Entries Tagged 'Addiction' ↓

Only someone living in a cave for the past twenty years could be unaware of the health risks posed by tobacco use. Heart disease, cancer, and stroke are the three big killers in industrialized nations, and smoking is implicated in all three. I studied about a physician father who had done cancer research, and who would preach “no smoking” where ever he went, even though it was not popular subject at the time. None of us was ever tempted to take up smoking. What you may not know is that smoking invites depression. It stimulates the secretion of adrenal hormones, including cortisol, which significantly reduces serotonin activity in the brain.

In addition, the body uses much of its available supply of vitamins C to detoxify the byproducts of smoking, which can lead to a vitamin C deficiency. This can result in depression, apathy, weakness, and lowered immunity. There is an ever-widening range of smoking cessation aids, from gums and patches to books and tapes. If you have a preexisting health problem, speak to your doctor before using any medical products. Continue reading →

Alcohol is used as a celebratory gesture in just about every culture across the globe. It’s used for New Years, Christmas, birthdays, weddings, graduations, bar mitzvahs, and to commemorate just about any special occasion. In America, it’s almost like an earned rite of passage, where the elders hand the younger partygoers a sip… ah… and then it’s love at first sip.

It’s no wonder alcoholism runs in families. Few people actually wait until the legal drinking age of 21 to drink. Sometimes, adolescents take up drinking so early on, that by the time they’ve reached actual drinking age, they’ve become full-blown alcoholics.

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Compulsive gambling can be a difficult thing to eliminate from your life. It’s as if the casino is a magnet and all the change in your pocket is pulling you there. It may seem that no matter what you do, you can’t seem to break that magnetic attraction. Well, there are many things you can do to reduce and eliminate this attraction and need for compulsive gambling. Following is a list of the things that you may find helpful:

1. Positive affirmations – Incorporate these into your daily life in order to develop and maintain a positive attitude.

2. Journal Writing – Notice what you were thinking and how you were feeling when you felt like gambling. Write about it in your journal as a way of determining triggers.

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