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Overview Cigarette smoking is one of the preventable causes of death and disease in America, as one of every five death takes place each year according to the CDC statistics. Smoking is the practice of inhaling smoke of burning tobacco, pipes and cigars. It is a misconception that smoking helps the person to cope up with stress, or helps in losing weight. It actually makes you addicted. An individual who smokes is at the major risk of getting adverse health issues. There are increased chances of getting multiple health problems like cardiovascular diseases and various cancers. Timely termination of smoking is the only way to stay away from various diseases. Along with proper medication, a person also needs emotional and motivational support. One should keep on trying until he or she succeeds in achieving a smoke free life.

Why do people smoke?

‘’Smoking is injurious to health ‘’ this warning is clearly mentioned on the every pack of cigarettes, yet people smoke. There are ample amount of triggering factors that makes the people intended to smoking such as:

• Stress at work or home can often leads to the habit of smoking. Smokers relaxes and calms his nerves by smoking
• To create an impression in friends that you have grown up
• Peer and social pressure
• Getting influenced by the people you respect and admire a lot
• Glamorization of smoking in the movies and in the advertisements
• To lose weight
• To overcome the depressive feeling

What is the composition of Cigarette?

Cigarette comprises of numerous substances such as carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and nitrogen oxides like gases. Other volatile chemicals present in it are acrolein, benzene and certain N- nitrosamines.

Hydrogen cyanide directly harms the cilia lining of human respiratory tract and cause nerve damage in optic neuropathy. This chemical has the ability to cross placenta and may affects the growth of fetus.

Benzene &nitrosamines like nicotinic have cancer causing properties or may stimulate the formation of undesired tumors.

What are the deleterious effects of smoke?

Cigarette has various chemicals that can directly hit the human body system. Smoking can cause multiple diseases some of them are as follows:

• Multiple Cancers can occur due to smoking. Mouth, lungs, oesphagus and cervix cancer are few examples
• Cardiovascular diseases like heart attacks
• Blood clots
• Stomach ulcers
• Optic nerve damage
• Impotency
• Cataract and macular degeneration
• Dizziness and nausea
• Cough and breathing problems
• High cholesterol levels in body
• Periodontitis and inflammation in gums
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• Fetal damage

What is the need of quitting smoking?

Life is the most precious gift of God and everyone wants to live a disease free life. Smoking cessation is one of the ways of getting healthy and smoke free life. Quitting is hard thing to do, but by doing this your family and friends will be proud of you. You will give healthy environment to others also.

If an individual stops smoking, he or she can have multiple benefits like:

• Health benefits such as reduces the susceptibility of person having cancers, heart problems and other serious disease conditions
• Financial benefits such as a person who quits smoking will have more money to spend and along with this he or she will spend more time with friends and family
• By stopping smoking, one can give protection to family and friends from becoming passive smokers

How one can quit smoking?

Becoming a non smoker is a long journey and requires a lot of will power and patience. The first and foremost step is to recognize the triggering factor that leads to cigarette smoking. Watch yourself at what time and with what feeling you are smoking. Note down the feeling of craving and what exactly you feel if you don’t smoke. Maintain a diary and jot down the factors, people, situations and moods that leads to craving for smoke. Second step is the acceptance of fact that you are addicted to smoking as denial is the major barrier in overcoming the addiction. Psychological effect is the root cause of smoking. Consult with your doctor as he can arrange a health counselor that can help and motivates the smoker in many ways such as:

• Evaluate the level of nicotine addiction
• Assess the strategies best for you to increase your will power and ways to overcome craving factors
• They help in finding the triggering factors and ways to manage them
• Gives complete information about smoke free life and its benefits
• Provides support and care

Along with this, there are certain medicines available in the market that helps you quit smoking. Nicotine is the substance that causes addiction and if person does not smoke then they are severe withdrawal symptoms such as:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Frustration
• Sweating
• Tingling sensation in hands and feet
• Headache
• Muscle cramps
• Nausea
• Mental confusion

To overcome these symptoms, Nicotine patches are applied directly to the skin. In this way, nicotine is made available to the body from a harmless source other than cigarette and thus helps in overcoming withdrawal symptoms. Side effects associated with them are skin irritation, sleep disturbances and dizziness.

Other than that, Varenicline is a drug that has ability to bind with the receptors of nicotine and produce its effect. It prevents binding of harmful nicotine ingested via smoking. It remarkably improves the withdrawal symptoms. One must strive to achieve smoke free life. Varneciline is the only available drug used for the treatment. It is generally recommended for 12 weeks. Headache, nausea, constipation and insomnia are the few side effects associated with it.

 Also Read: Quit Smoking on this World No Tobacco Day