Guide to a better life - Step 1: Quit smoking

Everybody wants a good quality life.

Everybody wants to look good and feel good.

Everybody wants to admired and loved and be succesfull etc etc

How can we do it? How can we make it happen?

I have decided to take my previous post a bit further and discuss this procedure step by step.

STEP 1 -Quit smoking

Your health is the most valuable thing you have.

You have to take care of yourself and start respecting your body.

Treat it with a positive way and you will be amazed on the results.

First thing to do is QUIT SMOKING.

The benefits are multiple.

Below you may find a short list of benefits as found from the quit.com website

Within ...
20 minutes	Your blood pressure, pulse rate, and the temperature of your hands and feet will all return to normal.
8 hours	Remaining nicotine in your bloodstream will have fallen to 6.25% of normal peak daily levels, a 93.25% reduction.
12 hours	Your blood oxygen level will have increased to normal and carbon monoxide levels will have dropped to normal.
24 hours	Anxieties peak in intensity and within two weeks should return to near pre-cessation levels.
48 hours	Damaged nerve endings have started to regrow and your sense of smell and taste are beginning to return to normal. Cessation anger and irritability peaks.
72 hours	Your entire body will test 100% nicotine-free and over 90% of all nicotine metabolites (the chemicals it breaks down into) will now have passed from your body via your urine.  Symptoms of chemical withdrawal have peaked in intensity, including restlessness. The number of cue induced crave episodes experienced during any quitting day will peak for the "average" ex-user. Lung bronchial tubes leading to air sacs (alveoli) are beginning to relax in recovering smokers. Breathing is becoming easier and the lungs functional abilities are starting to increase.
5 - 8 days	The "average" ex-smoker will encounter an "average" of three cue induced crave episodes per day. Although we may not be "average" and although serious cessation time distortion can make minutes feel like hours, it is unlikely that any single episode will last longer than 3 minutes. Keep a clock handy and time them.
10 days	10 days - The "average ex-user is down to encountering less than two crave episodes per day, each less than 3 minutes.
10 days to 2 weeks	Recovery has likely progressed to the point where your addiction is no longer doing the talking. Blood circulation in our gums and teeth are now similar to that of a non-user.
2 to 4 weeks	Cessation related anger, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, impatience, insomnia, restlessness and depression have ended. If still experiencing any of these symptoms get seen and evaluated by your physician.
21 days	Brain acetylcholine receptor counts up-regulated in response to nicotine's presence have now down-regulated and receptor binding has returned to levels seen in the brains of non-smokers.
2 weeks to 3 months	Your heart attack risk has started to drop. Your lung function is beginning to improve.
3 weeks to 3 months	Your circulation has substantially improved. Walking has become easier. Your chronic cough, if any, has likely disappeared.
1 to 9 months	Any smoking related sinus congestion, fatigue or shortness of breath have decreased. Cilia have regrown in your lungs thereby increasing their ability to handle mucus, keep your lungs clean, and reduce infections. Your body's overall energy has increased.
1 year	Your excess risk of coronary heart disease, heart attack and stroke has dropped to less than half that of a smoker.
5 to 15 years	Your risk of stroke has declined to that of a non-smoker.
10 years	Your risk of being diagnosed with lung cancer is between 30% and 50% of that for a continuing smoker (2005 study). Risk of death from lung cancer has declined by almost half if you were an average smoker (one pack per day).  Your risk of pancreatic cancer has declined to that of a never-smoker (2011 study), while risk of cancer of the mouth, throat and esophagus has also declined.
13 years	Your risk of smoking induced tooth loss has declined to that of a never-smoker (2006 study).
15 years	Your risk of coronary heart disease is now that of a person who has never smoked.
20 years	Female excess risk of death from all smoking related causes, including lung disease and cancer, has now reduced to that of a never-smoker (2008 study).

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Additionally if we take under consideration the money factor, well... the numbers do all the talking.

Average price of a packet of cigarettes: 4 USD in the USA / 3.7 EUROS in Europe.

If you smoke one packet a day you have the following benefit:

4 x 365 = 1460 USD per year

or

3.7 x 365 = 1350 Euros per year

I can think of many things that can be done with that money instead of being thrown (or smoked?) away.

- Go on family vacation
- Have full annual health check-up (from head to toe... litteraly)
- Renew your wardrobe
- Renew your children's wardrobe
- Pay up the loan for a new car
- Have a mani-pedi every week
- Register at a good gym
- Fix your teeth
.................

The options are endless and it is really a pity to waste all that money

It is only a matter of making  your mind up.

And I am not talking on the safe side here since I was a smoker myself and decided one day that this was not what I needed in my life.

Instantly I quit smoking (even though I had an almost full packet in my purse) and started feeling and looking better ever since.

I did not gain weight because I did not try to replace one bad habbit (smoking) with another (over eating).

I am definitely not perfect nor a robot, but I made my mind and I won!

So can you!!