Mid-terms can be a high stress time for many students, perhaps contributing to increased tobacco use amongst those who smoke.  For those who are former smokers, this kind of stress can be a trigger point for returning to past habits. 

While relapse can be a reality when establishing any new healthier habit,  it should not be viewed as complete failure. It simply indicates a moment of “two steps forward, one step back” and provides the opportunity to recommit to your healthier habits. 

In a recent article, the Mayo Clinic shared a variety of suggestions on how to maintain your commitment to being smoke-free. These are as simple as being vigilant of situations that might trigger tobacco use to more concrete reminders of how costly smoking can be as a habit, with cigarette prices at $5 per pack. 

Read the full article here to find a few suggestions that could work for you. 

Wesleyan Resources: 

Health Services’ Smoking Cessation Resources

WesWELL Tobacco Education Resources

photo credit: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

The Lane Medical Library at Stanford University’s School of Medicine has compiled an extensive gallery of cigarette advertising over the years. Many of these ads date back to the 1950s and earlier. For an especially disturbing experience, look through the collection marked “Then and Now.” This will show you precisely how many ad concepts have never disappeared; they simply get rehashed in the name of nostalgia. 

Kicking the tobacco habit offers some benefits that you’ll notice right away and some that will develop over time. These rewards can improve your day-to-day life a great deal.

• your breath smells better
• stained teeth get whiter
• bad smelling clothes and hair go away
• your yellow fingers and fingernails disappear
• food tastes better
• your sense of smell returns to normal
• everyday activities no longer leave you out of breath (such as climbing stairs or light housework)

Cost

The prospect of better health is a major reason for quitting, but there are other reasons, too.

Smoking is expensive. It isn’t hard to figure out how much you spend on smoking: multiply how much money you spend on tobacco every day by 365 (days per year). The amount may surprise you. Now multiply that by the number of years you have been using tobacco and that amount will probably shock you.

Multiply the cost per year by 10 (for the next 10 years) and ask yourself what you would rather do with that much money.

And this doesn’t include other possible costs, such as higher costs for health and life insurance, and likely health care costs due to tobacco-related problems.

Social acceptance

Smoking is less socially acceptable now than it was in the past.

Almost all workplaces now have some type of smoking rules. Some employers even prefer to hire non-smokers. Studies show smoking employees cost businesses more because they are out sick more. Employees who are ill more often than others can raise an employer’s need for expensive short-term replacement workers. They can increase insurance costs both for other employees and for the employer, who often pays part of the workers’ insurance premiums. Smokers in a building also can increase the maintenance costs of keeping odors down, since residue from cigarette smoke clings to carpets, drapes, and other fabrics.

Landlords may choose not to rent to smokers since maintenance costs and insurance rates may rise when smokers live in buildings.

Friends may ask you not to smoke in their homes or cars.

Public buildings, concerts, and even sporting events are largely smoke-free. And more and more communities are restricting smoking in all public places, including restaurants and bars. Like it or not, finding a place to smoke can be a hassle.

Smokers may also find their prospects for dating or romantic involvement, including marriage, are largely limited to other smokers, who make up less than 20% of the adult population.

Health of others

Smoking not only harms your health but it hurts the health of those around you. Exposure to secondhand smoke (also called environmental tobacco smoke or passive smoking) includes exhaled smoke as well as smoke from burning cigarettes.

Studies have shown that secondhand smoke causes thousands of deaths each year from lung cancer and heart disease in healthy non-smokers.

If a mother smokes, there is a higher risk of her baby developing asthma in childhood, especially if she smoked while she was pregnant. Smoking is also linked to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and low-birth weight infants. Babies and children raised in a household where there is smoking have more ear infections, colds, bronchitis, and other lung and breathing problems than children from non-smoking families. Secondhand smoke can also cause eye irritation, headaches, nausea, and dizziness.

Wesleyan’s Health Services offers Tobacco Cessation support for campus community members. Contact Joyce Walter at 860.685.2656 or jwalter(at)wes for more information.

or view it here.

Wesleyan students…if you can create a better video than these guys, contact WesWELL!

Maybe that seems like something to worry about in the far-flung future, but new research indicates it may boil down to four simple things you can do that will prolong your life by an average of 14 years and improve your overall health in the meantime. The Mayo Clinic Health Letter reports on this research.

Does the bombardment of information on how to improve your health just leave you feeling confused? Try focusing on this straightforward advice:

1. Have no more than two alcoholic beverages a day.
2. Don’t smoke.
3. Get at least the equivalent of 30 minutes of moderate physical activity a day.
4. Eat five servings of fruit and vegetables a day.

According to a recent study published in the January 2008 edition of Public Library of Science Medicine, people who follow those steps live an average of 14 years longer than those who don’t. Mayo Clinic experts would further recommend that women of all ages — and men over 65 — have no more than one drink a day.

For the study, researchers interviewed and examined over 20,000 reasonably healthy men and women aged 45 to 79, living in Norfolk County, United Kingdom. Their health status was checked again after many years.

Researchers found that regardless of sex, social status — or even body weight — those who followed none of the recommendations listed above had four times the risk of dying over the course of a decade than did those who followed all of the recommendations. Not smoking offered the greatest benefits in terms of survival.

Discussion Question: If you knew you could live longer by doing these four things, would you? Or if you are already doing these things, does it help motivate you to maintain these choices? And what would you do with the extra time?

A new study finds that the use of water pipes may be on the rise among college students. Some believe that smoking tobacco this way is less dangerous than smoking cigarettes —which is not the case, the researchers say.

The study, which appears in the May issue of The Journal of Adolescent Health, looked at water-pipe use among students at Virginia Commonwealth University. It found that of more than 700 students surveyed, more than 40 percent reported having used a water pipe in the previous year.

The pipes, often called hookahs or shishas, are perhaps best known in the Middle East and are used to smoke flavored and sweetened tobacco. The tobacco is heated over charcoal, and then is cooled as it passes through a bowl of water and is inhaled from a hose.

Despite the belief of some students, water pipes may expose users to more toxic materials than cigarettes. Each puff has as much as 100 times the smoke as a puff from a cigarette, the study said. And smokers are also inhaling fumes from the charcoal.

“There is every reason to believe that this adds to the problem,” said the lead author of the study, Thomas Eissenberg.

Most of the smoking takes place in water-pipe cafes, and one reason they are becoming more popular, the study said, is that unlike bars, they are open to students.

Water-pipe users were most likely to be men, many of whom told the researchers they thought it made them look cool.

One in three popular songs contains explicit references to drug or alcohol use, according to a new report in The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. That means kids are receiving about 35 references to substance abuse for every hour of music they listen to, the authors determined.

A different  study by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, also cited in the NYT article, reports that the number of ATOD references changes with the music genre:

• Only 9% of pop songs 
• 14% for rock songs
• 20% for R&B and hip-hop songs
• 36% for country songs
• 77% for rap songs

There is little doubt that music can be influential in our moods, identity development and socialization. But do ATOD references in music have an impact in drinking, drugging or smoking behaviors?  Is it different for kids in junior high or high school vs. college students? Are other forms of media more or less influential? And what, if anything, should be done to address it?

What are your thoughts? Discuss this in the comments section below.

Let’s say you have a friend who wants to quit smoking and you’re wondering just what you can do to help. You can make a big difference and here are a few ideas how.

Be Understanding — Hardly any smoker says they’re ready to quit “first thing tomorrow.” In fact, there are actually several stages a smoker goes through. And in most cases there’s a lot of time between “getting used to the idea,” “getting ready to do it” and actually “getting serious.” Just let them know you care, whatever stage they’re in. But don’t nag or pressure them – it could backfire.

Be Proactive – Keep in mind that your friend is the one who needs to make the decision – but that doesn’t mean you can’t do a little homework. Scope out some of the cessation programs available on-line or on your campus. Do some research on quitting. Then, when the subject comes up, you’ll be ready, willing and able to lend a hand.

read full article…

A one-pack-a-day smoking habit can cost you the loss of at least two teeth every 10 years, reports the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD). Smokers are about twice as likely to lose their teeth than non-smokers, according to the results of two separate 30-year studies that investigated the relationship between smoking and tooth loss among males and females at Tufts University in Boston. 

In one study, 495 healthy men had their teeth examined every three years. The men were divided into three groups: those who never used tobacco products, those who continuously smoked and those who smoked at the beginning of the study but later quit.

Smokers lost an average of 2.9 teeth after 10 years of smoking one pack a day, while non-smokers lost an average of 1.3 teeth after 10 years. In men who quit, the tooth loss was 2.4 teeth after 10 years of smoking one pack a day, and this decreased to 1.7 lost teeth after they quit.  

“The good news is that the risk of tooth loss decreases after you quit smoking,” says AGD spokesdentist Fred Magaziner, DDS, MAGD. “But the bad news is that the risk of tooth loss was still higher among the quitters than among those who never smoked.” 

Another study at Tufts University, which looked at 583 healthy postmenopausal women, and found that female smokers were twice as likely to lose one or more teeth every 10 years than non-smokers, and that the risk of losing teeth decreases among women who quit smoking. 

“The bottom line is that smoking leads to periodontal (gum) disease, which leads to tooth loss,” says Dr. Magaziner. “Smoking causes a chain of events in the mouth that eventually leads to tooth loss. The chain starts with plaque build-up on teeth, which is linked to tartar build-up (an even harder, yuckier substance on the teeth), which can cause gingivitis. From there, you step up to periodontal disease, and the final destination is tooth loss.” 

The chain can be broken by brushing and flossing regularly and by stopping the use of tobacco. What a puff! 

If you start smoking at age 18 and smoke one pack a day, how many teeth will you lose by the time you are 35 years old? 

Answer: Between four and five teeth. The Academy of General Dentistry reports tooth loss due to smoking at the rate of 2.9 teeth every 10 years for men and 1.5 teeth every 10 years for women.

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