Is as bad as second hand? – We all know what second hand smoke is?the smoke you inhale while being in a room full of smokers. But what is THIRD HAND smoke? It turns out it’s the invisible (but toxic) gases and particles that cling to smokers’ hair, clothing, upholstery and curtains–even when no one is currently smoking in the room–and these remnants are DANGEROUS, especially for children!
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Who finds it harder, men or women? – The New Year is coming soon, which is the time for all those resolutions. We?ll bet that a big one on every smoker?s list is quitting. Women have more withdrawal symptoms but they also have more reason to quit, because, contrary to what most women believe, smoking makes you fat.
A new study shows that smokers who carry a particular version of a gene that regulates dopamine in the brain may suffer from concentration problems when they try to quit?a problem that puts them at risk for relapse.Remember the cool girls, huddled together in high school restrooms, puffing their cigarettes? Well, here’s consolation for the rest of us: Those teen smokers are more likely to get fat as adults.
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Everyone’s top New Year’s Resolution – Quitting smoking is one of the top items on most people’s New Year’s resolutions lists, and it certainly should be if you’re black because blacks are more unhealthy than whites?especially when it comes to asthma?despite the fact that African-Americans are much less likely to smoke than whites are during their teens.
However, a new study finds that most of this advantage disappears by mid-adulthood, when their health habits deteriorate. When asked by health care professionals about their health, older African-American adults consistently report poorer health than whites of the same age do.
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?and you’re addicted for LIFE! – Tobacco companies try to push their products to teens (although they pretend not to) because they know that just one puff will get them hooked for life IF they have the right (or wrong?) kinds of genes. But the news is not all bad: researchers have now invented a PILL that can help you quit! Before this, scientists told us that the best way to quit was to go cold turkey.
The gene be behind nicotine addiction is called CHRNA5, and it may ALSO increase a smoker’s chance of developing lung cancer.
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