Quit Smoking Help

Folk, or natural, methods to stop smoking have been growing in popularity in recent years, acting as a real alternative to more common practices such as the use of nicotine patches and tablets or the utilization of electronic cigarettes.
Here you could find out about some of the best folk remedies to give up smoking:

St John’s Wort

This herb is one of the most often employed natural cures to quit smoking. Initially used as an antidepressant, it has been proved to help smokers fight off their withdrawal symptoms. Studies have estimated that one in every three persons, subjected to a 3-month treatment with the herb, has permanently quit smoking. Not only it has a relatively good success rate, but St. John’s wort is also a much safer remedy to stop smoking than those which utilize pure nicotine (i.e. the ones mentioned in the intro).
Nonetheless, it is advisable that you consult a specialist before beginning a treatment with the herb, as it may interfere with other over-the-counter drugs you are taking. Also, pregnant or nursing women or people with bipolar disorder should refrain from using it.

Lobelia

This herb, also known as Indian tobacco, has been used as a nicotine substitute for years. Its main substance, lobeline, is known to reduce nicotine cravings and calm down the bouts of irritation in the smoker.
However, high doses of the lobelia herb may cause vomiting, rapid heartbeat, convulsions or other adverse reactions. Therefore, you ought to consult a qualified health practitioner before you start a program with it.

Alkaline Foods

Eating foods with high level of alkalinity may help you give up smoking by changing the preference of your taste buds. Boiled oats, for example, have been used in India for centuries to treat various addictions. Apart from cooked wild oats, you may also want to try a diet with other alkaline foods such as spinach, raisins, figs, almonds, and beet greens.

Salt

As some ex-smokers testify, licking a bit of salt every time you feel like lighting a cigarette can help you break your habit within a month.

When you smoke, you harm not only your own health, but also that of the people you live with, who are forced to inhale the smoke of your cigarettes. Such inhalation is called passive or secondhand smoking and may have serious consequences for your loved ones. Here are some of the diseases passive smoking may cause or speed up:

Cancer

This is the most serious disease that secondhand smoking can lead to. Studies have shown that the relative risk of lung cancer increases significantly if a person lives on a day-to-day basis with a heavy smoker.
Passive smoking may also be contributive to breast cancer. Thus, the California Environmental Protection Agency found out in 2005 that the exposure to passive smoke of younger women increased the risk of breast cancer by 70%. This statistic should be a warning to you if you have a teenage daughter in your family.

Asthma

Involuntary smoking may also lead to various lung diseases, most notably, to asthma. A study on more than 700 people, conducted in 2001 by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, discovered that individuals whose partners smoke are exposed to almost five times higher risk of developing asthma in their adulthood than the ones who are smoke-free and also that “those who are exposed to second hand smoke at work are more than twice as likely to develop respiratory problems”.  But even without such scientific verdict, one can easily see the damage smoking does to the respiratory system: just listen to an inveterate smoker breathe or cough, and you will immediately realize that smoking poses real dangers.

Cognitive Impairment

A quite recent research, published in the British Medical Journal in February 2009, has reached the definite conclusion that long-term exposure to secondhand smoke may increase the risk of cognitive disorders and dementia in people, aged 50 or more.

Various Children’s Diseases

The people we love the most, our children, are the greatest victims of passive smoking. Among the many diseases careless parents may inflict on their boys and girls are: brain tumor, lung infections, tuberculosis, tooth decay, bronchiolitis, developmental delays, and even, when it comes to infants, sudden death.
Having said all this, we hope that you will want to reconsider your obstinacy to continue smoking.