Tips to reduce cellulite and live healthier
Day 7 of our Christmas Countdown. Anyone else wonder where this week has gone?
Here’s Tip No. 7 – If you smoke…stop!
Cigarette smoke is extraordinarily toxic and results in the premature death of more than 50% of lifelong smokers. Smoking affects every aspect of our health, causing lung and heart disease, autoimmune diseases, eye disease, bone disease, reproductive disorders such as infertility and cancers that result in death.
There are very few people who don’t realise the significance of this, however there are still plenty of people who are in the throes of addiction, or turn to cigarettes in times of stress or even the odd ‘social’ situation.
So, if the ‘bigger picture’ isn’t utterly terrifying to you in a way that makes you want to seek out help you stop smoking, here’s a look at what smoking does to your looks. After all the idea of this countdown is to spur you along to make health changes that will support your Endermologie treatments and achieve your body goals. Of course these points are by no means the biggest motivator for many people (not should they be), but perhaps reading them might help you decide to kick the ‘habit’ once and for all?
Cigarettes / tobacco smoke contains thousands of substances that damage the skin. For example carbon monoxide is known to deplete the oxygen in your skin, resulting in damage to blood vessels and eventually tissue death (necrosis/ gangrene).
Then there’s nicotine, which also reduces your blood circulation, depleting it of vital nutrients, including vitamin C, which we need to protect and repair damaged skin. Nicotine also speeds up the breakdown of the collagen in your connective tissues (fascia), which causes it to lose elasticity and suppleness. Therefore, a smoker’s skin essentially ages more quickly than that of a non-smoker, leaving many smokers with dry, coarse skin, facial wrinkles – especially those tell-tale lines around the mouth, sagging skin, ‘bags’ and dark circles under the eyes, uneven skin tone – sometimes with a grey or yellow tinge and pigmentation.
Smokers are also more prone to skin disorders such as acne, delayed wound healing, increased risk of infections, psoriasis and other autoimmune and inflammatory skin conditions.
Although smoking isn’t usually associated with weight gain, we know that nicotine has complex effects on our hormones, and research suggests that although the short-term effect of smoking might decrease our appetite and increase our metabolic rate, the long-term changes seem to increase appetite and decrease our metabolism. Although it’s not known how exactly, many scientists believe that nicotine stimulates increased cortisol (“stress” hormone) which alters the balance between male and female sex hormones, leading to increased fat storage. A 2009 Dutch study confirmed that smokers had more visceral fat than non-smokers. Visceral fat means ‘deep’ fat that’s stored in the abdominal cavity which is wrapped around the major organs, including the liver, kidneys and pancreas. This visceral fat is a known factor in the increased the risk of diseases such as diabetes. This fat is generally much harder to get rid of than subcutaneous fat and usually looks like your archetypal ‘beer gut’.
So, if you want to stop smoking or know someone who should, here are a few suggestions to help you/them quit:
• Online/ telephone support: www.quit.org.au
• Ask your friends & family for support – the more people you tell you’re quitting, the harder it is to back down!
• Write down a list of all the reasons you want to quit and pop it where you’ll see it every day, at your desk, your bathroom mirror, the fridge door etc.
• Take up a new hobby or find something you enjoy doing as a distraction, e.g. try meditation, commit to going to the gym or go for a walk every morning. If you start the day out right, it’s easier to stay on track
• Avoid situations where you know you’re likely to be tempted – especially in the early days
• Consider hypnotherapy or other natural therapies such as acupuncture. Consult a naturopath for additional support
• Set yourself targets, e.g. take it day-by-day or week-by-week, or just missing the cigarette you usually smoke after lunch. Then celebrate each milestone.
• Talk to your GP about nicotine replacement
• If you fall off the wagon, hop right back on. Don’t dwell on the ‘failure’, just keep pushing through with the intention always being to quit for good.
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