It Has Been Too Long! I'm back!

Sorry for the long gap in posting, I was on a kind of sabbatical throughout Europe. Those countries are very progressive in smoking laws I noticed - that is, you can smoke anywhere outside of the cities. Since I've been gone, however I noticed several developments here at home, including the following:

1) Electronic Cigarette Review Guide;

2) Frequently Updated Blog on E-cigs; and

3) Frequently Updated Blog on Quitting.

I hope you'll find the information on these sites helpful, as I am just beginning to explore them myself. I've recently become Co-chair of an election organization and will be watching Congress closely over the next couple of months. Stay tuned for updates on federal laws about electronic cigarettes and traditional cigarettes too!

Laser Treatment to Quit Smoking?

Here is one of the stranger articles I've seen for quit smoking methods . . . . Laser wha?

Ever wondered how the process of quit smoking laser treatment works? If you are a hardcore smoker and would like to quit smoking fast and effectively, you should consider using quit smoking laser treatment. This treatment is relatively new method and works almost the same as acupuncture which is to apply pressure to certain energy point to reduce your addiction of smoking.

Quit smoking laser treatment works by applying laser to the center of nerves system that will reduce or permanently stop your smoking addiction. This is very important because many people who really want to stop smoking are having difficulties to stop their bad addiction. If the addiction is less, then you have taken the first step to finally quit smoking.

You cannot rely on quit smoking laser treatment so much because like mentioned earlier, it will not totally remove your smoking habit but rather than reduce your addiction. However, you can take other necessary steps to quit smoking much easier once you have run through the process of treatment. You should consider to use quit smoking patches and join a community who wish to quit their smoking habit to further achieve a good result. You can also ask your doctor some advice on how to stop smoking as well and nobody can deny a doctor's advice.

Study has shown that quit smoking laser treatment may not help you that much to because most people do not have a strong desire to stop smoking in the first place. It is up to you to really obtain the good result. The technology is there only to help you by making it a lot easier. Smoking is a very bad habit and bad habit usually die hard.

Several factors you need to consider before going with the quit smoking laser treatment. The cost is slightly expensive than any other method and the result is not guaranteed. However, some health insurance will cover the cost of your treatment so you better check out with your insurance company to reduce your cost. Also, you need to combine whatever method to help you quit smoking with the treatment so you can get a much positive result.

After learning about all this, what is stopping you from quit smoking? You should take some action right away and not just dream about it. Using quit smoking laser treatment is one of the first step you need to take to get rid of your bad habit.

What Happens When I Quit Smoking?

The hardest part in quitting is not really the period when you decided to quit but rather what happen after the moment you quit smoking is what matter the most. Keep in mind that it is easy to say "I quit smoking" but the withdrawal symptoms is what makes people go back to old habits.

The moment you quit smoking you will feel disoriented and a little irritated as your body longs for the comfort of the nicotine. There are things that a long time smoker can do to help them overcome withdrawal symptoms and these is something you have to figure out if you really want to break free from your old habit.

Remember the moment you quit smoking all you will feel is how horrid life is at that point in your life. It will even grow worse as day passes by and your body is finally feeling the weights of not being comforted by nicotine and other toxic compounds that is usually found inside the cigarette.

Apart from irritation, you will also feel angry, impatient and full of anxiety because you are trying to rid your system something that has already become an integral part of your body, which is the nicotine.

Every cell will be screaming for you to bring back the power and soothing effects that only nicotine can give your body. Then as you continue to fight off the urges of smoking, headaches will pester you as this is just part of what you will experience as you finally pull away from the power of the compound.

Nevertheless, like everything else the headaches, anxiety, anger, discomfort, and even the stress that is brought by your withdrawal moments after you quit smoking shall pass in due time. It may take time, depending on how long you have been smoking, but one thing for sure whatever you are feeling at this moment it will go away, as soon as your body is once again accustomed to being without nicotine.

The feel of restlessness or trying to work nonstop all of a sudden and even the cravings to eat anything, gaining of weight are just part of the withdrawal symptoms. Therefore, do not be surprise anymore if you feel any or all of what is mentioned here. The best thing you can do to is to prepare yourself for the moment you quit smoking, so you would not feel yourself coping too hard.

Why Quit Smoking? Here's 5 Reasons!

Smoking can cause emphysema, lung cancer, and heart disease. But none of this is new, none of it is news. All smokers know about this, but they tune out and gloss over the possibility of coming down with smoking-related diseases so that smoking does not feel like a fearful, guilty experience. But the sooner you take off the blinders and carefully consider the damage nicotine addiction causes, the sooner you can quit smoking cigarettes. Here are five good reasons to go easy on the cigarettes.

1. Heart Disease

In the U.S alone, coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death, and the leading cause of the disease is smoking. Cigarette smoke toxins cause plaque to form in arteries. This leads to atherosclerosis, or the hardening of arteries. Put more simply, smoking is hard on the heart.

2. Lung Cancer

The American Cancer Society estimates that in the U.S alone, hundreds of thousands will be diagnosed with cancer every year, and three-fourths of these cases will result in death.

Lung cancer is the cancer that causes the most number of deaths in both women and men. Worse, 87 percent of lung cancer cases involve tobacco. The silver lining in the dark cloud is that lung cancer is completely preventable, and the best way to prevent it is to quit smoking cigarettes.

3. Stroke

According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, stroke kills more than 150,000 people every year. It's the third most frequent cause of death in the U.S. The risk of suffering a stroke is higher for smokers than that of non-smokers - roughly 2 and 1/2 times more, in fact.

4. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

This lung disease either narrows your airways or blocks them altogether. When this happens, air flow in and out of your lungs is reduced. It's a slow, progressive disease that is irreversible. Tobacco is the leading cause of COPD. If you're a smoker and want to halt the damage, stop smoking. There is no other way. In the U.S alone, an estimated 14 million suffer COPD undiagnosed.

5. Oral Cancer

According to statistics, 70 percent of all oral cancer cases are due to heavy tobacco use and alcohol consumption. Why risk coming down with oral cancer? Quit smoking cigarettes while you still can.

Do not wait till you're sick to quit smoking cigarettes. Learn just how destructive tobacco really is, and start fighting your nicotine addiction today!

Punishment is Not the Way to Quit Smoking

Situation assessment

Every smoker tries to quit smoking at least once in their lifetime. For some, the first time is the last time and they never touch another cigarette. For others it is the beginning of a long period of self-resentment and guilt trips.

Indeed, not many experiences can rival failed attempts to quit smoking, in its ability to make a person feel bad, worthless and totally out of control. The first time the attempt fails, it's not a big deal. The second time is followed by tiny pang of regret. The third time causes a person to start questioning their resolve. The fourth time comes with a shocking realization of just how little control we can have over our own bodies. And without exception, this is encouraged by people/books/websites that give advice to smokers. "Punish yourself for smoking, reward yourself for not smoking," is a commonly heard tip. "Put yourself in a situation where you can't smoke," is another. I won't even comment on the "Use electronic cigarettes/nicotine patches" tip - do these people think smokers can fool their bodies so easily?

These tips never last. If a person successfully quits smoking, rest assured, it's not because of these tips. Why do these tips not work? Because they're barbaric. Nobody would recommend you to beat your kid, in order to raise him/her. No pet expert will ever recommend you beat your dog/cat, in order to teach it some discipline. No conquered country ever embraced occupants. In the same vein, self-hating punitive methods can not help in quitting smoking.

The way to results

Quitting is actually very easy. It may sound a little cliche, but the trick is to want it. Do you want to quit smoking? Not because mom wants it, or your wife wants it, or because your friends want it. Do you feel like you smoke too much?

If you identify that you truly want to quit smoking, then suddenly it is not a problem. Start by lowering the amount you smoke a day. I used to smoke a pack of cigarettes a day until I realized I want to stop. Overnight I minimized my smoking to a pack a week.

Keep lowering the amount you smoke in incremental steps. When you feel comfortable with the amount you smoke, see if you can lower it some more, then get used to it. After a few weeks of smoking a pack per week, I lowered my amount to a cigarette per week. Then per month. Then - you can guess it - I stopped completely.

One important thing to keep in mind is - never punish yourself for smoking. Would you punish yourself for having messy hair on a Monday, or for falling and breaking a leg? It'll do you no good. If you suddenly get a craving to smoke - go for it. Smoke a cigarette. And while you smoke, think about how it makes you feel and if it's really worth it. If it feels worth it, then that's because it is (at the moment).

By not approaching your smoking habit angrily, you will succeed at lowering the amount you smoke, even if you don't quit outright. And quitting is just one step from there.

The trick is to think of it as lowering the amount you smoke, because you feel like it. No more, no less.

Good luck!

Quitting Smoking or Sex - Which is Harder?

Mon Dec 9,10:15 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - Most smokers in Europe would find it easier to give up sex for a month than cigarettes and many view even bungee jumping or parachuting as less difficult than kicking the habit.

A survey of more than 2,000 smokers published Monday showed just how addictive nicotine is when 62 percent of smokers in six European countries said they felt the New Year is a good time to quit, but only three percent used it as a trigger to stop.

"In every single country the vast majority of smokers want to stop," Dr Alex Bobak, of the anti-smoking group SCAPE, told a news conference to launch the international poll.

"The motivation is there but they don't go about it in the right way."

Nearly 80 percent of British smokers, almost 70 percent in the Netherlands, France and Germany and more than 55 percent in the Belgium and Spain would forgo sex rather than live without cigarettes for a month.

Although 60 percent of European smokers said they would try to quit if it affected their love life, 35 percent of smokers admitted they have never attempted to stop smoking.

Fear of health problems was the biggest motivator to quit, followed by concerns for their family and the cost of cigarettes but 62 percent who tried to quit began smoking again within a month.

Identifying Addictive Behavior in Your Life

Addictive personalities are hell on anyone who has financial, emotional or social interaction with them. Whether you are a parent, friend, student, teacher, boss, co-worker, employee, patient, counselor, manager or partner, having to be involved with an addict can and will drain you mentally, physically and financially. Having grown up amongst alcoholics, I readily adapted to some of the drinking culture popular in the military and construction industries. It was not until I took a good look around to break away from this kind of life style. I started to note that addictive personality did not stop at boozing. Drugs, gambling and compulsive spending were other activities that brought the same misery with it. Without going into too much detail of lost fortunes, broken homes and crippled health, I will go directly to the source of the problem: the addict themselves.

It takes no genius to figure out the role of alcohol and drugs in street crimes. Alcohol or drugs can incapacitate a victim or make a criminal aggressive or reckless enough to swindle, steal from, assault or injure someone. This is not to be confused with the occasional happy hour drinker or recreational user of drugs. The addict is someone who lives for certain drugs or activities like gambling.

Financial abuse, a soft word for incompetence, lying and theft, often gets directed at those that the addict despises. Addicts will destroy themselves and drag down anyone close by. Most of us know a co-worker who constantly mooches money and favors, but turns ugly towards the same people who help them out.

I heard a saying in the army, "You might trust him with your life, but not your money or your wife." I have known fellow soldiers whom I have worked very closely with and relied on heavily, during training and work. But these same guys I could not trust with money or girl friends. It was often the guys who drank heavily. They might have been at the top of their courses and very high performers during the most visible times, but with booze in hand, they were totally just the opposite.

FINANCIAL ABUSE

Alcoholics and drug addicts can be very extravagant, especially with other people's money. A typical example is the guy who always has to borrow twenty bucks as he is certain to have a "hot date." The situation can never wait. Like a gambler, his big chance to score is now and never later. When you try (and try) to collect, the excuses usually run anywhere from trouble with his or her ex, car payments or so many people owe him money that he can only pay you when those "dead beats" pay up. A favourite excuse is "well, _______owes me twenty, so collect off of him." Another excuse for not paying back is "What? After all of the favors I've done for you? Man, you owe me."

Marriage, family and even a top secret security clearance might mean stability to some people, but it is not the rule. I recall a military guy with both a top secret security clearance and a family, who was in charge of his training course's party fund. At the end of the course, the party fund was empty. Gone.

This goes the same with business. The fraternity brother, army buddy or team mate is always a bad risk if they are a "party-goer." I had an ex-army buddy, who started an entertainment company. If a week passed when he did not brag about his new extravagant lifestyle like $20-a-hole golf games and $200 champagne, I was sure to mark it on my calendar. His company was doing just great, for a while. Then the money ran out, the products stopped selling and trouble started with the securities commission. The stock was worth pennies, partners left and the office closed. No doubt, business is tough. But, I should have clued in to the constant pot smoking, the parties, the over-priced automobile and the domestic problems occurring around that office. One just kind of over-looks some of these behaviors, until it is too late.

Again, the alcoholic or addict must always prove that he is better than someone else. He or she will continually set people up to put them down. Whether it is hanging up the telephone on someone, belittling them in public or physical bullying, it is non-stop.

Here's a typical tactic. The addict will sometimes maneuver a woman to stay over at his place. Whether by keeping her out late, spiking her drink, insisted that they both had too much to drink, etc. Since he did not take advantage of her, he gains trust. Furthermore, he now has her feeling guilty and shamed over sleeping over. He has technically scored points to his own ego by having her over within the first few dates. Now he also has her within his territory, so to speak. He might even brag what a morale giant that he is. This might sound downright weird, but an addict will deliberately put on big displays of their own righteousness. They will rant about other alcoholics and insist that they "don't drink anymore." They constantly remind people of that "fact."