Whenever you smoke cigarettes, you are slowly destroying your health and your entire body. But, in these technologically advanced times, I know that you must be fully aware of this. More than 400,000 individuals die every year from using tobacco, so it is in your best interest to give up this habit. If you need some help, the following article will give you a few tips on how you can quit smoking.

As you can imagine, you won’t be capable of quitting this nasty practice of smoking instantly, regardless of how hard you are trying. The cravings for cigarette can be extremely strong, so the trick would be to avoid picking up one. Using nicotine patches and medicines can help you, yet whatever the steps you take it will require some time and a couple of false starts until you are moving towards quitting.

The most effective tips to quit smoking will be to gradually cut down and limit the amount that you smoke daily. For example, if you are currently smoking twenty cigarettes daily then you need to restrict yourself to about 18 or 15 over the next couple of weeks. As soon as you get accustomed to smoking this lesser amount, eliminate some more over the next weeks. Continue with this practice until you stop smoking all together.

A good way to make it through this phase is to substitute this habit with something different. The simple truth is, cigarette smoking isn’t just a nicotine dependency, but it’s an extremely powerful practice as well. Therefore, if you’re accustomed to smoking during your 10 am break from work, then you could eat some fruits or go walking instead.

In an effort to successfully quit smoking, you need to genuinely wish to do so. If you are prepared to go through this withdrawal process then you could make it happen. Just remember these simple tips on what you can to do in order to slowly stop smoking and you will be able to completely kick this habit.

By Colin Scott

Smoking is highly addictive and causes major health problems. Cigarette smoke is extremely harmful to the expectant mother and her unborn baby. However, a large percentage of women continue to smoke during pregnancy. Toxic chemical components, contained in cigarette smoke such as nicotine, carbon monoxide, and cadmium pass through the placenta and reach the fetus. Sometimes the concentration of those compounds is even greater than that in the maternal blood. Numerous scientific studies on the negative impacts of smoking during pregnancy state that regardless of the quantity of hazardous substances, the effects are always noxious.

Major risks of smoking during pregnancy include:

* Slow fetal growth – a high concentration of the deadly carbon monoxide reduces the oxygen supply to the fetus thus slowing its development. By causing the heart to beat faster and narrowing the blood vessels, nicotine reduces the amount of oxygen and nutrients to the baby. Cadmium blocks the action of the vital element zinc. Low levels of zinc are associated with developmental delays.
* Fetal malformations – some of the birth defects associated with smoking are heart defects, gastroschisis, limb defects, clubfoot, etc.
* Fetal death – perinatal mortality is significantly higher with smoking mothers.
* Mental retardation – nicotine intake during pregnancy may lead to delayed mental development of the child. It may cause learning problems, affecting memory and the IQ.
* Low birth-weight in babies – recent research suggests that the low weight of babies at birth is due to maternal smoking, rather than lack of sufficient food. The risk of giving birth to an underweight baby with smoking mothers increases between 3 and 4 times. The average weight of these babies is about 200g less than the weight of babies born to nonsmokers.

Other pregnancy complications due to smoking include placental problems and premature birth. Moreover, smoking doubles the woman’s risk of miscarriage.

Luckily, the harmful effects of smoking are reversible. Women who stop smoking even by the sixth month of pregnancy are likely to have normal babies with a similar birth weight to those of non-smokers.

By Brenna Fisher