---

Focus on - Stopping Smoking and The Health Effects of Smoking
Source: Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia

Tobacco use leads most commonly to diseases affecting the heart and lungs, with smoking being a major risk factor for heart attacks, strokes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,  emphysema, and cancer (particularly lung cancer, cancers of the larynx and mouth, and pancreatic cancer). It also causes myocardial infarctions, peripheral vascular disease and hypertension, all developed due to the exposure time and the level of dosage of tobacco. Furthermore, the earlier and the higher level of tar content in the tobacco filled cigarettes causes the greater risk of these diseases. Due to higher levels of tar content in third world countries, people who smoke in third world countries are more vulnerable to diseases.

The World Health Organization estimate that tobacco caused 5.4 million deaths in 2004 and 100 million deaths over the course of the 20th century. Similarly, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes tobacco use as "the single most important preventable risk to human health in developed countries and an important cause of premature death worldwide."

Smoke contains several carcinogenic pyrolytic products that bind to DNA and cause many genetic mutations. There are over 19 known chemical carcinogens in cigarette smoke. Tobacco also contains nicotine, which is a highly addictive psychoactive chemical. When tobacco is smoked, nicotine causes physical and psychological dependency. Tobacco use is a significant factor in miscarriages among pregnant smokers, it contributes to a number of other threats to the health of the fetus such as premature births and low birth weight and increases by 1.4 to 3 times the chance for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Smoking is generally five times more prevalent among males than females, however the gender gap declines with younger age. In developed countries smoking rates for men have peaked and have begun to decline, however for women they continue to climb.

Incidence of impotence is approximately 85 percent higher in male smokers compared to non-smokers, and it is a key cause of erectile dysfunction

A recent European study on Occasional Smokers published findings that the risk of the major smoking-related cancers was 1.24 times higher for occasional smokers than for those who have never smoked at all.

This compares to studies showing that habitual heavy smokers have greater than 50 times the incidence of smoking-related cancers.

Recent evidence has shown that smoking tobacco increases the release of dopamine in the brain, specifically in the mesolimbic pathway, the same neuro-reward circuit activated by drugs of abuse such as heroin and cocaine. This suggests nicotine use has a pleasurable effect that triggers positive reinforcement. One study found that smokers exhibit better reaction-time and memory performance compared to non-smokers, which is consistent with increased activation of dopamine receptors.

Stopping Smoking will almost always lead to a longer and healthier life. Stopping in early adulthood can add up to 10 years of healthy life and stopping in one's sixties can still add three years of healthy life (Doll et al., 2004). Stopping smoking is associated with better mental health and spending less of one's life with diseases of old age.

The immediate effects of smoking cessation include:

                    - Within 20 minutes blood pressure returns to its normal level

                    - After 8 hours oxygen levels return to normal

                    - After 24 hours carbon monoxide levels in the lungs return to those of a non-smoker

                    - After 48 hours nicotine leaves the body and taste buds are improved

                    - After 72 hours breathing becomes easier

                    - After 2 - 12 weeks, circulation improves

                    - After 5 years, the risk of heart attack falls to about half that of a smoker

                    - After 10 years, the risk of lung cancer is almost the same as a non-smoker.

          Contact us on 07835 118044 for information on our stop smoking programs and courses, or look at the relevant sections of this website

This is the NLP and Hypnotherapy in Hampshire page of NLP Changeworks.
Please feel free to click on any links that interest you, or may help with your search.

We are a private practice based here in Winchester, Hampshire, and also have a practice office in Harley Street, Central London, as many of our clients find this easier to reach from all parts of the UK.

Our founder, Steve Wichett (SNLP), is an NLP Master Practitioner and Licenced Trainer of NLP, who is also a fully qualified Hypnotherapist. Much of his work with private and corporate clients is as a skilled psychotherapist and counsellor, and he is an Individual Member of BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy)

Please visit our companion web pages at:
http://www.nlp-hypnotherapy-london.com

Focus on - Fears and Phobias

Fear is when we experience a strong negative response to an idea or situation - but can force ourselves through it, if we have to . A phobia is when we just 'freeze', panic or run away!

The list of common phobias in the Western world today is getting more and more detailed, while at the same time techniques for removing them are getting easier and faster. Over the last 15 years, we have worked successfully with all the following fears and phobias:

Spiders, Snakes, Rats, Heights, Public Speaking, Social Situations, Vomiting, Enclosed Spaces, Open Spaces, Air Travel,  Ghosts, The Dark, Fear of Fear, Drowning, Crowds, Intimacy, HIV and AIDS, Disease, Sickness, Stage Fright, Loud Noises, Success, Failure, Circus Music, Priests, Clowns and Balloons....to name but a few!

Contact us to discover how we might help with your own fear or phobia.