Reasons Why Heartbreak Can Really Damage Your Heart

                                              

Heartbreak comes in many forms and affects people in different ways. Being in love and being loved brings a lot of joy and happiness to your life, and when that love is taken away, it isn’t something most people can easily let go of. Whether you’re pining after a first love or feel broken after a divorce, heartbreak can have a significant impact on your mental and emotional health. But it can also cause physical pain and can even damage the health of your heart.

While heartbreak isn’t considered a true medical condition among most doctors, there are things people experience and react to when they’re heartbroken that can cause real physical problems. These ten reasons why heartbreak can really damage your heart will hopefully motivate you to turn to positive coping strategies and support systems after a breakup…

1. Added Stress

If you’re heartbroken, your stress level is likely to increase. You might experience confusion or demand answers from your ex that only add to the stress. It’s also common during the time after a breakup to take a good, long look at your life and where you’re going, and you may not be happy with what you find. These thoughts add stress, and if you come out of those thoughts with no answers or more sadness and disappointment, your stress is likely to multiply, putting a strain on your heart. It’s no coincidence that people in high-powered, stressful jobs have heart conditions. Stress damages the heart and it isn’t picky about where that stress comes from.

2. Poor Eating Habits

Binge eating may be a stereotypical response when you go through a bad breakup, but it isn’t just a stereotype – it happens to a lot of people. Being stressed out and upset can make you take your problems out on food by eating more and choosing unhealthy foods high in fat, sugar and sodium. You might turn to comfort food or make several trips to the corner store for your favorite candy or chocolate. But eating unhealthy like this can take a toll on your heart. It can increase your risk of hypertension, coronary artery disease, and high cholesterol, among other mild to serious heart complications.

3. Lack of Exercise

To make the breakup and binge eating even worse, people who are heartbroken often can’t gather the energy or motivation to exercise. But exercise is integral in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, including keeping your heart healthy. Cardiovascular workouts have a direct impact on preventing heart disease. And exercise can actually be a good outlet when dealing with heartbreak because of the positive feelings and concurrent rush of endorphins you get from a good workout. So exercising will not only help prevent damage to your heart while you deal with a breakup, but also provide a healthy way to reduce stress and get your emotions under control.

4. Increased Blood Pressure

The emotional stress you feel when you’re heartbroken can directly affect your blood pressure. Feeling emotions strongly – specifically, feeling extremely upset or angry – can raise your blood pressure from the increased adrenaline your body produces. High blood pressure can increase your risk of heart disease and heart attack, damage your arteries, and in some cases, result in an aneurysm. One of the main issues with high blood pressure is that it can build up slowly over time, and you may not know you have it or experience any of the symptoms until it’s severe. So do anything you can to reduce the emotional stress during a heartbreak to keep your blood pressure in check.

5. Depression

When advertisements say depression can physically hurt, it’s the truth. It’s also true that depression can severely impact all aspects of your life, from your career to your relationships with friends and family. The extreme emotions felt by those with depression and the difficulty coping can literally cause physical pain and increase the risk of other illnesses and health problems. And while a lot of people suffer from depression, what you might not know is that depression can put you at risk of developing heart disease. When you experience heartbreak, you could be at risk of becoming depressed, furthering your risk of damage to your heart.

6. False Heart Attacks

The emotional stress and overwhelming thoughts and feelings caused by a breakup can mimic a heart attack. The surge of adrenaline to the heart causes a similar sensation as when you’re having a heart attack, and as a result, the stress and other emotional trauma may be heightened. Many people who experience false heart attacks end up at the emergency room, only to find out that there’s nothing actually wrong with their heart – and the experience can be quite traumatic. The good thing is, these symptoms are usually short-term and don’t typically cause any lasting damage.

7. Increased Alcohol Consumption

Alcohol is often used as a way to numb the pain from heartbreak and it can be tempting to turn to the bottle when you’re stressed out and emotionally unstable. But alcohol is a terrible crutch for heartbreak for several reasons, one of which is that it’s a downer. Drugs and alcohol that are considered downers can end up amplifying your feelings of sadness, depression and anger, making you feel worse at the end of the day. Excessive alcohol also takes a toll on your heart – according to the Mayo Clinic, excessive drinking can result in an enlarged heart, increase your blood pressure, and cause other cardiovascular complications.

8. Panic Attacks

Panic attacks involve intense fear and cause many physical reactions, from heart palpitations and trouble breathing, to sweaty palms and dizziness. Quite simply, they can be terrifying and lead to a number of phobias that can worsen the attacks. Anyone with a panic disorder knows that one of the biggest fears is having a panic attack, and the stress of this often leads to more panic attacks. While they don’t necessarily cause heart damage, a panic attack combined with another illness can damage your heart and put you at risk of a heart attack or other cardiovascular disease. You may even feel like you’re having a heart attack during a panic attack.

9. Restricted Breathing

Hyperventilating or experiencing restricted breathing is common when you’re extremely upset. So many thoughts and intense feelings can race through your body during a breakup, and can eventually lead to trouble breathing if you aren’t able to find a positive coping mechanism. You may not have a clinical panic disorder or experience full blown panic attacks, but you can put stress on all of your muscles, including your heart, if you have prolonged episodes of trouble breathing. Similar to a panic attack, the stress from not knowing when or if you’re going to have another episode can cause other physical and mental problems, making it a vicious cycle.

10. Broken Heart Syndrome

Many health professionals do not believe in broken heart syndrome, but the possibility of heartbreak actually being a form of disease or illness has gained popularity over the years due to some compelling evidence. Many doctors would instead call it stress-induced cardiomyopathy, where the heart is unable to properly pump blood through the body. It’s a temporary condition that’s usually brought on during times of extreme stress, including during a breakup. Anyone under extreme emotional stress – even those who are otherwise healthy – could experience broken heart syndrome. According to the Mayo Clinic, it can cause chest pain and shortness of breath, but any negative effects usually reverse within a week.

All About Acne

                                             

Hardly anyone escapes their teen years without having at least some acne, and some people continue to have breakouts into adulthood.

We’ve all been there: the morning of a big date or important meeting, you look in the mirror to discover a major breakout. Whether it's just one pimple or a cluster, acne is one common problem that has several solutions.

What Is Acne?

Acne, or acne vulgaris, occurs when glands in the skin produce and secrete too much of the skin's natural oil, called sebum. Sebum clogs pores in the skin, resulting in a pimple — or, worse, several pimples. Bacteria in the sebum can cause inflammation and worsen the acne.

A pimple or acne breakout can pop up anywhere, but usually strikes the face. Other common areas for acne breakouts include the neck, shoulders, chest, and back.

Acne is a very common problem — actually, it's the most common skin condition affecting people across the globe. Majority of people live with acne, and most of them are in their teen or young adult years. Although anyone can get acne — boys, girls, men, and women — at any age or stage of life, it's most common in teens. About 85 percent of teenagers will eventually get acne.

Causes of Acne

Acne can be caused or exacerbated by a number of different things, including:

• Changes in hormone levels (such as during puberty or menstruation)
• Cosmetics or hair or skin products
• Having a family history of acne
• Some medications
• Something rubbing on the skin (like a hat or helmet)
• Vigorous scrubbing of the skin
• Stress

Acne Treatment and Prevention

There are several different acne treatment options, and which one is best for you depends on how severe your acne is. A good skin care regimen is often the first line of defence for mild acne or the occasional pimple — that means washing your face no more than twice a day (but always after sweating) with a gentle cleanser and lukewarm water.

Sometimes, more treatment is needed to keep skin healthy. To clear up or prevent an acne breakout, you can try:

• Over-the-counter medicated cleansers, lotions, creams, gels, face pads, and more Prescription -strength topical ointments, creams, lotions, and other acne treatments
• Oral prescription treatments, including antibiotics or oral contraceptives for women
• Isotretinoin (Sotret, Claravis, Amnesteem, Accutane, and others), a pill prescribed to manage very severe acne
• Injections of a corticosteroid
• Laser treatments, including blue light therapy, pulsed light and heat energy therapy and diode laser treatment.

If you have acne, you will probably have to treat it for for a long period of time — not just during an acne breakout. Work with a dermatologist to determine the most appropriate treatment for your acne, and how long you should follow the treatment regimen. It's important not to stop acne treatment before your doctor says it's okay — otherwise, you run the risk of having another acne breakout just when your skin starts to clear.

Without treatment, you may experience persistent acne breakouts and scarring of the skin, as well as anxiety and low self-esteem. Often, acne will clear up after you're out of the teen years, but even some adults struggle with acne and problem skin and need treatment for it.

You don't have to deal with persistent acne — nor should you. Try over-the-counter treatments and healthy habits to help clear up problem skin, or for more severe acne see a dermatologist for prescription-strength treatments.

8 Key Questions About Migraines

What Is a Migraine?

Migraine is a type of headache that is often localized in a certain area of the head and is sometimes accompanied by a pronounced sensitivity to light and sound. Other common migraine symptoms include nausea and vomiting. Migraines are usually gradual in onset, progressively more painful and then undergo a gradual resolution. When migraines are mild to moderate, they are usually described as being dull, deep and steady. When severe, migraines are throbbing or pulsating.

Some migraines are worsened by head motion, sneezing, straining or physical exertion. Since many patients also become sensitive to light and sound, some migraine sufferers will lie down in a darkened and quiet room to relieve symptoms.

More common in women than in men, migraine is a chronic condition, and migraine headaches may occur infrequently or as often as several times a week. Although migraines can begin at any time, the most common time is in the early morning. While migraines can begin during sleep, this is uncommon and must be evaluated to rule out other conditions.

The onset of migraine usually occurs between the ages of 5 and 35. It is treatable but not curable, and it is not considered a life-threatening condition, though rarely a severe migraine may cause a stroke. However, if the headaches are severe and frequent, migraine can have a debilitating impact on a person’s life.

What Are the Symptoms and Types of Migraine?

Depending on the symptoms, most migraine headaches are categorized as “migraine with aura” (previously called classic migraine) or “migraine without aura” (previously called common migraine).

Migraine with aura begins with certain neurologic symptoms, the most common of which are visual disturbances. The typical visual aura presents as a flickering jagged (or zigzag) line, usually at the side of the visual field. The next symptom in frequency is numbness and tingling of the lips, lower face and fingers of one hand. Some patients experience temporary paralysis on one side of the body. Auras rarely last longer than an hour and are followed by a headache 93 percent of the time.

Migraine without aura has been called common migraine because it has a greater incidence in the population (accounting for 80 percent of cases) and is not preceded by an aura. It may be preceded by mood changes, fatigue, mental fuzziness and fluid retention. In common migraine, the patient also may have diarrhea, increased urination, nausea and vomiting. The common migraine can persist three or four days, depending on treatment.

Either type of migraine may also be accompanied by nasal congestion, runny nose, tearing, and/or sinus pain or pressure. This has sometimes led to the mistaken diagnosis of “sinus headache.” True sinus headache is typically associated with an acute sinus infection, and symptoms often also include fever and thick mucous discharge.

Are There Different Forms of Migraine?

Besides the categories of migraine with or without aura, migraines also occur in other forms, such as:

Hemiplegic migraine: Marked by temporary paralysis on one side of the body (hemiplegia), impaired vision and vertigo

Ophthalmologic migraine: The pain of this rare type of headache is localized around the eye; the headache may be accompanied by a droopy eyelid and vision problems. It is now thought that this may not actually be migraine, but another neurologic condition entirely

Basilar artery migraine: Occurs mostly in adolescent and young women. It results from a spasm to the basilar artery, a major blood vessel at the base of the brain. Symptoms can include vertigo, impaired vision, poor motor coordination, difficulty speaking or hearing, and altered consciousness.

Benign exertional headache: A type of vascular headache triggered by physical exertion, such as running, bending and lifting, or even coughing or sneezing. This headache rarely lasts more than several minutes.

Status migrainosus: A rare, sustained and extremely severe type of migraine with pain and nausea so intense that the person may have to be hospitalized.

Headache-free migraine: A condition characterized by migraine symptoms, such as visual impairment, nausea, vomiting, constipation or diarrhea, but no headache.

How Do Other Types of Headaches Differ from Migraine?

Although other types of headaches share some symptoms with migraines, they also come with distinctive symptoms of their own. Other common headache types include:

Tension headache: Chronic headache that is associated with stress or fatigue; physical ailments such as arthritis; or psychological distress or depression. Tension headaches may be precipitated by poor posture, eyestrain, abnormalities of muscles or bones in the neck, misaligned teeth or jawbones, or unusual noise or light conditions.

A pattern of chronic tension headaches may set in between the ages of 20 and 40; women have a greater incidence of tension headache than men. Symptoms include muscle tightness in the head and neck, especially in the temple and forehead areas; pressure sometimes described as feeling like a band or vise around the head; and continuous but not throbbing pain.

Cluster headache: A type of vascular headache that sometimes occurs in a cluster of up to four separate attacks a day and has been associated with an increased level of histamine in the blood. Cluster headaches, which usually come on quite suddenly on one side of the head, are thought be the most severe and intense headaches. Patients describe excruciating, stabbing pain, often around one eye, as well as tearing from that eye and a runny nose on the affected side. These headaches can last less than an hour or for several hours or more, and they often stop as quickly as they started. The onset of cluster headaches is usually between the ages of 20 and 45 and may be linked to smoking and alcohol use; more men than women suffer from cluster headache.

What Are the Risk Factors for Migraine?

The propensity to get migraine headaches may be genetic. Research is underway to identify the genes involved in migraine headaches that run in families. Essentially, if members of your immediate family (mother, father and siblings) suffer from migraine, you are at risk too.

Migraine headaches may be precipitated by a variety of factors called “triggers”:

·         Hunger (missed meals)

·         Drinking alcohol (especially red wine)

·         Eating foods containing monosodium glutamate (MSG), or that are high in caffeine (coffee, tea, colas) or nitrates and nitrites (preserved meats), or contain tyramine (aged cheeses)

·         Menstruation or oral contraception use

·         Getting too little or too much sleep

·         Stress in your work and personal life

·         Factors in the environment, such as glaring lights, strong smells, weather changes or high altitude

Do Other Medical Conditions Increase Your Migraine Risk?

Though many people who have migraines also have co-existing health issues, it has not been established that having other conditions causes migraines. Nor has it been established that having migraines leads to other medical problems.

Two conditions found to exist in a high proportion of people who have migraines are depression and anxiety, though the reason for this is unclear. Doctors have also observed that in people who have cardiovascular disease, there is a slightly increased incidence of migraine. Also, many people who have conditions with nasal and sinus inflammation appear to have migraines as well.

Certain medical events may also put a person at risk for migraine, among them are trauma to the brain from head or neck injury, and infections or hemorrhages in the brain. In addition, certain medications can begin a headache pattern that can become migraine-like in nature.

How Is Migraine Diagnosed?

Migraine can generally be diagnosed from its clear-cut symptoms, which usually fall into a recognizable pattern. A patient with suspected migraine will be asked how often the headaches occur, where the pain is localized, how long the headaches last and related questions. The physician also will take a full medical history, including information about any past head injury, eye strain, sinus condition, and dental or jaw problems.

The physician may order exams and blood work to exclude other possible causes for the headache pain. It is usually not necessary to do X-ray or other scans of the brain. This would be recommended in certain situations such as unexplained onset at a later age, an unexplained finding on neurologic exam or features that are atypical for migraine. Patients with sudden onset of extremely severe headache must be immediately scanned to rule out the possibility of an aneurysm. Other signals for scanning are rapidly increasing frequency of headache or persistent headache unresponsive to treatment.

What Medications Are Used to Treat Migraine?

Migraine drugs fall generally into two categories. Those for acute migraine headaches are considered abortive treatments because they interrupt an attack or episode of migraine headache and are given once the symptoms of a migraine have appeared. The second category is preventive medications, which are taken regularly to keep headaches from occurring.

Your doctor will assess you and determine the best treatment for you.

WAYS TO REDUCE CHRISTMAS STRESS

                                 

The festive period is meant to be a time for getting together, enjoying each other’s company, exchanging presents and having a good time.  Unfortunately, this time of year can also be the most stressful for all manner of reasons. So, I would like to introduce you to my daily mantra “10 Commandments to Reduce Stress”.

This list was given to me by an ex-colleague when I used to work for an Older Person’s Mental Health Team. At the time I was suffering from pretty bad anxiety, which I have done now for last 2 years on and off. When I first I read through it, I thought: “Hmm, yeah right this is really gonna help me” but I decided to stick with it anyway. I placed a copy on my bathroom mirror, so I read it first thing in the morning whilst getting ready, and there is also a copy on the board in the kitchen.

After a short while I began to realise that this list did actually help me because it made me realise and wake up to how I was feeling. Now I read this list daily just as a reminder for me to think about me and how I feel.

Stress can affect us in a variety of different ways including nausea, constant butterflies, lack of sleep, weight-loss and not being able to think clearly. Sometimes you don’t even realise you’re stressed, as at times I didn’t, until something happens that you really can’t cope with.

Here are the “10 Commandments to Reduce Stress” . I hope this helps you as much as it has helped me.  

1. Thou shalt not be perfect or even try
2. Thou shalt not try to be all things to all people
3. Thou shalt leave undone things that ought to be done
4. Thou shalt not spread thyself too thin
5. Thou shalt learn to say “NO”
6. Thou shalt make time for thyself
7. Thou shalt learn to switch off and do nothing regularly
8. Thou shalt be boring, untidy and unattractive at times
9. Thou shalt not feel guilty
10. Thou shalt not be thine own enemy

If you feel like:

• there aren’t enough hours in the day
• you can’t think of what day it is
• you haven’t done anything that YOU want to do for ages
• you can’t see too far into the future

...then these commandments are for you.

What Is Appendicitis?

                                      

Appendicitis can be a life-threatening condition that requires immediate medical care.

Appendicitis is a painful medical condition in which the appendix becomes inflamed and filled with pus, a fluid made up of dead cells that often results from an infection.

Appendicitis is one of the leading causes of emergency abdominal operations.

The appendix is a small, finger-shaped pouch attached to your large intestine on the lower right side of your abdomen.

It's not entirely clear what role the appendix plays in the body, but some research suggests that it isn’t the useless organ it was once thought to be.

Though people can live perfectly normal lives without their appendix, inflammation of this abdominal organ can be a serious, life-threatening condition.

If not treated promptly, appendicitis may cause the appendix to burst, spreading an infection throughout the abdomen.

When people discuss appendicitis, they're typically referring to acute appendicitis, which is marked by a sharp abdominal pain that quickly spreads and worsens over a matter of hours.

In some cases, however, people may develop chronic appendicitis, which causes mild, recurrent abdominal pain that often subsides on its own — these patients usually don't realize they have appendicitis until an acute episode strikes.

Prevalence and Risk Factors for Appendicitis

Acute appendicitis now affects about 9 in 10,000 people each year in Africa (roughly 300,000 people annually) — this prevalence is higher than it was just 20 years ago, according to a 2012 report from the Journal of Surgical Research.

People of any age can get the condition, though appendicitis is most common among children and teenagers between 10 and 19 years old, according to the 2012 report.

It affects males more often than females, but scientists have yet to identify why this is the case.

Appendicitis is more common in Western societies, and may be more common in urban industrialized areas, compared with rural communities.

The typical "Western diet" that's low in fibre and high in carbohydrates is thought to be behind this pattern.

It also appears that having a family history of appendicitis increases the risk of getting the condition for both children and adults.

It is estimated that almost 400 people die in the Africa each year from appendicitis.

Causes of Appendicitis

It's not always clear what causes appendicitis, but the condition often arises from one of two issues: A gastrointestinal infection that has spread to the appendix, or an obstruction that blocks the opening of the appendix.

In the second case, there are several different sources of blockage. These include:

• Lymph tissue in the wall of the appendix that has become enlarged
• Hardened stool, parasites, or growths
• Irritation and ulcers in the gastrointestinal tract
• Abdominal injury or trauma
• Foreign objects, such as pins or bullets

When a person's appendix becomes infected or obstructed, bacteria inside the organ multiply rapidly. This bacterial takeover causes the appendix to become infected and swollen with pus.

Symptoms of Appendicitis

At the onset of appendicitis, people often feel an aching pain that begins around the belly button, and slowly creeps over to the lower right abdomen.

The pain sharpens over several hours, and can spike during movement, deep breaths, coughing, and sneezing. Other symptoms of appendicitis may follow, including:

• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Constipation or diarrhoea
• Inability to pass gas
• Loss of appetite
• Abdominal swelling
• Fever

Diagnosing Appendicitis

Because the symptoms of appendicitis are very similar to other conditions, including Crohn's disease, urinary tract infections (UTI), gynaecologic disorders, and gastritis, diagnosing appendicitis is no simple matter.

After learning about a patient's medical history and recent pattern of symptoms, doctors will use a number of tests to help them diagnose appendicitis.

They may:

• Conduct an abdominal exam to assess pain and detect inflammation
• Take a blood test to determine white blood cell counts, which could indicate an infection
• Order a urine test to rule out urinary tract infection and kidney stones
• Perform a bimanual (two-handed) gynecologic exam in women
• Use imaging tests, including computerized tomography (CT) scans, abdominal X-rays, ultrasounds, or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to confirm the appendicitis diagnosis or find other causes of abdominal pain

Treating Appendicitis

In rare cases, doctors will treat appendicitis with antibiotics, but the infection needs to be very mild.

Most often, appendicitis is considered a medical emergency, and doctors treat the condition with an appendectomy, the surgical removal of the appendix.

Surgeons will remove the appendix using one of two methods: open or laparoscopic surgery.

An open appendectomy requires a single incision in the appendix region (the lower right area of the abdomen).

During laparoscopic surgery, on the other hand, surgeons feed special surgical tools into several smaller incisions — this option is believed to have fewer complications and a shorter recovery time.

If a person's appendix isn't treated in time, it may burst and spread the infection throughout the abdomen, leading to a life-threatening condition called peritonitis, an infection of the peritoneum (the lining of the gut).

In other cases, abscesses may form on the burst appendix.

In both these cases, surgeons will usually drain the abdomen or abscess of pus and treat the infection with antibiotics before removing the appendix.

Boost Your Odds of Getting Pregnant

                                             

Some women get pregnant effortlessly; others spend months or even years trying to conceive. Why? Experts concede it's still largely a mystery. "We have hints—factors like when your mom went through menopause and how regular your cycles are—but they don't tell us everything," says Sarah Berga, MD, chair of ob-gyn and women's health at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. "So much of it depends on the individual."

That said, there are ways you and your partner could increase your chances of getting pregnant. Try these lifestyle tweaks.

Kick your soda addiction

Women who drink two or more servings of any type of soda a day have about a 16% lower fertility rate than women who don't drink any, according to a 2012 study co-authored by Lauren Wise, ScD.

Go to bed early

Research suggests that women undergoing IVF treatments see the best results when they regularly clock seven to eight hours of sleep a night.

Be a better brusher

Gum disease can add an extra two months to the amount of time it takes to become pregnant, 2011 Australian research shows. Make sure you get your teeth checked before trying to conceive.

Exercise, but not too much

Thin women who work out vigorously five hours a week or more are 42% less likely to get pregnant than those who don't exercise as strenuously, Wise's research suggests.

Don't let him turn into a couch potato

Guys who watch more than 20 hours of TV weekly have a 44% lower sperm count than those who watch almost none, a 2013 Harvard study showed.

Get a handle on chronic anxiety

"If your stress levels become high enough, you'll simply stop ovulating," Dr. Berga explains. Try maintaining a stress-free life style.

Try giving up gluten

A recent Columbia University study suggests that 6% of women with unexplained infertility have celiac disease. "They produce antibodies that may interfere with the development of the placenta," says study author Peter Green, MD. After subjects went on a gluten-free diet, they were able to conceive within a year.

Encourage him to lose weight

Men who are overweight or obese are more likely to have low total sperm counts and concentration, according to a study from 2013.

...And quit smoking

Lighting up leads to lower sperm quality, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, which is why it recommends quitting if trying to conceive.

...And move his phone

Men who store phones on their belts or in their pants pockets have lower sperm counts, according to a review published by the Environmental Working Group, possibly due to the electromagnetic waves they emit.

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What Do You Want to Know About Smoking Cessation?

                                     

You promised yourself you would quit when you graduated from college, or when you turned 30, or when you had your first child. You promised your family you would quit just as soon as you got settled at your new job, or found the right program, or retired. Every year, millions of people make a promise to themselves and to their families to quit cigarettes once and for all. And every year, millions succeed. You can be one of them.

The number of smoking-cessation aids and quit-smoking programs has grown dramatically in recent years as more and more people seek to quit through solutions tailored to them. Working with your doctor or a medical professional, you can find the right plan, using one method or a combination of methods.

Nicotine Replacement Therapy

Nicotine replacement therapies (NRTs)—such as patches, gums, and inhalers—deliver to your body the nicotine it is craving in a much safer form than cigarettes. Over time, you reduce the amount of nicotine you consume until you have hopefully curbed your cravings entirely.

Smoking-Cessation Medications

Prescription drugs like Chantix or Zyban alter chemicals in your brain in order to ease cravings and withdrawal symptoms. With some of these medications, you’re able to concurrently use nicotine replacement therapies like a patch or gum to ease severe withdrawal symptoms. Some even let you continue smoking at the beginning of the program.

Alternative Therapies

Procedures like hypnosis, acupuncture, and meditation can address some of the mental and physical habits you have developed around cigarettes. Some people who have quit use these therapies alone, while others use them in conjunction with medicines or nicotine replacements.

Support Therapies

These include counselling and stop-smoking groups. Many doctors and smoking-cessation specialists highly recommend them, in addition to chemical or low-nicotine methods, as an additional level of help.

If you smoke, you know the damage your habit is doing to your body—shorter life span, dramatic increase in cancer risks,  quicker ageing process. You probably know more than one lifetime smoker who lost a battle with lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, or heart disease.

You can probably recite the roadblocks one encounters when trying to kick the habit—relapse, weight gain, withdrawal. Each person’s journey is different. Each success brings with it a new difficulty, and each milestone you reach—one week without lighting up, one month, one year— brings untold joy to you and your family. In the end, the decision to quit should be yours, but the journey does not have to be taken alone.

Many people who want to quit do not know where to start, what to do, or who to turn to.