Quitting smoking makes you happier, says UK study

PARIS - Moderate or heavy smokers who quit tobacco get a boost in mental wellbeing that, for people who are anxious or stressed, is equivalent to taking anti-depressants, a study said Thursday.

British researchers examined 26 published investigations into the mental health of smokers.

They looked at standardized scorecards for symptoms of anxiety, depression, stress and quality of life, derived from questionnaires completed by volunteers.

The smokers were 44 years old on average and smoked between 10 and 40 cigarettes a day. They were questioned before they tried to give up smoking and again after their attempt -- an average of six months later.

Those who succeeded in quitting reported reduced depression, anxiety and stress and had a more positive outlook on life compared with those who continued smoking.

"The effect sizes are equal or larger than those of anti-depressant treatment for mood and anxiety disorders," said the study, published by the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

Quitters who had been diagnosed with psychiatric disorders enjoyed a similar improvement.

Lead investigator Gemma Taylor of the University of Birmingham's School of Health and Population Sciences said she hoped the findings would dispel a widespread misconception about smoking.

"It's a common myth that smoking actually is good for your mental health -- 'smoking relieves stress,' 'smoking helps you relax,' 'smoking helps you enjoy things' -- and that common myth is really hard to overcome," Taylor told AFP in a phone interview.

But actually, the study showed that "when you stop smoking and you break the nicotine withdrawal cycle, your mental health improves."

Taylor pointed to a mainstream theory in tobacco addiction research: that a smoker's psychological state fluctuates throughout the day as a result of exposure to nicotine.

The sense of calm or wellbeing from a cigarette is followed immediately afterwards by classic withdrawal signs of a depressed mood, anxiety or agitation.

Smokers, though, tend to misattribute these symptoms and blame them on stress or other factors.

And because nicotine has a calming effect, they perceive that cigarettes improve their mental health.

Smoking is already blamed for a wide range of physical diseases and disorders, ranging from cancer, blindness and cardiac problems to diabetes, gum disease and impotence.

The UN's World Health Organization (WHO) estimated last July that tobacco kills almost six million people each year, a toll that will rise to eight million annually in 2030.

About four out of every five deaths will occur in low- and middle-income nations, it said.

Despite a decline in smoking prevalence in some nations, in overall terms the number of people smoking today is greater than in 1980, due to population growth, according to a paper published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

source: interaksyon.com

The healthy, healing benefits of forgiving

The well-received feature on Greg Anderson’s inspiring story of how faith, forgiveness, and prayers allowed him to outlive a 30-day-to-live prediction 30 years ago when he was battling lung cancer was indeed a good prelude to how I enjoyed the big screen version of Les Miserables.

Here is a great story written 150 years ago about the French Revolution — 30 years before that — and the misery, evil, darkness, suffering and hopelessness that engulfed many. How many really recognized the emancipated Hugh Jackman as prisoner 24601 (Jean Valjean) whose petty crime was stealing bread for a dying niece? He was said to have refrained from drinking water for three days as well as undergone an extreme diet to lose so much weight for the initial scenes.

He even admitted in his acceptance speech that he almost gave up on the role and the movie. It was his wife who admonished him to persevere. His hard work earned him his very first Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy. 

Of the movie’s many themes, the most poignant is that of forgiveness and transformation. While under parole, Jean Valjean crossed paths with a generous bishop who fed him and allowed him to stay for the night. Hardened perhaps by his life in prison, Valjean tried to ran away with the bishop’s silver. The police apprehended him and brought him to the bishop with the loot.

Valjean told the police that the bishop gave him the silver. The bishop confirmed that he indeed gave the silver, and added that Valjean left a few more pieces. Valjean was confused

by the bishop’s goodness. When the police left, the bishop claimed that with the silver, he had purchased the convict’s soul. The bishop said he had given it to God, and from that day, Valjean must be a good man.








This forgiveness transformed Valjean into a compassionate person who put others before himself. He showed forgiveness to his nemesis, police officer Javert, who in his relentless pursuit of Valjean, was captured by revolutionaries. As a reward for saving the lives of a few of these revolutionaries, Valjean asked permission to take Javert outside to kill him. Outside, Valjean released Javert.

Victor Hugo surely used Les Miserables to make people aware of the need for social reform, but it certainly speaks of virtues that remain timeless to this day. Central to the story was how Jean Valjean had a change of heart and evolved from a hardened ex-convict to a Christ-like benefactor when he allowed Jesus into his life. Reformed, Valjean tried to lessen the misery of others by putting their needs before his own.

The American Medical Student Association (AMSA) quoted Frederic Luskin, a Stanford researcher who studied the effects of forgiveness: “… the moment-to-moment experience of peace and understanding that occurs when an injured party’s suffering is reduced by the process of transforming a grievance they have held against an offending party.”

AMSA said that a 2001 study revealed a correlation between reviewing hurtful memories and measures of the stress response (EMG, heart rate, blood pressure). “When subjects were encouraged to think forgiving thoughts, the stress response was diminished. Similar findings were seen in an October 2003 study of 108 college students,” they added.

They claimed that several small studies have shown a number of potential health benefits conferred by forgiveness such as decreased anger and negative thoughts, decreased anxiety, reduced depression and grief, and decreased vulnerability to substance use.

Greg Anderson, the Cancer Conqueror, gives these healing prescriptions to one desperate patient:

Step 1:  Ask in prayer.  Declare what it is you want.  “I desire perfect health.”  Or, “I want to be pain-free.” 

Step 2:  Believe. Believe that what you seek is already yours.  Possess it by what Anderson calls the faith factor. Know that what you seek is on its way to you the moment you ask.  

When you first ask and then follow that with the deep belief that you now possess health and healing, joy and peace — or whatever it is that you seek — the entire Universe shifts to bring it into reality.  This is the Life Force in action.

Step 3:  Receive. Next, believe you have received.  Then feel happy and grateful. Live in those emotions. When you stir up those emotions, you are on the frequency of receiving.

source: philstar.com

Facebook not so fun with a click from boss or mom

LONDON — Posting pictures of yourself plastered at a party and talking trash online with your Facebook friends may be more stress than it’s worth now that your boss and mom want to see it all.

A survey from Edinburgh Business School released on Monday showed Facebook users are anxious that all those self-published sins may be coming home to roost with more than half of employers claiming to have used Facebook to weed out job candidates.

“Facebook used to be like a great party for all your friends where you can dance, drink and flirt,” said Ben Marder, author of the report and fellow in marketing at the Business School.

“But now with your Mom, Dad and boss there, the party becomes an anxious event full of potential social landmines.”

On average, people are Facebook friends with seven different social circles, the report found, with real friends known to the user offline the most common.

More than four-fifths of users add extended family on Facebook, a similar number add siblings. Less than 70 percent are connected to friends of friends while more than 60 percent added their colleagues online, despite the anxiety this may cause.

Facebook has settings to control the information seen by different types of friends, but only one third use them, the report said.

“I’m not worried at all because all the really messy pics – me, drunken or worse – I detag straight away,” said Chris from London, aged 30.

People were more commonly friends with former boyfriends or girlfriends than with current ones, the report also found.

source: interaksyon.com

LeAnn Rimes seeks treatment for anxiety, stress

Country singer LeAnn Rimes has entered treatment for anxiety and stress, but is not seeking help for an eating disorder or substance abuse, her spokesman said on Thursday.

Rimes, whose affair with “CSI: Miami” actor Eddie Cibrian while both were married to others caused a scandal three years ago, checked into an unidentified treatment center on Wednesday – the day after her 30th birthday.

“LeAnn has voluntarily entered a 30-day in-patient treatment facility to cope with anxiety and stress,” her publicist Marcel Pariseau said in a statement to People magazine. “While there will be speculation regarding her treatment, she is simply there to learn and develop coping mechanisms.”

Pariseau told the celebrity magazine that the “How Do I Live” singer was not seeking help for substance abuse or an eating disorder, despite recent photos that have sparked debate over her thin figure.

Rimes denied earlier this year that she had anorexia.

The Grammy-winning singer, who became a country music star at age 13, told People that her stay was “just a time for me to emotionally check out for a second and take care of myself and come back in 30 days as the best 30-year-old woman I can be.”

Cibrian, who married Rimes in April 2011 after they both divorced, said his wife had his full support.

Rimes will exit her program to perform some scheduled concerts in September, Pariseau said.

source: interaksyon.com