If you are a smoker, then you have probably considered quitting cigarettes in order to bring health benefits. But when is the best time to commit to stop smoking? Many wait for a special occasion, for the end of a stressful time in their lives, or for a New Year’s resolution to commit to stop smoking, but the fact is, the best time is always as soon as possible, not some point in the future. If you stop smoking, you will find a constant regaining of health benefits over a period of weeks, months and years.

Here are a few of the benefits that will come to you if you commit to stop smoking:

Short Term Benefits

A lot of the most noticeable benefits come in the first year after you commit to stop smoking, and some will even be noticeable after hours or days. Within the first 24 hours after you quit smoking, you’ll find that your heart rate and blood pressure, as well as carbon monoxide levels in your blood, will drop. If you have a problem with high blood pressure, it is hard to beat an immediate benefit like that!

Over the next few months, you will find that a lot of damaged systems in the body will start functioning better than before. Your smell and taste will return, which makes eating more pleasurable, and your lungs will be able to work better, both for taking in air and in keeping those lungs clean of harmful materials, which in turn will mean less infections. This is because once you commit to stop smoking, tiny little hairs in your lungs called cilia, which catch dust and other foreign materials, start to work like they are supposed to.

Long Term Benefits

The big, lifesaving benefits that come when you commit to stop smoking are not as noticeable, since they prevent major health problems, but they have been well documented. In the years after you stop smoking, you will benefit from a reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease, most dramatic after the first year and over a period of more than a decade, steadily declining. You will also have a reduced chance of suffering a stroke and of several kinds of cancer. And while being able to smell your food better is a great benefit of not smoking, reducing the chance of suffering from deadly diseases is a more poignant reason to quit.

So commit to stop smoking today and enjoy both the benefits that will come to you soon and the ones that will improve your life for years to come.

There are many myths and/or justification for taking all mind-altering substances and the use of methamphetamine, (meth, crank, crystal, speed, etc.) certainly has its share.

Probably the most detrimental myth about his drug is the idea that it is not addictive.Users of this drug will equate it to a potent caffeine-type substance, and in some ways they are correct.Methamphetamine and caffeine are both stimulants, but that is were the similarities end.A drug can be addictive at the psychological or physical level or both.However, all psychologically addictive drugs have a physical addictive component as well. The level of addiction is directly related to the amount of discomfort one experiences during abstinence from the drug.Everyone is familiar with the headaches that one can get when they have been drinking coffee on a regular/daily basis and then they abruptly stop.

The body gets accustomed to having coffee as an external stimulus and when that is removed, there is an adjustment that happens physiologically that causes stress.However, when a person uses methamphetamine on a regular/daily basis and stops, you find dramatic effects on the body.It isn’t uncommon for a person to sleep for over 48 hours after being on a “meth” run.The over-stimulated glands, especially the adrenals, will under-produce until they can re-establish normal activity again, and in the absence of these hormones, a person is barely able to keep bodily functions alive, so it becomes necessary for a person to sleep for long periods of time while normal equilibrium is being renewed.

Whenever the body is under extreme stress, the person’s emotions become unstable.In the case of the cessation of methamphetamine, one experience mild to severe depression, leading to suicidal thoughts.Knowing that one can stop these uncomfortable feelings by the use of more “speed” is the simplicity of this psychological addiction and the reason that most people will need professional care to progress without problems through this recovery.

If you want to quit smoking but can’t seem to find the motivation, there are plenty of reasons to give up. And if you can’t draw any inspiration from the social and financial issues, just take a look at the physical effects of smoking;

1) Life Span

If you smoke, you’ll reduce your life expectancy by an estimated seven to eight years. That may not sound too serious, especially if you happen to be under 30, but if we break it down further, every cigarette you smoke will shorten your life by approximately 10 minutes.

And if you want a truly shocking figure, try this; Every day, more people under the age of 70 die from smoking related diseases than the combined total of deaths through road traffic accidents, drug addiction, breast cancer and AIDS.

2) General Health

It’s no secret that the general health of smokers is much lower than that of non-smokers.

Medical studies have shown that smokers are more likely to suffer from high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels, which lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. And it’s not just older people who are affected. Many of these studies have questioned smokers in their twenties and thirties.

But that’s not all. People who smoke are likely to have poor quality skin. Due to the lower level of oxygen that reaches their skin they develop a pale, sallow complexion. And then there’s the issue with wrinkles. If you smoke, any wrinkles that you develop will be up to ten times worse than those developed by non smokers of your age.

In fact, it has been shown that smokers with noticeable wrinkles are much more likely to suffer from chronic conditions such as bronchitis and emphysema.

3) Major Illnesses

Smoking also increases your chances of developing a whole host of major illnesses. This includes;

a) Conditions that affect the respiratory system; asthma, chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

b) Cancers, especially of the mouth, throat and lungs.

c) High blood pressure and high cholesterol which leads to an increased risk of strokes and heart disease. In fact, smokers are two to three times more likely to die from a heart attack than non-smokers.

4) Viruses

Recent research has shown that due to the effect of smoking on the immune system, smokers have a higher chance of becoming infected with HIV.

5) Infections

If you smoke you’re at greater risk of respiratory infections because the smoke that you draw into your nose and throat damages that beneficial bacteria that lives in your respiratory system. This allows disease causing bacteria to enter your body.

6) Infertility

Smoking causes lower infertility levels in both men and women. Male smokers tend to have a lower sperm count, and may suffer from various mutations to their sperm. And due to the gradual blocking of arteries male smokers are more likely to become impotent.

Women who smoke are also less likely to conceive. And women who smoke during their pregnancy are more likely to experience a range of problems, including ectopic pregnancies, miscarriage, premature birth, lower birth weight and birth defects.

7) Mental Health

Studies have shown that smokers are twice as likely to suffer from depression than non-smokers.