Awakening to Wellness

I asked one person who loves cigarillos what is in cigarette that it is so hard for him to get rid of it. I thanked him for being so open, that he willingly shared something about being a smoker. He said it is of psychological pleasure and satisfaction he gets from cigarette smoking, aside from variety of tastes that made him hooked to it.

What is in cigarette that ones you started smoking it is so hard for you to break once it becomes your habit? Nicotine substance that makes smokers feel alert and energized is the cause. It is a highly addictive that more than fifty percent of people who quit smoking go back to their old habit because of the withdrawal symptoms they experienced. Aside from the nicotine content that is addictive, smokers usually develops psychological dependency. It gives them more confidence, feel relax, and could easily cope difficult situations they are into.

We all know that smoking is bad to smokers’ health and to health of people that surrounds the smokers. As for me, smokers are just in denial of that reality and need to be awakened and needs help to stay away from their addictive habit. Remember, it is not just their health that is at risk but people who could breathe in the second hand and third hand smoke as well.  Smoking is form of addiction. Let us help them be awakened from their deep sleep for wellness purposes.

Why Pregnant Women Should Stay Away from Cigarette Smoke

Why people should not smoke especially pregnant women and those that are living with a pregnant woman? If you are pregnant and one of your habits is smoking or you are living in a household with a smoker, there is a great tendency that the child in your womb could be cleft palate and, or has lower IQ compared to its counterparts in which baby’s mother does not smoke nor live in a place where someone smoke cigarette.

Studies showed that cigarette smoking limits oxygen supply to the fetus resulting to higher rate of spontaneous abortions, shortened pregnancies, lower birth weights, complications on pregnancy and labor, or death of fetus or newborn near the time of birth. Some research also showed that there is a great relationship between when mom is smoking during pregnancy ans a child having emotional and behavioral problems when child reaches school age.

As we all know, it is not just the child in pregnant woman’s womb that could be affected by harmful effects of cigarette smoking but the pregnant woman itself. Why risk you and your child’s health if you can leave with a cigarette smoke free environment? There are lots of organizations that are willing to help cigarette smokers to quit from their harmful habit.

Speaking of cigarette smoking,  a 2-year-old child from Indonesia was featured on TV.  The child could no longer be controlled by his parents of his smoking habit that all started when his father let him puff cigarette smoke when he was just months old. Instead of milk, nutritious food or toys he enjoys puffing out cigarette smoke from his tiny lungs. I was dismayed as I saw the said video shared by my friends months ago and thank God that Indonesian government take action for the little child’s bad habit to be stop and he’ll be rehabilitated.

Basic Things To Know About Psoariasis

Psoariasis is a chronic(long term), noncontagious skin condition that may affect the skin, joints and even the eyes. Person with psoariasis experiences a rapid skin cell production that looks like raised, red, rough, dry patches which are called plaques that could affect in any part of the skin but commonly affected areas are scalp, elbows and knees.

The exact cause of psoariasis is still unknown but genetics plays a big role to it. Though it is a long term skin condition, it has a variable course. There are times that psoariasis may clear for years. It is believed that environment and body metabolism, especially on disorder of immune system could greatly trigger or ‘switch on’ its occurrence. Stress, obesity, infections, climate change, alcohol intake and smoking are the best examples of the environmental and metabolic factors that triggers or worsen psoariasis.

I have former colleague who is suffering from psoariasis. He usually use the greasiest moisturizer every after shower or bathing. Virgin coconut oil, petroleum jelly, or lactic acid are the best examples of such moisturizers. He prefer to use virgin coconut oil as moisturizer.

Other home remedies for psoariasis are Aloe Vera and apple cider vinegar. Apple cider vinegar could help by applying it directly to the affected area as disinfectant or by adding it to your bath. Aloe Vera gel or extract could bring relief too by applying it directly to affected area.

Habits That May Cause Liver Damage

Who wants to know some habits that may cause liver damage? Just this morning, I received a message from a friend enumerating some habits that may trigger liver damage. I want to share it to you too for you to be aware and act on those habits.

Did you know that the habit of sleeping too late or short range sleeping time could trigger liver damage by accumulating toxic substances that may cause liver disease?  It is because detoxification process takes place during the time of deep sleep.

The habit of not urinating upon waking from a long time sleep may not only cause kidney disease like stone formation and bacterial infection but liver damage as well. The first urine upon waking up (First Morning Urine) is the most concentrated urine of the day. It just does mean that it is full of toxic substances and other waste products of our body. If this accumulated urine are not excreted the tendency of it is it is reabsorbed back by the body. And, as we all know detoxification process takes place in the liver that is why it is affected.

The habit of too much eating could also cause liver damage especially if most of what you consume are fatty foods, and skipping breakfast could also trigger liver damage, why? Liver has an important role in storage of carbohydrates and fats in our body. As we all know, liver has lots of function aside from this, too much eating could overworked your liver.

The habit of consuming too much medication obviously could lead to liver damage because liver filters everything. Too much of drugs, though considered as non-toxic, could do harm to our body especially the liver.

Things that are added to the natural food for it to look good, taste better or last long like food coloring, preservatives and additives has side effects that could harm not just your liver but your whole body.

The habit of taking overly done foods and unhealthy oils could also overwork your liver thus, you need to eat more of plant foods that are  as natural as possible, as much as possible it should be eaten raw.

The habits of consuming alcohol, smoking and taking abusive drugs are the most notorious habits that lead to liver damage.

Love your liver by stop doing those bad habits. You could stay away from liver diseases and liver damage, even cancer by breaking those habits.

The Importance of Healthy Lifestyle

How important is healthy lifestyle to your health? I t is very much important. Following a healthy lifestyle will lead you away from various health problems.

I am working in a government hospital Most of our patients are people who has no capacity to pay for their hospitalization and buy their needs. It is really a nice experience working in such environment because you will really feel that you have been given a chance of helping the needy.

What makes me sad in my work is the fact that most of the patients I encountered have failed to follow a healthy lifestyle. No, status in life does not matter, it is not necessary to have lots of money to have time for an exercise, to have enough rest and a good night sleep. They have enough space on their backyards to plant  some fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes so they cannot make money a reason why they prefer to eat preserved foods than plant foods. It is as if for them fruits and other healthy foods are just for the rich people.

If you trace what really cause their illness it usually ends up to wrong choice of food, vices like alcoholism and tobacco smoking and unclean surroundings. No, I do not have an authority to tell them directly to change their lifestyle, to choose a healthy lifestyle while I’m on duty. I am a Medical Technologist, working in the laboratory and cannot function as health advocate if I am on duty. We have doctors who will cater and are responsible in educating their respective patients about healthy lifestyle.

Why it should always end up to this? Where are the Health Workers that are assigned on there areas to tell them about living healthy? Do they exist? Did they functioned well? Why is it most of our patient’s health problems (like anemia, parasitism, hypertension (due to love of fatty and salty foods), cholesterolenemia, acquired diabetes, diarrhea and alcohol related health problems, etc.) are preventable by healthy lifestyle? When will people realize the real importance of following a healthy lifestyle?

Poisons in Tobacco Smoke

Poisons in Tobacco Smoke

Poisonous? Consider tobacco smoke  as one. It contain lots of toxic substances that is threatening not just to the smokers but to your family health as well. Did you know that tobacco smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals including 200 poisonous and 40 carcinogenic compounds? It causes more than 40 diseases. No wonder, World Health Organization statistics showed that nearly 1 0f every 5 death nowadays are related to smoking. One in every seven seconds die from tobacco-related illness. It is due to either mainstream tobacco smoking or through passive (involuntary) smoking.

Here are some of the carcinogenic compounds you can find on tobacco smoke:

4-Aminobiphenyl
-It is confirmed to cause cancer in humans. Bladder, lung, colon, and breast cancers have been associated with 4-ABP.

-The worst thing about 4-ABP is it can cross the placenta & render child susceptible to bladder cancer.

Arsenic
-Inorganic arsenic is present in tobacco smoke and has been linked to lung, skin, bladder, liver, kidney and prostate cancers.

Benzene
-Study showed that high levels of benzene may cause low birth weights, delayed bone formation and bone marrow damage in animals.

-Benzene is highly toxic. Inhalation of extremely high levels of benzene may cause rapid heart rate, confusion, tremors, drowsiness, dizziness, headache, unconsciousness or even death.

-All three blood cell lines may be unfavorably affected by long term exposure to benzene. Low white blood cells or leucopenia, low red blood cells or anemia and low platelet count or thrombocytopenia may exist in varying degree. In case where there is a reduction in all three blood cell lines it is already called pancytopenia, this may happen due toxicity from long term exposure to benzene from tobacco smoking.

-Chronic exposure to benzene through tobacco smoke may also lead to increase risk of acquiring leukemia and, in many cases, is preceded by aplastic anemia.

Cadmium
-Cadmium is a toxic heavy metal pollutant that can be found in tobacco smoke. Tobacco smoke is an important source of air cadmium because tobacco leaves naturally accumulate and concentrate quite high levels of cadmium.

- An average cigarette contains approximately 1.05 micrograms/g of cadmium in cigarette with filter tip and approximately 1.61 micrograms/g in regular cigarette. And, about 10% of the cadmium content in cigarette is inhaled when it is smoked.

-Exposure to high levels of cadmium may lead to high blood pressure, anemia and renal failure, lung and, or liver damage.

-It is also considered as possible carcinogen.

Chromium
-As you inhale air containing chromium, like in tobacco smoke, chromium enters your body. Did you know that some forms of chromium can remain in the lungs for several years or longer?

-When you breathe air containing chromium, some of the chromium will enter your body through your lungs. Some forms of chromium can remain in the lungs for several years or longer.

-The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has determined that chromium (VI) compounds are carcinogenic to humans. The National Toxicology Program 11th Report on Carcinogens classifies chromium (VI) compounds as known to be human carcinogens. Inhalation of chromium has been shown to cause lung cancer.

-It can cause respiratory problems, depressed immune system- resulting to a lower ability to fight disease, birth defects and other developmental problem, infertility and tumor formation.

2-Naphthylamine
-It can cause bladder cancer.

N-Nitrosodiethylamine
-It can induce benign and malignant tumors in respiratory, upper digestive tracts, liver and kidneys.

N-Nitrosopyrrolidine
-It can produce hepatocellular carcinomas, one of the top in leading liver cancer death type worldwide.

N-Nitrosodiethanolamine
-It is connected to esophageal cancer.

Nickel
-The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has determined that some nickel compounds are carcinogenic to humans.

-More nickel is absorbed from the lungs into the body when nickel particles readily dissolve in water. If it does not easily dissolved in water, like chromium, nickel particles may remain in the lungs for a long time, and can only be excreted from lungs through coughing out or swallowing the mucus.

-Unborn child can be exposed to nickel through maternal blood supply to fetus.

-Babies are exposed to nickels through breastmilk of mother who is exposed to nickel and through passive tobacco smoking.

-It causes reduced lung function, chronic bronchitis, and cancer of the lung and nasal sinus

Lead-210 and Polonium-210 (Radon)
-Did you know that tobacco leaves used in making cigarettes contain radioactive materials? Yes, lead-210 and polonium-210 are radioactive materials.

- Lead-210 and polonium-210 are toxic radioactive heavy metals. They build up over time in delicate lung tissue and are a key risk factor for lung cancer. How? Tar from tobacco smoke builds up in the bronchioles; accumulated tar traps lead-210 and polonium-210 against the tissues of the bronchioles. Most of what is deposited in the bronchioles is lead-210 which has a half life of 22.3 years; eventually it decays and become dominant radionuclide. On the other hand, polonium-210 has only half life of 138 days but it quickly increases in concentration, thus, over the time, as its concentration rises, an intense localized radiation doses may occur in the bronchioles.

-Researchers believe that lead-210 and polonium-210 in tobacco smoke are significant factors for lung cancer in smokers.

Vinyl Chloride
-Inhalation of high levels of vinyl chloride may cause dizziness, drowsiness or even death.

-Chronic exposure to vinyl chloride may cause severe nerve damage and immune reactions.

-The World Health Organization has determined that vinyl chloride is a human carcinogen.

-Vinyl chloride, has also been shown to have an effect on human reproductive system.

Properties of Tobacco

Properties of Tobacco

What are the properties of tobacco that made it the number one killer nowadays? Tobacco is a slow poison that has harmful effect on the physical, mental, and moral powers. In general, cancer deaths are declining but, lung cancer deaths are rising because of tobacco smoking. Nicotine keeps people to smoke despite its harmful effects. Research showed that nicotine, like many other drugs, causes physical and psychological dependence.

Nicotine is the drug in tobacco leaves. It belongs to the category of stimulant drugs. How someone can deliver nicotine to the brain? Simply by smoking, chewing, or sniffing the powder form of tobacco leaves, you can deliver nicotine to your brain. Each cigarette contains approximately 10 milligrams of nicotine. Nicotine is a powerful drug that if pure nicotine content of two cigars were injected into bloodstream, death would result. Smokers can absorb 1 to 2 milligrams of nicotine to its lungs from each cigarette they smoke.

Did you know that lots of young people nowadays have an alternative to cigarettes? They call it “bidis.” It is popular to young people because they think it is less harmful compared to cigarettes. And, it comes in attractive packages, lots of color and flavor to choose from, which attracts the consumers to smoke more. Behind its attractive color and flavor is a much more harmful effect to the lungs, because bidis has more nicotine content compared to cigarettes.

In tobacco smoking, nicotine stimulates the flow of saliva, raises blood pressure, increases heart rate, causes narrowing of blood vessels, lowers the skin temperature and dulls the appetite. Like other stimulants, the aftereffect is depression of body functions. Like caffeine ingestion, smokers also develop a tolerance to nicotine.

Like nicotine, tar is a harmful by-product of tobacco. It is a yellowish brown sticky residue formed when gases and tobacco smoke particles condense. It bears carcinogenic hydrocarbons that have tumor promoting activity. It can cause cancerous and, or non-cancerous tumors in the lungs. Therefore, tar may be the primary cause of smoking-related cancers.

Are you familiar with carbon monoxide (CO)? Tobacco smoke contains high level of carbon monoxide (CO) that can affect the smoker and those who can inhale the secondhand smoke. High carbon monoxide level in the blood is one of the main factors why smokers suffer from heart diseases. Nicotine and platelet aggregation due to cigarette smoke are some of the factors too.

Did you know that tobacco smoke contains approximately four thousand chemicals? Two hundred of those chemicals are known poison and about 60 are suspected to cause cancer.

Connection Of Smoking To Heart Disease

smoking

What is the most common cause of death nowadays and why? It is cardiovascular disease and the common cause of it is wrong lifestyle, especially vices like smoking. Beyond 50 percent of these deaths are due to coronary artery disease and about 20 percent of it are due to stroke.

Smoking increases atherosclerosis, the disease of coronary arteries, and there’s an increase in all forms of stroke due to smoking. Cigarette smoking remains to be the most significant “changeable” risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD) nowadays. Changeable since it can still be modified through healthy lifestyle.

Nicotine and carbon monoxide, the two harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke, hastens the damage of blood vessels through arterial diseases. Smoking triggers the blood pressure to rise up, decrease the amount of oxygen that enters heart muscle and augment the tendency of the blood to form clot.

Smoking causes lung damage. Circulation in the blood vessels in the lungs are altered, from its normal low pressure system smoking triggers the pressure to rise. Rise pressure in the lungs stresses the pumping chamber or the right ventricle of the heart – which is designed to function with low pressure, causing a permanent damage to the heart. Not only that, it has been noted that nicotine has numbing effect for early pain associated with a heart attack so they are prone to seek medical help when they are on critical stage already.

More than a billion of people worldwide smokes nowadays plus the nonsmokers who have passive exposure to cigarette smoke who are much more in number compared to the smokers. Imagine the risk they are into. In general, smoking has lots of negative effect to our health,especially on cardiovascular system. If these about 1 billion people stop smoking and follow a healthy lifestyle, risk factor of diseases due to smoking will be cut off as well. Prevention from smoking is a best antidote of this problem. Preventing non-smoking population to start this vice is the best scheme.