Stop Smoking Tips

The last post told how there are over 4,000 chemicals in each cigarette, many of which are known to cause cancer. In an experiment the nicotine and tar of 2,000 cigarettes were collected (10 cigarettes a day for 6 months; 20 cigarettes a day for 3 months). Researchers found that further diluted and painted once on the skin of mice, cancer developed on 60% of the mice within a year!

Considering that many chemicals are banned when they cause cancer in 5% of the time this statistic is extraordinary. These findings give you more reasons to stop smoking.

Nicotine also will cause an initial release of adrenaline, a fight or flight hormone. This will cause the heart rate to increase, increase blood pressure and cause rapid shallow breathing. It also tells the body to dump more glucose into the blood stream to help defend you and blocks the release of insulin which will help the cells take up the glucose in the blood.

Smokers often feel that cigarettes are an appetite suppressant and this may be the reason. When there is a hyperglycemic effect, more glucose in the blood, this may suppress the appetite of the smoker.

Nicotine may also slightly increase the basal metabolic rate – or the base rate at which the metabolism runs and burns calories. However, exercise will also increase the basal metabolic rate while not causing the damaging health effects that smoke does.

In the long run nicotine and the other chemicals will also increase the level of bad cholesterol (LDL) that damages your arteries. This increases the likelihood that the smoker will have a heart attack or stroke.

In fact, one myth that has been perpetuated for years is that smokers have a higher risk of death from lung cancer. While their risk of developing lung cancer is much higher than the general population they are also at a much higher risk and have a much higher rate of death from circulatory issues such as heart attack or stroke.

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