Educating the Public on the Health Risks of Smoking

Smoking, we now know is a vile habit that offers no benefit to those who engage in the habit. Unfortunately the nicotine habit is a hard one to break and while we have made strides like banning smoking in office buildings and public places, a solution to ending the habit is an impossible dream for those who would like a release from this addiction.

While advertising the risks associated with the habit is a step in the right direction, much more has to be done if the habit is lessened or eradicated altogether.

Let’s look at some of the ways a smoker can reduce his chances of suffering from the diseases that come with the habit if he can’t stop smoking:

• Exercise. It applies equally to everyone. A sedentary lifestyle promotes ill health even if you’re not a smoker. But the smoker needs to get more exercise outdoors. Brisk walks and outdoor activity can help clear the lungs of the chemicals accumulated from a lifetime of smoking. There have been those who have lived into their nineties and were smokers. The only difference lay in their outdoor activity levels.

• Diet. Most food today lacks the essential nutrients the body needs to function normally. Both smokers and non-smokers alike need to replace their diet of highly processed foods with natural whole fiber as found in fresh fruits and vegetables.

• Stress Reduction. Stress has its uses. It provides a way to cope with emergencies. But in today’s world, the constant stresses of life take a large toll on health. For many smoking, drinking and drugs offers the chance to relax from hard times. Unfortunately, that pack a day habit is sure to shorten life. Learning to meditate and prayer provide better alternatives and can help to reduce the dependence on a cigarette.

• Environment pollution and the toxic environment. From our food to the air we breathe and the water we drink, pollutants are everywhere. You can reduce the load placed on your body by eating organic foods and getting on a regular detoxification program. Drinking pure water is one of the best ways to flush out those toxins.

What should be done to prevent people from getting into the habit in the first place?

• Manufacturing of cigarettes should be limited to existing smokers and denied to juveniles. A pharmacy, rather than the corner store, should only sell to an existing smoker who can have a prescription from a doctor who is helping him quit the habit.
• Educate the public on the dangers of smoking. Advertising should focus on the damaging effects of a lifetime of smoking. It should impress upon the mind the distastefulness of lighting up with vivid pictures, video and audio. One of the tenets of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) is to heavily impress the distastefulness of a habit on the mind to the point that it “turns away” from the habit in sheer disgust. Imagine lighting up a cigarette only to find worms crawling into your mouth and down your throat! If that image is made so powerful, the urge to smoke is averted. Our schools must do a better job in educating the youth from ever lighting up just to be in the “in” crowd.
• Counseling for the adult smoker. Focus should center on the reason the habit was formed. There are many reasons why someone begins to smoke, both psychological and physical. Counseling should be mandatory. The costs required to treat a cancer victim due to smoking puts a great burden on society. Since the current answer to cancer treatment is chemotherapy and radiation, there is little hope for a prolonged life for the smoker.

Smokers alone should not bear the health risks of their habit. Much can be accomplished if there is a willingness in every sector of society to address the problem from the manufacturer to the retailer and finally the smoker. Smoking needs to be addressed at home, at school and at work. All of us must bear some of the responsibility.

Mr Magica is the author of several articles he has published her and at Helium. You can read more of his work at: http://www.helium.com/users/210594

Denial of The Spirit Within

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We cannot deny the existence of the spirit that resides within all of us. Whether you want to call this spirit God, Allah, Vishnu or some other title, it exists. It doesn’t require belief.

It’s through that spirit that we are all connected. What happens to one will affect the others. Even the events of the world as they unfold have a ripple effect, like a stone splashed into water, those ripples extend through the lake. We are all linked together by this same spirit.To deny its existence does not make it go away.

The spirit works with us only if we follow the rules that govern the perfect functioning of the universe. There are many people who, despite their claim to belief, deny the spirit by their actions. They may try to live in accordance with their own concepts of greed and disharmony, but that way only leads them down the road to frustration and a feeling of emptyness. They accomplish nothing.

To compensate for their feelings they resort to violence as if they hope to rob others of the potential that they have removed from themselves by denying the spirit and the laws that govern the universe. Others accumulate vast riches, but this too does not fulfil the empty sould that cries out for peace, a sense of meaning.

Too many focus on the matters of this world, on themselves. If hope for a brighter future is all they want, their plates are empty. They yearn for the food at the buffet table. Yet even if they partake, that food does not nourish.

While you must satisfy the requirements of the body to keep it healthy, that is not enough. The body is a physical entity and needs physical substance to keep it alive. Feeding the body does not feed the spirit.

For life to exist there must be satisfaction in both the body and the mind/spirit. Riches and fame have their place and exist only to be used for the enhancement and joy toward others. For then there is a harmonious relationship between the body and mind/spirit. They must work together if we are to see enlightenment.

You cannot focus your attention to one area alone as you will suffer both in health of the body and mind.

To reach spiritual enlightenment does not mean that you must meditate like a monk on a high mountain. Meditation is important as it frees the mind of distractions. But you cannot isolate the spirit without the action that is necessary to reach the state of enlightenment. If you carry with you a spirit of understanding and compassion you will be far ahead of the masses who care only for their own comforts.