YOUR BLOGS: In this weeks ‘Your Blogs’ section, We speak to fitness and health enthusiast Ashely Rose (twitter @bloggerashleyr) who is passionate about championing the campaign to get people to give up smoking. We back her campaign all the way.
Ashley says “Smoking is a complex self destructive habit, which becomes addictive later on. The euphoria is short lived. The nicotine alters the structure and function of the brain, generating both positive and negative feelings of euphoria and negative withdrawal symptoms like nervousness, restlessness, irritability, anxiety and impaired concentration.
COPD, asthmatic attacks, plaque formation in the blood vessels and other catastrophic health problems can invade smokers. Hence performing day to day activities becomes difficult for them. Smoking takes a toll on the mental and emotional well being too. It has been associated with suicidal tendencies and major depressive disorders.
Heavy smokers tend to develop agoraphobia, generalized anxiety and panic disorders. All this can accelerate skin’s ageing process. One of the prime targets of smoking is the skin. Smoking doesn’t only harm the internal parts of the body, but external layers as well. And the skin tops the priority list in external damage received from smoking.
Cigarette smoke drains away all essential nutrients required to maintain a healthy youthful skin. Risk of developing facial discoloration and gauntness is high.
So, let’s see the top five damages smoking hits the skin with.
#1 Matte finished lackluster skin:
Taking puffs might seem cool to you. However, this coolness is robbed from your skin. Oxygen is required to keep the skin blooming and bright. What nicotine does is that it depletes the oxygen levels and robs the skin of its brightness, eventually making it loose, lifeless and droopy.
To bring back the brightness, you obviously need to quit the butt and begin to focus on your diet. Eating the right food determines the way your skin looks. After all, you are made of what you eat. Ensure that a balanced layout of nutrients is included in every meal of yours.
#2 Zombie eyes:
And what we all detest comes along with the puffing sessions- dark circles! Don’t you hate that zombie like appearance? With the rush for nicotine experienced by the smoker, lack of sleep and restlessness almost turns into a permanent feature. Restful sleep becomes a rare pleasure as the dark circles begin taking form.
To add to this detestable consequence, the nicotine deposits affect the blood vessels by slowing down the blood flow within them. Due to lack of blood flow in that region, the dark circles appear darker on the outer surface.
#3 Over expressive face:
When you squint to keep the cigarette smoke out of your eyes, your skin gets stressed eventually leading to the development of crow’s feet around the eye and mouth region.
For people who smoke several times in a day, the development of crow’s feet is faster and greater as their movement of muscles around the mouth is slowed down thanks to the constant ‘O’ shape they have to make with their mouth to blow out smoke.
It doesn’t end here, in a study conducted at Michigan University, smokers showed aging signs in their inner arm regions and areas below the neck.
#4 Shell shocked skin:
As and when you blow out puffs, the skin’s susceptibility to scarring, rashes, pigmentations and pimples shoots up. The skin turns more and more prone to breakouts and acute acne.
#5 Disheartening creases:
Smoking leads to narrowing of the blood vessels. The fumes literally take up space in the blood vessels, and the blood flow is lessened. In such a functioning system, the body is deprived of nutrients like Vitamin A and Omega-3 fatty acids, the result-wrinkles!
To get back to fuel yourself with nutrients, you need to begin eating foods rich in omega 3 and Vitamin A like soybeans, oats, brown rice, salmon, apricots, cantaloupe melon and flaxseeds (Omega helps reduce smoking-induced vascular damage and arterial stiffness.)
It’s all before you. So, if you think all those products aren’t working wonders on your skin, you know it’s that cancer stick’s fault! Give yourself a gift, don’t let those poisonous fumes in!”.
About the author: Ashley Rose is a keen fitness enthusiast who loves to read and blog about keeping healthy and staying fit.
You can learn more at her blog: http://tobaccoharmreduction.blogspot.com/