health effects of cigarette smoking and tips to help you quit smoking

I've read chie's blog (bhem's friend) post about cigarettes...i'm not a cigarette addict...but I smoke occasionally…ahm so, I decided to make a blog entry about cigarettes, the health effects of cigarettes, and most importantly, tips to help you quit cigarette smoking…

Over 40,000 careful studies have proven that smoking causes disease and death. Every medical and health agency agrees. Every year, more deaths are caused by smoking-related diseases compared to AIDS, drug abuse, car accidents and murder combined.

Take a look at the facts about cigarette smoking and your lungs.

Cigarette Smoking: The Facts

· Cancer is the second leading cause of death and was among the first diseases causually linked to smoking.

· Smoking causes about 90% of lung cancer deaths in men and almost 80% of lung cancer deaths in women. The risk of dying from lung cancer is more than 23 times higher among men who smoke cigarettes, and about 13 times higher among women who smoke cigarettes compared with never smokers.

· Smoking causes cancers of the bladder, oral cavity, pharynx, larynx (voice box), esophagus, cervix, kidney, lung, pancreas, and stomach, and causes acute myeloid leukemia.

Women and Smoking: The Facts

• Lung cancer has now surpassed breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer deaths among women.
• Current female smokers aged 35 and older are more than 10 times as likely to die from emphysema or chronic bronchitis than nonsmoking females.
• Americans are starting to smoke at a younger age, especially young girls.
• Pregnant smokers have higher rates of miscarriage, stillbirths and babies who are born too soon. More of their babies die soon after birth from crib death than newborns of nonsmoking mothers.
• As more women start to smoke, their death rates from smoking-related lung diseases are fast approaching male smoking rates.

Men and Smoking: The Facts

• Cigarette smoking is the #1 cause of cancer death in men.
• Current male smokers over age 35 are almost 10 times more likely to die of lung disease and 22 times more likely to die from lung cancer than nonsmoking males.

Tips to Help You Stop Smoking

· Make a list of your reasons for quitting and say them often.

· Set a quit date and tell everyone you are going to quit.

· Keep a supply of healthy snacks handy.

· Increase your exercise. Walk more.

· Make specific plans for what you'll do when the urge hits. For example, take a deep breath, get up and walk around, call a friend for help, keep your hands busy. Remember the urge passes in just a few minutes whether you smoke or not.

· Remove all cigarettes, ashtrays, matches and lighters from your home, workplace and car.

life is really unfair...

while doing this post, i'm crying...I don't want to make a blog entry about my sadness...but I can’t help it…I’m suffering from this misery for two weeks now…after I’ve learned about our salary adjustment…

if there is one thing I want right now, it is to go home…to go back to the place where I used to be so happy…genuinely happy…in spite of the not so low salary, I find happiness…so now, I’m asking myself, “did I make the right decision?”

what have I done to deserve this? I’m working hard…I cried, yes I cried…twice…but I continued to work hard…I cry because that’s the easiest way for me to release my resentment…and now I’m crying again…

the pros and cons of drinking beer

because "beer" has been our constant buddy whenever me and my friends go out, today, I will blog about the pros and cons of drinking beer...

Sometimes even referred to as "liquid bread", beer is one of the oldest and one of most popular alcoholic beverages in the world. Brewer's yeast, one of the beer's main components, is known to be a rich source of nutrients and this means that beer may have some health benefits.

So, does this mean beer is a healthy drink? Checkout the pros and cons of beer drinking and come to a decision after.

Pros of Drinking Beer:

Ø Source of vitamins, minerals and flavonoids. Beer is rich in many vitamins of the B group and in such minerals as magnesium. Barley and hops used in the production of beer are rich in flavonoids, which have powerful antioxidant effects.

Ø Don't just believe us:

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has completed an extensive review of current scientific knowledge about the health effects of moderate alcohol consumption. It found that the lowest death rate from all causes occurs at the level of one to two drinks per day. That is, moderate drinkers have the greatest longevity.

Ø Aid against Coronary heart disease (CHD). There is a quite strong evidence that light-to-moderate alcohol consumption has cardio-protective properties. Many research studies demonstrate a lower coronary heart disease incidence among moderate beer drinkers. These moderate drinkers are at lower risk of CHD-related mortality than both heavy drinkers and abstainers. The vitamin B6 in beer also seems to prevent the alcohol-induced rise in blood homocysteine, a probable heart disease risk factor.

Ø Cholesterol. Moderate alcohol intake affects many processes in the body, one of which is the significant increase in HDL cholesterol - the good cholesterol. There is supporting evidence for beer's cardio-protective effect and for its help in altering the ratio of beneficial HDL cholesterol to the LDL cholesterol.

Ø Kidney stones. Beer consumption may reduce the risk of developing kidney stones. Finnish researches found that there was a 40% lower risk of kidney stones in beer drinkers.

Ø X-Rays radioprotection. Japan researchers found that beer helps reduce chromosomal damage from radiation exposure.

Cons of Drinking Beer.

Ø "Beer belly". Heavy beer drinking may promote abdominal obesity in men, so called "beer belly". Drinking beer in moderation will not cause obesity.

Ø Heartburn. Beer contains powerful stimulants of gastric acid secretion and may provoke gastroesophageal reflux and cause heartburn.

Ø "Alcohol consumption can increase the relaxation of the LES – the natural valve that keeps stomach acid in the stomach and out of the esophagus – allowing acid to reflux"

Ø Blood pressure. Daily beer consumption (approximately 40 g of alcohol) may increase blood pressure.

Ø Intoxication / Impairment. Even low amounts of alcohol can adversely effects attention and motor skills. In fact, many serious accidents are alcohol related. This obviously includes motor vehicles but can also include falling of your chair, down the stairs, out windows, etc.

Ø This can also include "Beer Muscles" which can make the drinker believe they can physically take on any person in the room. Often times, the drinker is sadly mistaken and winds up sprawled on the floor with severe injuries.

Ø Dehydration. Only 10% of what you drink is removed through urine and your liver needs water to get rid of the remaining 90%. To do so, the liver is forced to divert water from other organs including the brain, which causes the throbbing headaches. Drinking a glass of water in between beers will help.

Ø Hangover. Most of us know the pounding head, cotton mouth feeling attributed to a night of heavy drinking. For those that don't, here is a very good and thorough explanation. For those that don't heed this warning, here this is how you can get rid of your hangover

As you will notice, most of these only apply to heavy beer guzzlers. A heavy drinker is considered to be someone that has 2 or more drinks per day.

so, im a heavy drinker huh?!

to my detractor...

IP Address : 203.82.35.100 [ 203.82.35.100 ]
ISP : FiberCity
Organization : FiberCity
Location : PH PH, Philippines
City : Makati, 53 -
Latitude : 14°55'69" North
Longitude : 121°02'94" East

i am watching you...harhar

another blog entry because i'm underpaid...

because i'm feeling dizzy and can't concentrate on the file i'm working on, decided to browse my friend's blogs and saw this tag post from bhem's page...here it goes...

Cut and paste the following starting here.

I have randomly selected 5 of you below to be tagged and I hope that you will similarly publish this post in your blog. You will have to tag 5 other bloggers and just keep adding on to the list. (Do not replace, just keep on adding! Yes we hope it will be a long list!)It’s real easy! Tag others and see your Technorati Authority increase exponentially!

The benefits of Viral Linking:- One of the fastest ways to see your technorati authority explode!- Increase your Google PageRank fast- Attract large volume of new traffic to your site- Build your community- Make new friends!

The Strategist Notebook Link Addiction Ardour of the Heart When Life Becomes a Book The Malaysian Life Yogatta.comWhat goes under the sun Roshidan’s Cyber Station Sasha says Arts of Physics And the legend lives My View, My Life A Simple Life Juliana RW The Callalily Space Petra Summer in Blue Confessions of an Army Wife Bless’ Sanctuary Happy Life http://bless519.bravejournal.com/ La Place de Cherie Chez Francine Le bric a brac de Cherie Little Peanut, Pea in a Pod, The Creative In Me Me and Mine Pinay Mommy Expressions from the Heart TeacherJulie, Sweetbites by Bang Daily Dose of Nonsensical Thoughts, Phoebz Place, Inner Thoughts...Add your blog here

okay...to continue this meme, let me tag: Berlin, Amiel, Jam, Lyn, KR, Watz

my horoscope for 2008

PISCES

OVERVIEW: Pisces thrives through creative transportation and unique social experiences. There will be changes in the way you develop your inner-self, this year. Your ability to multitask will continue, as you become involved in more humanitarian projects. You have tremendous vitality and courage, and a healthy sense of who you are. You usually put your best foot forward, and are possessed by an innate charm and magnetism. You love being physically active, usually with others. You learn to take more responsibility by being diplomatic and tactful.

Your capacity for childlike wonder is a wonderful creative outlet. Sometimes, you may feel an unconscious pull toward an objective or goal that you do not fully understand. You also may be tempted to participate in many activities just to be involved for the social aspects of being around fun-loving people. Your task is to attempt to make conscious choices in these areas, and to become more aware of your true objectives based on your own values and goals, independent from the approval of others. Find happiness by connecting with your higher self, and by helping people to move closer together.

CAREER: You are very attracted by variety in your career and enjoy having a profession in the arts. You have a natural grace and compassion working with people, and they appreciate and respect your help and wisdom. Your creative imagination needs to be indulged when you take the time to meditate and recharge your emotional energy. You love expanding your consciousness and passionately desire to bring your higher ideals and visionary philosophy to mainstream.

Travel and the exploration of your utopian ideals help to bring your vision and work to the world. You have a great passion for using your dreams to reflect truths about reality and a natural ability to teach and share with others. This year will be about learning the best ways to direct this energy to help others. Your insight is grounded in reality and you create harmony in your work, mainly because of having the same purpose and visions as those you collaborate with.

For this reason, it is important that the people you surround yourself with share a collective vision and goal. By the end of the year, you may go through many internal changes in the course of pursuing your vision. You are a real powerhouse, and enjoy being your own boss.

LOVE: Having love, spiritually and security in your relationship is one of your most intimate goals. You are very sensitive to what others say and do. Your emotions and intuition help you translate your sensitivity into compassion through your mystical approach of uniting with another on a higher level. Draw from your intuitive abilities to make good and decisions in all areas of your life. You feel as if you have a high spiritual calling when it comes to marriage, and relationships in general.

Your sweet intensity, charm and attractiveness lure others to you. This is especially promising around the summer, when you become very interested in the possibility of settling down and having children. Emotional security is a big thing for you and throughout the year you experience many life lessons through your relationships. Your strong capacity for joy and giving deepens your relationships and creates loving harmony and balance.

Your urge to be devoted to your partner is strong, yet sometimes it's hard to learn to become more emotionally detached so you can rely on your inner strength during stormy times. It is important for you to have someone that appreciates your mystical wisdom and attitudes; otherwise, you become restless and overly sensitive. You are a naturally intuitive person and see things from a perspective that others may not. The challenges you may experience in your love partnership will mainly be around learning to integrate and balance your own growth and create more harmony in your relationship. You will deepen your connection as the year unfolds, and learn to take responsibility for your own feelings.

to tattoo or not to tattoo?

a sun and moon?

or a butterfly?

perhaps the main question is whether to have one or not…

here are some facts about tattoos.

Tattoos serve spiritual uses. It becomes a symbol of status, rank, religion, devotion, punishment, and other aspects of a particular culture. Nowadays, people get tattoos to decorate their bodies.

Tattoos are also used for cosmetic purposes. One of the most famous is the permanent makeup though tattooing. This is a procedure to enhance eyebrows, lips, eyes and even moles. In addition to this, more and more celebrities appear to have tattoos, i.e., Angelina Jolie, therefore making tattoos seem cool.

There has been an increase in the popularity of tattoos. Presently, tattooing has a growing number of artists with astounding body art skills and talents. But seeing what happened to the Grammy’s, body tattoos might actually ruin any chance at looking fabulously formal.

On the other hand, there is a negative side with having a tattoo. This is due to the fact that criminals and prisoners are known aficionados of the body art. Tattoos among women are also seen as slutty and cheap.

Perhaps the most valid reason why people in general still hesitate having tattoos is the fact that although it’s not impossible, tattoos are more or less permanent. The procedure is done with laser but it’s said that the pain of having a tattoo removed is, well…let’s just say that getting the tattoo was more bearable.

Another disadvantage of having a tattoo is its apparent disadvantage in job applications. Usually, employers and reputable businesses hesitate hiring a tattooed person.

Now, do you think I should get one? i'm serious...i'm really considering having a tattoo...

they are back...

yes, they are back - the Pagudpud people...and so? hehe...ahhmm, just wanted to let you know that they are back and they have to take their bath here at the office...haha...i know, there are lots of stories to tell and brag about their adventure but we have to work first...

ah, me? i'm with my friend cinky, last nyt...after sending off papa (as in my biological father) to the bus station, cinky and I went to Rob Place...had coffee at Starbucks and ahhmm...2 sticks of cigar...hehe...

bye for now...i'm just sneaking a post from the office...

saturday madness

spent the night with my friends @ abas bar in malate - our favorite place...while my officemates are enjoying their 2days adventure in Pagudpud, I also have to enjoy because I know, I will miss the fun being with them and the beach of course...oh btw, I wasn't able to join them because papa is here...he will be going home (masbate) tomorrow and I will have to be with him 'til then...but he's still in laguna right now for a seminar and so I was able to fed myself 3 bottles of beer last night and went home at 3AM...haha...

now, let me show you our pictures again...and ohhh, if you want to see more, checkout my multiply account...

camwhoring @ the office

because of my laziness, I haven't been able to update this page for 42 days, to be exact...sigh...there are a lot of stories to tell but I’m fuck*n lazy to write them all…and today actually, is another lazy day…a LAZY day at work, but obviously, not a LAZY day to make a post…hmmm…it’s been a month and a half from the time when I had my last post here…but don’t expect me to give details about what had happened to me during my absence here…let me just show you some pictures of ours here at the office during breaktime…enjoy!