There are many reasons to quit smoking. Most smokers realize this, but they continue to smoke. Why?
A recently released short film, produced by a number of local health authorities in the north of England, is titled ‘Don’t be the 1’. This is an admonition not to be the one of the one-in-two smokers who will die from a smoking-related illness. It made me feel quite angry—not with the makers of the film I hasten [...]
Thanks to the online Metro Radio publication (2 January 2018), we learn that in the NHS’s North East region of England, over 38,000 patients are admitted to hospitals every year as a result of smoking-related illnesses. Riding to the rescue of this deplorable situation is Dr Robert Allcock, a respiratory consultant at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead, [...]
Here is some good news for those unfortunate patients suffering from the serious condition known as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. It’s a complex disorder but the main features are shortness of breath with cough, phlegm, and chest tightness as the lungs are progressively damaged; the result may be fatal. The biggest risk factor for getting COPD [...]
It seems cigar smoking is still regarded as ‘naughty but nice’, at least by one doctor—an anaesthetist into the bargain—who in a recent interview in The British Medical Journal admitted that his 'guiltiest pleasure' was ‘the Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No 2 cigar’. He added, guiltily, ‘Although I know I shouldn’t.’ I thought there was something familiar about [...]
There is an organisation in Britain called the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training (NCSCT). They have put out a short film which is part of a training module called ‘Very Brief Advice on Smoking [Cessation]’ which is aimed at people who want to be smoking cessation counsellors. It’s a very sad film about a young boy [...]
According to an article in the British Medical Journal (10 July 2015), smoking may increase the risk of developing schizophrenia, a severe type of mental illness called psychosis. An association between cigarettes and psychotic symptoms has been noted before, but is this because patients take up smoking as a way to try to counteract symptoms or help reduce [...]