#i smoke one (1) cigarette for all the nonsmokers out there

[cartoonrival]

good news: i smoked a cigarette so i can stop posting about being preemptively addicted. other good news: it was mid so i have no desire to do it again. other other good news: my hands still smell like cigarette smoke, which is the best part of smoking i’ve concluded

[tlaquetzqui]

“Cigars and pipes are still bad for you!”

Yes, smoking either one, once or twice a day (cigars are expensive and pipes are inconvenient), results in a 2% increase in smoking-related deaths. But smoking one or two cigarettes a day results in a 94% increase in those smoking related deaths.

Not, of course, that any of that is actually all that big a deal. Lung cancer, for example, is 35 out of every 100,000 deaths a year, in the US—admittedly more than 5 times the rate of death from murder. But that still means that one or two pipes or cigars raises your death rate from 0.035% to 0.0357%, from 1 in 2,857 to 1 in 2,800, and even the two cigarettes raise it only to 0.0679%, 1 in 1,472.

I honestly doubt that light smokers reach a 1% combined chance of dying from any of the health risks associated with smoking. And I’ve actually been using the general public’s rate of death from lung cancer, but the studies compared the light smokers to only lifelong nonsmokers.

Admittedly for every 35 deaths from lung cancer you get 8 who survive it, probably permanently harmed, but 2% or 94% more than 0.043% isn’t that much more impressive. (And, again, the cigarette studies compared lifelong nonsmokers, not the average person.)

[arcticdementor]

Right now I’m in Europe. But I spent the last month living in a hotel room in Chicago visiting friends and family. I didn’t necessarily want to live in a hotel room. I wanted to get an Airbnb like I always do when I travel. But Airbnb are more expensive now. It’s part of the larger unraveling going forward of the urban person’s utopia. Cheap Ubers, cheap Airbnbs, all subsidized by these large companies to get you hooked. Those days are over. Taxis and Hotels are the same price or even cheaper now.

…

I’m reminded of the early 2000s, a different time where TV was a platform to mock people. Remember "Hoarders?” It made fun of sick people so the audience at home could laugh and be shocked. It was very sad watching those people not being able to part with stuff that seemed so irrelevant. They had a whole catalog of addiction shows back then. Shows where you were supposed to laugh at fat people or midgets starting a family.

I work on the computer. It’s easier to keep my home clean than it is my browser. Most psychic pain comes from constantly feeling crowded at the edge of my browser with 20 tabs open I’m not using. Claustrophobic. I’m at the edge of the browser using one tab. Should I close the rest of my tabs? Of course. But sometimes I don’t.

The information contained in one of those tabs could eventually lead to a domino effect that could change your life

…

The downside of the hotel is you’ll never find a decent gym. What you’ll see mostly is machines. Sometimes you’ll see free weights up to 30Ibs and you’ll never see a barbell. I previously wrote about the benefits of using a barbell for real naturalistic weightlifting to stress the skeleton and release osteocalcin. Exercise machines artificially track motion allowing endless repetition of the same movement without the use of the entire body. How much of your skeleton and muscles activate when you lift a rock over your head vs using a strength machine.

You’ll rarely find free weights in a hotel gym and never a barbell.

Why?

The intolerant minority rule is at play. People that prefer free weights and barbells will use machines. But not the other way around.

The same rule applies to parties and alcohol. Once you have ten percent or more of women at a party, you cannot only serve beer. You must serve wine. All men will drink wine but at least 10 percent of women will not drink beer. So you end up just choosing wine for the party and use one set of glasses.

…

It is worth being alert to the intolerant minority rule because it is everywhere. In this article I’m going to go over some places where you can see it. But first, what is it?

What happens when 95 per cent of people are indifferent, but 5 per cent of people prefer something else? The minority wins. Taleb wrote a classic piece on this phenomenon. Society doesn’t evolve by consensus, voting, majority, committees, verbose meeting, academic conferences, and polling; only a few people suffice to disproportionately move the needle. Once an intolerant minority reaches a tiny percentage of the total population, the majority of the population will naturally succumb to their preferences.

There was even a recent study by Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on the Intolerant Minority Rule

…

The disproportionate ubiquity of certain foods can be explained by this effect. Pizza is a hugely successful food not so much because it is loved but because nobody hates it. By contrast, take fish or steak, in any group of five or more people, there will always be one who doesn’t feel like eating fish or steak: their lone veto will prevail, and everyone will end up eating chicken. Chicken being the most agreeable meat. There’s even minority rules inside of minority rules, with cheese pizza being the option people will agree to eat over pepperoni or sausage.

Perhaps one of the reasons Lamb never made it big in America is because its the opposite of the chicken. It isn’t a consistent meat. Highly variable. You get wildly different tastes depending on how you cook it, prepare it or store it.

…

The implications are interesting when you think about it. Most human systems — language, morality, religion — evolve based on a passionate and organized minority. The reasonable majority rarely if ever drive any movement.

Moreover, outcomes are paradoxically more stable under the minority rule —the variance of the results is lower and the rule is more likely to emerge independently across separate populations. As long as the majority is ambivalent or tolerant, the status quo will remain.

As Nassim Taleb pointed out when he spotted this phenomenon, the intolerant minority rule can prevail in many areas. Schools where only 5 per cent of the pupils are Muslim will keep halal kitchens, because it is assumed non-Muslims can be served halal food whereas Muslims will eat nothing but.

…

Take a look at every soda bottle you buy. It’ll have a kosher sign on it. Maybe even half of the food you purchase has this logo. Why? Because you don’t care if food or drink is kosher, but Jewish people care. And so the companies make their products kosher compliant. Minority rule means that we all drink Kosher soda because it’s easier to make all lemonade Kosher for the small % that require it rather than having kosher and not kosher.

…

Let’s start with one example of the Intolerant Minority Rule that most people don’t realize.

The asymmetry: Smokers can be in smoke-free areas but nonsmokers cannot and will not be in smoking ones. One is tolerant. The other is intolerant.

The non-smoking section of restaurants and bars actually appeared very late. Entire private establishments would be open to smoking. The movement to separate smoking from non-smoking happened in the mid 1970s. That was when the first reports of lung cancer and smoking became established. You could even smoke on an airplane back then. It was only after an airplane crashed, killing 123 people in France due to a cigarette left burning in the bathroom did the first non-smoking sections appear on airplanes.

…

Given the historical links between smoking and drinking, it is not surprising that “family restaurants,” many of which sold no beer, wine, or liquor, were among the first to create non-smoking sections. Denny’s announced in 1977 that it would devote 25% of its dining areas to non-smoking. It was not long before Victoria Station, Red Lobster, Bob Evans, and many other chains joined the trend. Big city restaurants, on the other hand, lagged behind.

Numerous restaurant owners who disliked setting off non-smoking sections complained it hurt their business in a number of ways. Non-smokers tended also to be non-drinkers and didn’t come out as much on weekends, thus leaving empty tables in the non-smoking area while the smoking section was full and the restaurant had to turn away impatient patrons. Likewise, the non-smokers had lower check averages.

[soliair]

Nicotine Dependence: Symptoms and Causes

Nicotine dependence occurs when you need nicotine and can't stop using it. Nicotine is the chemical in tobacco that makes it hard to quit. Nicotine produces pleasing effects in your brain, but these effects are temporary. So you reach for another cigarette. 

The more you smoke, the more nicotine you need to feel good. When you try to stop, you experience unpleasant mental and physical changes. These are symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. 

Regardless of how long you've smoked, stopping can improve your health. It isn't easy but you can break your dependence on nicotine. Many effective treatments are available. Ask your doctor for help. 

Symptoms

For some people, using any amount of tobacco can quickly lead to nicotine dependence. Signs that you may be addicted include:

1. You can't stop smoking. You've made one or more serious, but unsuccessful, attempts to stop.  2. You have withdrawal symptoms when you try to stop. Your attempts at stopping have caused physical and mood-related symptoms, such as strong cravings, anxiety, irritability, restlessness, difficulty concentrating, depressed mood, frustration, anger, increased hunger, insomnia, constipation or diarrhea. 3. You keep smoking despite health problems. Even though you've developed health problems with your lungs or your heart, you haven't been able to stop. 4. You give up social activities. You may stop going to smoke-free restaurants or stop socializing with family or friends because you can't smoke in these situations. 

When to See a Doctor

-- You're not alone if you've tried to stop smoking but haven't been able to stop for good. Most smokers make many attempts to stop smoking before they achieve stable, long-term abstinence from smoking. 

-- You're more likely to stop for good if you follow a treatment plan that addresses both the physical and the behavioral aspects of nicotine dependence. Using medications and working with a counselor specially trained to help people stop smoking (a tobacco treatment specialist) will significantly boost your chances of success. 

-- Ask your health care team to help you develop a treatment plan that works for you or to advise you on where to get help to stop smoking. 

Nicotine is the chemical in tobacco that keeps you smoking. Nicotine reaches the brain within seconds of taking a puff. In the brain, nicotine increases the release of brain chemicals called neurotransmitters, which help regulate mood and behavior. 

Dopamine, one of these neurotransmitters, is released in the reward center of the brain and causes feelings of pleasure and improved mood. The more you smoke, the more nicotine you need to feel good. Nicotine quickly becomes part of your daily routine and intertwined with your habits and feelings. 

Common Situations That Trigger the Urge to Smoke Include: 

a. Drinking coffee or taking breaks at work b. Talking on the phone c. Drinking alcohol d. Driving your car e. Spending time with friends

To overcome your nicotine dependence, you need to become aware of your triggers and make a plan for dealing with them. 

Risk Factors

Anyone who smokes or uses other forms of tobacco is at risk of becoming dependent. Factors that influence who will use tobacco include: 

1. Age. Most people begin smoking during childhood or the teen years. The younger you are when you begin smoking, the greater the chance that you'll become addicted. 2. Genetics. The likelihood that you will start smoking and keep smoking may be partly inherited. Genetic factors may influence how receptors on the surface of your brain's nerve cells respond to high doses of nicotine delivered by cigarettes. 3. Parents and peers. Children who grow up with parents who smoke are more likely to become smokers. Children with friends who smoke are also more likely to try it. 4. Depression or other mental illness. Many studies show an association between depression and smoking. People who have depression, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder or other forms of mental illness are more likely to be smokers. 5. Substance use. People who abuse alcohol and illegal drugs are more likely to be smokers. 

Complications

Tobacco smoke contains more than 60 known cancer-causing chemicals and thousands of other harmful substances. Even "all natural" or herbal cigarettes have harmful chemicals. 

You already know that people who smoke cigarettes are much more likely to develop and die of certain diseases than people who don't smoke. But you may not realize just how many different health problems smoking causes: 

A. Lung cancer and lung disease. Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer deaths. In addition, smoking causes lung diseases, such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Smoking also makes asthma worse. B. Other cancers. Smoking increases the risk of many types of cancer, including cancer of the mouth, throat (pharynx), esophagus, larynx, bladder, pancreas, kidney, cervix and some types of leukemia. Overall, smoking causes 30% of all cancer deaths.  C. Heart and circulatory system problems. Smoking increases your risk of dying of heart and blood vessel (cardiovascular) disease, including heart attacks and strokes. If you have heart or blood vessel disease, such as heart failure, smoking worsens your condition.  D. Diabetes. Smoking increases insulin resistance, which can set the stage for type 2 diabetes. If you have diabetes, smoking can speed the progress of complications, such as kidney disease and eye problems. E. Eye problems. Smoking can increase your risk of serious eye problems such as cataracts and loss of eyesight from macular degeneration. F. Infertility and impotence. Smoking increases the risk of reduced fertility in women and the risk of impotence in men. G. Complications during pregnancy. Mothers who smoke while pregnant face a higher risk of preterm delivery and giving birth to lower birth weight babies. H. Cold, flu and other illnesses. Smokers are more prone to respiratory infections, such as colds, the flu and bronchitis. I. Tooth and gum disease. Smoking is associated with an increased risk of developing inflammation of the gum and a serious gum infection that can destroy the support system for teeth (periodontitis). J. Smoking also poses health risks to those around you. Nonsmoking spouses and partners of smokers have a higher risk of lung cancer and heart disease compared with people who don't live with a smoker. Children whose parents smoke are more prone to worsening asthma, ear infections and colds.

Prevention

The best way to prevent nicotine dependence is to not use tobacco in the first place. The best way to keep children from smoking is to not smoke yourself. Research has shown that children whose parents do not smoke or who successfully quit smoking are much less likely to take up smoking. 

Diagnosis

Your doctor may ask you questions or have you fill out a questionnaire to see how dependent you are on nicotine. Knowing your degree of dependence will help your doctor determine the right treatment plan for you. The more cigarettes you smoke each day and the sooner you smoke after awakening, the more dependent you are. 

Treatment

Like most smokers, you've probably made at least one serious attempt to stop. But it's rare to stop smoking on your first attempt — especially if you try to do it without help. You're much more likely to be able to stop smoking if you use medications and counseling, which have both been proved effective, especially in combination. 

Medications

Some quit-smoking products are known as nicotine replacement therapy because they contain varying amounts of nicotine. Some of these nicotine replacement therapies require a prescription, but others don't. There are two approved quit-smoking medications that don't contain nicotine, and both are available only by prescription. 

Any of these products can help reduce nicotine cravings and withdrawal symptoms — making it more likely that you'll stop smoking for good. Using more than one may help you get better results. Although you can buy some quit-smoking products without a prescription, it's a good idea to talk to your doctor first. Together you can explore which products might be right for you, when to start taking them and possible side effects. 

Counseling

Medications help you cope by reducing withdrawal symptoms and cravings, while behavioral treatments help you develop the skills you need to give up tobacco for good. The more time you spend with a counselor, the better your treatment results will be. 

During individual or group counseling, you learn techniques you can use to help you stop smoking. Many hospitals, health care plans, health care providers and employers offer treatment programs. Some medical centers provide residential treatment programs — the most intensive treatment available. 

Methods to Avoid

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have not proved to be safe nor are they more effective in helping people stop smoking than nicotine replacement medications. In fact, many people who use e-cigarettes to stop smoking find themselves using both products rather than quitting. 

It's not a good idea to substitute another type of tobacco use for smoking. Tobacco in any form is not safe. Steer clear of these products: 

- Dissolvable tobacco products - Smokeless tobacco - Nicotine lollipops and balms - Cigars and pipes - Hookahs

Coping and Support

Social support is key to achieving a stable and solid, smoke-free life. Ask your family, friends and co-workers for support and encouragement. Be direct and let them know what would help you most. 

Also Consider Trying These Resources:

1. Support groups. Often available at little or no cost, support groups offer coaching and mutual support from others attempting to quit. Nicotine Anonymous groups are available in many locations. 2. Telephone counseling. Quit lines offer convenient access to trained counselors. In the U.S., call 800-QUIT-NOW (800-784-8669) to connect directly to your state's quit line. 3. Text messaging and mobile apps. A number of services are available to get reminders and tips delivered to your mobile phone. 4. Web-based programs. Sites such as BecomeAnEX provide free personalized support, interactive guides and tools, and discussion groups to help you quit. 

Preparing for Your Appointment

You're likely to start by seeing your primary care doctor. Here's some information to help you get ready, and what to expect from your doctor. 

What You Can Do To Get Ready for Your Appointment:

a. Consider your smoking triggers. List the circumstances when you're most likely to reach for a cigarette. In what situations has smoking become a ritual? b. Make note of any symptoms that may be related to smoking. Include the length of time you've had each one. c. Make a list of your medications. Include any vitamins, herbs or other supplements. d. Invite a family member or friend along. Sometimes it can be difficult to soak up all the information provided during an appointment. 

What to Expect From Your Doctor

Being ready to answer questions your doctor may ask reserves time to go over any points you want to spend more time on. Some questions your doctor may ask include: 

1. How many cigarettes do you smoke each day? How soon after waking do you smoke? 2. Have you previously tried to stop smoking? If so, what happened? What worked? What didn't work? 3. What is motivating you to stop smoking now? 4. Do you have any physical health problems, such as heart disease or diabetes, which you suspect are related to smoking? 5. Has smoking caused any problems at work or in your relationships? 

SOLIAIR™ is a company that specializes in alternative medicine and natural drug development that is privately owned. The SOLIAIR™ Food supplements are patented and are regularly used by doctors, pharmacists and patients in the U.S and around the world! - Please contact us for an advice and a professional treatment! 

Best Regards, Solomon J. (Naturopath/Alternative Therapist)

##### 

[abernabeu01]

WILL THE CONSUMPTION OF TOBACCO DECREASE DUE TO COVID-19?

Tobacco is one of the most addictive goods I’ever seen. During my last two years of high school one of my subjects was Economics HL ( as I was doing the IB program) and I did a project based on tobacco’s consumption and how taxation doesn’t affect the consumption as tobacco is an inelastic good because of being so addictive, so that the change in price will not have a significant influence on the quantity demanded. A recent study showed that cigarettes are smoked by over 1 billion people. In my case, most of my friends smoke and I’ve seen them try to stop smoking but later on they will begin smoking again. No matter what I tell them, as I’m completely against the consumption of cigarettes or vaping or anything, they will still continue with this bad habit. Moreover, usually people don’t care about the advertising about the drastic consequences smoking has because they have the mentality that they will not be the ones that suffer the effects of tobacco.

However, with this new situation we are all living, this situation could change as most of the people I know that smoke are teenagers and most of them haven’t told their parents and because of it they can’t go buy supplies for this quarantine. Furthermore, the fear of getting COVID-19 is really present and I found out today an article about health experts warning that people who vape or smoke could face a greater threat than nonsmokers from the coronavirus. This could mean that tobacco’s consumers, with fear of getting the coronavirus, stopped the consumption at least while the quarantine still goes on. 

Sadly, I must say that people who are addicted to it, will hardly leave this habit but I’ve seen a few cases where, because they aren’t allowed to go out or their parent don’t know, teenagers have stopped consuming due to lack of supplies. 

At least for now, if they become used to not smoking, maybe when all this situation is behind us, they will not feel the need of smoking and will be doing a favor to themselves and to the people surrounding the. Thus, they will save a great amount of money.

[paleorecipecookbook]

Will a Low-Carb Diet Shorten Your Life?

Last week, a new study was published in The Lancet that claimed to find that both very-low- and very-high-carb diets shorten our lifespan. Predictably, the mainstream media jumped on this finding without doing a shred of due diligence—more on that below—and we were subjected to splashy headlines like this:

Low-carb diets could shorten life, study suggests (BBC News)

Low and high carb diets increase risk of early death, study finds (CNN)

Low-carb diet may cut years off life, study suggests (Newsweek)

Your low-carb diet could be shortening your life (Fast Company)

Paleo fail: meat-heavy low-carbohydrate diets can shorten lifespan, researchers say (South China News)

I’ve been writing about health and nutrition for more than a decade now, and without fail, at least once a year a study like this is published. I could set my watch to it.

Understandably, my Twitter, Facebook, and email accounts blow up with messages from concerned readers, who want to know if the diet they are following is going to kill them.

Each year, my response is the same: no, your nutrient-dense, whole-foods diet that includes animal products is not going to give you a heart attack, increase your risk of cancer or other chronic diseases, or shorten your lifespan. In fact, it’s likely to have the opposite effect.

Why Eating Low Carb Won't Kill You

This year, it’s no different. In this article, I’m going to give you seven reasons why you should take the recent Lancet study with a huge grain of salt. If you’ve been following my work for some time, I hope you’ll recognize many of the shortcomings of the study, because you’ve seen them before:

Using observational data to draw conclusions about causality

Relying on inaccurate food frequency questionnaires (FFQs)

Failing to adjust for confounding factors

Focusing exclusively on diet quantity and ignoring quality

Meta-analyzing data from multiple sources

Unfortunately, this study has already been widely misinterpreted by the mainstream media, and that will continue because:

Most media outlets don’t have science journalists on staff anymore

Even so-called “science journalists” today seem to lack basic scientific literacy

The devil is always in the details, but details aren’t sexy and don’t generate clicks.

Most people—medical professionals and the general public alike—will just read the sensationalized headlines and assume that they are true. The percentage of the population that will find their way to a critique of the study like this, read it in its entirety, and comprehend it, is disappointingly low. This is what we’re up against. So, if you are reading this, please share it with anyone that you think would benefit.

Are you concerned about recent news regarding low-carb diets? Don’t be. Here’s why eating low carb isn’t likely to shorten your lifespan.

With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at the issues with this study.

1. The Data Were Observational, and Significant Caveats Apply

As I explained in a podcast called “A Beginner’s Guide to Scientific Research,” an observational study is one that draws inferences about the effect of an exposure or intervention on subjects where the researcher or investigator has no control over the subject. It’s not an experiment where they are directing a specific intervention (like a low-carb diet) and making things happen. Instead, the researchers are just looking at populations of people and making guesses about the effects of a diet or lifestyle variable.

An example of an observational study would be in comparing rates of lung cancer in smokers and nonsmokers. They might look retrospectively at groups of people who smoke and groups of people who don’t smoke, see what the rates of lung cancer are in each of those groups, and then draw some conclusions.

Repeat After Me: Correlation Is Not Causation

One of the key things to understand about observational studies is that you can’t establish causation from observational studies. You can establish a correlation or an association between two variables, but you can’t establish causation conclusively.

If you take a class on research methodology, you’ll often hear some silly examples of how observational data can be misinterpreted. Consider the statement, “The more firefighters that are sent to a fire, the more damage gets done.” Obviously that’s not how it works. It’s not that more firefighters are causing the damage. It’s that when fires are worse, more firefighters are required to fight it, so the causation there is reversed.

Another one would be, “Children who get tutored get worse grades than children who don’t get tutored.” Again, the causality is reversed. Children who are not getting good grades are more likely to hire tutors, or their parents will.

Consider a more relevant example. For decades, observational research suggested a correlation between dietary cholesterol intake and heart disease. This led to public health recommendations to limit cholesterol in the diet and generations of people unnecessarily torturing themselves with egg white omelettes (or even worse, Egg Beaters!), boneless, skinless chicken breasts, and (gasp!) margarine. Today, we now know that dietary cholesterol does not contribute to an increased risk of heart disease, and virtually all industrialized countries in the world—including the United States as of 2016—do not suggest limits to intake of cholesterol in their dietary guidelines.

It boils down to this: observational studies are good for generating hypotheses, not for proving that a specific variable causes a specific outcome.

To do that, you need a randomized, controlled trial (RCT). In an RCT, study participants are randomly assigned to two groups: a treatment group that receives the intervention being studied, and a control group that does not. The participants are then observed for a specific period of time.

This Lancet study was observational, not experimental. They simply observed participants over a 25-year period and assessed outcomes. As we’ll discuss below, this creates significant potential for error when attempting to draw conclusions.

2. The Study Data Came From Questionnaires, Not Observation of What Participants Ate

Do you accurately remember what you ate on March 15th, 2014? How about during the month of November 2015? I didn’t think so. Yet this is exactly the methodology in the studies analyzed in this report to determine participants’ carbohydrate intake.

More specifically, the underlying studies used FFQs. In an FFQ, researchers ask participants how much they ate of certain foods over a given time period. Not surprisingly, FFQs have been criticized for their inaccuracy for several reasons: (1, 2)

People tend to underreport foods socially considered “bad,” like red meat and alcohol

People overreport foods socially considered “good,” such as vegetables and fruits

People may not know all the ingredients in restaurant or prepared foods

People don’t weigh or otherwise measure portion sizes

People find tracking every bite and meal inconvenient

People are human and just can’t remember every little thing they eat

People’s diets tend to change over long periods of time

Also, as you might suspect, the further back in the past participants are asked to recall their diet, the less accurate an FFQ will be. In the Lancet study, the subjects’ diets were only assessed twice throughout a 25-year period, separated by an interval of six years.

This means that people were asked to report on what they ate over a previous six-year period. And even then, the FFQs only covered 12 years of that 25-year period.

So, one way to think about the Lancet paper is that it’s an analysis of self-reported answers on two questionnaires about how much carbohydrate participants ate over a period of a quarter century.

3. Confounding Factors Were Not Adequately Controlled For

One of the biggest problems with observational studies is that it can be difficult, if not impossible, to isolate the influence of a single variable. Human beings don’t live in highly controlled environments, and there are numerous factors that impact our health and lifespan, ranging from genetics to air and water quality, from socioeconomic status to lifestyle and behavior.

This is why most nutritional studies are met with heavy criticism. A recent article from the Mayo Clinic Proceedings even claimed that because nutrition studies “cannot be reliably, accurately, and independently observed, quantified, and confirmed or refuted,” they do not follow the scientific method and should be regarded as “pseudoscience” at best. (3)

Let’s use a simple example. Imagine you’re a scientist and you want to find out whether eating red meat increases the risk of heart attack. You recruit participants and ask them to track how much red meat they consume over 20 years. Then, you measure how many heart attacks occurred throughout the study period.

When examining the data, you notice a strong correlation between red meat consumption and heart attack. In other words, the people who ate the most red meat were the most likely to have a heart attack, and the people that ate the least red meat were the least likely to have a heart attack.

Case closed, right? Not so fast. What if the people who ate the most red meat were also more likely to smoke cigarettes, have high blood pressure and diabetes, eat more refined carbohydrates and sugar, not eat vegetables, and not exercise? In this scenario, it’s impossible to know whether the higher rate of heart attacks was caused by eating more red meat, any of these other single factors, or a combination of some or all of them.

The Healthy User Bias

The scenario I just mentioned is not hypothetical—it’s incredibly common. It’s so common, in fact, that it even has a name: the “healthy user bias.” I discussed this in detail in a 2014 podcast called “Heart Attacks and Red Meat—Correlation or Causation?,” but here’s the short version. People who engage in a behavior perceived as healthy are more likely to engage in other behaviors that are also perceived as healthy, and vice versa.

So, because red meat has been perceived as “unhealthy” for so many years, on average, people that eat more red meat are more likely to:

Smoke

Drink too much

Eat too much sugar

Not exercise, etc.

Of course, most researchers are well aware of the influence of confounding factors and the healthy user bias, and the good ones do their best to control for as many of these factors as they can. But even in the best studies, researchers can’t control for all possible confounding factors, because our lives are simply too complex.

In the Lancet paper, researchers included a study if it controlled for at least three of the following factors:

Age

Sex

Obesity

Smoking status

Diabetes

Hypertension

Hypercholesterolemia

History of cardiovascular disease

Family history of cardiovascular disease

That’s a step in the right direction. However, it still leaves huge room for confounding factors and healthy user bias. For example, say one of the studies controlled for age, sex, and whether participants were obese. That still leaves many factors—smoking status, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, history of cardiovascular disease—that could affect the outcome.

It opens up the possibility that people who were following a very-low-carb diet were more likely to have an underlying health condition like diabetes, hypertension, or high cholesterol, or that they were more likely to engage in unhealthy behaviors like smoking. And in fact, that’s exactly what happened in the Lancet study. According to the authors:

“Participants who consumed a relatively low percentage of total energy from carbohydrates (i.e., participants in the lowest quantiles) were more likely to be young, male, a self-reported race other than black, college graduates, have high body mass index, exercise less during leisure time, have high household income, smoke cigarettes, and have diabetes.” [emphasis added]

That’s not surprising, is it? People who follow diets—whether very-low-carb or very-high-carb—are far more likely to have some kind of health problem that led them to start the diet in the first place. Unfortunately, this study didn’t adequately control for this almost certain fact.

This is bad enough. But it gets worse when you consider the confounding variables that weren’t even on the researchers’ list, such as:

The amount of fresh fruits and vegetables consumed

The amount of sugar they consumed

The quality of protein, fat, and carbohydrate they consumed

How much physical activity they engaged in

The question of diet quality—whether the person was eating primarily fresh, whole, nutrient-dense food or highly processed, refined food—is especially important. In the United States, we know from other research that the majority of Americans eat mostly processed and refined food. For example, a study published this year found that 60 percent of the calories Americans consume come from not just processed food—but ultra-processed food. These foods do not impact the body in the same way that fresh, whole foods do. I’ll discuss this more below.

4. Macronutrient Quality Is More Important Than Quantity

Researchers have long debated whether low-fat or low-carbohydrate diets are best for weight loss and overall health. Regardless of the macronutrient content, however, most long-term studies have reported little success in achieving and maintaining significant weight loss. In 2016, I wrote an article called “Carbohydrates: Why Quality Trumps Quantity,” in which I argued that the answer to obesity and metabolic disease lies not in how much carbohydrate we eat, but rather what types of carbohydrate we eat.

Earlier this year, a landmark study published in JAMA supported this argument and suggested that the same principles apply to fats. The researchers found that on average, people who cut back on added sugar, refined grains, and processed food lost weight over 12 months—regardless of whether the diet was low carb or low fat.

I wrote about this study in detail in an article called “Why Quality Trumps Quantity When It Comes to Diet.” Here’s the TL;DR: when the subjects focused on real, whole foods and cut processed foods out of their diet, they lost significant weight, without having to count calories or restrict energy intake.

Now, this study focused on weight loss, but it’s ludicrous to assume that the same distinction between real, whole foods and processed, refined foods wouldn’t apply to a study looking at longevity.

Consider two hypothetical people:

A person on a low-carb diet that eats primarily refined fats like industrialized seed oils (found in most processed foods and in foods cooked in restaurants)

A person on a low-carb diet that eats primarily natural fats from fresh, whole foods (meat, fish, avocados, nuts, seeds, etc.) prepared mostly at home

Is it logical to predict that these two people will enjoy the same health, protection from disease, and lifespan? Of course not. Yet that is exactly what the Lancet study did assume.

Decades of nutrition research have myopically focused on the quantity of protein, fat, and carbohydrate we eat, without considering the quality. In my mind, this is perhaps the single biggest shortcoming of the bulk of nutrition research.

5. It’s Possible to Follow a Diet That Is Both Low in Carbohydrates and High in Fresh, Nutrient-Dense Foods

It should be clear by now that the participants that were following a low-carb diet were not following a Paleo-type low-carb diet that is rich in natural, whole foods. The researchers themselves point this out:

“By contrast, the animal-based low carbohydrate dietary score was associated with lower average intake of both fruit and vegetables (appendix pp 9, 10).”

But of course it doesn’t have to be that way. A common misconception of the Paleo diet is that it’s “meat heavy,” rather than “plant based.” But consider someone who is abstaining from eating grains, dairy products, and processed and refined foods.

What might their plate consist of? A serving of protein (fish, poultry, meat), and typically two to three servings of non-starchy vegetables. Depending on their carbohydrate intake, they may also eat whole fruits (especially those lower in sugar, like fresh berries) and even starchy tubers like sweet potatoes and yams that are relatively low in carbohydrates. These foods will often be supplemented with healthy fats like nuts, seeds, avocados, or olives.

This is NOT the diet that was studied in the Lancet paper. Therefore, if this is the diet that you’re eating, the results in that paper do not apply to you.

6. Humans Can Thrive on a Variety of Macronutrient Ratios—as Long as They’re Eating Whole Foods

The Lancet study suggested that the optimal range of carbohydrate intake for a lengthy lifespan is between 50 and 55 percent of calories. Is it plausible to assume that humans can only live for a long time within such a narrow range of carbohydrate consumption? No.

That would have put us at a significant evolutionary disadvantage. Humans evolved in diverse environments around the world, and studies of contemporary hunter–gatherer populations demonstrate that we can thrive on a broad range of macronutrient ratios as long as we are following a traditional, whole-foods diet.

Carbohydrate Intake Varies in Ancestral Diets

For example, the Kitavan Islanders of Melanesia live as horticulturists, with little access to Western foods. Carbohydrates make up 60 to 70 percent of their energy intake (higher than the recommended 50–55 percent range in the Lancet study), much of that coming from fruit or tubers with a fairly high glycemic index. (4) Their saturated fat intake is also high.

Yet despite obvious similarity between Kitavan and Western diets in both macronutrient composition and glycemic index, Kitavans boast levels of fasting insulin and blood glucose that are even lower than the levels deemed healthy in Western populations. (5, 6) They also have lower levels of leptin and a virtual absence of diabetes, atherosclerosis, and excess weight. (7, 8, 9)

On the other end of the spectrum, analyses of hunter–gatherer populations, including the Masai, Kavirondo, and Turkhana, suggest that a low-carb diet (between 22 and 40 percent of calories, again lower than the 50 to 55 percent range in the Lancet study) with high intake of unprocessed meat and saturated fat does not result in poor cardiovascular or metabolic health. (10) (For more on this, see my special report on the truth about red meat.)

Critics of the Paleo diet and ancestral nutrition claim that there’s no point in studying what hunter–gatherers eat, because they all die when they’re 40 years old. This is incorrect, as I explain in this video.

While it is true that, on average, hunter–gatherers have shorter lifespans than people living in the modern, industrialized world, those averages don’t consider important challenges that are largely absent from modern life: high rates of infant and early childhood mortality (30 to 100 times higher) and deaths to trauma, warfare, and exposure to the elements, most of which are caused by a complete lack of emergency medical care.

Yet anthropological studies of modern hunter–gatherers have shown that when they have access to even the most rudimentary form of medical care (think a half-day’s walk to a rural clinic), they live life spans roughly equivalent to our own. (11, 12) But in contrast to us, they reach these ages without acquiring many of the chronic, inflammatory diseases that characterize our old age—like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer’s.

Consider two articles recently published in The New York Times examining the absence of chronic disease in the Tsimané, a subsistence farming and hunter–gatherer population in Bolivia.

The first article, Learning from Our Parents’ Heart Health Mistakes, reported on a study showing that the Tsimané have a prevalence of atherosclerosis 80 percent lower than ours in the United States and that nine in 10 Tsimané adults aged 40 to 94 had completely clean arteries and no risk of heart disease. (Note that the study included adults between 40 and 94 years of age; clearly they are not all dying when they’re 40!)

In a follow-up article, researchers even put to rest the old canard that hunter–gatherers don’t have “diseases of civilization” like diabetes and cardiovascular disease because they don’t live long enough to develop them:

“The Tsimané suffer from high infant-mortality rates, but those who reach adulthood live about as long as most other people, making it possible to measure their health outcomes up to age 90 and beyond.”

This in spite of the fact that the Tsimané have high rates of infection with parasites, and consume 72 percent of calories from carbohydrates—far higher than the 50 to 55 percent range suggested in the Lancet paper.

7. Meta-Analyzing Data From Multiple and Heterogeneous Sources Opens the Door to Confirmation Bias

A meta-analysis is the statistical procedure for combining data from multiple studies. They play an important role in research, but they’re also plagued with several disadvantages, which Wikipedia does a good job of summarizing. They include publication bias, statistical challenges, and, most relevant to this discussion, an “agenda-driven bias”:

“The most severe fault in meta-analysis often occurs when the person or persons doing the meta-analysis have an economic, social, or political agenda such as the passage or defeat of legislation. People with these types of agendas may be more likely to abuse meta-analysis due to personal bias. For example, researchers favorable to the author's agenda are likely to have their studies cherry-picked while those not favorable will be ignored or labeled as "not credible." In addition, the favored authors may themselves be biased or paid to produce results that support their overall political, social, or economic goals in ways such as selecting small favorable data sets and not incorporating larger unfavorable data sets. The influence of such biases on the results of a meta-analysis is possible because the methodology of meta-analysis is highly malleable.”

Another term for agenda-driven bias is “confirmation bias.” This is defined by Wikipedia as "the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories.”

Was this an issue in the Lancet paper? While we can’t be sure, it’s certainly a possibility. The paper was published by a research group that included Walter Willett, a physician and researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health who is notorious for his advocacy of a low-fat, plant-based diet. This alone is not necessarily cause to suspect confirmation bias.

However, in an unprecedented turn of events, Willett was censured in an editorial and feature article in the prestigious journal Nature for “promoting over-simplification of scientific results in the name of public health and engaging in unseemly behavior towards those who venture conclusions that differ to his.” (13)

Willett co-authored a study claiming to link aspartame with cancer, but the study was retracted by Harvard at the last minute because the data did not support that conclusion. Meanwhile, the damage had already been done by sensational media headlines like “Aspartame Causes Cancer.” Sound familiar?

In an interview with NBC News about this incident, Dr. Steven Nissen, chair of Cleveland Clinic’s Cardiovascular Medicine Department, said:

“Promoting a study that its own authors agree is not definite, not conclusive and not useful for the public is not in the best interests of public health.”

What’s more, it later became clear that this study had been rejected by six journals, before finally being published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, where—surprise, surprise—Willett is a member of the editorial board.

Unfortunately, this is the reality of medical research today. I’ve written extensively about how financial conflicts of interest and fraud impact scientific findings (see “Behind the Veil: Conflicts of Interest and Fraud in Medical Research,” and “Why Are Scientists and the Public So Often At Odds?”).

But don’t take it from me. In a 2009 article called “Drug Companies & Doctors: A Story of Corruption,” a physician, the former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine, said:

“It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine.”

Consider, also, a paper called “Why Most Published Research Findings Are False,” by John Ioannidis, a Professor of Medicine and of Health Research and Policy at Stanford University School of Medicine and a Professor of Statistics at Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences.

Ioannidis explains that in many research papers, “Claimed findings may be accurate measures of the prevailing bias.” Clearly, he struck a nerve; this paper is now the most widely cited paper ever published in the journal PLOS Medicine.

In other words, most published research findings support the status quo; they’re not necessarily based on solid evidence. Often, the research that builds on an initial study ends up perpetuating questionable findings. It’s like building a house of cards: a paper gets published that references another paper; then, a third paper gets published that references that second paper, which referenced that first paper, and so on. The assumption is that the evidence in that first paper was correct—but what if it’s not? The edifice of peer-reviewed research is not as perfect as we tend to believe.

If you’re still with us, congratulations! You now have a clearer grasp of the problems with most nutrition studies than the vast majority of journalists working today. My hope is that, armed with this knowledge, you can protect yourself from sensationalized headlines that are based on agenda-driven, poorly designed studies—and continue to follow whatever version of a nutrient-dense, whole-foods diet works best for you.

What are your thoughts on this study? Are you currently following a low-carb diet? Let me know below in the comments.

The post Will a Low-Carb Diet Shorten Your Life? appeared first on Chris Kresser.

Source: http://chriskresser.com August 21, 2018 at 09:13PM

[socialvaidya]

Causes Of Lower Back Pain | Be Aware Of These Reasons | Social Vaidya

Do you pop a painkiller as and when your back starts aching? If yes, then its time to sit up and take a notice.

Causes of Lower Back Pain | Be Aware Of These Reasons | Social Vaidya

Back pain is a common problem but out of all the types of back pains, lower backache is a common complaint in India. A surprising fact is that 9 in 10 patients do not know the exact cause behind it and wait to see a doctor until it becomes chronic.

Another fact here is that lower back pain is more common in women than in men. So all the fairer sex out there, know the reason behind your back pain because you are the pillar of your family and backache will not only affect you but also your family.So let us have a look at the most common reasons behind back pain:

A) Gynecological reasons

1. Pregnancy

i) Because of increase in weight during pregnancy, a pressure is put on the back muscles which causes strain leading to lower back pain.

ii) Change in posture as your bump grows.

“According to Dr. Aditi Kalra Arya, Physiotherapist and Antenatal Instructor formerly at Apollo Cradle, adopting a wrong posture and gait during pregnancy is the most common cause of low backache in women.”

iii) The sudden hormonal rush in your body during this time can make the ligaments in the pelvic area to soften, as a result of which the joints become looser leading to low back pain.

iv) Post-partum depression and increase in workload soon after pregnancy be at home or at the office.

2. Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) and Menstruation

Lower back pain caused by PMS and Menstruation isn’t dangerous as it’s a normal process that occurs in your body every month. But if you experience severe pain that affects your body functioning, it is better to see your gynecologist.

3. Endometriosis

Endometriosis is a condition in which the lining of the uterus extends outside the uterus and attaches to the ovaries, Fallopian tubes, as well as the pelvic area. With a change in hormones during the menstrual cycle, this extended lining breaks down and can cause pain in the lower back.

4. Ovarian cyst

One of the most prominent symptoms of ovarian cyst is a dull ache in the lower pelvic area. This pain can transmit to the back area and can interfere with daily functioning.

5. Uterine fibroids

Uterine fibroid are hard tumors which are composed of fibrous tissue and smooth muscle. It can cause back pain as well as pelvic pain radiating to the lower back, hip, thighs, and buttocks by pressing upon spinal nerves that exit the spine in the lower back.

6. Ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer is one of the most serious conditions which is associated with low back pain.

B) Structural reasons

1. Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD) or Herniated discs

Spinal discs act as a cushion to your vertebrae that make up your spine and in case of DDD the discs either lose cushioning or slip through a crack of the spine which is known as Herniated discs. This can be really painful.

2. Sciatica

Due to a herniated disk pressing on the nerve, you might experience a sharp and a shooting pain that radiates through the lower back down the back of your leg. This condition is known as Sciatica. Do not delay and consult your doctor if you continue to feel this excruciating pain.

3. Osteoporosis

You won’t know if you are a victim of osteoporosis but one major symptom which can tell you that you are is- Severe back pain.

C) Internal problems

1. Pelvic Inflammatory Disease

PID is an infection of the female reproductive organs (the fallopian tubes, uterus, ovaries, vagina, and cervix) and is usually caused by an STI.

2. Pancreatitis

Pancreatitis is another condition that causes lower back pain in women. Lower back pain in women with pancreatitis typically worsens after consuming food.

3. Kidney disease

An infection in the kidneys can cause a lot of pain in the lower back, abdomen and groin.

D) Others

1. Obesity

If you are an obese, extra stress is put on muscles and the discs in the backbone which leads to pain in the lower back.

2. Improper posture

Your lower back pain can also be the result of some everyday activity or poor posture. Some of the examples of improper posture can be:

-Sitting in a hunched position in office chairs in front of computers for a long time

-Bending awkwardly or bending down for long periods -Standing for long periods -Pushing, pulling, lifting or carrying something heavy -Over-stretching or twisting in gym -Improper weight lifting -Coughing or sneezing suddenly with a jerk -Excess driving every day

3. Mommy duties

Being a mommy takes a heavy toll on your complete health. Whether you are bending to pick your kid, their toys, bending over dirty dishes to get them clean or running from one room to another in order to feed your child, all can strain the lower back.

4. Bad mattress

It is equally important to choose the right mattress as a bad mattress can cause and worsen existing back pain. But do remember that your mattress should neither be too firm nor too soft. This is because if your mattress is soft and sinks it won’t keep your spine straight, leading to a greater risk of developing lower back pain. And if your mattress is too firm, it won’t give the lower back support when you’re lying on your back causing backache.

5. Sleep disorder

Researchers have found that individuals with sleep disorders are more likely to experience low back pain. So try to have a good night sleep or consult your doctor to overcome sleep disorders.

6. Lack of vitamin D in diet

The diet followed by Indian women are generally low in vitamin D causing weaker bones and lower back aches. Also, today’s women tend to spend half of their time working indoors be at the office or at home, depleting them from vitamin D received naturally from the sun.

7. Smoking

Do you know that smokers are almost three times more likely to develop low back pain than nonsmokers? Yes, it’s true. Studies have said that the nicotine in cigarette smoke thickens the walls of the blood vessels. This restricts the flow of blood through the blood vessels of the lower back and increases the time to recover from an existing back pain.

So what are you waiting for? Find out the precise reason for your lower back pain and get started with the required treatment without delay. Take care!

–Dr. Monalisa Deka

[myteethwhiteningblog1885-blog]

What NOT to Do in the Dental Blog Industry

™Gum tissue illness today is less common than in the past. It still affects nearly 1 in 10 American adults by the time they reach age 64. If you don't floss on a daily basis, and also brush at least twice a day, you are at risk. Here's why you ought to care.

Healthy and balanced Gums and Your Overall Health

Several studies recommend that the health of your gum tissues affects your general wellness. :

Heart health and wellness: Moderate to serious periodontal disease has actually been shown to boost swelling degrees throughout the entire body. Some researches suggest that swelling from serious gum illness may be connected to the danger of stroke as well as cardiovascular disease, which is likewise an inflammatory illness.

Lung health and wellness: Some research recommends that periodontal health might assist advertise lung health and wellness for people with persistent obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Gum condition can additionally boost the danger of respiratory infections such as pneumonia. This might occur from breathing in germs into the respiratory tract.

Nutritional health: If you lose teeth from gum tissue illness, it might become harder to eat healthy and balanced foods such as crisp fruits and vegetables. Eating troubles can lead to bad nourishment, which, consequently, can http://aoralcarejournal8635.yousher.com/a-trip-back-in-time-how-people-talked-about-dental-blog-20-years-ago trigger other troubles, consisting of tiredness and wooziness.

In the U.S. dental professionals draw 20 million teeth every year, according to the Academy of General Dentistry. As well as 86% of dental practitioners claim social embarrassment is one of the largest troubles people report after recognizable tooth loss.

9 Tips for Keeping Healthy Gums

What do you need to do to maintain your gums healthy? Here are the fundamentals:

Brush your teeth twice daily with fluoride toothpaste. See to it to comb along the gum tissue line in addition to your teeth.

Change damaged toothbrushes at the very least every 3 to four months because they can wound your gums.

Floss between teeth or utilize an inter-dental cleaner once a day.

Rinse with a disinfectant mouthwash a minimum of once a day.

See your dental practitioner for checkups as well as cleanings two or even more times a year. If you have periodontal disease, the dental professional or oral aide can utilize deep-cleaning procedures or apply antibiotics.

Keep your dentist approximately day concerning any kind of changes in your general wellness, specifically if you are expectant or entering menopause, or have a condition such as diabetes mellitus. In these cases, pay unique like your oral health. You might be much more prone to gingivitis.

Restriction sugary treats and drinks.

Eat a balanced diet plan. A current research in males age 65 as well as older showed an unique advantage to consuming a diet plan abundant in high-fiber fruit. This shows up to slow the development of gum condition.

If you're a smoker, do everything possible to stop. Individuals that smoke are more likely to have a buildup of plaque and also tartar. In fact, cigarette smokers might depend on 4 times more probable to create innovative periodontal illness than nonsmokers.

The following is a list of a number of specialties as well as a brief summary of each:

Orthodontists correct teeth making use of gadgets such as braces and retainers.

Oral as well as maxillofacial surgeons operate the mouth and also jaws.

Pediatric dental practitioners treat children.

Periodontists deal with periodontals and also the bone that supports the teeth.

Prosthodontists change missing out on teeth with dentures as well as bridges.

Endodontists do root canal therapy.

Public wellness dental professionals promote good dental wellness within communities.

Oral pathologists detect dental conditions and illness.

Oral and also maxillofacial radiologists identify illness in the head as well as neck making use of imaging innovations.

Work Facts

There were over 147,000 dental experts used in 2012. This number includes those that work in the dental specializeds defined over. Several own or co-own exclusive techniques.

The majority of dental experts function full time and have routines that generally include nights as well as weekends.

Educational Requirements

To come to be a dental expert, one need to participate in a dental school that is approved by the American Dental Association's (ADA) Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA). Programs take about four years to finish. Those that want to specialize have to after that spend an additional year or 2 in a residency.

To obtain accepted by one of the even more than 50 dental schools in the US, one must finish at the very least two years of pre-dental education and learning, however a lot of programs need a bachelor's level. All have to take the Dental Admissions Test (DAT).

Various other Requirements

To exercise as a dental professional, one should be licensed by the state in which they want to work. Demands for licensure differ from state to state, yet all include graduation from a recognized institution as well as passing of Parts I as well as II of the National Board Dental Examinations. The ADA's Joint Commission provides this several selection test on National Dental Examinations.

Candidates for licensure need to also pass a professional exam. To learn what the details requirements are in the state in which you prepare to practice, get in touch with that state's oral board. The American Association of Dental Boards internet site has links to every state board in the United States.

In addition to education and learning and licensing needs, a dentist requires certain soft skills, or personal qualities, to prosper in this line of work. A dental practitioner needs to be service-oriented and also have great listening and talking abilities to supply ideal treatment to individuals. Great time monitoring abilities and energetic understanding skills are required.

Task Outlook

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics tasks that the work of dental practitioners will grow faster than the average for all professions through 2022.

Revenues

Employed dental professionals gained an average annual wage of $145,240 in 2012. You can investigate income information online to learn how much dental experts presently earn in your city.

A Day in a Dentist's Life

These are some typical work duties drawn from on the internet advertisements for general dental practitioner placements located on Indeed.com:?

Examine, detect, and also provide treatment counseling to patients in a thorough manner.

Examine and translate analysis x-rays.

Think about therapy techniques and describe the choices with individuals to figure out which functions finest for them based on their scenarios.

Inform patients on dental health.

Manage complementary oral personnel in their appropriate management of equipment and also materials.

Give specialist judgment partially of a team effort.

Refer clients to orthodontists or other oral professionals for more advanced treatments and care.

Offer superb customer care by offering same-day dental care as well as making sure the parent or patient satisfaction.

[ibaha]

Heart Health: Smoking cessation #Heart_Health #Smoking_cessation. It is estimated that a little more than 18 percent of Hampden County residents are smokers — several points higher than both state and national percentages. One of my career-long focuses as a preventive cardiologist has been to promote smoking cessation and to study what barriers might prevent my patients from engaging in this behavioral change. Despite the availability of fancy drugs and high-tech devices which many gravitate to, it turns out that “low tech” behavior changes such as exercise, smoking cessation, and weight loss make a much greater contribution to quality and length of life than the “high-tech” and expensive procedures. My desire to help people make these changes is what drew me into preventive cardiology. This is because smoking not only puts an individual at risk for several forms of cancer, most notably lung, but is a major cause of heart disease and stroke and a risk factor for type 2 diabetes. And ceasing to smoke is the biggest behavior change patients can make to avoid recurrent hospitalization for heart disease. Rates of cigarette smoking have declined in recent years in the country, but smoking remains the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, as well as death in the United States. Each year, about 480,000 people die from a smoking-related illness, robbing them of more than 10 years of life. Many people in America mistakenly believe that, because they don’t see many people smoking in public, that smoking is no longer a public health problem. But this epidemic is far from over. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 34 million adults in the country smoke cigarettes and 58 million nonsmokers are exposed to secondhand smoke. It is also estimated that about 2,000 young people under 18 smoke their first cigarette every day, and more than 300 become daily cigarette smokers. Statistics on youth smokers have been much in the news recently as a result of what has been labeled a public health crisis — the enormous popularity of flavored e-cigarettes with both high and middle school students and the fact that many of them are unaware their e-liquids contain relatively high amounts of the addictive substance naturally occurring in tobacco — nicotine. E-cigarettes, which do not burn tobacco, have been promoted as a smoking cessation tool for smokers of combustible cigarettes. This may prove true for some smokers who have not had success with nicotine replacement therapy medications, though more long-term studies are needed to see how effective e-cigarettes are in actually ending an addiction to nicotine, as well as how safe. They are not approved by the FDA for this purpose. What is true about smoking cessation strategies is that they are most effective when they include some type of behavioral therapy support, such as individual counseling. A recent study for which I was a contributing author looked at why hospitalized smokers eligible to attend cardiac rehabilitation programs do not attend cardiac rehab, even though this would help them quit smoking. Those surveyed responded that they had an interest in smoking cessation and medication therapy as well as exercise and counseling, but a high percentage indicated levels of depression and anxiety at discharge and indicated that if stress management programs were included, then they would be more likely to attend. Another study I helped author looked back over a 10-year period at smoking cessation medications administered to patients hospitalized at some 282 hospitals for coronary heart disease across the United States. We found only a minority of patients received any treatment and that hospitals administering it increased only modestly over the 10 years. Public insurance plans, including MassHealth and Medicare, generally cover FDA. Dr. Quinn Pack. “Al-Fatiha,” بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ (1) الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ (2) الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ (3) مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ (4) إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ (5) اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ (6) صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ (7) (1) In the name of God, the infinitely Compassionate and Merciful. (2) Praise be to God, Lord of all the worlds. (3) The Compassionate, the Merciful. (4) Ruler on the Day of Reckoning. (5) You alone do we worship, and You alone do we ask for help. (6) Guide us on the straight path, (7) the path of those who have received your grace; not the path of those who have brought down wrath, nor of those who wander astray. Disclaimer: ========= For copyright matters please contact us at: help.100@yahoo.com February 8, 2020 at 07:00PM by X World

[gordonwilliamsweb]

Readers And Tweeters Fired Up Over Employer’s No-Nicotine Policy

Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names.

On Board With Snubbing Smokers?

Regarding U-Haul, good for them (“Smokers Need Not Apply: Fairness Of No-Nicotine Hiring Policies Questioned,” Jan. 13). I don’t like being around smokers. I have asthma, and the smoke also gives me a headache. I would like to see stronger efforts to get people to quit. I realize that poor people are more likely to smoke and will sometimes tell them, “You can’t afford the effects of your habit.” I also nag people smoking around me until they stop or go away.

— Therese Shellabarger, North Hollywood, California

The argument has always been that smokers use more in healthcare than nonsmoking peers… when in truth because they die earlier they actually use less… let people do what they want

— Matt Neumann (@neumann58) January 15, 2020

— Matt Neumann, LaGrange, Ohio

From my observations working in the insurance industry for 30 years, smokers are less productive workers. Low-level employees sometimes used their breaks — including bathroom and lunch breaks — to smoke. Salaried employees took more than the authorized number of breaks whenever they felt the urge to smoke, reasoning that as long as they got their work done, they didn’t have to abide by the rule hourly employees adhered to.

Co-workers who smoked often seemed less attentive to detail and couldn’t cope with work stress as well as nonsmokers. Their preoccupation with when they could go outside and smoke a cigarette took priority over work, and it often took longer for them to get their work done. Employees were offered free smoking-cessation programs, but few succeeded in quitting the habit.

If employees drank alcohol on the job during their breaks, they would get fired. With marijuana legalization, are companies going to treat marijuana smokers the same as cigarette smokers? Of course not.

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Smoking is bad for our health, and that’s a fact. It’s not discrimination to not hire smokers, and vaping should be included in the smoking category. Many employers do drug testing occasionally to make sure their employees are not smoking weed or other illicit drugs, and they could be terminated if the drug test is positive.

Sure, some people might ask: What about employees who refuse to eat well to lose weight and prevent diabetes? Employers cannot control their employees’ diet habits or smoking or drug use habits. I can see why smokers cried foul that U-Haul refused to hire smokers.

The other thing is, cigarettes are so expensive to buy. Why do low-income people continue to smoke? Because it’s addictive, and they can’t quit. So they’d rather starve or skimp on medication than quit smoking — whether cigarettes or vaping or marijuana.

If all employers started to set standards about hiring, perhaps more people would work harder to quit the nasty habits that will kill them and affect the people around them. Our society respects democracy and personal freedom, but we are paying for it in health costs.

— Lena Conway, Naperville, Illinois

Playing Catch-Up On Healthy Living

I find it most amusing that articles such as “Extending ‘Healthspan’: Brain Scientists Tap Into The Secrets Of Living Well Longer” (Jan. 2) are — over the past 18 months — in the news regularly. More than three decades ago, when I was a chiropractic student, exercise and healthy eating — wellness and well-being — were promoted and taught. However, it not being from the God-Almighty, know-all “medical” profession, it was ignored or even dismissed.

Amusing. Most amusing. At least for a wellness-based chiropractor with 30 years in practice and certified with the Athletic and Fitness Association of America, practicing for 23 years, who has walked the talk of healthy living since learning about it in chiropractic school. Especially as I watch those in my age (59) group who have until recently been sedentary and engaging in sloth and gluttony now scramble to “get healthy” … most with little success as they experience the effort and time (they are still unwilling to make) to exercise daily and eliminate the junk they eat for a healthier diet.

— David Robinson, New Bedford, Massachusetts

Get outside, in the light, move and stay connected mentally. Hey, isn’t that synonymous with living? https://t.co/KwwLzphe7N

— David Voran, MD (@dvoran) January 2, 2020

— Dr. David Voran, Kansas City, Missouri

Lead Aprons And Sticky Labels

I’m writing to draw your attention to a term used in your story “No Shield From X-Rays: How Science Is Rethinking Lead Aprons” (Jan. 15).

In the first line of the piece, the term “technician” is used to refer to the practitioners who perform X-ray procedures. As a clarification, we advise using the term “technologist” when referring to medical imaging and radiation therapy professionals. Radiologic technologists are educated in anatomy, patient positioning, examination techniques, equipment protocols, radiation safety, radiation protection and basic patient care. The medical community and American Society of Radiologic Technologists use the term “technologist,” which accurately reflects the educational level, responsibilities and skill set of registered and certified radiologic technologists.

As the professional society that represents the country’s radiologic technologists, we reach out to news outlets and request that they use the term “technologists” when referring to medical imaging professionals. As reported in the story, Drs. Feinstein and Marsh refer to their staff medical imaging professionals as “technologists.” We’re confident that the terminology more accurately represents the profession and is the standard usage among health care providers, educators and the broader medical community.

— Greg Crutcher, public relations manager, American Society of Radiologic Technologists, Albuquerque, New Mexico

I am going to follow this! We have been digital since we opened in 2008, so this hasn't applied as much to us. Digital films offer up to 70% less radiation.https://t.co/2sZJasVi9h

— Sheila Samaddar (@DrSheSam) January 16, 2020

— Dr. Sheila Samadarr, Washington, D.C.

In The Media Dance, Misleading Missteps

The interview with Seema Verma (“One-On-One With Trump’s Medicare And Medicaid Chief: Seema Verma,” Jan. 3) was notable for its lack of clarity on Verma’s part. She danced around so much that she could have been on “Dancing With the Stars,” but never directly answered questions such as what the Trump administration would do if the ACA were abolished via the courts as she and the administration want. She also misled the reader about Medicare, one of our most popular programs.

Medicare is not disliked by participants. In fact, it is rated higher in satisfaction than private-sector insurance. Verma’s free-market ideology appears to be causing her to misstate the facts, a frequent issue in this administration.

— Jack Bernard, former director of Georgia’s Office of Health Planning, Peachtree City, Georgia

⁦@SeemaCMS⁩ masterclass in avoiding every single question: One-On-One With Trump’s Medicare And Medicaid Chief: Seema Verma | Kaiser Health News https://t.co/4q6fovJyvw

— Richard James (@pennnursinglib) January 3, 2020

— Richard James, Philadelphia

‘Nurturing’ Takes Time

The title of the piece “Reduce Health Costs By Nurturing The Sickest? A Much-Touted Idea Disappoints” (Jan. 8) is inaccurate. The article reports on how a 90-day intervention to reduce costs in the sickest patients did not show any benefit. However, truly nurturing the sickest is not something that can be done successfully in 90 days. I think it suggests how degenerate American health care has become when such a short intervention can be referred to as “nurturing.” Perhaps a better title might be “Putting a Band-Aid on a Chronic Ulcer Is Useless.”

— Dr. Joseph P. Arpaia, Eugene, Oregon

#HealthCare is a #HumanRight, but it's not #community and it's not safe and affordable #housing. I do appreciate what the Camden Coalition was trying to do, but this research shows that w/out all of these things, a healthy life is real hard to achieve. https://t.co/ZPV3rXCVjn

— (((Leah Ida Harris))) 🌹 (@leahida) January 10, 2020

— Leah Harris, Arlington, Virginia

Shedding Light On Violent Patients

I want to thank Heidi De Marco for her great article about violence in hospitals (“Postcard From San Diego: Patient-Induced Trauma: Hospitals Learn To Defuse Violence,” Dec. 6). I am an occupational therapist who used to work in a hospital. Once an 87-year-old woman with dementia grabbed me by the neck, lifted me off the floor and was getting ready to punch me with her other hand. As a former victim of domestic assault, I knew the best strategy when being choked is to try to relax as much as possible. I had orders to walk the woman, but she thought I was trying to rob her. Found out she needed four security guards when she was in the ER. I ended up going to the ER myself.

The situation was especially difficult because: 1) I didn’t feel I could fight back for fear of losing my job. 2) I didn’t feel right pressing charges against her, also for fear of retaliation, and it’s not as if the woman was in her right mind. But because I didn’t press charges, the incident went unreported. I am not even sure what the answer is, but I am glad your article is bringing this to light. Thank you!

— Stephanie Blossomgame, Villa Park, Illinois

Have seen a lot of coverage lately of the issue of violence in the workplace as experienced by health care workers. We need to have a conversation about this. NO ONE deserves to be hurt on the job. No one. Everyone deserves a safe workplace. But…(thread) https://t.co/rIZcegjn84

— Kathy Flaherty (@ConnConnection) December 8, 2019

— Kathy Flaherty, Newington, Connecticut

Launch A Broad Investigation Abroad?

I am an American who works as a health economics researcher in Japan. I wanted to let KHN know how important this journalism project is: exposing health care billing that drives up the cost of insurance — even if insurance “covers” some charges upfront (“Bill of the Month: For Her Head Cold, Insurer Coughed Up $25,865,” Dec. 23). The fact that this overly complex and inefficient system is tolerated is baffling to me. I was in very deep with the U.S. system when I returned from Japan to the U.S. for emergency chemo and stem-cell transplant for leukemia (thank goodness I still had U.S. insurance!). While I received excellent care at that time, I now continue to receive follow-up care in Japan, which is just as advanced in terms of tech and more so for systematic efficiency. I use the national health insurance, and — even in another language — testing, billing, wait times, cost are all a breeze.

I wonder if KHN/NPR could compare the U.S. with health care systems of other high-income countries (Singapore, Finland, etc.), using real-world patient experiences? I think there is a common misconception that the U.S. way is the only way. Anyway, thank you very much for your hard work on this important topic.

— Russell Miller, San Diego and Tokyo

It should be considered malpractice for these doctors that concoct these dreadful schemes with shady business people. This fleecing activity needs to be called out just as much as that of hospitals, insurance companies, pharma and benefit consultants. https://t.co/V5Or5XbsbB

— Dr. Christopher Crow (@DrCCrow) December 23, 2019

— Dr. Christopher Crow, Plano, Texas

Doctor in this case should be charged with FRAUD. What a crook. https://t.co/nqnzVg4Hd8

— Wayne Allyn Root (@RealWayneRoot) December 24, 2019

— Wayne Allyn Root, Las Vegas

Readers And Tweeters Fired Up Over Employer’s No-Nicotine Policy published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/

[dinafbrownil]

Readers And Tweeters Fired Up Over Employer’s No-Nicotine Policy

Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names.

On Board With Snubbing Smokers?

Regarding U-Haul, good for them (“Smokers Need Not Apply: Fairness Of No-Nicotine Hiring Policies Questioned,” Jan. 13). I don’t like being around smokers. I have asthma, and the smoke also gives me a headache. I would like to see stronger efforts to get people to quit. I realize that poor people are more likely to smoke and will sometimes tell them, “You can’t afford the effects of your habit.” I also nag people smoking around me until they stop or go away.

— Therese Shellabarger, North Hollywood, California

The argument has always been that smokers use more in healthcare than nonsmoking peers… when in truth because they die earlier they actually use less… let people do what they want

— Matt Neumann (@neumann58) January 15, 2020

— Matt Neumann, LaGrange, Ohio

From my observations working in the insurance industry for 30 years, smokers are less productive workers. Low-level employees sometimes used their breaks — including bathroom and lunch breaks — to smoke. Salaried employees took more than the authorized number of breaks whenever they felt the urge to smoke, reasoning that as long as they got their work done, they didn’t have to abide by the rule hourly employees adhered to.

Co-workers who smoked often seemed less attentive to detail and couldn’t cope with work stress as well as nonsmokers. Their preoccupation with when they could go outside and smoke a cigarette took priority over work, and it often took longer for them to get their work done. Employees were offered free smoking-cessation programs, but few succeeded in quitting the habit.

If employees drank alcohol on the job during their breaks, they would get fired. With marijuana legalization, are companies going to treat marijuana smokers the same as cigarette smokers? Of course not.

Email Sign-Up

Subscribe to KHN’s free Morning Briefing.

Sign Up

Please confirm your email address below:

Sign Up

Smoking is bad for our health, and that’s a fact. It’s not discrimination to not hire smokers, and vaping should be included in the smoking category. Many employers do drug testing occasionally to make sure their employees are not smoking weed or other illicit drugs, and they could be terminated if the drug test is positive.

Sure, some people might ask: What about employees who refuse to eat well to lose weight and prevent diabetes? Employers cannot control their employees’ diet habits or smoking or drug use habits. I can see why smokers cried foul that U-Haul refused to hire smokers.

The other thing is, cigarettes are so expensive to buy. Why do low-income people continue to smoke? Because it’s addictive, and they can’t quit. So they’d rather starve or skimp on medication than quit smoking — whether cigarettes or vaping or marijuana.

If all employers started to set standards about hiring, perhaps more people would work harder to quit the nasty habits that will kill them and affect the people around them. Our society respects democracy and personal freedom, but we are paying for it in health costs.

— Lena Conway, Naperville, Illinois

Playing Catch-Up On Healthy Living

I find it most amusing that articles such as “Extending ‘Healthspan’: Brain Scientists Tap Into The Secrets Of Living Well Longer” (Jan. 2) are — over the past 18 months — in the news regularly. More than three decades ago, when I was a chiropractic student, exercise and healthy eating — wellness and well-being — were promoted and taught. However, it not being from the God-Almighty, know-all “medical” profession, it was ignored or even dismissed.

Amusing. Most amusing. At least for a wellness-based chiropractor with 30 years in practice and certified with the Athletic and Fitness Association of America, practicing for 23 years, who has walked the talk of healthy living since learning about it in chiropractic school. Especially as I watch those in my age (59) group who have until recently been sedentary and engaging in sloth and gluttony now scramble to “get healthy” … most with little success as they experience the effort and time (they are still unwilling to make) to exercise daily and eliminate the junk they eat for a healthier diet.

— David Robinson, New Bedford, Massachusetts

Get outside, in the light, move and stay connected mentally. Hey, isn’t that synonymous with living? https://t.co/KwwLzphe7N

— David Voran, MD (@dvoran) January 2, 2020

— Dr. David Voran, Kansas City, Missouri

Lead Aprons And Sticky Labels

I’m writing to draw your attention to a term used in your story “No Shield From X-Rays: How Science Is Rethinking Lead Aprons” (Jan. 15).

In the first line of the piece, the term “technician” is used to refer to the practitioners who perform X-ray procedures. As a clarification, we advise using the term “technologist” when referring to medical imaging and radiation therapy professionals. Radiologic technologists are educated in anatomy, patient positioning, examination techniques, equipment protocols, radiation safety, radiation protection and basic patient care. The medical community and American Society of Radiologic Technologists use the term “technologist,” which accurately reflects the educational level, responsibilities and skill set of registered and certified radiologic technologists.

As the professional society that represents the country’s radiologic technologists, we reach out to news outlets and request that they use the term “technologists” when referring to medical imaging professionals. As reported in the story, Drs. Feinstein and Marsh refer to their staff medical imaging professionals as “technologists.” We’re confident that the terminology more accurately represents the profession and is the standard usage among health care providers, educators and the broader medical community.

— Greg Crutcher, public relations manager, American Society of Radiologic Technologists, Albuquerque, New Mexico

I am going to follow this! We have been digital since we opened in 2008, so this hasn't applied as much to us. Digital films offer up to 70% less radiation.https://t.co/2sZJasVi9h

— Sheila Samaddar (@DrSheSam) January 16, 2020

— Dr. Sheila Samadarr, Washington, D.C.

In The Media Dance, Misleading Missteps

The interview with Seema Verma (“One-On-One With Trump’s Medicare And Medicaid Chief: Seema Verma,” Jan. 3) was notable for its lack of clarity on Verma’s part. She danced around so much that she could have been on “Dancing With the Stars,” but never directly answered questions such as what the Trump administration would do if the ACA were abolished via the courts as she and the administration want. She also misled the reader about Medicare, one of our most popular programs.

Medicare is not disliked by participants. In fact, it is rated higher in satisfaction than private-sector insurance. Verma’s free-market ideology appears to be causing her to misstate the facts, a frequent issue in this administration.

— Jack Bernard, former director of Georgia’s Office of Health Planning, Peachtree City, Georgia

⁦@SeemaCMS⁩ masterclass in avoiding every single question: One-On-One With Trump’s Medicare And Medicaid Chief: Seema Verma | Kaiser Health News https://t.co/4q6fovJyvw

— Richard James (@pennnursinglib) January 3, 2020

— Richard James, Philadelphia

‘Nurturing’ Takes Time

The title of the piece “Reduce Health Costs By Nurturing The Sickest? A Much-Touted Idea Disappoints” (Jan. 8) is inaccurate. The article reports on how a 90-day intervention to reduce costs in the sickest patients did not show any benefit. However, truly nurturing the sickest is not something that can be done successfully in 90 days. I think it suggests how degenerate American health care has become when such a short intervention can be referred to as “nurturing.” Perhaps a better title might be “Putting a Band-Aid on a Chronic Ulcer Is Useless.”

— Dr. Joseph P. Arpaia, Eugene, Oregon

#HealthCare is a #HumanRight, but it's not #community and it's not safe and affordable #housing. I do appreciate what the Camden Coalition was trying to do, but this research shows that w/out all of these things, a healthy life is real hard to achieve. https://t.co/ZPV3rXCVjn

— (((Leah Ida Harris))) 🌹 (@leahida) January 10, 2020

— Leah Harris, Arlington, Virginia

Shedding Light On Violent Patients

I want to thank Heidi De Marco for her great article about violence in hospitals (“Postcard From San Diego: Patient-Induced Trauma: Hospitals Learn To Defuse Violence,” Dec. 6). I am an occupational therapist who used to work in a hospital. Once an 87-year-old woman with dementia grabbed me by the neck, lifted me off the floor and was getting ready to punch me with her other hand. As a former victim of domestic assault, I knew the best strategy when being choked is to try to relax as much as possible. I had orders to walk the woman, but she thought I was trying to rob her. Found out she needed four security guards when she was in the ER. I ended up going to the ER myself.

The situation was especially difficult because: 1) I didn’t feel I could fight back for fear of losing my job. 2) I didn’t feel right pressing charges against her, also for fear of retaliation, and it’s not as if the woman was in her right mind. But because I didn’t press charges, the incident went unreported. I am not even sure what the answer is, but I am glad your article is bringing this to light. Thank you!

— Stephanie Blossomgame, Villa Park, Illinois

Have seen a lot of coverage lately of the issue of violence in the workplace as experienced by health care workers. We need to have a conversation about this. NO ONE deserves to be hurt on the job. No one. Everyone deserves a safe workplace. But…(thread) https://t.co/rIZcegjn84

— Kathy Flaherty (@ConnConnection) December 8, 2019

— Kathy Flaherty, Newington, Connecticut

Launch A Broad Investigation Abroad?

I am an American who works as a health economics researcher in Japan. I wanted to let KHN know how important this journalism project is: exposing health care billing that drives up the cost of insurance — even if insurance “covers” some charges upfront (“Bill of the Month: For Her Head Cold, Insurer Coughed Up $25,865,” Dec. 23). The fact that this overly complex and inefficient system is tolerated is baffling to me. I was in very deep with the U.S. system when I returned from Japan to the U.S. for emergency chemo and stem-cell transplant for leukemia (thank goodness I still had U.S. insurance!). While I received excellent care at that time, I now continue to receive follow-up care in Japan, which is just as advanced in terms of tech and more so for systematic efficiency. I use the national health insurance, and — even in another language — testing, billing, wait times, cost are all a breeze.

I wonder if KHN/NPR could compare the U.S. with health care systems of other high-income countries (Singapore, Finland, etc.), using real-world patient experiences? I think there is a common misconception that the U.S. way is the only way. Anyway, thank you very much for your hard work on this important topic.

— Russell Miller, San Diego and Tokyo

It should be considered malpractice for these doctors that concoct these dreadful schemes with shady business people. This fleecing activity needs to be called out just as much as that of hospitals, insurance companies, pharma and benefit consultants. https://t.co/V5Or5XbsbB

— Dr. Christopher Crow (@DrCCrow) December 23, 2019

— Dr. Christopher Crow, Plano, Texas

Doctor in this case should be charged with FRAUD. What a crook. https://t.co/nqnzVg4Hd8

— Wayne Allyn Root (@RealWayneRoot) December 24, 2019

— Wayne Allyn Root, Las Vegas

from Updates By Dina https://khn.org/news/letters-to-editor-january-readers-and-tweeters-no-nicotine-hiring-policy/

[stephenmccull]

Readers And Tweeters Fired Up Over Employer’s No-Nicotine Policy

Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names.

On Board With Snubbing Smokers?

Regarding U-Haul, good for them (“Smokers Need Not Apply: Fairness Of No-Nicotine Hiring Policies Questioned,” Jan. 13). I don’t like being around smokers. I have asthma, and the smoke also gives me a headache. I would like to see stronger efforts to get people to quit. I realize that poor people are more likely to smoke and will sometimes tell them, “You can’t afford the effects of your habit.” I also nag people smoking around me until they stop or go away.

— Therese Shellabarger, North Hollywood, California

The argument has always been that smokers use more in healthcare than nonsmoking peers… when in truth because they die earlier they actually use less… let people do what they want

— Matt Neumann (@neumann58) January 15, 2020

— Matt Neumann, LaGrange, Ohio

From my observations working in the insurance industry for 30 years, smokers are less productive workers. Low-level employees sometimes used their breaks — including bathroom and lunch breaks — to smoke. Salaried employees took more than the authorized number of breaks whenever they felt the urge to smoke, reasoning that as long as they got their work done, they didn’t have to abide by the rule hourly employees adhered to.

Co-workers who smoked often seemed less attentive to detail and couldn’t cope with work stress as well as nonsmokers. Their preoccupation with when they could go outside and smoke a cigarette took priority over work, and it often took longer for them to get their work done. Employees were offered free smoking-cessation programs, but few succeeded in quitting the habit.

If employees drank alcohol on the job during their breaks, they would get fired. With marijuana legalization, are companies going to treat marijuana smokers the same as cigarette smokers? Of course not.

Email Sign-Up

Subscribe to KHN’s free Morning Briefing.

Sign Up

Please confirm your email address below:

Sign Up

Smoking is bad for our health, and that’s a fact. It’s not discrimination to not hire smokers, and vaping should be included in the smoking category. Many employers do drug testing occasionally to make sure their employees are not smoking weed or other illicit drugs, and they could be terminated if the drug test is positive.

Sure, some people might ask: What about employees who refuse to eat well to lose weight and prevent diabetes? Employers cannot control their employees’ diet habits or smoking or drug use habits. I can see why smokers cried foul that U-Haul refused to hire smokers.

The other thing is, cigarettes are so expensive to buy. Why do low-income people continue to smoke? Because it’s addictive, and they can’t quit. So they’d rather starve or skimp on medication than quit smoking — whether cigarettes or vaping or marijuana.

If all employers started to set standards about hiring, perhaps more people would work harder to quit the nasty habits that will kill them and affect the people around them. Our society respects democracy and personal freedom, but we are paying for it in health costs.

— Lena Conway, Naperville, Illinois

Playing Catch-Up On Healthy Living

I find it most amusing that articles such as “Extending ‘Healthspan’: Brain Scientists Tap Into The Secrets Of Living Well Longer” (Jan. 2) are — over the past 18 months — in the news regularly. More than three decades ago, when I was a chiropractic student, exercise and healthy eating — wellness and well-being — were promoted and taught. However, it not being from the God-Almighty, know-all “medical” profession, it was ignored or even dismissed.

Amusing. Most amusing. At least for a wellness-based chiropractor with 30 years in practice and certified with the Athletic and Fitness Association of America, practicing for 23 years, who has walked the talk of healthy living since learning about it in chiropractic school. Especially as I watch those in my age (59) group who have until recently been sedentary and engaging in sloth and gluttony now scramble to “get healthy” … most with little success as they experience the effort and time (they are still unwilling to make) to exercise daily and eliminate the junk they eat for a healthier diet.

— David Robinson, New Bedford, Massachusetts

Get outside, in the light, move and stay connected mentally. Hey, isn’t that synonymous with living? https://t.co/KwwLzphe7N

— David Voran, MD (@dvoran) January 2, 2020

— Dr. David Voran, Kansas City, Missouri

Lead Aprons And Sticky Labels

I’m writing to draw your attention to a term used in your story “No Shield From X-Rays: How Science Is Rethinking Lead Aprons” (Jan. 15).

In the first line of the piece, the term “technician” is used to refer to the practitioners who perform X-ray procedures. As a clarification, we advise using the term “technologist” when referring to medical imaging and radiation therapy professionals. Radiologic technologists are educated in anatomy, patient positioning, examination techniques, equipment protocols, radiation safety, radiation protection and basic patient care. The medical community and American Society of Radiologic Technologists use the term “technologist,” which accurately reflects the educational level, responsibilities and skill set of registered and certified radiologic technologists.

As the professional society that represents the country’s radiologic technologists, we reach out to news outlets and request that they use the term “technologists” when referring to medical imaging professionals. As reported in the story, Drs. Feinstein and Marsh refer to their staff medical imaging professionals as “technologists.” We’re confident that the terminology more accurately represents the profession and is the standard usage among health care providers, educators and the broader medical community.

— Greg Crutcher, public relations manager, American Society of Radiologic Technologists, Albuquerque, New Mexico

I am going to follow this! We have been digital since we opened in 2008, so this hasn't applied as much to us. Digital films offer up to 70% less radiation.https://t.co/2sZJasVi9h

— Sheila Samaddar (@DrSheSam) January 16, 2020

— Dr. Sheila Samadarr, Washington, D.C.

In The Media Dance, Misleading Missteps

The interview with Seema Verma (“One-On-One With Trump’s Medicare And Medicaid Chief: Seema Verma,” Jan. 3) was notable for its lack of clarity on Verma’s part. She danced around so much that she could have been on “Dancing With the Stars,” but never directly answered questions such as what the Trump administration would do if the ACA were abolished via the courts as she and the administration want. She also misled the reader about Medicare, one of our most popular programs.

Medicare is not disliked by participants. In fact, it is rated higher in satisfaction than private-sector insurance. Verma’s free-market ideology appears to be causing her to misstate the facts, a frequent issue in this administration.

— Jack Bernard, former director of Georgia’s Office of Health Planning, Peachtree City, Georgia

⁦@SeemaCMS⁩ masterclass in avoiding every single question: One-On-One With Trump’s Medicare And Medicaid Chief: Seema Verma | Kaiser Health News https://t.co/4q6fovJyvw

— Richard James (@pennnursinglib) January 3, 2020

— Richard James, Philadelphia

‘Nurturing’ Takes Time

The title of the piece “Reduce Health Costs By Nurturing The Sickest? A Much-Touted Idea Disappoints” (Jan. 8) is inaccurate. The article reports on how a 90-day intervention to reduce costs in the sickest patients did not show any benefit. However, truly nurturing the sickest is not something that can be done successfully in 90 days. I think it suggests how degenerate American health care has become when such a short intervention can be referred to as “nurturing.” Perhaps a better title might be “Putting a Band-Aid on a Chronic Ulcer Is Useless.”

— Dr. Joseph P. Arpaia, Eugene, Oregon

#HealthCare is a #HumanRight, but it's not #community and it's not safe and affordable #housing. I do appreciate what the Camden Coalition was trying to do, but this research shows that w/out all of these things, a healthy life is real hard to achieve. https://t.co/ZPV3rXCVjn

— (((Leah Ida Harris))) 🌹 (@leahida) January 10, 2020

— Leah Harris, Arlington, Virginia

Shedding Light On Violent Patients

I want to thank Heidi De Marco for her great article about violence in hospitals (“Postcard From San Diego: Patient-Induced Trauma: Hospitals Learn To Defuse Violence,” Dec. 6). I am an occupational therapist who used to work in a hospital. Once an 87-year-old woman with dementia grabbed me by the neck, lifted me off the floor and was getting ready to punch me with her other hand. As a former victim of domestic assault, I knew the best strategy when being choked is to try to relax as much as possible. I had orders to walk the woman, but she thought I was trying to rob her. Found out she needed four security guards when she was in the ER. I ended up going to the ER myself.

The situation was especially difficult because: 1) I didn’t feel I could fight back for fear of losing my job. 2) I didn’t feel right pressing charges against her, also for fear of retaliation, and it’s not as if the woman was in her right mind. But because I didn’t press charges, the incident went unreported. I am not even sure what the answer is, but I am glad your article is bringing this to light. Thank you!

— Stephanie Blossomgame, Villa Park, Illinois

Have seen a lot of coverage lately of the issue of violence in the workplace as experienced by health care workers. We need to have a conversation about this. NO ONE deserves to be hurt on the job. No one. Everyone deserves a safe workplace. But…(thread) https://t.co/rIZcegjn84

— Kathy Flaherty (@ConnConnection) December 8, 2019

— Kathy Flaherty, Newington, Connecticut

Launch A Broad Investigation Abroad?

I am an American who works as a health economics researcher in Japan. I wanted to let KHN know how important this journalism project is: exposing health care billing that drives up the cost of insurance — even if insurance “covers” some charges upfront (“Bill of the Month: For Her Head Cold, Insurer Coughed Up $25,865,” Dec. 23). The fact that this overly complex and inefficient system is tolerated is baffling to me. I was in very deep with the U.S. system when I returned from Japan to the U.S. for emergency chemo and stem-cell transplant for leukemia (thank goodness I still had U.S. insurance!). While I received excellent care at that time, I now continue to receive follow-up care in Japan, which is just as advanced in terms of tech and more so for systematic efficiency. I use the national health insurance, and — even in another language — testing, billing, wait times, cost are all a breeze.

I wonder if KHN/NPR could compare the U.S. with health care systems of other high-income countries (Singapore, Finland, etc.), using real-world patient experiences? I think there is a common misconception that the U.S. way is the only way. Anyway, thank you very much for your hard work on this important topic.

— Russell Miller, San Diego and Tokyo

It should be considered malpractice for these doctors that concoct these dreadful schemes with shady business people. This fleecing activity needs to be called out just as much as that of hospitals, insurance companies, pharma and benefit consultants. https://t.co/V5Or5XbsbB

— Dr. Christopher Crow (@DrCCrow) December 23, 2019

— Dr. Christopher Crow, Plano, Texas

Doctor in this case should be charged with FRAUD. What a crook. https://t.co/nqnzVg4Hd8

— Wayne Allyn Root (@RealWayneRoot) December 24, 2019

— Wayne Allyn Root, Las Vegas

Readers And Tweeters Fired Up Over Employer’s No-Nicotine Policy published first on https://smartdrinkingweb.weebly.com/

[deniscollins]

How Juul Hooked a Generation on Nicotine

E-Cigarettes were created as a less harmful nicotine intake for adult smokers, of which 480,000 die annually from cancer-related smoking. But they quickly became a fad for teenagers. Now more than five million youths — one in four American high school students and one in 10 middle school students —  vape, and their favorite flavor is mint, which is also enjoyed by adults. Would you eliminate the mint and other similar flavors from the market: (1) Yes, (2) No? Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?

In the face of mounting investigations, subpoenas and lawsuits, Juul Labs has insisted that it never marketed or knowingly sold its trendy e-cigarettes and flavored nicotine pods to teenagers.

As youth vaping soared and “juuling” became a high school craze, the company’s top executives have stood firm in their assertion that Juul’s mission has always been to give adult smokers a safer alternative to cigarettes, which play a role in the deaths of 480,000 people in the United States each year.

“We never wanted any non-nicotine user and certainly nobody underage to ever use Juul products,” James Monsees, a co-founder of the company, testified at a congressional hearing in July.

But in reality, the company was never just about helping adult smokers, according to interviews with former executives, employees and investors, along with reviews of legal filings and social media archives.

Juul’s remarkable rise to resurrect and dominate the e-cigarette business came after it began targeting consumers in their 20s and early 30s, a generation with historically low smoking rates, in a furious effort to reward investors and capture market share before the government tightened regulations on vaping.

As recently as 2017, as evidence grew that high school students were flocking to its sleek devices and flavored nicotine pods, the company refused to sign a pledge not to market to teenagers as part of a lawsuit settlement. It wasn’t until the summer of 2018, when the Food and Drug Administration required it to do so, that the company put a nicotine warning label on its packaging.

Though some former employees recalled Mr. Monsees wearing a T-shirt at the office that used an expletive to refer to Big Tobacco, the start-up’s early pitches to potential investors listed selling the business to a big tobacco company as one of the potential ways to cash out. (Last December, the tobacco giant Altria paid $12.8 billion for a 35 percent stake in the company.)

These and other previously unreported decisions would plant the seeds for a public health crisis in which a new generation is becoming hooked on nicotine and that has raised questions about the future of e-cigarettes in the United States and Juul’s ability to stay in business.

In the fall of 2015, only a few months after the company’s newfangled vaping device, called the Juul, came on the market, investors, including the mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments, were already impatient for progress, according to former executives.

“They had yet to see the fruits of their investment, given what the opportunity was, and it was unclear for how long vaping was going to be lightly regulated,” said Scott Dunlap, the chief operating officer at the time. “They were excited and pushing hard.”

Fidelity declined to comment.

The Juul, which looked unlike any other e-cigarette and delivered a far more powerful nicotine punch, was supposed to be the hit product for the company, then named Pax Labs, but a few months in, it appeared to be a bust. Convenience stores and vape shops were not getting their orders because of supply chain problems. Manufacturing defects left some customers with bad batteries, or worse, a condition nicknamed JIM — juice in mouth — with no one at the company quite sure how much of the toxic nicotine substance could be safely ingested.

In a meeting in San Francisco in the fall of 2015, the board of directors decided to remove Mr. Monsees as chief executive, dismiss other senior leaders and effectively take over the company. It would be 10 months before they named another C.E.O.

“I was in that first meeting where you tell the board, ‘We aren’t going to hit the numbers. There are issues; there are problems in the supply chain.’ Not a lot of good news,” said Mr. Dunlap, who said he had advised the company to slow down and take the time needed to fix the problems. He was fired the next day.

The board meeting, which has not been previously reported, was a turning point for the company.

Over the next few years, the company — which became Juul Labs after splitting from Pax in 2017 — would reignite the stale e-cigarette business, grabbing more than 75 percent of the vaping market and tallying more than $1 billion in sales in 2018. At the end of last year, it was valued at $38 billion, more than the Ford Motor Company.

From 2016 to 2018, the years Juul’s growth became astronomical, the number of adult nonsmokers who began using e-cigarettes doubled in the United States, according to an analysis of federal survey data by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease. The study estimates that six million adults were introduced to nicotine via e-cigarettes.

During that time, millions of high school and middle school students began vaping, according to federal health surveys. More than five million youths — one in four American high school students and one in 10 middle school students — now vape, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said in a joint report this summer. Nicotine is a highly addictive drug that impedes the developing brain, and many teenagers have struggled to quit.

From the beginning, there was plenty of evidence of teenage use on social media that should have been apparent to a company that had made social media the core of its marketing strategy. A sampling of tweets from Juul’s first 18 months of sales showed that juuling had quickly become a fad among high school students, long before the company acknowledged that there was a problem.

“petition to make our school mascot a juul,” said one tweet in December 2015.

“horizon highschool, where every1 is juuling in the bathroom,” said another in January 2016.

“HAPPY 16th BIRTHDAY, LEXI T!!! I hope ur day is filled with juuling & just having the best day ever!” said a tweet in October 2016.

There was also evidence from employees’ own lives. In 2016, some salespeople inside Juul passed around a photo taken by a colleague’s teenage son of a picture of a Juul drawn on a bathroom stall at his high school with the word “Juul” scrawled beside it.

Juul declined to make Mr. Monsees — who stayed at the company after being removed from the C.E.O. job — or any other executives available for this article.

The company says it is refocusing on its core mission. It has recently taken steps to keep its products away from teenagers, including stopping sales of most of its flavors; halting all broadcast, print and digital advertising; and offering $100 million in incentives for retailers to adopt a new electronic age-verification system intended to curb illegal sales to minors. This month it announced it would discontinue its mint flavor, which a new study showed had become its most popular among teenagers.

“We fully understand the need to earn back the trust of regulators, policymakers, key stakeholders and society at large and reset our company and the vapor category,” said Joshua Raffel, a spokesman who joined Juul in October 2018 after working as a deputy communications director in the Trump White House.

Another market in millennials

The story of Juul began more than a decade ago when two smokers, Mr. Monsees and Adam Bowen, became friends over cigarette breaks as graduate students in design at Stanford. During those chats, they came up with an idea for their final thesis, a design for an e-cigarette that would give smokers the nicotine they craved but without the cancer-causing substances that come from burning tobacco. They called it Ploom, and two years later, in 2007, they started a company by the same name.

Ralph Eschenbach, an early investor through the firm Sand Hill Angels, recalled Ploom’s pitch as being fairly simple: “They said they wanted to build a cigarette that would be a lot less dangerous to smokers and could be enjoyable.”

But, Mr. Eschenbach said, there was a major hurdle in going after that demographic: F.D.A. restrictions prevented Ploom from claiming its product was safer than cigarettes.

So the company was eying another potential market as well, he said: young millennials who were occasional smokers and might be drawn to a luxe, sleekly-designed tech product that they could carry while bar hopping on a Saturday night.

VERY LONG ARTICLE CONTINUES ...

[obertsonpddamarispb86insura-blog]

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Why People Smoke Cigarettes – Five Reasons That Might Surprise You

Cigarette smoking is a personal choice. However, if you are considering stopping smoking, you may already realize that quitting requires more than willpower or scaring yourself with statistics of why smoking is bad.

Conventional smoking cessation systems often don’t work in the long term because they do not address the real reasons that people smoke. Listed below are five often unidentified reasons that people smoke. These reasons might surprise you.

Before you engage in your stop smoking process, take some time and identify the important underlying motivations of why you choose to smoke. By understanding those real reasons, you can generate a personalized stop smoking plan that incorporates new strategies of coping and dealing with life.

1. Smoking Is A Lifestyle Coping Tool

For many people, smoking is a reliable lifestyle coping tool. Although every person’s specific reasons to smoke are unique, they all share a common theme. Smoking is used as a way to suppress uncomfortable feelings, and smoking is used to alleviate stress, calm nerves, and relax. No wonder that when you are deprived of smoking, your mind and body are unsettled for a little while.

Below is a list of some positive intentions often associated with smoking. Knowing why you smoke is one of the first steps towards quitting. Check any and all that apply to you.

___ Coping with anger, stress, anxiety, tiredness, or sadness

___ Smoking is pleasant and relaxing

___ Smoking is stimulating

___ Acceptance – being part of a group

___ As a way to socialize

___ Provides support when things go wrong

___ A way to look confident and in control

___ Keeps weight down

___ Rebellion – defining self as different or unique from a group

___ A reminder to breathe

___ Something to do with your mouth and hands

___ Shutting out stimuli from the outside world

___ Shutting out emotions from the inside world

___ Something to do just for you and nobody else

___ A way to shift gears or changes states

___ An way to feel confident

___ A way to shut off distressing feelings

___ A way to deal with stress or anxiety

___ A way to get attention

___ Marking the beginning or the end of something

2. Smoking Tranquilizer

The habit of cigarette smoking is often used to tranquilize emotional issues like anxiety, stress, or low self-esteem. In addition, smoking provides comfort to people with conditions of chronic pain and depression. Smokers with emotional stress or chronic pain often turn to smoking as an attempt to treat their pain. For instance, they may use it to reduce anxiety, provide a sense of calmness and energy, and elevate their mood.

Some evidence does suggest that nicotine has some pain-relief benefits. Nicotine releases brain chemicals which soothe pain, heighten positive emotions, and creating a sense of reward. However, any benefit from smoking only eases the pain for a few minutes. Cigarettes contain many other chemicals shown to worsen healing ability of bone, tooth, and cartilage.

The mental association between smoking and pain relief can make quitting quite difficult, as can the increased short-term discomfort that quitting smoking adds to a person already suffering with chronic pain, depression, or emotional distress. What are effective ways for people with chronic pain – whether physical or emotional – to make the decision to quit smoking? First, evidence shows that in people who suffer chronic pain, smokers have more pain than nonsmokers do. Also, accept that smoking cessation may indeed make you feel worse in the short run, but may be key to regaining enough vitality to live fully with pain.

3. The Feel Good Syndrome

Smoking is a way to avoid feeling unpleasant emotions such as sadness, grief, and anxiety. It can hide apprehensions, fears, and pain. This is accomplished partly through the chemical effects of nicotine on the brain.

When smoking, the release of brain chemicals makes smokers feel like they are coping and dealing with life and stressful emotional situations. Nicotine brings up a level of good feelings. Cigarette smokers are aware when nicotine levels and good feelings begin to decrease, and light up quickly enough to stay in their personal comfort zone. However, they may not realize that avoiding their feelings is not the same as taking positive steps to create a life of greater potential and meaning.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) reports that people suffering from nicotine withdrawal have increased aggression, anxiety, hostility, and anger. However, perhaps these emotional responses are due not to withdrawal, but due to an increased awareness of unresolved emotions. If smoking dulls emotions, logically quitting smoking allows awareness of those emotions to bubble up to the surface. If emotional issues aren’t resolved, a smoker may feel overwhelmed and eventually turn back to cigarettes to deal with the uncomfortable feelings.

4. Smoking Makes You Feel Calm and Alive

Smokers often say that lighting up a cigarette can calm their nerves, satisfy their cravings, and help them feel energized. Indeed, nicotine in tobacco joins on to receptors in your brain that release “feel good” chemicals that can make you feel calm and energized all at once. Smoking acts as a drug, inducing a feeling of well-being with each puff. But, it’s a phony sense of well-being that never produces a permanent satisfying or fulfilling result. Smoking lures you into believing that you can escape some underlying truth or reality. However, smoking doesn’t allow you to actually transform your day-to-day life and live connected to your deeper hopes and dreams.

Instead, when you smoke, the carbon monoxide in the smoke bonds to your red blood cells, taking up the spaces where oxygen needs to bond. This makes you less able to take in the deep, oxygen-filled breath needed to bring you life, to active new energy, to allow health and healing, and bring creative insight into your problems and issues.

5. You Are In The Midst Of Transition

If you previously quit smoking, and then resumed the habit once again, consider the idea that perhaps you are in the midst of some “growing pains.” Perhaps you were feeling dissatisfied with some aspect of your life and contemplating making change. However, developing spiritually, emotionally, and physically brings with it the experience of discomfort. Old beliefs rise up, creating sensations of hurt, pain, sadness, anxiety, and uneasiness. You were feeling dissatisfied, restless, ready to change, but then felt the fear that change often ignites.

Smoking provides an escape from those uncomfortable feelings. However, smoking also brings an abrupt halt to personal transformation and the evolution of self. Although painful, these feelings are necessary in your personal development. Learning to accept feelings in a new way can help lead you out of disempowering or limiting beliefs, and into a life filled with greater happiness, satisfaction, contentment, or purpose. When you stop smoking and start breathing – conscious, deep, smoke-free, oxygen-filled breaths – your evolution will start up once again.

Why Do You Smoke?

If you smoke, then you do so because the act of smoking is personally meaningful to you. Therefore, if you are considering quitting, take some time and explore the reasons underlying your decision to smoke. Become interested, observe yourself, and get curious. Allow yourself an opportunity to turn into a smoking journalist, ready to uncover an intriguing mystery. Before lighting up your next cigarette, ask yourself:

a. What positive functions do I believe smoking provides me?

b. How will smoking help or change the situation?

c. What situations make me smoke the most?

d. What emotions or feelings am I trying to avoid or deny?

e. If I didn’t smoke right now, what would I feel? How would I handle that feeling?

f. What would I do with the energy that is freed up from smoking cessation?

The most important factor in stopping smoking is a genuine desire to stop smoking. You were not a born smoker; it’s something you learned to do. Learning new ways of coping with stress is possible, as is learning new ways to relax and raise confidence levels. Use the reasons presented above as clues to uncover the underlying reasons why you smoke. Then, in addition to making a firm decision to stop smoking, also make a firm plan to address your underlying needs. You’re not only kicking the habit, you’re also creating a new balance with your body, mind, and self!

Source by Annette Colby

from Home Solutions Forev https://homesolutionsforev.com/why-people-smoke-cigarettes-five-reasons-that-might-surprise-you/ via Home Solutions on WordPress from Home Solutions FOREV https://homesolutionsforev.tumblr.com/post/187103390705 via Tim Clymer on Wordpress

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Why People Smoke Cigarettes – Five Reasons That Might Surprise You

Cigarette smoking is a personal choice. However, if you are considering stopping smoking, you may already realize that quitting requires more than willpower or scaring yourself with statistics of why smoking is bad.

Conventional smoking cessation systems often don’t work in the long term because they do not address the real reasons that people smoke. Listed below are five often unidentified reasons that people smoke. These reasons might surprise you.

Before you engage in your stop smoking process, take some time and identify the important underlying motivations of why you choose to smoke. By understanding those real reasons, you can generate a personalized stop smoking plan that incorporates new strategies of coping and dealing with life.

1. Smoking Is A Lifestyle Coping Tool

For many people, smoking is a reliable lifestyle coping tool. Although every person’s specific reasons to smoke are unique, they all share a common theme. Smoking is used as a way to suppress uncomfortable feelings, and smoking is used to alleviate stress, calm nerves, and relax. No wonder that when you are deprived of smoking, your mind and body are unsettled for a little while.

Below is a list of some positive intentions often associated with smoking. Knowing why you smoke is one of the first steps towards quitting. Check any and all that apply to you.

___ Coping with anger, stress, anxiety, tiredness, or sadness

___ Smoking is pleasant and relaxing

___ Smoking is stimulating

___ Acceptance – being part of a group

___ As a way to socialize

___ Provides support when things go wrong

___ A way to look confident and in control

___ Keeps weight down

___ Rebellion – defining self as different or unique from a group

___ A reminder to breathe

___ Something to do with your mouth and hands

___ Shutting out stimuli from the outside world

___ Shutting out emotions from the inside world

___ Something to do just for you and nobody else

___ A way to shift gears or changes states

___ An way to feel confident

___ A way to shut off distressing feelings

___ A way to deal with stress or anxiety

___ A way to get attention

___ Marking the beginning or the end of something

2. Smoking Tranquilizer

The habit of cigarette smoking is often used to tranquilize emotional issues like anxiety, stress, or low self-esteem. In addition, smoking provides comfort to people with conditions of chronic pain and depression. Smokers with emotional stress or chronic pain often turn to smoking as an attempt to treat their pain. For instance, they may use it to reduce anxiety, provide a sense of calmness and energy, and elevate their mood.

Some evidence does suggest that nicotine has some pain-relief benefits. Nicotine releases brain chemicals which soothe pain, heighten positive emotions, and creating a sense of reward. However, any benefit from smoking only eases the pain for a few minutes. Cigarettes contain many other chemicals shown to worsen healing ability of bone, tooth, and cartilage.

The mental association between smoking and pain relief can make quitting quite difficult, as can the increased short-term discomfort that quitting smoking adds to a person already suffering with chronic pain, depression, or emotional distress. What are effective ways for people with chronic pain – whether physical or emotional – to make the decision to quit smoking? First, evidence shows that in people who suffer chronic pain, smokers have more pain than nonsmokers do. Also, accept that smoking cessation may indeed make you feel worse in the short run, but may be key to regaining enough vitality to live fully with pain.

3. The Feel Good Syndrome

Smoking is a way to avoid feeling unpleasant emotions such as sadness, grief, and anxiety. It can hide apprehensions, fears, and pain. This is accomplished partly through the chemical effects of nicotine on the brain.

When smoking, the release of brain chemicals makes smokers feel like they are coping and dealing with life and stressful emotional situations. Nicotine brings up a level of good feelings. Cigarette smokers are aware when nicotine levels and good feelings begin to decrease, and light up quickly enough to stay in their personal comfort zone. However, they may not realize that avoiding their feelings is not the same as taking positive steps to create a life of greater potential and meaning.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) reports that people suffering from nicotine withdrawal have increased aggression, anxiety, hostility, and anger. However, perhaps these emotional responses are due not to withdrawal, but due to an increased awareness of unresolved emotions. If smoking dulls emotions, logically quitting smoking allows awareness of those emotions to bubble up to the surface. If emotional issues aren’t resolved, a smoker may feel overwhelmed and eventually turn back to cigarettes to deal with the uncomfortable feelings.

4. Smoking Makes You Feel Calm and Alive

Smokers often say that lighting up a cigarette can calm their nerves, satisfy their cravings, and help them feel energized. Indeed, nicotine in tobacco joins on to receptors in your brain that release “feel good” chemicals that can make you feel calm and energized all at once. Smoking acts as a drug, inducing a feeling of well-being with each puff. But, it’s a phony sense of well-being that never produces a permanent satisfying or fulfilling result. Smoking lures you into believing that you can escape some underlying truth or reality. However, smoking doesn’t allow you to actually transform your day-to-day life and live connected to your deeper hopes and dreams.

Instead, when you smoke, the carbon monoxide in the smoke bonds to your red blood cells, taking up the spaces where oxygen needs to bond. This makes you less able to take in the deep, oxygen-filled breath needed to bring you life, to active new energy, to allow health and healing, and bring creative insight into your problems and issues.

5. You Are In The Midst Of Transition

If you previously quit smoking, and then resumed the habit once again, consider the idea that perhaps you are in the midst of some “growing pains.” Perhaps you were feeling dissatisfied with some aspect of your life and contemplating making change. However, developing spiritually, emotionally, and physically brings with it the experience of discomfort. Old beliefs rise up, creating sensations of hurt, pain, sadness, anxiety, and uneasiness. You were feeling dissatisfied, restless, ready to change, but then felt the fear that change often ignites.

Smoking provides an escape from those uncomfortable feelings. However, smoking also brings an abrupt halt to personal transformation and the evolution of self. Although painful, these feelings are necessary in your personal development. Learning to accept feelings in a new way can help lead you out of disempowering or limiting beliefs, and into a life filled with greater happiness, satisfaction, contentment, or purpose. When you stop smoking and start breathing – conscious, deep, smoke-free, oxygen-filled breaths – your evolution will start up once again.

Why Do You Smoke?

If you smoke, then you do so because the act of smoking is personally meaningful to you. Therefore, if you are considering quitting, take some time and explore the reasons underlying your decision to smoke. Become interested, observe yourself, and get curious. Allow yourself an opportunity to turn into a smoking journalist, ready to uncover an intriguing mystery. Before lighting up your next cigarette, ask yourself:

a. What positive functions do I believe smoking provides me?

b. How will smoking help or change the situation?

c. What situations make me smoke the most?

d. What emotions or feelings am I trying to avoid or deny?

e. If I didn’t smoke right now, what would I feel? How would I handle that feeling?

f. What would I do with the energy that is freed up from smoking cessation?

The most important factor in stopping smoking is a genuine desire to stop smoking. You were not a born smoker; it’s something you learned to do. Learning new ways of coping with stress is possible, as is learning new ways to relax and raise confidence levels. Use the reasons presented above as clues to uncover the underlying reasons why you smoke. Then, in addition to making a firm decision to stop smoking, also make a firm plan to address your underlying needs. You’re not only kicking the habit, you’re also creating a new balance with your body, mind, and self!

Source by Annette Colby

from Home Solutions Forev https://homesolutionsforev.com/why-people-smoke-cigarettes-five-reasons-that-might-surprise-you/ via Home Solutions on WordPress