Say no to smoking and alcohol

Public bans on smoking improve the overall health of people, a new study carried out in Scotland and published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed. The interesting thing is that researchers looked for signs that the person was a smoker, a non-smoker and started their research from there. Researchers found that after a ban smoking in enclosed public place was introduced in Scotland in March 2006, there was a 17 percent reduction in hospital admissions for acute coronary syndrome. There was a 14 percent reduction in admissions among smokers, a 19 percent reduction among former smokers, and a 21 percent reduction among people who’d never smoked, the US News and World Report noted. Nonsmokers saw a 20% reduction in their hospital admissions. Previous studies showed that banning smoking in public places reduced hospital admissions, but they didn’t take into considerations cathegories such as nonsmokers, smokers, or both. It looks like the home is now the most likely place to breat...

HOW DOES SMOKING AFFECT A PERSON'S HEALTH? Smoking affects a person's health in many serious ways, having both immediate and long term ill effects on your quality of life. It is a very serious addiction, caused by the drug nicotine. Once inhaled, nicotine from smoking reaches the brain almost immediately (within seven seconds). Milligram for milligram, the nicotine contained in all cigarette smoke is more potent than heroin. Whenever you light a cigarette, the nicotine in its tobacco causes an increase in your heart rate and blood pressure, and the air passages in your lungs constrict, making it more difficult for you to breathe. This is dangerous to even the healthiest person, and can be disastrous to anyone with a medical illness. As small blood vessels constrict, your skin temperature may also decrease, causing your fingers, toes and skin to feel cold. Smoking dulls more than your social appeal, it decreases your senses, particularly your sense of smell and taste ( that'...

There are over 62 million alcohol drinkers in India and the age of initiation is just 13.5 years, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said Tuesday. 'The age of initiation to alcohol has come down from 19 years in 1986 to 13.5 years in 2006,' Ramadoss said. 'In India alone, there are 62.5 million alcohol users and their numbers are increasing rapidly. It is documented that more than 50 percent of all drinkers in India come under the criterion for hazardous drinking,' he added, while speaking at the India-Brazil-South Africa health ministers' conference here. Reminding the delegates about the 58th World Health Assembly's warning on the harmful effects of drinking, the minister said: 'Drinking is among the foremost underlying causes of diseases, domestic violence against women and children, disability, social problems and pre-mature deaths'. To denounce drinking and create awareness about its ill effects, the minister proposed to observe World No Alcohol Day...

Apart from verification of credentials, just find out whether your potential life partner puffs or not, for a new study has revealed that being married to a smoker can significantly raise your risk of a stroke. Previous studies have indicated the dangers of stroke to smokers, but till now had not explored the high risk from passive smoking. Now a team at Harvard University has found that even if one does not smoke, tying the knot with a smoker increases the chance of suffering a heart stroke by upto 72 per cent, the report said. "These findings indicate that spousal smoking increases stroke risk among non-smokers and former smoker. "The health benefits of quitting smoking likely extend beyond individual smokers to affect their spouses, potentially multiplying the benefits of smoking," lead researcher Dr Maria Glymour wrote. The researchers came to the conclusion after analysing the records of more than 16,000 people in the US. They looked at people aged over 50, and thei...

This young lady in Oprah and what a loving, forgiving young woman she is ! An amazing story of what she has suffered and will bear rest of her life. It was just due one of our largely spread social negligence. Jacqueline partying with his friends The car in which Jacquillene travelled,she was hit by another car,that was driven by 17 year old male student on his way home after drinking couple of hard packs with his friends.this was in december 1999. After accident Jacquillene has needed over 40 operations. Jacquillene was caught in burning car and her body was heavily burnt during 45 seconds. During treatment with his father in 2000. Without her left eyelid Jacquillene needs eye drops to keep her vision. Now boy in 2004, he cannot forgive himself for driving drunk on that night,he is aware of Jacquillene's life.this changed his mind towards alcohol. Not everyone who gets hit with car dies, this picture was taken 5 years after accident and doctors are still working on Jacquillene ...

A new study in mice has provided an insight into why viral infections have more severe consequences in individuals exposed to cigarette smoke than in those not exposed to it.The study, conducted by researchers at Yale School of Medicine, also identified the mechanism by which viruses and cigarette smoke interact to increase lung inflammation and damage. Their experiments showed that the immune systems of mice exposed to cigarette smoke from as little as two cigarettes a day for two weeks overreacted when they were also exposed to a mimic of the flu virus. The mice's immune systems cleared the virus normally but the exaggerated inflammation caused increased levels of tissue damage. "The anti-viral responses in the cigarette smoke exposed mice were not only not defective, but were hyperactive," said Jack A. Elias, M.D., the Waldermar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Medicine and chair of internal medicine at Yale School of Medicine."These findings suggest that smokers do not...