Here are some tips on how to cope with nicotine cravings that you may find useful. The first few days after you quit smoking can be the hardest and challenging with the most problematic being cravings for nicotine.

Few smokers quit without getting cravings and to succeed, you must get through them first.  Make a list of situations which will likely trigger you to smoke. Your list may include but not necessary restricted to the following:

• With your morning coffee and reading the papers.
• On the way to work.
• During tea break at work.
• After a meal.
• Whilst watching television.
• Socialising with friends at a party, in a pub, bar with alcohol involved.
• When you are feeling stressed.
• When you are feeling bored.

The first few days will be the most difficult but quitting is not an impossible task, each time you resist an urge to smoke, your confidence will build and the next time round will be easier. How about marking off each smoke-free day on your calendar to boost your confidence and keep you going?

If you feel the urge to smoke or if you need ideas for activities to keep you busy and your mind off of smoking, try some of the following: 

• Take the bulls by the horn! Confront your cravings head on and learn to ‘overcome the urge to smoke at will through sheer determination’.
• The choice to quit smoking and the responsibility for not smoking is YOURS alone.
• Cravings only last 3- 5 minutes and they WILL subside. Once the urge to smoke has gone your resolve will strengthen.
• Focus on the reasons you decided to quit. Take a look at your quitting plan.
• Take a few deep breaths. Breathe in slowly through the nose and fill your lungs, then breathe out again slowly through the mouth.
• Stimulating drinks such as coffee, tea or alcohol should be avoided, try drinking juice with your breakfast.
• If you smoke while watching television or reading, prepare some pieces of fruit or vegetable sticks in advance to snack on.
• Drink ice water. Sip it slowly and try to savour the taste. This will also help to satisfy any increased appetite.
• If you tend to smoke when stressed, try going for a walk or jog instead, or try doing some housework, an alternative to smoking and more things accomplished.
• Take up a new hobby, preferably one that will keep your hands busy. 
• Keep your mouth busy too. Chew on some sugarless gum, toothpick. If you have a partner, start kissing and enjoy the freshness of a kiss without the smoker’s cigarette breath.
• Join the gym, go bowling, attend exercise or dance classes.
• Keep a piggy bank and fill it with the amount of money that you would have spent on cigarettes every day. At the end of the week/month, empty it and treat yourself to something you fancy. Or you can put invest the money saved and with compounded interest earned over the years, you can see your money grow.

I hope the tips on how to cope with nicotine cravings above can help you in your quest for a smoke free life.

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For those Muslim readers who have began fasting in various countries for the start of the ninth and holiest month in the Muslim calendar. Don’t you feel there’s no better time than to quit smoking during Ramadan?

Muslims in various countries began Ramadan at dawn on Sunday, Monday or yesterday, determined by sighting of the new moon. Muslims are supposed to abstain from smoking, eating, drinking, and other “sensual pleasures” from dawn until sunset during Ramadan.

Ramadan is an ideal opportunity for smokers to quit smoking not just during the day but permanently! You have already abstained from smoking for a good 12 hours. Think about it, you have already gone through 12 hours nicotine free. You don’t actually need additional help with other quit smoking program or product!

Do yourself a favour, you have already started your journey to being smoke free. If you ask me, there’s no better time than to quit smoking during Ramadan. You have already made it pass half the day nicotine free!

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Is smoking addictive? Well, the answer is…

Using any form of tobacco, including smoking cigarettes, cigars and pipes or chewing tobacco can rapidly lead to addiction. The drug in tobacco that causes addiction is called nicotine, which is as addictive as heroin or cocaine, some can become addicted after smoking just a few cigarettes.

The cigarette is legally engineered to deliver the nicotine in a very efficient way. By inhaling, the smoker can get nicotine to the brain very rapidly with every puff. A typical smoker takes about 10 puffs on a lit cigarette over 5 minutes. The “hits” of nicotine to the brain each day, depending on the number of cigarettes smoke contributes to nicotine’s highly addictive nature.

Nicotine acts as a stimulant in small doses, creating a sense of alertness, calmness and relaxation especially at times of stress. The problem is that nicotine isn’t stored in the body so these effects last only a few minutes. We need to absorb more and more nicotine to make the effects last.

When your nicotine intake becomes regular, you become dependant on it. So, instead of providing a temporary high, people smoke regularly just to feel “normal”.

When some people go without tobacco for more than a few hours they may experience withdrawal symptoms such as lack of energy, slight depression, difficulty concentrating, headache, dizziness. This is why giving up smoking takes a lot of effort and determination. But when you quit for good, withdrawal symptoms will pass within a few days.

Similar to other addictions, it’s difficult to give up without help and many have failed several if not many times, often suffering a relapse and more often than not, smoking more than before. Studies have shown that tobacco use usually begins at an early age and those that started early are more likely to develop an addiction compared to those that start later.

So the answer to the question, is smoking addictive? The answer is yes.

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Smoking addiction means a person has an uncontrollable dependence on cigarettes to the point where stopping will cause withdrawal symptoms. Symptoms include but not necessary restricted to the following: 

• Anxiety
• Depressed mood
• Irritability
• Increase appetite
• Restlessness

Despite the fact that everyone knows that smoking is harmful and addictive, few people realize addictive it is. And before you realize it, you are hooked!! Chances is about one in three smokers who do not quit will die prematurely due to their smoking habit, on average about 10 to 15 years earlier.

Most smokers want to stop and do indeed try, however, success rate is not very high at the first go and usually they will have to try a few times before they finally succeed. The reason for such a low success rate on the first try is because of the addiction.

But being addicted doesn’t mean that you cannot kick the habit. You can do it, as long as you have made the decision to quit.

How and when you stop will be dependant only on you and yourself. Only you know what are you giving up and all the benefits associated with your decision and action. When you have make up your mind, you can succeed in overcoming your smoking addiction.

“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.“

Dr. Napoleon Hill

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A little side track from the usual cancer risk associated with tobacco smoke. Studies by researchers in Singapore have found a link between incense smoke and cancer risk. The report will be appearing in the October issue of the American Cancer Society journal Cancer. The authors say it’s the first investigation on such a link.

Use of incense or joss sticks is a widespread practice worldwide, commonly used in Asian temples and the many religious and spiritual ceremonies. For those who burn incense for more than 40 years are 70 percent more likely to contract cancers of the nose, sinuses, tongue, mouth and windpipe.

Burning of incense emits a variety of carcinogens, almost doubling the risk of developing the cancers mentioned above.

Study was done more than 61,000 Singapore Chinese who are cancer free at the time the study was carried out in 1993. They were tracked till 2005. Records were kept on how often they burn incense at home and how long together with other factors such as diets, drinking habits, smokers or non-smokers.
Of the original group, 325 had developed cancer of the upper respiratory tract and 821 had developed lung cancer.

After adjusting for other lifestyle factors that are known to cause cancer, such as smoking, the team found that burning incense was associated with an increase in some types of lung cancer, and cancers of the upper respiratory tract, such as throat and mouth cancer. Interestingly, the practice did not increase the overall risk of lung cancer.

The risk of cancer from incense smoke is higher among women who spent more at home compared to men. In an enclosed space, the amount of smoke and particles released by incense would be higher compared to those burned outdoors.
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Will incense go the way of tobacco? Not necessarily, said some experts. However, it is important to advise people to reduce their exposure since the above studies have shown there is a link between incense smoke and cancer risk.

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It is well documented that cigarette smoke is the major cause of lung cancer. The fact is, the more you smoke and the longer you smoke, the greater your risk. So is the recent news about lung cancer vaccine a blessing for smokers to continue with the habit?

Recent news about lung cancer vaccine being developed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is undergoing phase three trial in Europe - the last hurdle before the drug is approved for commercial use. However, the name “vaccine” may be misleading… This is a therapeutic cancer vaccine that is being developed.

Most vaccines which are used to prevent a disease before it strikes, therapeutic cancer vaccines are meant to treat patients already suffering from cancer.

They are meant to be used as a more direct approach in attacking the cancer, moving away from the  strategy of current radiation and chemotherapy treatments. They kill the cancerous and healthy cells without discrimination, making the patient very sick and don’t work for everyone.

The lung cancer vaccine comes in the form of injections home in on the tumours by recognizing the unique signals produced by the cancerous cells. Preventing it from recurring after the tumour had been removed.  Early results from the GSK trials in Europe show the vaccine works on a major sub-type accounting for up to half of all lung cancers.

Unlike GSK’s cervical cancer vaccine which is meant to prevent cancer before it strikes, an actual lung cancer vaccine or any cancer vaccine for the matter may take a while to materialize.

So rather than for a lung cancer vaccine coming along the way that will let you “smoke in peace” without the worries of being struck down with one of the many illnesses associated with smoking, why not quit smoking and lower the risk factor altogether!

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I have been talking about nicotine addiction all this while and how to kick the habit. Let us take a closer look at what is nicotine.

The main alkaloid of the tobacco plant is nicotine which is both a sedative and a stimulant. Nicotine is an oily liquid alkaloid, pale yellow, poisonous with a pungent odour and acrid taste, turning brown upon exposure to air. It’s used in medicine as well as an insecticide in its concentrated form.

Long term usage through tobacco products such as cigarettes, cigars and pipes can definitely lead to dependency because it is highly addictive. It is contained in different quantities in the tobacco leaves depending on the origin and preparation of the tobacco.

The amount of nicotine in tobacco leaves ranges from 2% to 7%. A cigarette smoker only absorbed some of the smoke inhaled from a cigarette (typically containing about 10mg of nicotine), getting about 1 to 2 milligrams of nicotine from each cigarette.

Cigarette smoking, results in rapid distribution of nicotine, reaching the brain within 10 seconds of inhalation. Cigar and pipe smokers, on the other hand, typically do not inhale the smoke, so nicotine is absorbed more slowly through the mucosal membranes of their mouths.

So in conclusion, what is nicotine? Well, it’s killing you one way or another. Slowly with continual usage of tobacco products or potent sedative if you take it in the right proportion, a drop of pure nicotine would kill and put you to sleep forever.

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A new study has shown that stroke risk increases for young women smokers compared to their non-smoking peers. But study also shows cutting down or quitting smoking can reduce the risk.

The study done on women age 15 to 49 was published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. It found women who smoke one to 10 cigarettes per day increase their stroke risk 2.2 times, 11 to 20 per day increase stroke risk 2.5 times, 21 to 39 per day more than fourfold and for those who smoke 40 or more cigarettes per day — increase their risk 9.1 times.

The study followed women who have suffered from strokes and those that haven’t, comparing on a level playing field between those of similar age, race and ethnicity. There is strong evidence to show cutting down helps reduce stroke risk, however the best option is quitting totally.

The good news is when women stop smoking, their stroke risk decreases significantly. After five years of being smoke-free, former smokers have the same stroke risk as non-smokers. As you can see, the earlier you quit, the better it is. People who quit smoking prior to age 35 can have the same life expectancy as those who have never smoked.

Interestingly, stroke is more common in men than in women. However, more than half the total stroke deaths occur in women and at all ages, more women than men die of strokes.

Also, stroke risk increases for young women smokers who are on the pill at the same time. So women smokers who are on oral contraceptives, please take note.

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