How to minimize the risks for cancer? 2. No tobacco products…

The uncontrolled growth of cells in any part of the body is cancer. It is a group of disease. Cancer kills millions of people every year in our world. Few can be curable if diagnosed in the early stages. We can do a lot to minimize the risk of cancer. The hereditary risk factor is only about 5% to 10%. The rest comes from our lifestyle, diet and environment. We see here the many ways to reduce the cancer risks.

Cigarette smoke contains over 4000 chemicals and metals. Out of this 43 are known cancer-causing and 400 are other toxins. These include:

• Nicotine
• Tar
• Carbon monoxide
• Formaldehyde
• Ammonia
• Hydrogen cyanide
• Acrolein
• Arsenic
• Cadmium
• Radioactive lead and polonium
• Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
• Nitrosamines
• Pesticides such as DDT and its metabolites

Nicotine is highly addictive. Nicotine from the smoke needs only few seconds to go through the lungs to reach the brain. It is a stimulant to the brain in small doses, but in high doses it is a depressant.

From the chewing tobacco more nicotine reaches the blood and thus to the brain. All tobacco products including cigars or snuff are not safe.

Apart from lung cancer smoking is known to be a risk factor for many cancers and they include:

• Lung

• Larynx
• Oral cavity including lips
• Throat
• Esophagus
• Stomach
• Pancreas
• Cervix
• Kidney
• Bladder
• Acute myeloid leukemia

90% of the lung cancer is caused by smoking. Men and women are equally affected. There are many other health problems coming from smoking and the use of other tobacco products. They include:

• Women’s reproductive health is affected
• Can affect embryo
• Reduced fertility
• Miscarriage
• Premature birth
• Stillbirth
• Can make asthma and pneumonia worse
• Excess production of free radicals and thus many organs can be affected
• Heart attack
• Stroke
• Bronchitis
• Aneurysms, bulging or ballooning of the arteries
• Emphysema, causes shortness of breath
• Causes poor blood flow in the legs and arms.

Passive smoking or secondhand smoking is worse than smoking. Never allow others to smoke inside your home or where children or non-smokers are there.

Pregnant woman or breastfeeding mothers should not smoke or use any tobacco products.

Go and consult your doctor and there are many ways to quit smoking or the use of tobacco products.

If you stop smoking the body needs 10 years to recover completely. Stop smoking immediately and improve your quality of life.

What are the reasons for grey hair?

Grey hair is a part of human aging process. There are many different factors which play a role in greying hair. Few get grey hair when they are young. Grey hair will not make us wise, but with increasing age it is possible. There is no connection to grey hair and wisdom.

What can we do against getting grey hair? We cannot do much because the primary cause is mostly genetics. But there are ways to stop or slow down greying.

Stress is an important factor to cause premature grey hair. We are extremely busy all the time. Stress starts from kindergarten and ends when we die. We have extreme stress in the school, college, office and family. The stress a woman or man gets when she/he sees her/his first grey hair is great. Many play mad and many spend a fortune to avoid further greying.

There are other factors to avoid premature grey hair and they include:

·        Avoid all sorts of stress

·        Have healthy diet

·        Have enough, regular sleep

·        Good lifestyle

·        Avoid smoking

·        Avoid party and other illegal drugs

·        Avoid excess alcohol

·        Enough physical activity

As you see it is in your hands to avoid premature grey hair.

In our society looking young is valued much. What to do if there is grey hair? Do not spend money in wonder creams or lotions and nothing will help. The best way is to dye your hair and this could be done always without any problem.  Be careful with the dyes and check before whether you have allergy with the chemicals there.  At any cost never keep the on your head than the given time for that dye. Wash generously many times with water till the dye is completely removed. Otherwise also there will be the chance for the allergy.

Grey hair is a part of our life. If you are mentally mature it will not disturb you at all.

I’m 18 years old female. You preach so many things. Are you a smoker?

I never preach anything. I try to give you the right information and facts and it is you who has to decide what you want to do. I am not at all afraid to give particulars about me if asked in a polite way.

Yes, I have smoked for a long time although as a chemist or clinical toxicologist I knew all the dangers of smoking. But, I’m also a human being with strengths and weakness. Fortunately I could stop now and then for few months and I started always once again.

Smoking has affected my health when I was 56 years old. So I told it is over and after that I have not smoked even a single cigarette. Now, I’m a non-smoker more than six years.

My information is not simply theories. It is based on my experience as well as the experience of the many persons.

Smoking and passive smoking is bad to your health. It is scientifically and medically proved completely.

Tell me now, are you a smoker? Stop smoking and there are many wonderful things in our world to enjoy.

I’m 24 years old, male and have high BP (190/109), high sugar (170 mg/dl) and overweight. I am unmarried. Do these make problems in my married life?

At first go to your doctor and check the blood pressure and blood sugar. He must check also HBA1c to check the long term sugar level. If he gives medicines you must take them regularly. It is better to control creatinine, cholesterol, LDL and HDL cholesterol, triglycerides and homocysteine in your blood.

High blood pressure, diabetes and overweight are risk factors for heart attack and stroke.

Except this question I have no information from you and so I could give you only general advises. You must reduce your weight. Normal weight is, your weight in cm – 100 = Kilos. Reduce the amount of meat and meat products. Twice in a week fish is good. Eat more fresh vegetables and fruits and reduce the intake of carbohydrates.

Change your lifestyle. Avoid smoking, alcohol and stress. Daily go for a quick walk or better to a fitness studio for thrice in a week.

Diabetes and the drugs for high blood pressure and high sugar can affect your sexual life. They can cause erection problems. Consult with your doctor.

What will happen if I quit taking caffeine suddenly?

It is applicable to persons who drink strong and much coffee. If you quit suddenly the possibility of getting caffeine-withdrawal headaches and other symptoms is there.

These symptoms include:

• Nausea
• Fatigue
• Muscle pain
• Mild depression

These symptoms may start within twelve to twenty four hours and may continue for a week. If you are a heavy coffee consumer, wants to stop it, it is better to consult your doctor. Otherwise, the symptoms can be interpreted wrongly and you may get unnecessary medicines which, in turn, bring more problems.

Frequent coffee drinkers usually get morning headache and after the morning coffee the headache disappears, the reason could be the caffeine withdrawal for several hours in the night. But, this is a devils circle which requires more intake of coffee.

It is possible to get caffeine-withdrawal headache if you consume more cups of coffee at your office and consume less in weekends and holidays. You must think about everything always because these small, but mostly unknown dangers are waiting for you.

What is the safe way to reduce or withdraw caffeine? Every few days cut a cup of coffee until you feel comfortable or you can mix regular coffee with decaffeinated coffee to reduce the amount of caffeine. It is very important to cut back of your other caffeine sources like colas and other caffeinated soft drinks.

If you are a smoker, the strategy is entirely different because nicotine lowers the half life of caffeine in our blood and smokers excrete caffeine more quickly from the body than non- smokers.

If you stop smoking, you must also reduce the amount of caffeine in your blood by drinking less coffee. More caffeine in the blood brings only jitters.

How to prevent sinus infection? Part IV

Prevention is better than cure and this is right in case of sinus infection also. As you see there are connections between the things you never think of.

The preventive measures include:

• Proper hygiene
• Treating allergies and colds always
• Increase your water intake
• Eat lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, but avoid citrus fruits
• Minimize the consumption of milk products
• Reduce all sorts of stress
• Moisture in the rooms of the home
• Clean air filters
• Avoid pollution of your home and environment
• Avoid smoking and passive smoking
• Avoid excess alcohol
• Be careful with air travel
• Avoid swimming
• Diving is a risk
• Visit steam bath or take hot shower and breath the steam
• Avoid sudden change in temperature
• Influenza vaccine is good
• Have a good and healthy lifestyle

As you see there are so many things in your hands to prevent sinus infections or to keep the symptoms mild.

I am a chain smoker. What is the connection between smoking and heart disease?

Smoking plays an important role in heart disease deaths. It is about 30% in USA and may be more in the poor and developing countries.

The adverse effects of nicotine include:

• Decreased oxygen in the blood, this less to the heart
• Too much of carbon monoxide
• High blood pressure
• Increased heart rate
• Blood clotting risk is increased
• Trigger of atherosclerosis, thus heart disease

Do not forget the cancer risk from tobacco. There are no healthy tobacco products.

I am 41 year old woman. What are the risks for heart disease?

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in women over 40 years old. After menopause this risk increases dramatically..

In recent years there many heart attacks in younger women over 30 years are also reported. Early menopause is a risk factor in young women.

The common risk factors include:

• Early menopause
• Diabetes
• High LDL-cholesterol
• High blood pressure
• Smoking
• Excess alcohol
• Obesity
• Family history of heart disease
• Less or no physical activity

Several things are in your hands to change. Healthy food and enough physical activity can do a lot for your heart health.

I want to stop smoking. Could you give me tips?

The adverse effects from smoking include:

• Various Cancers
• Heart attack
• Stroke
• Passive smoking is a risk factor for others including pregnant and children

Smoking is an addiction and you must have the will to stop it and you must believe that also. The best way is to stop it immediately. If you want to reduce it slowly it is difficult to stop. Every individual is different. If you cannot stop it immediately it is better to try to stop it gradually. It is never late stop smoking.

Once you quit smoking, the health benefits could be felt by you immediately, within 24 hours, which could motivate you to be free from smoking.

Many million people want to stop smoking in our world, but 2% to 3% only quit successfully for 3 to 12 months. If we think about stop smoking scientifically, at first, we must know all the adverse effects of smoking. The decision to stop smoking is the next step. You must always remember there are no safe tobacco products.

The tips to stop smoking include:

• Set a stress free date for stopping
• Find a partner who may be a friend, relative or colleague for motivation and support
• Inform all so that nobody offers you a cigarette
• Make a plan for deep breathing exercise or other physical activities; consult with your doctor. Exercises give you more energy and help to reduce stress
• Healthy food and consult with your doctor or dietician about the possible weight gain also
• Avoid the triggers to smoke. They are stress, after a meal, after a coffee or after a drink. You must decide how you deal with the triggers.
• Very dangerous are the cravings which can last for 3 to 5 minutes. Deep breathing, a walk, your music or a telephone call to somebody can help to overcome the cravings. If possible avoid chips, other snacks and chocolates or take in small quantities.
• Everyday be proud of you and this gives you positive energy to master this.
• You must be in a position to manage the nicotine withdrawal symptoms. There are few helps for that – nicotine nasal sprays, nicotine inhalers, nicotine patches and nicotine gum.

Other therapy forms like psychological therapy may also be useful. The first fourteen days are very difficult and here you may need help. The risk of relapsing is the first three months after stopping. But with a strong will you can stop completely. It takes ten years for your body to recover completely from the effects of smoking. So stop smoking now.

What are dangerous, smoking cigarettes, pipes, cigars, beedies or use of chewing tobacco?

All are dangerous to our health. It depends how much and how often you smoke. With cigars, beedies or chewing tobacco you absorb more nicotine than cigarettes. Pipes are usually not smoked very often and so the absorption of nicotine is low compared to other forms. If the tobacco reaches our stomach most of the nicotine is absorbed in the intestine and this is the case with chewing tobacco.

Nicotine is one among several substances and tar which is a mixture of several active chemical compounds in tobacco smoke. There are about 3000 chemicals which are found in tobacco smoke and many are dangerous to our health. Out of these 50 are considered cancerous. Long time exposure to the substances like carbon monoxide, cyanide and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons cause the damage of lungs, arteries and responsible for several other complications including cancer.

The poisonous metal cadmium is present in tobacco and it is deposited in kidneys and bad to our health. There are radioactive carcinogens also present in tobacco smoke and they are lead-210 and polonium-210.

Although the paper is bad in cigarettes beedi is worse than cigarettes. In many countries beedies are banned. Beedies are more dangerous than cigarettes because they contain more tar, nicotine and other cancer producing substances, carbon monoxide, ammonia and also contain the cancer producing nitrosamines. One third of 6,00,000 TB deaths in India go to the account of Beedi smoking. But, surprisingly, they have less tobacco than in cigarettes.

Beedies have three times more nicotine, produce three times more carbon monoxide and have 5 times more tar than cigarettes. The lack of filter and also the lack of porosity of the leaves used for wrapping may be the reason for this.

Passive smoking is more dangerous than active smoking. Do not smoke when there are non-smokers. If children are present then smoking should be avoided completely. This is applicable strictly to your visitors also.

How could I warn children and adolescents about smoking and other tobacco products?

It is very simple, make a Family Tree and write there along with other personal particulars the cause of deaths of grandparents and other forefathers including heart attack and other heart diseases, stroke or diabetes or cancers.
Explain the children smoking is one of the most important risk factors for these diseases and their death. Whenever they visit their uncle’s or other friend’s family the Family Trees of these families should also be shown to them with all these risk factors. With this I have experienced many good results in Hamburg.

A child understands these dangers very quickly and keeps it in mind for ever. It is simple, costs no money and to have this information are useful to the future generations also.

It is applicable to all unwanted and wanted drugs including alcohol.