• Cigars, like cigarettes contain nicotine. Cigar smoking is not safer than cigarettes. Cigars are a major source of secondhand smoke which contains over 4000 chemicals where 200 are poisons and 63 cause cancer.
• It is foolish to think that smoking without inhaling is safe, that is because smoke still enters the body through the mouth, nose and skin.
• Why take all these health risks? What is there to gain?
• Smoking can cause skin to age faster.
• Smoking increases stomach acidity which can irritate the stomach lining.
• While you enjoy puffing, you are actually forcing those around you to breathe in what is harmful.
• Children exposed to secondhand smoke are more prone to have chronic ear infections.
• A study conducted by the British Institute of Psychiatry found that smoking later in life may lead to mental decline. Researchers found that smokers were 4 times more likely to experience a significant intellectual decline than non-smokers. The test that was used to assess intellectual power was similar to those used to screen for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
  Source: “Smoking, drinking, and incident cognitive impairment: a cohort community based study included in the Gospel Oak Project” J A Cervilla, et al. Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry (2000) 68:622-626
• Your sense of smell will be better.
• Costly. Why not save the cigarette money? Surely there must be other better ways to spend it.
• If now is not the time to quit then when do you prefer?
• Think of your well-being too.
• Quiting smoking is a precious and meaningful gift to give yourself and to the people you care about.
• Set a good example for kids.
• Forget about the number of times you have failed, don’t be discouraged. It is that one success that counts.
• Stop smoking today.

HOW?

• Check out the programmes that your local hospitals or health centers are organising and enrol yourself. A programme called “Breathe Easy” that was started in the US in 1985 has claimed a high success rate. You might like to check if it is available.
• Learn to play a musical instrument or pick up a hobby.
• Seek help from your family, friends or colleagues. It helps to quit with someone.
• Avoid situations where you would usually smoke.
• Distract smoking urges with exercise, manual tasks, making phone calls or by eating fruits or munching carrot/cucumber sticks.
• Reduce cravings by drinking lemon-infused water. Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to a glass (300ml) of water and drink it 4 times a day.
• Get a piggy bank and put in the money that is used to buy cigarettes. Be amazed how much is collected.
• Women with PMS should try not to quit before their menses as it can increase nicotine withdrawal.
• Commercial products like nicotine gum, nicotine inhaler, nicotine patch, nicotine nasal spray and nicotine-free pill (Zyban) can help you quit gradually. Visit a doctor or pharmacist for their advice. Giving up is difficult because of nicotine addiction, a substance that is not cancer-causing.
• According to Dr. Ralph Heinicke, a foremost expert in the research of xeronine, xeronine is an alkaloid synthesized in the body and plays a key role at cellular level. When we take in foreign alkaloids like nicotine, cocaine, heroin and caffeine, which mimic xeronine’s natural function, the body’s proteins adapt to them and alter the need for xeronine to an unnatural need for foreign alkaloids. To overcome this addiction, flood your body with xeronine just like you originally flooded the body with foreign alkaloid. Dr. Heinicke found noni to be the best source of proxeronine (a precursor to xeronine).

  To treat this addiction, place a few drops of noni juice under the tongue every hour. This will release proxeronine straight into the bloodstream from the soft tissue under the tongue to the brain. Repeating this procedure every hour will help flood the brain with this useful compound and allow the brain to subsequently prefer xeronine than nicotine.
  Note : The body does not get addicted to xeronine and thus noni is not addictive.

  In “76 Ways to Use Noni Fruit Juice” (Direct Source, 2001) Ms. Isabelle Navarre-Brown shares several quit-smoking techniques using noni fruit juice, noni skin lotion, noni seed oil and noni liquid concentrate. Noni will reduce the physical and psychological need for cigarettes.

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