Why to quit smoking? It’s very important you evaluate all the pros [...]]]> If you are thinking about quitting, then you are on the right track. Smoking is injurious to ones health is there is a statutory warning that is written on every pack of cigarettes. Still smoking is the most common habit among people worldwide.

Why to quit smoking?
It’s very important you evaluate all the pros of quit smoking and cons of smoking before deciding about the quit smoking date. Just list the health benefits that you will get after quitting smoking. Not only health benefits think about the financial benefits as well.

There are numerous health benefits that are associated with quitting smoking successfully. You will feel healthier than before with better concentration levels. Your sense of smell and taste will get better and the food you eat will be tastier. By quitting and not smoking again, you can set an example and become a role model for your friends, family, children, and even co-workers.

The immediate effects of quitting smoking are generally hard to overcome for most of the smokers. The withdrawal symptoms and strong cravings for nicotine can make their life difficult. But with the help of any suitable quit smoking aids, these symptoms can be reduced.

What are the ways to quit smoking?
There are many ways that can help you quit smoking once for all. If you are a strong willed person, you can go cold turkey way. Generally, most people opt for nicotine replacement therapies to reduce their cravings for nicotine and withdrawal symptoms after they quit smoking. The small doses of nicotine are injected through patches, gums, nasal sprays, and lozenges to help them reduce these symptoms. But there are drawbacks of nicotine therapy, as most people revert to smoking after some time.

The nicotine free treatments can be quite helpful, as these don’t inject any trace of nicotine in any form. A few examples of nicotine free treatment for quit smoking include Zyban and Chantix.

Zyban helps to reduce the physical withdrawal symptoms that appear after quitting smoking. But another drug, Chantix can help to reduce the withdrawal symptoms as well as string nicotine cravings. Chantix is available in the US where you can get it on a valid prescription of a doctor only.

Chantix is a quit smoking medication that can help you quit but you should take it under proper medical care. It is quite different from other quit smoking aids and effective as well. Chantix works in two ways – it targets nicotine receptors in the brain and blocks nicotine from reaching them. It mimics the effects of nicotine, thus activating the receptors without actually providing them any trace of nicotine.

Chantix is a useful treatment but you should start it about a week before you actually stop smoking. This will provide a type of build up in the body for a long treatment with Chantix that is generally recommended for a period of 12 weeks. The results can be quite visible during the end of treatment itself, but for people who still get the cravings for cigarettes may be asked to repeat the treatment for another 12 weeks.

There are two types of skin problems caused by acne that can be [...]]]> Acne affects as much as 80% of teenagers and others in their
early twenties, while most get out with only a few minor acne
scars, some even without any at all; there is also a notable
percentage that suffers from acne scars.

There are two types of skin problems caused by acne that can be
recognized as acne scars, one is the red pigmentation that
appears after acne has healed. These contrary to popular belief,
are not scars, rather, these are post-inflammatory lesions which
occurs as the acne heals, and these can be present for up to
6-12 months. If however the pigmentation that you see lasts
longer than the said period, you may be facing acne scars.

Acne scars come from connective tissue that the body uses to
repair damage done to a certain area. Together with antibodies
and white blood cells, they work together to heal the wound.
After the healing process, you are left with a scar.

Acne scars can develop as long as acne is present, so one good
form of prevention is actually preventing acne. However, Acne
scars can also be prevented even with the presence of acne. This
is done by facilitating the healing of the acne, the faster it
heals, the shallower the acne scar will be, making it easier to
treat, or may need no treatment at all.

There are two dermatologically tested ways to facilitate the
healing of acne, one is the use of Tretinoin, it’s a form of
vitamin A, which speeds up the skin’s healing and renovation
process shortening the inflammation period, thus preventing Acne
scars.

The other treatment used by most dermatologists for Acne scar
prevention is the use of Aplpha-Hydroxy Acids of AHA’s and
Beta-Hydroxy Acids or BHA’s. These help the skins remodeling
process, with the right concentration and proper application;
these can also prevent acne scars.

Without the complicated chemicals and difficult dermatological
treatments, you can also help prevent acne scars by treating
your skin righteously. Avoid sun exposure, this can cause even
more skin damage and may hamper the healing process of your
skin. Wear sunscreen that has SPF 15 or higher. Picking at scabs
never helped either. Never pick on acne as it heals; it
interferes with the healing process and might worsen the
resulting acne scar.

Of course, not even the most rigorous person can prevent acne
scar, with the stress of everyday life, facial and other skin
problems are really hard to avoid, there are however treatments
available for acne scars, here are some of them.

Dermal Fillers Collagen or other fillers are injected into the
acne scar to raise is just a bit, so that it will be the same
level as your skin, these treatments aren’t permanent though.
They mostly last 3-6 months and you’ll need additional
injections after that.

Punch Excision This method is effective for some types of scars.
It includes the surgical tool that matches the size of the scar;
it can be compared to a cookie dough cutter. This tool cuts the
scar out and the remaining wound is then sewed back together.
The resulting scar will be unnoticeable, but if it is, it’ll be
easier for laser resurfacing to treat it. Other types of this
treatment include the use of skin grafts.

Laser Resurfacing Laser resurfacing is a very popular and fast
treatment for acne scars. Laser resurfacing basically works by
burning a measure upper layer of the skin, and then letting it
heal, leaving a newer looking skin. However, care must be taken
after the procedure; the correct post operative procedure
determines the success of the operation

Bulimia is one of the most rapidly increasing psychological problems around nowadays. But what causes bulimia? Is it an extreme response to Western society pressure on young girls and women to be slim?

Or are there other factors contributing to the problem?

Can we influence these factors and change their effects on [...]]]>

Bulimia is one of the most rapidly increasing psychological problems around nowadays. But what causes bulimia? Is it an extreme response to Western society pressure on young girls and women to be slim?

Or are there other factors contributing to the problem?

Can we influence these factors and change their effects on people?

Genetic, environmental, biological are all common factors that have to be looked at when we talk about the causes of any diseases or disorders.

Let’s look at these things in the case of Bulimia.

Scientific research recently has shown that people are born with an inherited predisposition towards developing bulimia, particularly where susceptibility to addiction is in the genes.

It reveals that bulimics inherit a gene responsible for the addiction from their ancestors. This addiction can appear in different forms: alcohol addiction, drug addiction, food addiction, nicotine and the like. That’s why many bulimics also suffer from addictions to other substances also, making recovery difficult.

So a genetic predisposition to bulimia may be there but it is not a single bulimia gene itself that is the culprit but a general addiction gene. And in many bulimic families we can trace backwards to past members of the family who suffered from other kinds of addiction in their lives.

But on the other hand not all people who get an addiction gene suffer from bulimia or other addictions. So we have to look at other things like environmental factors.

Environmental factors can contribute to triggering the onset of bulimia. These include peer pressures, family attitudes, the influence of the media creating a need for thinness, poor self-esteem and a lack of acceptance of self and body shape.

Bulimia often begins with a dissatisfaction of the person’s body. The individual may actually be underweight, but when that person looks in a mirror they see a distorted image and feel heavier than they really are.

At first, this distorted body image leads to dieting. As the body image in the mirror continues to be seen as larger than it actually is, the dieting escalates and leads to bulimia. The bottom line however, is that bulimia is the misuse of food to try to resolve emotional problems.

When a person is unable to face their feelings, define problems, and resolves them effectively, that person is more prone to become susceptible to the onset of bulimia.

A significant correlation between the development of clinical bulimia nervosa and sexual abuse has also been proven. Other forms of abuse (physical, emotional or combination of both of them) also link to developing of dissatisfaction with the person’s body that can lead to bulimia any time in the future.

Strict and cold parental attitude and luck of showing love to children from parents can become a trigger for developing a wrong body image in children that can turn into bulimia in susceptible people.

That is why you should never tease your child if they are a little bit over weight as this could just be a normal growing process for that child body shape. But a wrong word from a parent or family member may inadvertently send that person down the track to bulimia.

The next factor which can cause bulimia is biological or biochemical factor. This happens when one or a few biological processes in the human body have gone off track. Some research has shown that an insufficiency of a special hormone in the brain called serotonin can cause depression and bulimia at the same time. This is probably why many bulimics also suffer from depression.

Some antidepressants that work on restoring the level of serotonin in the brain can help some sufferers stop their binges while taking them. This could also mean that many sufferers, who manage to stop their bulimia for a short while, go back to binging again when they stop the antidepressants.

Anyone who has been on antidepressants and has stopped should look for other supplements where they can substitute the loss of serotonin; I believe you can get serotonin in the health food stores in capsules form. Although taking serotonin on its own will not automatically stop your bulimia, as it is a much deeper psychological problem that a single chemical imbalance: but it would not hurt either.

As you can see, many factors can contribute to the development of bulimia. For some sufferers it is the environmental factors that come into play, like desire to be thin, peer pressure to be thin or influence from the media to be thin. Some people may have a strong genetic influence that can be traced to past relatives who may have suffered from bulimia or other addictions.

Depressed sufferers will blame their low serotonin level in the brain for their bulimia. But the majority of people probably have a combination of factors that has caused their bulimia.

In conclusion, the causes of bulimia could be many: genetic, biological and environmental. So far we can not change the genes we are born with but we can manage to control certain behaviors brought on by defective genes, with the correct methods.

To change biological factors like low serotonin levels in the brain, it is possible with certain drugs or supplementation, but it does not work for everyone. The only bulimia factor we can change easily is the environmental factor. This includes changing our attitude to body image, our perception of real beauty and our eating habits.

By promoting a healthy environment we can eradicate or significantly diminish one of the main causes of bulimia the environmental factor. The other causes can also be controlled if we are aware of their existence.