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Posts Tagged ‘Great American Smokeout’

Great American Smokeout is Thursday, November 19.

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The Great American Smokeout started in 1970 when Arthur P. Mullaney asked smokers in Randolph, Massachusetts to give up smoking for one day and donate the money they would have used to buy cigarettes to fund a high school scholarship.

Today, the American Cancer Society uses the third Thursday of November to encourage smokers to finally quit.

According to the American Cancer Society web site, there are still almost 42 million Americans who smoke cigarettes; 12.4 million cigar smokers; and 2.3 million who smoke tobacco in pipes.

Did you know that within just twenty minutes after you stop smoking, your heart rate and blood pressure drop?

Within two weeks to three months, your circulation and lung function improve.

And within a year, your risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker.

For more information on how your body changes after you quit smoking, go HERE.

We all know the harmful effects caused by smoking, but smoking is also, according to pharmacist and author Suzy Cohen, a “lifestyle drug mugger.”

Drug muggers (per Ms. Cohen’s book of the same name) are usually medications that rob your body of essential vitamins and nutrients. In this case, smoking is the culprit.

If you smoke, you are probably deficient in:

  • Vitamin C which is an anticancer vitamin found in oranges, lemons, and other citrus fruit.
  • Thiamine which, when deficient, can lead to cardiovascular, neurological, and neuromuscular problems.
  • Trace minerals (boron, magnesium, copper, manganese, phosphorous, selenium) which are needed to make healthy bones.
  • Vitamin A or beta-carotene which also can lead to cancer when in short supply in the body.

Besides taking the vitamins and minerals listed above, you should also take N-acetylcysteine (NAC) if you are a smoker. NAC helps to build up levels of glutathione, a powerful antioxidant that detoxifies our bodies.

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Stop in the pharmacy the entire month of November and enter our raffle to win your own copy of “Drug Muggers.”

There are two components that have to be addressed whenever someone stops smoking: the mental and the physical side to the addiction.

Things you can do to address the mental part of cigarette smoking include:

  • Support groups and counseling
  • Support from family and friends
  • Find something to keep your hands and mouth busy–they are used to holding a cigarette. Carry a sucker or chew gum/candy.

The physical portion of smoking is usually combatted using medications including:

There are many other methods, besides using prescription products or just going “cold turkey,” that can help people stop smoking. For a great article on those many methods go HERE. These include:

  • Hypnosis
  • Acupuncture
  • Meditation
  • Yoga
  • Electronic cigarettes

I remember that when I was a kid, my aunts and uncles and grandma always had a great interest in the Great American Smokeout. They would vow not to smoke on that one day and, finding the challenge very difficult, would either immediately begin smoking the next day or fail to stop smoking even on the day of the smokeout. My grandma always admonished me and my sister, as well as our cousins, to never, ever begin smoking as it was such a hard habit to break. None of us ever did.

After seeing my family’s struggles with cigarettes, and Joe’s mom and dad’s battles, I know how hard it is to stop smoking. But if you want to give it a try on this Great American Smokeout day, stop in the pharmacy and we can recommend Nicotine Replacement Therapy to help start the process. You may also need a prescription from your doctor to aid in controlling your cravings. And, finally, it helps if no one else in the family is smoking in your household. So get support from family and friends to quit together to make the process easier.

You will feel so much better if you take part in the Great American Smokeout and continue to break the habit even after this one day ends. Best wishes to you as you begin this healthy journey forward.

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