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Archive for September, 2009

Cigarette Filters Facts

September 25th, 2009 admin No comments

A cigarette filter has the purpose of reducing the amount of smoke, tar, and fine particles inhaled during the combustion of a cigarette. Filters also reduce the harshness of the smoke. In addition to tobacco, cigarettes contain paper made of cellulose laden with many added chemicals that serve to give it a whiter appearance, prettier ash, and a smoother burn. The paper is sealed with glue and often contains a monogram made of coloured ink.

The cigarette filter is in fact a very complicated structure that is made up of four parts. Basically, it consists of fibres bound together by glue, but there are also chemical additives that improve the taste and speed up the rate at which nicotine reaches the brain.

The cigarette filter is supposed to determine if a cigarette can be called a “light” or “ultra-light” brand. These low tar, low nicotine brands have filters that contain tiny holes in them. The holes allow outside air to be brought in with each puff of a cigarette, thus diluting the tar and nicotine to lower levels.

These cigarette filters were designed by the tobacco companies to filter out unhealthy particles in the cigarette smoke. These new filtered cigarettes were tested to see if they produced lower levels of tar and nicotine. Special machines were designed that could smoke cigarettes and measure the levels of tar and nicotine in the smoke. These machines proved that the holes worked and the filtered cigarettes delivered lower amounts of tar and nicotine.

The problem with this method – still used today – is that people don’t smoke like machines. People have lips and fingers that cover up the holes. Also, people can inhale deeper, take more frequent puffs, and hold the smoke in their lungs longer – which is, in fact, what smokers of “light” brands tend to do.

The brands of cigarettes that are “ultra low tar and nicotine” use a technique that involves tiny, invisible perforations in the filter. As smoke flows through the filter, quite a bit of air flows through the perforations and mixes in with the smoke. With each drag, the smoker receives a lot of air and much less smoke, and therefore less tar and nicotine.

The problem with filters is that they don’t actually produce the intended effect .Smokers have a reason for smoking: Their bodies need nicotine. It’s a physical addiction .Smokers will inhale the amount of smoke necessary to get the dose of nicotine their bodies need.

The easiest way to avoid all of these problems is to avoid smoking in the first place. In this way the body never becomes dependent on nicotine. Thus with the above stated facts about filters, there is no less smoking of cigarette. So it is time that people quit smoking for good and start a healthy life.

Why do some people become addicted to smoking

September 18th, 2009 admin No comments

There are many people in this world who are smokers, however not all the people who smoke or drink become addicts. This phenomenon of addiction to a particular activity is generally associated with the individual’s mind set too. However to throw more light into this aspect, scientists conducts studies to become more familiar with the biochemistry of both healthy and addicted brains, to tease out some of the differences between people who become addicted and those who do not.

Drugs themselves are not sufficient to cause addiction. A person’s environment and genes also influence the likelihood a person will become an addict. With that view in mind, scientists have been looking for a biochemical factor that could incline someone to addiction. One protein that fits that description is the dopamine receptor. Dopamine is one of the major neurotransmitters in the brain and is involved in pathways that sense pleasure and reward.

The dopamine receptor, D2, lies on the far side of neural synapses in the brain and binds dopamine as it is released by the neuron; binding of dopamine by the receptor transmits the electrical activation of one neuron to the next. Addicts generally have less D2 in their brains than do healthy controls. Interestingly, though, there is overlap, suggesting that D2 levels are not an absolute indicator of addiction. The levels of D2 appear to play a role in addiction, but are not sufficient to cause it.

The level of D2 plays an important role in how someone senses reward or value for a stimulus. At normal levels of D2, most people will feel a sense of pleasure or reward from food, social interaction, or sex. If the level of D2 is too low, however, then this sense of reward wouldn’t occur in response to such natural stimuli.

Addictive drugs, however, increase the amount of dopamine that is released in the synapse relative to natural stimuli. These unusually high levels of dopamine make up for the lower levels of D2 receptor and induce a sense of salience for the addict. The people with lower levels of D2 liked the drug; those with higher levels did not.

The natural variation in D2 levels in the population may be important for who becomes an addict. For those people with higher D2 levels, the drug stimulus was so strong that they felt uncomfortable and would not be inclined to try it again, but for those with a lower receptor level, the drug created a pleasant sensation.

Thus this work is beginning to draw a picture of why some people become addicted while others do not, and of what happens when they do. Such research may enable clinicians not only to treat addiction but to prevent it.

Are There Effective Treatments for Tobacco Addiction

September 15th, 2009 admin No comments

As the general belief goes, ‘all problems have solutions’, there are effective treatments for tobacco addiction. Although some smokers can quit without help, many individuals need assistance with quitting. This is particularly important because smoking cessation can have immediate health benefits. For example, within 24 hours of quitting, blood pressure and chances of heart attack decrease. Long-term benefits of smoking cessation include decreased risk of stroke, lung and other cancers, and coronary heart disease.

There are many ways in which people can come out of nicotine addiction. However before we even start with, the smoker has to have the will power and determination to quit smoking. It is this drive that is going to make any treatment for tobacco addiction a success.  Nicotine Replacement Treatments Nicotine replacement therapies (NRTs), such as nicotine gum and nicotine patch, were the first pharmacological treatments approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in smoking cessation therapy. NRTs are used to relieve withdrawal symptoms. An added benefit is that these forms of nicotine have little abuse potential since they do not produce the pleasurable effects of tobacco products, nor do they contain the carcinogens and gases associated with tobacco smoke.

Nicotine gum provides some smokers with the desired control over the dosage and the ability to relieve cravings. In 1996 a nicotine nasal sprays, and in 1998 a nicotine inhaler, also became available by prescription, thus meeting the needs of many additional tobacco users. All the NRT products—gum, patch, spray, and inhaler—appear to be equally effective.

Although the primary focus of pharmacological treatments for tobacco addiction has been nicotine replacement, other treatments are also available. For example, the antidepressant bupropion was approved by the FDA in 1997 to help people quit smoking. Varenicline tartrate (Chantix) is a medication that recently received FDA approval for smoking cessation. This medication, which acts at the sites in the brain affected by nicotine, may help people quit by easing withdrawal symptoms and blocking the effects of nicotine if people resume smoking.

Scientists are also investigating the potential of a vaccine that targets nicotine for use in relapse prevention. The nicotine vaccine is designed to stimulate the production of antibodies that would block access of nicotine to the brain and prevent nicotine’s reinforcing effects.

Behavioural interventions play an integral role in smoking cessation treatment; either it is combined with medication or alone. A variety of methods can assist smokers with quitting, ranging from self-help materials to individual cognitive-behavioural therapy. These involvements teach individuals to recognize high-risk smoking situations, develop alternative coping strategies, manage stress, improve problem solving skills, and increase social support. Research has also shown that the more therapy is customised to a person’s situation, the greater the chances are for success.

Over the past decade, however, researchers have been adapting these behavioural approaches through mail, telephone, and Internet formats, which can be more acceptable and accessible to smokers who are trying to quit. In 2004, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) established a national toll-free number, to serve as a single access point for smokers seeking information and assistance in quitting. In addition, a new web site (www.smokefree.gov) offers online advice and downloadable information to make cessation easier.

Quitting smoking can be smooth sailing with the correct mind set and attitude for the smoker and with the right guidance .Research has now shown that extending treatment beyond the typical duration of a smoking cessation program can produce quit rates as high as 50 percent at 1 year.

Teen Smoking How To Help Your Teen Quit Smoking

September 6th, 2009 admin No comments

Teen smoking is a cause of alarm for the people across the globe. For the past few decades, it’s the youth that is more attracted to smoking cigarettes .After all, teens who smoke are likely to turn into adults who smoke. It is very important that one takes teen smoking seriously and help the youth to quit that demeaning habit at a very early stage itself.

In order to genuinely help the teen to quit smoking, one needs to be curious and at the same time be supportive. There should be pondering in the initiative that has triggered the youth to resort to smoking in the first place. There could be reasons like stress, financial problems, adapting in a different environment or it could also be for sheer pleasure of it. Sometimes teen smoking is an attempt to feel cool or more grown-up.

Once there is an understanding into why teens have opted to smoke, making them quit smoking becomes a much easier task. One must encourage the teens to share his or her concerns and there should be a vivid explanation given to the smoking teens about the consequences of smoking like cancer, heart attack, strokes and other respiratory ailments.

One can also put forward other aspects of smoking such as bad breathe , foul smelling hair and clothes, yellow colouring of nails and teeth, paler looking skin and early aging.

As a parent, he or she has the most powerful influences in the teen’s life and the parents actions speak louder than the words. So if the parents smoke, then its time they quit and set a good example for the teens in the house. It is more of a responsibility that the adult shoulders in the development of the child in the house.

Many teens who smoke think they can stop anytime, but research shows this isn’t usually true. In fact, most adults who started smoking in their teens never expected to become addicted to nicotine.

It is actually easier for the teens to quit smoking than the adults so it is always earlier the better. Few steps that can be followed to help the teens to quit smoking are:

  • Help the teen to choose a date to stop smoking.
  • Encourage the teen to write down all the reasons he or she wants to quit smoking. The list can help the teen stay motivated when he or she is tempted to smoke.
  • Get the teens to be associated more with children who don’t smoke
  • Help the teen practice saying, “No thanks, I don’t smoke.”
  • Remind the teen that if he or she can hold out long enough, then the craving for nicotine will pass. They can choose a sugarless gum or cinnamon sticks to help them keep their mouths busy.
  • Join a support group. Some hospitals and local organizations offer stop-smoking groups just for teens. Teen groups are available online, too.
  • Consider stop-smoking medications like stop-smoking medications such as CigArrest stop smoking gums, patches, inhalers or nasal sprays.
  • Learn from mistakes. If the teen slips, remain supportive. Congratulate the teen on the progress he or she has made so far, and encourage them not to give up.

With all these, it is extremely important to celebrate the teen’s success in staying smoke free. Small rewards and plenty of positive reinforcement can help the teen maintain the motivation to stop smoking for good.

Teenage Girls and Cigarettes

September 3rd, 2009 admin No comments

In the current world scenario, teenage girls are obsessed with their body figure and go to any extent to become super slim and stay thin all the time. To add fuel to the fire, there is a myth floating among the teenage girls that smoking cigarettes help in maintaining their body slim. There are many tobacco companies are increasingly capitalising on this and targeting teenage girls, using cynical marketing ploys that tap into young women’s fears about their weight, and introducing “female-friendly” packaging.

There are other tobacco companies that uses terminology like ‘super slim’ to make the link between smoking their product and losing weight. These kind of cynical advertisements catch the target audience in a jiffy. Girls anxious about their weight and desperate to stay slim get attracted to these products. Further more; there are some tobacco companies that glamorise smoking by getting celebrities to endorse their products. With famous people voting for a cigarette, marketing the product becomes easy since the teenage girls fall for them.

Many tobacco companies have tried to forge a link between smoking and slimness. The first ad which emphasised the “benefits” of smoking for weight control was brought out in the late 1920s, with the slogan “Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet”. The popular US brand Virginia Slims hammers the message home with varieties Virginia Slims Super Slims Lights and Virginia Slims Super Slims Ultra Lights.

Coming to the actual facts, teen smokers are more likely to experience obesity as adults, according to a new study from Finland. Girls who smoke 10 cigarettes per day or more are at greatest risk, particularly for abdominal obesity. Their waist sizes are 1.34 inches larger than non-smoker’s waists are as young adults, according to the study.

Scientists know a correlation exists between women’s weight and smoking, the young women who smoked more than 10 cigarettes per day were 2.32 times more likely to become overweight than non-smokers, according to the study. The difference could be either biological or cultural. Biologically, it might be that tobacco and gender specific hormones interact differently in girls and boys in ways that affect appetite and fat distribution.

There are also teenage girls who smoke for just the pleasure of it or blame it on the stress factor. However, majority of teenage girls smoke primarily for wait loss .This is not a solution for people to loose weight. Smoking is a very harmful habit and has a lot of after effects on the human body. It is time that girls who are very young and smoke realise that it is just a false theory of smoking in aid of weight reduction and quit smoking at the earliest.