Editorial Team
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Written By: Editorial Team | Published : January 3, 2014 2:10 PM IST
Here is a wake-up call. Smoking ruins productive sleep, leading to cognitive dysfunction, mood disorders, depression and anxiety.
'This study has found a common pathway whereby cigarette smoke impacts both pulmonary and neurophysiological function. Further, the results suggest the possible therapeutic value of targeting this pathway with compounds that could improve both lung and brain functions in smokers,' said Irfan Rahman, a researcher at the University of Rochester Medical Centre in Rochester, New York.
Rahman and his team found that tobacco smoke affects clock gene expression rhythms in the lung by producing parallel inflammation and depressed levels of brain locomotor activity. A similar reduction was seen in lung tissue from human smokers and patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). (Read: 5 Ds to start you on the path to quit smoking)
They placed two groups of mice in smoking chambers for short-term and long-term tobacco inhalation. One of the groups was exposed to clean air only and the other was exposed to different numbers of cigarettes during the day, said the study published in The FASEB Journal.
Researchers found that mice in smoking chambers were considerably less active following smoke exposure.
'If you only stick to one New Year's resolution this year, make it quitting smoking,' chuckled Gerald Weissmann, editor of The FASEB Journal.
Not just this, smoking also affects other aspects of your life:
Makes you look old faster
Unhealthy gums
Increases cancer risk
Affects sex life
These are only a few drastic changes which smoking can lead to. There are several others so it is best to quit at the earliest. Here are some of the various smoking cessation techniques:
Cold Turkey The oldest and most successful method is going 'cold turkey' that is quitting smoking without taking any substitute for nicotine. 75% people who've quit smoking claim to have done so without the aid of any aid or supplement. Coupled with therapy and intervention cold turkey is supposed to be the best way to quit. There are various websites and helplines which help people quit without the aid of any medicines. Most replacement therapies look to chemically substitute the nicotine hit of smoking but it just means switching from one addiction to another. One of the champions of cold turkey was Allen Carr, a chain smoker who quit smoking and went on to write a book entitled The Easy Way to Quit Smoking which is the most popular book on quitting smoking in the world. Many people have quit smoking after reading his book and this list include celebrities like Ashton Kutcher, Britney Spears, Richard Branson, Anthony Hopkins and closer home Mahesh Babu and Hrithik Roshan. Allen Carr's basic principle was despite overwhelming evidence which points out the hazards of smoking people don't quit because they think of quitting as 'giving in' or giving up.
Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRT) NRT looks to take care of nicotine craving by providing a substitute source without the harmful effects of tobacco. It works on the principle that though nicotine is the 'addictive' part of cigarettes the more dangerous ones are tar, carbon monoxide and other gases. There are various products under this Nicorette umbrella which look to aid cessation including chewing gums, lozenges, nasal sprays, patches and inhalers. Some electronic cigarettes also have nicotine filters. Real world studies have shown that NRT's aren't as effective as pharmaceutical companies claim. In the real world, 95% who have taken OTC medication have relapsed.
Other medical aid Several other companies have come out with smoking cessation drugs that don't look to replace nicotine. One such drug is Bupripion which is marketed as an anti-depressant, smoking cessation drug and anti-obesity pill. It works on the principle that smoking is a form of countering depression and an antidepressant can perform the same function. Another popular drug is Pfizer's Varenicline which reduces cravings by making the effects of nicotine less pleasurable. There are various side-effects of these drugs. Varenicline is known to cause suicidal thoughts, depression, drowsiness, nausea and the USFDA even claimed that it can cause cardiovascular disease.
Electronic cigarettes An electronic cigarette is a device that mimics the entire smoking process by producing a mist which has the same sensation (sometimes the same flavour too) of smoking. Some of them have nicotine and some of them don't. Click here to read more about e-cigarettes.
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