We all know the easiest ways to self-destruct, and yet some of us blindly race to the finish line at the earliest time we could.

A lack of some things can kill. Obesity, diabetes, and cancer are only some of the serious problems caused by inadequate sleep or sleep that is less than 7 or 8 hours a night. Mental fatigue can kill. On the other hand, the degenerative brain disease called Alzheimer’s may be avoided by engaging in mental activities and exercises such as reading, doing crosswords, mind games, and solving puzzles. Snooze the brain and risk physical destruction.

A lot of some things can kill. Driving a lot is an example. In the US, for instance, ‘driving kills more people aged 1 to 35 than anything else, a statistic that could drop to near zero if everyone just stayed home.’ Everyone knows that excessive alcohol consumption kills. Drinking a lot can be deadly. Alcoholism causes liver damage, period. A lot of stress is also destructive. Being stressed out is a guaranteed path to all kinds of diseases that attack the body. ‘When you’re chronically stressed, the adrenal glands are forced to work overtime and eventually exhaust themselves, inhibiting the immune system.’

Some indulgences can also kill. We all know the deadly aftermath of smoking and eating junk food. They taste good or feel good that is why some of us indulge in them, but they are definitely not good. ‘Just one cigarette will immediately increase your blood pressure and decrease the circulation to your extremities.’ On the other hand, heart disease is the US’ number one killer, for example, and ‘most of it is due to fat-laden, sugar-heavy’ junk food. Indulgence in too much sex can also be a path to self-destruction especially if one ‘doesn’t use protection, ignores the partner’s sexual history and shuns the annual medical exam.’ The result is STDs. One of the most mindless indulgences is watching too much television that gives one a sedentary lifestyle resulting in obesity.

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Via Live Science

Just a little exercise has been proven to boost the ego. You don’t even have to get real serious. A study, featured in the September issue of the Journal of Health Psychology suggests, though, that the psychological benefits of working out are not related to actual fitness. However, ‘even modest exercise boosts self-image.’

There are relatively fewer researches into the psychological advantages of exercise such as reduction of depression or confidence in body image, as compared to the studies done on exercise’s physical benefits.

After reviewing ‘57 intervention studies on the topic of exercise and how it makes people feel,’ Heather Hausenblas of the University of Florida concludes that ‘the simple act of exercise and not fitness itself can convince you that you look better.’ According to her, “You would think that if you become more fit that you would experience greater improvements in terms of body image, but that’s not what we found. It may be that the requirements to receive the psychological benefits of exercise, including those relating to body image, differ substantially from the physical benefits.”

Hausenblas further adds, “Body dissatisfaction is a huge problem in our society and is related to all sorts of negative behavior including yo-yo dieting, smoking, taking steroids and undergoing cosmetic surgery. It affects men and women and all ages, starting with kids who are as young as five years old saying they don’t like how their bodies look. People who say they have high body dissatisfaction tend to exercise the least, so we wanted to take it a step further and see whether exercise causes people’s body image to improve.”

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Via Live Science

A person’s temperament can have impact on his or her physical health. According to Stephen Boyle of Duke University Medical Center, “The idea that behavior or personality traits can influence health is one that’s been around for a long time. We’re just now getting a handle on to what extent they do.” Fact is mental health affects physical health. There are deadly mental attitudes that impact a person’s state of bodily health.

Cynicism, the tendency to be suspicious and mistrustful of others, increases the risk of developing heart disease in a person. Hostile individuals tend to be under more stress, and this in turn ‘can cause spikes in an immune-system protein called C3 that has been linked with various diseases, including diabetes.’

A person who lacks a sense of purpose or meaning in life has his physical health in danger. On the other hand, purposeful and motivated individuals ‘readily derive meaning from and make sense of the events of their lives, and likely engage in behaviors and activities that they deem important.’

Fretful people who are constantly worried and anxious are said to be highly-neurotic, and are prone to depression. Also, they have most likely taken up the destructive habit of smoking.

Those who are more conscientious, organized, and self-disciplined live longer than those who lack self-control and are impulsive. Conscientious individuals are less likely to smoke, drink, or lead stressful lives.

Anxiety kills, literally. The risk of dementia was found to be 50 percent lower for calm people with mellow demeanor than with those who are frazzled and prone to distress. Dementia can be caused by Alzheimer’s disease and other illnesses.

People ‘suffering from peripheral arterial disease (plaque buildup in the arteries) with so-called type D, or distressed, personality, have increased odds of dying sooner than other people. Type-D people are more likely to experience negative emotions while at the same time hold in their feelings.’ These are the gloomy and inhibited people who always doom themselves to doom.

Highly-stressed people are ‘nearly twice as likely as others to develop type 2 diabetes, in which a person’s body becomes resistant to the sugar-regulating hormone called insulin.’ They are under severe mental strain.

Via Live Science

A recent study entitled Optimism, Cynical Hostility, and Incident Coronary Heart Disease and Mortality in the Women’s Health Initiative, published in the journal Circulation, argues that optimism as applied philosophy of life is a protective shield for women against heart disease and other disorders, even to the extent of reducing female mortality.

The research conducted through a sample of 97,253 postmenopausal women (89,259 white and 7994 black, aged between 50 and 79 years, free of cancer and cardiovascular disease), reveals that positive attitude reduces risk of coronary disorder among postmenopausal women.

The research team was headed by Hilary A. Tindle, a professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh in the US. The authors used two specialized questionnaires that determined the ‘life orientation’ with which the participants were faced with on a day to day basis.

According to Tindle, “This study represents a key step for future research in this area, both on how attitudes can affect health in the conduct of randomized controlled trials to examine whether attitudes can be modified to improve health.”

The findings reveal that optimistic women showed less proneness to diabetes and hypertension, cholesterol and depressive symptoms, and also showed a lower incidence of risk factors and behaviors such as smoking, sedentary lifestyle, or high body mass index.

The study proves the inverse relationship between optimism and coronary heart disease as risk of death.

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Via Circulation

Teenagers the world over have been bowled over by Disney’s High School Musical series and the movies have been making loads of dough for the producers. However, the people truly becoming famous in the process are the young actors, most especially Zac Efron.

Zac’s boy-next-door good looks have earned him a spot in the hearts of almost every teenage girl on the planet. In fact, Zac is even secretly adored by young men who pretend never to have heard his name. Giving great competition to actors like Robert Pattinson when it comes to looking cute, Zac has been in the news a whole lot and most of it has to do with his supposed on-going romance with High School Musical co-star, Vanessa Hudgeons. The latest rumour about Zac, though, is not about a new addition to his love life but something that’s more ’smoking hot’ than Vanessa; Zac has taken a desire to smoking.

The 20 year old actor doesn’t wish to send the wrong message to his young fans and is so paranoid about being caught smoking that he only revels in this pleasurable vice behind closed doors. Aah, but what’s the fun in being naughty in secret, Zac?!

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Via: PopCrunch

I have seen people who smoke and cough. I have also read many articles on the ill effects of smoking, particularly cancer. Based on medical literature that says smoking is bad for a person’s health, your smoking will eventually make you ill. But don’t take my word for it. I hope these medical facts will convince you to quit smoking. ‘Smoker’s cough’ is due to harmful chemicals present in cigarette smoke. Smoking weakens the immune system making the smoker prone to getting sick. Smoking has been scientifically proven to cause cancer.

The chemicals in cigarette smoke irritate the throat, air passages, and lungs. ‘Smoker’s cough’ happens when the parts of the body where the smoke passes try to protect themselves. Coughing is the body’s reflex action to clear the lungs and expel the irritants. The smoker coughs because the lungs clear away the harmful irritants and poison that stay in the lungs and air passages (Questions About Smoking, 2008). More smoke weakens the clearing action as the lungs become more prone to infection.

Smoking weakens the immune system right at the cellular level because tobacco smoke stimulates the formation of free radicals. Cigarette smoke is an externally generated source of free radicals that stick to normal and healthy cells and destroy them (SMOKING…….JUST THE FACTS, 2008). The presence of free radicals in cells, brought about by cigarette smoke, damages all cellular macromolecules including proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids. The destruction of these macromolecules weakens the immune system, making the smoker unable to fight off sicknesses.

Much information point to the relation of smoking to cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute (2004), “cigarette smoking causes 87 percent of lung cancer deaths and is responsible for most cancers of the larynx, oral cavity, and pharynx, esophagus, and bladder.” The fact sheet further adds that “tobacco smoke contains thousands of chemical agents, including over 60 substances that are known to cause cancer.” Lung cancer is the leading cancer death classification for both men and women. Cigarette smoke has been scientifically recorded to have caused 87 percent of lung cancer deaths.

A smoker eventually, and surely, gets sick because of the harmful effects of tobacco smoke. Smoking induces coughing known as ‘smoker’s cough.’ The harmful chemicals and poison found in cigarette smoke help produce free radicals that weaken the person’s immunity at the cellular level making him susceptible to illnesses. And, most importantly, I’m sure you have also heard by now that smoking leads to cancer. These can most possibly happen to you because you are a smoker. Medical literature are aplenty regarding these scientific research findings. I hope these facts convince you to quit smoking now. I know you are an avid and habitual smoker, and I cannot convince you myself without telling you these medical facts.

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Via QuitSmokingSupport

Countless tactics to scare smokers out of their nasty habit have been employed to all and sundry. Nothing seems to have worked significantly since smoking has not abated in the world, smoking being a physical and psychological addiction. This latest ploy in India to alarm smokers has not lessened the smoking phenomenon in the country one whit.

Six Inches Communication in Mumbai, in partnership with Courage India, a prominent NGO, has come out with a creative way to frighten smokers out of their lungs. Several units of the contraption, a cigarette lighter in the shape of smoker’s deteriorating lungs, have been attached to walls near roadside stores that vend cigarettes.

Small cigarette lighting coils jut out of either lung. The smoker presses the button to light up the cigarette at the coil. Over time, the lighter becomes black, thereby graphically showing smokers what cigarettes can do to the lungs.

While the public awareness campaign may be unique and creative, it takes more than scaring smokers to actually make them stop smoking. Cigarettes are ubiquitous, easily found and sold cheaply from even the smallest roadside store. As with all addictions, the demand is commensurate to supply. Only prohibitive costs of cigarette can slow down people on their smoking habit.

The best tactic is to raise the taxes of this ‘sin’ product to exorbitant heights so cigarettes stop being widely accessible. Of course, this all starts from the sheer political will of a government to implement. The tobacco lobby has been proven to be one of the strongest in the world.

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Via osocio

If you ask me which is the most difficult habit to quit, I would say smoking. It may start as a mild annoying habit and once you try to quit, you would not be able to as the urge only keeps nudging you to smoke more. Super Smoker is a unique company that has launched the Blue electronic cigarettes. These cigarettes only let out nicotine to give you effect and you would not be inhaling or breathing chemicals or tar.

You can choose from many flavours like the Zero, Light, Menthol and Regular and costs $139 for a start up package. Slowly, you may also be able to kick the annoying habit which I try to, but have never been able to.

I would say, get these electronic cigarettes instead of spending money on packs of cigarettes every other day and save your health too. You may even get back those lustrous lips you once had! And yes, you would not be troubling others and make them passive smokers.

Via: UberGizmo

According to a recent Million Women Study conducted by researchers of University of Oxford daily intake of even a small amount of alcohol can increase risks of cancer among women.

The study was conducted over a million women, making it a largest study ever. Apart from smoking and diet related factors such as obesity even regular intake of little alcohol has become a risk factor. So lifestyle change can truly be held accountable for increased cases of cancer. In UK alone there are some 7,000 cases of cancer every year.

There is a very little reason to negate this study. It was conducted over a period of seven years over largest group ever to identify risk factors of cancer among women. Though the risk of cancer among alcohol consumers is minimal 5% but it is nevertheless a factor. Moreover there are no markers either, so even minimal regular consumption could increase risk of breast, liver and rectal cancer. Hope similar studies are being conducted for men.

This may not come as good news for women who like to raise a toast every evening with or without reason.

Via Guardian

This public awareness campaign executed by EURO RSG FLAGSHIP for the THAI HEALTH PROMOTION FOUNDATION is a timely series of messages, especially in a country such as Thailand where the rate of tobacco smoking is very high.  Worldwide, second hand smoke is a major cause of children’s illness. However, 85 percent of adults who smoke and, at the same time, living with a child are unmindful that the child actually inhales their cigarette smoke. This gross irresponsibility has grave impact on children’s health. In this particualar visual, it clearly shows that if an adult smokes in the presence of a child, it is nothing short of letting the child smoke herself.

Second-hand smoke, sometimes called environmental tobacco smoke or ETS, contains 40 toxic substances that cause cancer. Some of these killer substances have stronger concentrations in second hand smoke than they do in the smoke that goes directly into smokers’ lungs. In children, ETS is linked to lower respiratory tract infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia, increased fluid in the middle ear, upper respiratory tract irritation, and reduced lung function. There is scientific truth in the popular notion that a non-smoker who finds himself near someone who is smoking a cigarette is more vulnerable to the harmful effects of tobacco than the smoker himself. This is more pronounced tenfold if the non-smoker happens to be a child.

Children have the greatest benefit in any anti-smoking campaign. Kids are affected more with the harmful effects of tobacco because they breathe more air relative to body weight. Their immune system is relatively weaker. They are also less able to refrain themselves from exposure. Even if an adult smokes only in one room, tobacco smoke permeates the whole house because most of these highly dangerous substances are invisible gas.

Via ADVERTOLOG