Alpha Life Style Center

Who are you Harming by Smoking? The Truth of Second Hand Smoke

If you are a non-smoker, I’m sure that you are not too happy about the impact that second hand smoke can have on your health.  If you are a smoker, you probably know that when you smoke everyone around you smokes too.  Scientists are now stating that people are being affected just by being near you or any object that could potentially have smoke residue on it.

Researchers have concluded that objects like carpet, upholstery, and clothes that smokers have contact with have smoke residue on them.  When this residue is mixed with the chemicals in the air it produces harmful toxins that are inhaled when we breathe.  Most adults would not ever notice the impact of breathing these toxins in, but it has been linked to causing forms of cancer.

Most adults, who smoke, are very cautious about smoking near children.  This is because we are all aware of the impact of second hand smoking.  With third hand smoking, just because you are in another room doesn’t make a difference.  The chemicals, including heavy metals, carcinogens and even radioactive materials, can get onto the hands of small children and be ingested.  Obviously anyone ingesting metal, carcinogens, or even radioactive materials is not going to be very healthy. 

Our bodies are aware of the dangers even if we are not.  The smell of cigarette smoke is very distinct and repulsive for a non-smoker.  The human brain is alerting you that you are too close to something that you should not be.  Think of it this way, it is as if cigarettes are like a skunk.  When a creature is too close to a skunk the skunk emits their pleasant odor to tell the approacher to back off.  Same goes for cigarette smell which should be a warning to anyone near them to not touch them.  Just like the skunk, the smoker does not know that they smell, so the stench will not bother them. 

Education on the topic is quickly becoming available and the public service announcements are starting to flow through all of our media channels,  including social networking sites and radio.  Smoking is something that should be a choice, but for the people around a smoker, it is not.

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Summer Vacation; A good time to Stop Smoking?

The kids are on summer break and your family has a couple of camping trips planned and a nice vacation out of town.  Thinking to yourself, you decide that now is the time to quit smoking.  Being away from home and out of your normal situation will make things easier right?  At the same time, vacations are a time for relaxing and doing what you enjoy and let’s face it, you smoke for a reason.  If you didn’t enjoy it you wouldn’t do it.

The fact of the matter is that smoking is an addiction and isn’t going to be easy to stop.  Not to mention the addiction to everything that is deadly to you there is also the habit that you have developed over the years of smoking.  Habits can be broken pretty easy and removing yourself from your current situation will help.  Doing different things that you wouldn’t normally do and establishing a different healthy habit will be very easy during vacation.

The hard part is going to be kicking the addiction of smoking.  Of course there are tons of methods to stop, but I stand behind the fastest method of quitting which is laser treatment.  Before going on vacation, if you get a treatment and then leave a few days later and completely change your surroundings, then when you get back and are refreshed it will be easy to not pick up another smoke. 

You will find that during your vacation you will miss so much less.  It is not just Michigan that bans smoking in bars and public places!  Over half of the states in the country have developed smoking regulations and some of them are pretty strict.  You will never miss a moment of conversation at the dinner table or when you head out for the evening.  It really is worthwhile to stop.

Regardless of what method you take to stop smoking doing it around vacation time is key!  Taking a few weeks off work and giving yourself plenty of time to relax and to get away from your normal situation will greatly benefit your endeavors.  Who would have thought that vacations really can change your life.  You will find that after quitting on your vacation you will have additional energy and will be much happier. When you go back to work your colleagues will be shocked at how rejuvenated you look!

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To Smoke or Not To Smoke May Not Be an Option in Public Anymore

Now that it has been a little over two months since the smoking ban in Michigan went into effect, what is happening to businesses?  It is no surprise that we have seen a significant difference when going out after work or on the weekends.  The Michigan Department of Community Health seems to be very happy about the ban for obvious reasons.  The number of calls into the states Quit Hotline is up 20 percent from previous months.

So with the health advocates very excited about the new air quality in public establishments, what is this doing to the business of bars and other businesses?  One Macomb County bar owner expresses their anger in the Michigan Messenger.  The owner of Kick Ass Sports Bar states that the impact is huge.  This Macomb County bar has suffered almost an 80 percent decrease in normal profits.  “The remaining non-smokers have not stepped up to fill the void.” Nick Kyprianides said.  These regulations are going nowhere and if current amendments on the table pass the laws may become even stricter and begin to include more businesses in Michigan.

When the legislation went into effect it excluded casino gaming floors and cigar bars.  Democratic state Senator, Ray Basham, is sponsoring an amendment to the legislation to include the gaming floors of Michigan casinos.  The U.S. Surgeon General stated that there is no safe amount of secondhand smoke and Basham completely agrees.  So how will this amendment impact the casinos?  Perhaps with the decreased amount of smoke in the establishment more people will adventure to them is possible but unlikely if you look at the issues Kyprianides is having. 

The profits of local establishments are in fact not disappearing, they are just coming from different areas that were not ever thought to be as successful.  The Kick Ass Sports Bar has suffered some losses, but profits from the kitchen at this establishment are up 25 percent.  With more and more locations becoming smoke free it is clear that this is going to improve the health of Michigan.  With more and more businesses offering additional benefits to employees who do not smoke or sponsoring employees who are trying to quit now is really the time.  The cost of smoking is just going to continue to increase and the amount of places that a person can smoke in is continuing to decrease.

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Fountain of Youth: Look Younger, Live Longer, Stop Smoking

So we all know that smoking is dangerous to your health.  It is the leading factor in lung cancer and a huge amount of other medical issues.  Smoking also impacts the way you look.  In the United states and all over the world people are obsessed with their appearance.  We can never be thin enough or if only our nose was a little smaller or our hair a little straighter.  The way we look, though many claim that they don’t care, is a huge part of American culture.

A few years ago, advertisements used to portray all the cool kids smoking and they pushed that smoking is what the in-crowd was doing.  Well in resent studies it has been proven that smoking impacts the way that you look.  Damage is done to the collagen in your skin.  Collagen is a group of naturally occurring proteins that are found primarily in flesh, and connective tissues.  The connective tissue portion of collagen is the main portion of flesh that is damaged.  What does that mean to your appearance?  Well, when you pull on your skin it snaps back unharmed.  When you do that after the collagen has been damaged your skin will still snap back, but not to where it was originally.

The skin of a smoker ages much faster than that of non-smokers which has part to do with the previously mentioned issue, but also because of a lack of vitamin C.  The chemicals that are in cigarettes cause the destruction of about 50mg of vitamin C.  A shortage of vitamin C will cause your skin to appear more wrinkled than if you had a healthy level of vitamin C in your skin.

So if you are not going to quit smoking because of the monetary cost that continues to increase or because of the health risks, perhaps you will for the sake of your appearance.  Staying young and healthy longer can be achieved by quitting smoking.

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Bad News for Michigan Smokers!

In the past few months, Michigan has seen a lot of changes.  From the clean air legislation that was recently put into action on May 1st, to once again raising taxes on tobacco products.  Some claim that it is in an effort to reduce the state deficit, while others say it is to discourage smokers from continuing their habit.  Whatever the case, quitting might be even more beneficial than you thought.

Just recently the federal government increased the tax on tobacco products to expand on low-income children’s health insurance.  The increase of 62 cents is added on top of the Michigan state tax on cigarettes.  That means the total amount in tax that is paid on one pack of cigarettes is $3.01.  Michigan state tax is one of the highest in the nation and is now being added on by federal taxes.  This is just another reason to stop smoking.  The taxes are not just on cigarettes but all tobacco products.  The largest increase will bring the cost of loose tobacco (roll your own) from about $20 a bag to almost $70.

Not only is smoking taking away massive amounts of money, but is also shaving years off the ends of millions of lives.  The statistics show that by smoking a person increases his or her expectancy of getting cancer by 83%.  So it is clear now why Michigan has incorporated high tobacco tax as well as the implementation of the Smoke Free Law.

Being able to safely quit smoking is something that gets brought up frequently.  The cravings and weight gain that many experience when quitting can be enough to hold you back from a new life.  Not to mention the thousands of dollars that you are pouring into the habit every year.

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As Seen on TV: The Impact of Media on Smoking

It is a common tactic of marketers to target a younger audience to establish brand awareness.  They do this so that children will grow up with their product and when they are old enough they will purchase their product.  A perfect example of this is Camel Cigarettes and their playful, cool mascot, Joe Camel.  These ads ran during programming that was intended for young audiences and now if you are a smoker, I’m sure that you remember Joe.

Targeting such a young market seems like a terrible thing, but Camel and other cigarette manufacturers were doing this up until the late 90’s.  Commercials and other advertisements are not the only place that we as a society are bombarded with the image of people smoking.  Over half of kids who start smoking before the age of 16 say that they saw it in movies.  We are all aware of the impact that smoking has on our health, so why is media exposing our youth to this?

Campaigns like TRUTH have made it their whole purpose to educate young Americans on the dangers of smoking.  Just like the tobacco companies were doing, organizations that are against smoking have also targeted children, which makes a huge impact on their parents.  When kids see ads about 5.4 million deaths a year from tobacco usage, it is making them confront their smoking parents.

In recent years the discovery of second hand smoking has also become an issue that is clearly portrayed in modern media.  The toddler sitting in their car seat telling the viewer that they smoke before going to day care pulls at all of our heart strings.  No one would allow their toddler to smoke at such a young age, or would they?  A video has swept the world through the social media stream recently that shows a 2-year-old smoking.  After viewing the images and videos of this little boy it has outraged a number of parents and understandably so.  On average, smokers die 15 years earlier than non-smokers.  Why would you want that for your child?

When we are not being attacked by an advertisement on TV or magazines, we still get hit with ads for smoking online.  The average American is online for about 8.5 hours a day.  It is no wonder that social media and other Internet venues have become some of the most popular places to get advertising space.  The power that media has on our culture in the United States is very high.  We have been trained to believe that you are “cool” if you smoke.  Or that smoking makes you appear more beautiful.  How far are we really willing to go to achieve this perceived social status?  Even if a smoker is not killed directly from the effects of smoking, they will probably have smoking related illnesses like bronchitis, emphysema, or some form of cancer.

Just as the media has skewed the view of cigarettes, they have also made it seem like a game to try multiple different methods to quit smoking.  Preying on the failure of the common person.  What the ads for the chewing gums, patches, and electric cigarettes don’t tell you is that on your own you will probably fail.  Yes, you will probably have the support of your family, but they are your family and have to support you in everything you do.  The commitment to stop smoking is one of the most important parts of smoking cessation.  If you do not want to stop, you probably won’t regardless of what treatments you try.  Having an additional support system is helpful for more successful quitting endeavors.  Not only that, but a complete lifestyle change including dietary change is also going to help.

The media is used as a method of making money for these large companies.  Is smoking really worth it?  Read more about methods of smoking cessation with Alpha Life Style Center.

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Alpha Life Style Center Sponsors “Relay For Life” Team

The Relay For Life is a 24-hour walk-a-thon to support the American Cancer Society. This year the Relay For Life-Birmingham is July12-13 from 10am-10am at Beverly Park.

We are relaying to support the American Cancer Society in our community, be a voice for individuals who are addicted to nicotine products, and raise awareness about alternatives for those individuals who are struggling with nicotine addiction.

At the American Cancer Society Relay For Life, our team will camp out overnight and take turns walking around the track to raise money and awareness to help the American Cancer Society save more lives from cancer.

Alpha Life Style Center is dedicated to helping individuals overcome nicotine addiction. Cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products contain highly addictive nicotine, and are the leading causes of lung, throat and mouth cancers.

Nicotine addiction is considered the MOST powerful addiction. Despite this, smokers are expected to overcome their addiction usually by themselves, without professional help, while resuming their daily routines and surrounded by other addicts! This completely contradicts traditional approaches to addiction and recovery (alcohol, heroin, pain pills).

Alpha Life Style Center recognizes the complexities of nicotine addiction and offers individuals who are struggling to “kick the habit” an alternative and comprehensive approach to nicotine addiction without pain, needles, drugs or side effects. Our program, unlike most approaches, addresses both the physical AND psychological components of addiction.

By joining or donating to our team, you will be a part of a life-changing event that gives everyone in the community a chance to celebrate the lives of people who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against a disease that takes too much.

p.s. $10 is the minimum online donation amount……and $10 DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Donate now and see how!

Go to www.relayforlife.org/birminghammi to donate.

Thank you for your support!

Team Alpha Life Style Center of Birmingham

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Alpha supports Children’s Leukemia Foundation at Dearborn Women’s Expo March 7th

Come join Alpha Life Style Center on Sunday, March 7th 10am-5pm for a great day of special events, discounted products and services, auctions, door prizes, games and information. Bring your gold for CASH on the spot. $3 entry fee, $1 OFF coupon at http://showforwomen.com/. Proceeds benefit the Children’s Leukemia Foundation of Michigan.

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Study shows dangers of third-hand smoke

http://health.yahoo.com/news/afp/healthustobacco_20100209102313.html

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True Story-Funny!

A recent customer at Alpha Life Style Center of Birmingham told me that when her son was 12 years old she caught him in the kitchen smoking one of her cigarettes. When questioned, her son replied that he wanted to know what it TASTED like. Mom reached for a cigarette, tore the filter off, and made her son EAT the cigarette-the whole thing! She informed me that he is now a 43 year old non-smoker:).

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