Are you still smoking? Read this.

It is widely known fact that smoking is harmful for health.

But statistics show that the warnings and anti-smoking campaign do not seem to affect smokers.

They have developed an addiction to nicotine. The habit is wired to the nervous system.

And more teenagers are lighting up and picking the habit.

Teenagers do so because of peer pressure, modeling their parents, or out of curiosity and the need to experiment.

The harmful effects.

• A significant contributing factor in emphysema, lung cancer and heart disease.

• Affects cholesterol level.

• Causes blood pressure to rise, thickens blood and increases it inclination to clot. This process raises the risk of stroke.

• Impairs fertility in women and lower sperm count in men.

• Harmful to developing embryo for pregnant women.

• Premature wrinkles and excessive skin wrinkling.

• Lowers bone mass associated with osteoporosis.

• Interferes with wound healing because the nicotine in cigarettes shrinks capillaries.

• Stained teeth.

• Bad breath.

• Irritates the bladder and the larynx.

• Triggers asthma and allergy.

• Reduces immune response.

• Susceptible to upper respiratory infection.

• Increases belching.

• Gets more heartburn because the smoke affects the valve between the stomach and esophagus and stomach lining.

• Speeds up the heart rate causing it to become irregular.

Why is it that with all the research and discoveries of the effects of inhaling the tar, carbon monoxide, nicotine and other poisonous substance have not been able to make it easier for people to quit?

• Have not made a firm decision or motivated enough to really stop.

You may wish to stop and quit but unless you are really motivated you will not succeed. You need to have a compelling reason, a true decision and determination to make it possible.

Women who are pregnant are more determined to quit because they are aware of the effect on the babies in their wombs.

• The pleasure outweighs the pain of stopping.

Some people associate the pleasure of puffing cigarettes to having more self-confidence and the ability to think and cope with stress and other pleasurable feelings.

Some women are afraid that they will put on weight. This happens when they substitute food and overeat to submit to their cravings.

They tend to perceive more pain to quitting. Their emotions rather than their understandings lead them to continue with the deadly habit.

People who suffer from heart problems will usually quit right after surgery. The pleasure of being alive and given a second chance to live takes over.

The benefits of stopping.

1. More energy and vitality.
2. Reduces the risk of heart problems.
3. Affects cholesterol level.
4. Mind is more alert.
5. Five senses will become sharper.
6. Save the money spent on cigarettes.
7. A sense of personal victory and accomplishment.

Smoking cessation help tips.

• Find the triggers.

You do your habit unconsciously. Something triggers and you pick up a cigarette. Most likely you are not even aware of it until you start puffing away.

You do not smoke at every waking hour. Stop yourself the next time you find yourself reaching for one. Look for the trigger.

If you must pick up a cigarette five minutes upon waking up in the morning or must have one right before you go to sleep, look for the reason.

Is it because of your anxiety of facing the day ahead or a feeling that you have got it made for the day?

Unless you become aware of your what is going inside you and find the underlying reason behind your intention, you brain will continue giving the same instruction.

• See yourself as a person who is free from the habit.

You are what you think. If you keep identifying yourself as "I am a smoker", your brain is going to agree and prove to you that you are right. As long as you see yourself as a smoker, that is what you are going to experience.

See yourself in your imagination becoming a person who is free from the deadly habit. Create an image that is more empowering than what you are seeing in yourself now.

Can you see yourself actively involved in your relationships and career with vigor and confidence?

Imagine a well-toned and healthy body that you can use to get the most from life.

• Relish the pleasures when you are free from your habit.

One of the feelings that will surface when you finally quit is a sense of accomplishment of reaching a goal. A sense of self worth that you are able to achieve what you have set out to do.

Since you can undo a bad habit with determination and discipline, you will feel motivated to try other things in life.

It shows that you are able to control your own life and decide for yourself on what is best for you.

Can you imagine how you would look like five years from now if you were still addicted to the nicotine? Will you be gasping for breath with each step that you take.

You may look older than your age, wrinkled around the eyes from wincing, in order to avoid the smoke. And what about the stained teeth and chapped lips?

Or will you be there at all five years from now? Can your lungs take it much longer?

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