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Why Can't You Stop Smoking, You asked???

Every time a person smokes tobacco, he or she inhales more than 4,800 different chemicals, in which 69 are carcinogens, including nicotine. Nicotine, an extremely addictive stimulant, increases the organic chemicals serotonin, dopamine, and nor-epinephrine in the brain. Tobacco is ingested  in various form, however, smoking cigarettes is the most common. 

Nicotine acts as a stimulant on the central nervous system increasing adrenaline production, raising the blood pressure and heart rate. It affects the overall metabolic rate, the body ability to regulate its temperature, the degree of tension in the muscle, and certain hormone levels. These and other metabolic changes create the pleasurable relaxing sensation for the user. The pleasurable sensation is just one of the factors that make tobacco so addictive. Another factor is the dose needed to achieve the desired effects of nicotine develop quickly. As a result, it encouraging you to increase the amount you smoke which then leads to the likelihood of addiction. Once your body becomes addicted to nicotine it depends on its presence. When trying to refrain from its use, withdrawal symptoms such as , irritability, frustration, anxiety. difficulty concentrating, restlessness, slowed heart rate, rise in blood pressure, and the craving for nicotine.

Once the smoking habit has been acquired, it is difficult to break. This is because smoking creates both physical and psychological dependency. By the time a smoker realizes they are addicted, they have already embedded the act of smoking into their mind that it is incorporated in all their daily activities that they couldn't imagine engaging in social & work related activities without a cigarette in hand. Smoking provides the conven​ient excuse to take momentary breaks such as  in times of stress, smoothing over awkward moments, and moments of anxiety. Many smokers are also aware of the withdrawals that come from quitting like weight gain, and decreased ability to concentrate which makes stopping that much harder.

         Even though it may be difficult to quit smoking, many people do it every day. There are 440,000 deaths due to cigarette s in the United States every year. This is far worse than the amount of deaths from drinking alcohol, illegal drugs, motor vehicle accidents, suicide, and homicide combined. Cigarette smoking causes. an estimated 30 percent of all cancer deaths, 20 percent of fatal heart attacks, and 73 percent of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. it also accounts fro 90 percent of lung cancer cases. Furthermore, it has been linked to other health concerns such as cataracts, respiratory ailments, chronic bronchitis, angina, heartburn, high blood pressure, emphysema, arteriosclerosis, diarrhea, impotence, peptic ulcers, urinary incontinence, and cancers of the mouth and throat. Tobacco smoking paralyzes the cilia (hairlike projections lining the nose in throat) which in turn increases the risk of catching colds as it reduces the capacity to clear passages for the virus carrying mucus to move out the body.

Nicotine is known as one of the most deadly toxins and if a single liquid drop is introduced into the blood stream it can be fatal. The normal nicotine dosage through smoking makes the heart pump faster and work hard, contributes to circulatory disorders, and hardens the arteries surrounding the heart. In addition to nicotine, cigarettes contain other ingredients that are extremely harmful for the body such as carbon monoxide which binds to hemoglobin, interfering with the transport of oxygen through out the body, benzene, cyanide which causes bronchitis by inflaming the lining of the bronchi, ammonia, nitrosamines, vinyl chloride, radioactive particles, and other well no irritants and carcinogens. These chemicals used over a long period of time, dramatically reduces blood flow to the brain. These chemicals also causes sexual dysfunction in men and women. Men smokers are likely to have abnormal penile blood pressure, which causes impotence. Female smokers tend to experience menopause earlier, facing the risk of osteoporosis after the menopause, and have a higher risk of developing cervical or uterine cancer. Smoking cigarettes can also lead to  serious complications during pregnancy and birth defects in infants. Lastly, smoking has increasingly became a social problem as many nonsmokers are becoming concerned about the effects of secondhand smoke on their own health. There is evidence that secondhand smoke can be far worse for nonsmokers than what the smoker breathes and is now prohibited in public buildings and work places.

The good news is that a smoking addiction can be overcome, and the health benefits begin almost immediately. Just 24 hrs after your last cigarette, your blood pressure and pulse typically returns back to normal, as should the levels of oxygen and carbon monoxide in your blood. Within a week, your risk of heart disease begins to decrease, your taste and smell sense begin to normalize, and breathing becomes easier. To jump start your health after quitting such a toxic habit, we recommend  detoxing  to help eliminate the harmful toxins introduced into your blood stream that could cause withdrawals symptoms. At Ebony Healing we create a detox that will effectively cleanse the bloodstream, desensitize respiratory tract cells, protect the liver from harmful toxin retained in the body from cigarettes, help to reduce the nervousness and anxiety that may accompany nicotine withdrawal, and help the body shed poisons quicker through perspiration.

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