Resolution: Smoking Cessation

I hope you enjoyed the newsletter last week and have negotiated some time with yourselves to adopt some form of exercise into your busy schedules.  Even if you are not trying to lose weight, exercise improves all aspects of health, and should be included in your daily activity.  Now, on to the next resolution… Smoking Cessation.

How many of you have tried to quit smoking?  How many of you have been successful?  If you have already kicked the habit, then I congratulate you and wish you well on your continual decision to be a non-smoker.  If not, then let’s look at some options that can help you.  Have you seen the American Lung Association’s Benefits of Quitting Timeline?  I have included it below along with a link to their website for more information.  I love this timeline because it shows that making the decision NOW to quit smoking can immediately improve your health and prevent disease.

Here are my thoughts on the topic.  Everyone has the innate ability to choose behaviors and thoughts…it is referred to as “free will”.  Because of this, we all have constant opportunities to correct behavior patterns and reshape our futures.  Simply by choosing a healthy goal, we are already on the correct path to optimal well-being.  Keeping that momentum will be a key component to accomplishment.

I know it’s difficult to think about a life without cigarettes if you have been smoking for a while.  In many ways, it has become as much a part of life as a good friend or a pet.  It provides breaks from work, an imaginary barrier between you and other people, and something to do during downtime.  The problem is that all of these feelings are what I would call a “false positive” benefit.  Each time you choose to smoke, you are choosing to be less efficient, separate yourself from others, and decrease your potential for a healthy lifespan.  If your friends or pets made you feel that way, would you really want them in your life?  It even says on box that smoking is bad for you!

Being a non-smoker opens the door to new found time and energy where you will feel better, breathe easier, and be better able to defend yourself against disease.  As you take the extra time you would have spent smoking to be more productive, exercise, meditate, or even sleep, you will be moving toward even more opportunities to fulfill your ideals and create additional positive patterns in your life.  Visualize yourself breathing easier, feeling energized with improved blood flow, oxygenated cells, and freshly scented skin and clothes.  Now take a moment to breathe deeply, paying attention to how you feel while accepting clean healthy air into your body and new lifestyle.

If you have made the decision to quit smoking, then you are already on the path to wellness.  Please reach out for help so we can encourage your mind and body to follow your conscious decision through acupuncture, exercise, hypnotherapy, and meditation.  All of these have been successful in supporting smoking cessation; and all of these can be found at Five Phase Wellness Center.

Here is the info and link to the American Lung Association’s Benefits Timeline:

Benefits of Quitting

20 Minutes After Quitting:

• Your heart rate drops to a normal level.

12 Hours After Quitting:

• The carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal.

2 Weeks to 3 Months After Quitting:

• Your risk of having a heart attack begins to drop.
• Your lung function begins to improve.

1 to 9 Months After Quitting:

• Your coughing and shortness of breath decrease.

1 Year After Quitting:

• Your added risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker’s.

5 to 15 Years After Quitting:

• Your risk of having a stroke is reduced to that of a nonsmoker’s.
• Your risk of getting cancer of the mouth, throat, or esophagus is half that of a smoker’s.

10 Years After Quitting:

• Your risk of dying from lung cancer is about half that of a smoker’s.
• Your risk of getting bladder cancer is half that of a smoker’s.
• Your risk of getting cervical cancer or cancer of the larynx, kidney or pancreas decreases.

15 Years After Quitting:

• Your risk of coronary heart disease is the same as that of a nonsmoker.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004.

http://www.lungusa.org/stop-smoking/how-to-quit/why-quit/benefits-of-quitting/

 

Be Well,

Dr. Ryan Lombardo