Goodbye Old Friend, Hope We Don’t Meet Again

“I said goodbye to an old friend a few weeks ago. We’ve known each other almost thirty years, ever since I started high school really.We were together on my first date, first kiss, and first trip overseas. We were hand in hand when I left home to go to university.

My friend was there when I started my first real grown-up job, has seen girlfriends come and go, and has been my solace when I had nobody to turn to.

We briefly parted ways from time to time but always managed to find each other. We laughed, we danced, we stressed and we wept together.

We shared our ups and downs. Some times we exercised together and every now and then we even bathed together. That’s a lot of togetherness.

In the past few months I have slowly wakened up to the fact that this friend of mine, who I thought had always been there for me, has slowly been poisoning me from the inside out. My friend has been blackening my lungs, stinking up my clothes and shortening my breath.

There is more to creating or destroying health than diet. If you are still smoking tobacco, or are concerned about a loved one who is then read on. Even if you are a non-smoker or x-smoker remembers the rule of polluted air – if you can smell it you are inhaling it.

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Freedom From Smoking, How To Quit Smoking?

Smoking cessation (colloquially quitting smoking) is the process of discontinuing the practice of inhaling a smoked substance. This article focuses exclusively on cessation of tobacco smoking; however, the methods described may apply to cessation of smoking other substances that can be difficult to stop using due to the development of strong physical substance dependence or psychological dependence (in more common parlance, addiction).

Smoking cessation can be achieved with or without assistance from healthcare professionals or the use of medications. Methods that have been found to be effective include interventions directed at or via health care providers and health care systems; medications including nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and varenicline; individual and group counselling; and Web-based or stand-alone and computer programs. Although stopping smoking can cause short-term side effects such as reversible weight gain, smoking cessation services and activities are cost-effective because of the positive health benefits.

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