So you have decided to do one of the most stressful things a person can do, quit smoking.  Bar a heroin addiction quitting smoking can be one of the most horribly strenuous experiences for both men and women alike.  Fortunately we are here to make things just that little bit simpler with our top ten tips to quit smoking!

So sit back, read these top ten tips to help you quit smoking!

1) Keep a diary!  Keeping a diary of when and where you smoke will help you prepare for the coming steps, while you still smoke mark down every cigarette temptation to help you quit smoking!

2) Set a Date! - Pick a date where you won’t get stressed out, and definitely don’t pick a day where you will be bored.  The first day is nearly always the hardest, so make sure you have nothing in the way of quitting smoking!

3) Write down the reasons you want to quit smoking, keep reading them and recite them back to yourself so you have a clear image in your mind as to why you should stop smoking cigarettes!

4) Break the routine! Avoid the things that start you of smoking, take a day or two off work, if drinking sets you off avoid going out for a shortwhile.  Remember, the worst part of breaking the smoking habit is during the moments you normally smoke each and every day!

5) Get Help Quitting Smoking.  Remember that sometimes the will is weak, having a friend around to keep you distracted, take your cigarettes away and prevent you from straying from the path of quitting smoking!

6) Find a substitute for smoking, one of the best tricks for getting past the initial routine cravings is by finding a substitute, some find carrot sticks another, while others use nicotine inhalers.

7) Nicotine Supplements.  Using particular nicotine supplements, be it nicotine gum or nicotine inhalers can give relief from the chemical cravings as you start dealing with the routine addictions.  Nicotine patches are particularly affective,  these give you an all day slow release which gives you the ability to completely remove any routine from your ex-smoking day.

Watch the money mount up, sometimes you need just that little bit of an extra boost, totting up your weekly spend can give you a smile every week as you look at an awesome saving! Quiting smoking can save you a huge amount, especially with the rising costs of cigarettes.

9) Learn to Relax, stress is one of the largest fences to quitting smoking is stress, taking up meditation, yoga or other relaxation methods can greatly increase your chances to sucessfully quit smoking.

10) Break through the barrier, in the first two weeks of quitting smoking you will face some pretty major temptations.  Fortunately though when this passes things will suddenly become a lot easier for you.  It is important to remind yourself that in next to no time the worst will have passed!

Follow these top ten tips to quitting smoking and you will find the whole painful experience that little bit easier!

written by admin \\ tags: Advice, Medical, Quit Smoking, Smoking, Top Ten

Insomnia is one of the worlds most common ailments, yet little research has been done in to finding a long term cure for this surprisingly serious ailment.  Over in Australia the problem is all the more severe, with over 30% of Australians suffering from insomnia in one form or another the scientists at Flinders university decided to start solving the problem by forming the Sleep Research Laboratory.  At the Sleep Research Laboratory they have been working for some time on everything from drugs to pshyciatric help.

After only finding small success with these results they finally found that revolutionary breakthrough they were waiting for.  the only problem is, it’s technically illegal under the Geneva convention.

the treatment they have found has an astounding success rate, and involves depriving the patient of sleep for days at a time.  Every time the patient drops into a full sleep they are woken up after 4 minutes.  This treatment trains the body to go through the initial sleeping stage, where most insomnia sufferers have the most problems.  After this has been repeated over 40 times the patient is finally allowed to drop off

TRANSCRIPT

Narration: Lynn Valentine is a chronic insomniac. It’s now 2:30AM and Lynn’s finally fallen asleep- but she’s in for a rude shock. She’s being woken up. Again, and again.

Lyn Valentine: I’m starting to get very tired now.

Narration: It looks like torture. But could this radical experiment, revolutionise how we treat insomnia? Lynn is one of 30% of Australians who suffer insomnia. For 20 years, her hours of darkness have been a waking nightmare.

Lynn Valentine: It takes me perhaps one to two hours to sleep and then I wake up a number of times in the course of a night for longish periods of time. So I might have an aggregate of only four hours or five hours sleep, but very very broken sleep. It’s difficult to concentrate the next day. You feel quite tired, irritable. It has a big effect on mood. So it creates problems, quite significant problems.

Narration: Lynn’s tried sleeping pills, but found them dangerously addictive. Now, she’s ready to try anything. She’s volunteered to test an extreme new experimental treatment, here at Flinders University. The clock’s about to start ticking on 24 hours of severe sleep deprivation.

“Just sit up for now, you’ll be fine. Now imagine that you’re lying at home, in your own bed.”

This room has no windows, no doors – no way of knowing how much time is passing. While she lies in isolation, the researchers monitor Lynn’s temperature, skin conductance, and brainwaves.

Dr Leon Lack: What we look at is specifically alpha waves which are the green ones, so when you actually fall asleep the alpha waves will drop off.

Narration: These measures will tell them if Lyn drops off.

Jonica Newby: What happens if she falls asleep?

Jodie Harris: If she does fall asleep, I’ll let her fall asleep for four minutes & then wake her up again. She gets four minutes at each trial

Jonica Newby: 4 minutes?
Jodie Harris: 4 minutes that’s all.
Jonica Newby: Isn’t that against the Geneva convention?
Jodie Harris: It does sound a little bit like torture I know.

Narration: And right now, Lynn’s got 24 hours more of being woken up to go. The idea for this therapeutic torment came from Professor Leon Lack. He’s head of the Sleep Research Laboratory, and over the years, he’d become frustrated with existing treatments for insomnia. The big obstacle to treatment is that insomniacs have lost the ability to fall asleep. Instead of feeling sleepy, they’ve come to associate bed time with being highly alert.

Dr Leon Lack: They’ll be tossing and turning getting anxious that they still have to wake up the next morning at say 7 o’clock, now it’s 1 o’clock now it’s 1.30 now it’s 2 o’clock. It means they’ll get less and less sleep the longer they’re awake. They get more anxious about that and that then reinforces that automatic arousal response.

Narration: For the last 20 years, the main therapy for insomnia has tried to re-train people to fall asleep quickly.

Dr Leon Lack: The instructions of that therapy are don’t go to bed till you’re really sleepy and if you don’t fall asleep quickly get out of bed again and go back to bed when you’re sleepy again.

Narration: The problem is, few people persevere. They have to do it by themselves, at home. And on cold winters night, especially, they struggle to drag themselves out of bed.
And the training takes at least four weeks to work. That’s because you only practice, or trial, falling asleep once per night.

Dr Leon Lack: That’s only one trial, only one trial to reverse this experience of years and years of having difficulty. It takes more than one trial. It takes you know 30 or 40 or 50 trials.

But suddenly, it struck Leon, there could be an answer. Might it be possible to run all 50 sleep training sessions in just 24 hours?

Dr Leon Lack: They would experience a lot of sleep deprivation across that one day, but they would get a lot of trials every half hour.

Narration: Excited by the idea, he decided to put it to the test. Lynn is now 15 hours into the gruelling regime Leon devised. The key is to let patients fall asleep, then quickly wake them up, and keep them awake, until the next sleep training attempt. So far, Lynn’s been woken up 30 times. Yet surprisingly, far from suffering, she almost seems to be enjoying it.

Lynn Valentine: If I can continue to fall asleep the way I am at the moment that will be quite wonderful.

Narration: Far from feeling tortured, says Leon, insomniacs can actually find this experience exhilarating. For the first time, they realise they can learn to fall asleep. At the beginning of the trial, Lynn was taking more than 20 minutes to fall asleep. Now she’s taking just a few minutes.

Dr Leon Lack: The way they feel is that sleep is something that they’ve lost. Now you know in a short period of time we’ve shown them that they in fact can fall asleep really quickly under the right conditions.

Narration: But by Sunday evening even Lynn is starting to show the strain.

Jonica Newby: Fed Up?
Lynn Valentine: Lying around for what must it be now a day and a half. But don’t think it’s much longer to go before I get to go to sleep.

Narration: Finally at 8:00PM, after nearly 50 wake-ups Lynn is allowed to drift off into her first deep sleep. It’s a relief for her, but for the research team, this is the exciting bit. So far, 17 people have been through the trial. Preliminary results show most of them have vastly improved sleep following the treatment. It’s early days. But Leon hopes this could be a genuine breakthrough.

Dr Leon Lack: This promises to be a long-term cure to insomnia so they can leave it behind and for the rest of their life they won’t be plagued with the daytime tiredness which they now experience.

Narration: Last night was certainly a breakthrough for Lynn. She slept uninterrupted through the whole night.

Lynn Valentine: :I had a very sound nights sleep it was lovely…..8 0r 9 hours…I haven’t slept this long since I don’t know when.

written by admin

Benzodiazepines are a well known collection of drugs taken for their varying hypnotic, sedative, anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, muscle relaxant and amnesic properties. Benzodiazepines are a psychoactive drug and work by slowing down your central nervous system, for this reason they are regularly used for treatment in problems such as insomnia, agitation, anxiety, seizures, muscle spasms and on some occasions alcohol and drug withdrawal symptoms.

Benzodiazepines are addictive, and users can become dependant on the drug within 3 weeks. If this occurs to a large extent users may suffer from severe Benzodiazepine withdrawl symptoms. Benzodiazapines come in many forms for different applications, these include:

Anticonvulsants

• clobazam
• clonazepam
• clorazepate
• diazepam
• lorazepam
• midazolam

Anxiolytics (Anti-Anxiety)

• alprazolam
• bromazepam
• chlordiazepoxide
• clonazepam
• clorazepate
• diazepam
• lorazepam
• medazepam
• nordazepam
• oxazepam
• prazepam

Insomnia (Hypnotics)

• brotizolam
• diazepam
• estazolam
• flunitrazepam
• flurazepam
• lorazepam
• loprazolam
• lormetazepam
• midazolam
• nimetazepam
• nitrazepam
• phenazepam
• temazepam
• triazolam

Unfortunately Benzodiazapines have many side effects, some of them more serious than others!

Side Effects of Benzodiazepine

• Drowsiness
• Dizziness
• Upset stomach
• Blurred vision
• Headache
• Confusion
• Depression
• Impaired coordination
• Changes in heart rate
• Trembling
• Weakness
• Amnesia
• Grogginess
• Hangover
• Dreaming or nightmares
• Chest pain
• Vision changes
• Jaundice
• Paradoxical reactions

Paradocial Reactions from Benzodiazapine includes mania, schizophrenia, anger, impulsivity, and hypo-mania. All of these are sever and are much more likely to occur in Benzodiazepine users with pre existing borderline personality disorders.

Using Benzodiazepine during Pregnancy is not recommended, though it is still the most commonly used anti-anxiety drug used during pregnancy in America.  Unfortunately Benzodiazepine used during pregnancy can cause reduced cranial size and facial anomolies in children exposed to Benzodiazepine in the womb.

written by admin \\ tags: Benzodiazepine, Side Effects, Treatment, Uses

Keratosis Pilaris is one of the worlds most common skin ailments.  The basic symptoms of keratosis pilaris are small bumps in the body usually in the hair follicles on the body.  The small bumps are most commonly found on the shoulders and arms, but in extreme cases can spread over the body, either way Keratosis Pilaris is non contagious and completely harmless!

The small bumps, sometimes mistaken for pimples are infact completely harmless and not that noticeable. Some people however do pick at these small bumps, causing scarring in extreme cases.

Fortunately Keratosis Pilaris is treatable.  Treatment for Keratosis Pilaris does not involve any real pill or medicine, but instead it is better to use exfoliating lotion twice daily and moisturise to reduce inflammation.

More on treatment later however, Keratosis Pilaris is a genetic condition, and therefore not something that can just be easily avoided.

It is believed that Keratosis Pilaris is caused by the bodies exfoliating cell process, keratinisation. This occurs when Keratin, usually a little sticky and found within hair follicles, becoming hardened.  When this occurs the keratinisation process forms thorny areas from the keratin which stretch and open the hair follicles rather than exfoliating them naturally, causing redness and irritation.

Treatment of Keratosis Pilaris is limited in effect and usually temporary.  While in most conditions Keratosis Pilaris clears up naturally in adult life in some instances it does last the entire lifespan of a person.  The visual appearance of Keratosis Pilaris can be reduced by careful exfoliation and moisturising.  This must be continued for the effects to continue though.  When you stop exfoliating and moisturising it is almost certain Keratosis Pilaris and the bumps on your skin will return almost immediately.

written by admin \\ tags: Bumps On Arms, Dermatology, Keratosis Pilaris, Skin Condition

So the cigarettes chemicals have left your bloodstream, you start to feel a bit better about having a drink in your hand and not smoking a cigarette, but you still have cravings for cigarettes.

The hardest part of stopping smoking is getting past the mental cravings, these tend to be at their worst when you are bored or stressed, you will feel a longing for the relaxation that smoking once afforded.

Unfortunately there are not many products that can truly help with the mental aspects of smoking, however things like hypnotism have been known to significantly reduce cigarette cravings.

Apart from hypnotism the only real true way of getting past the mental cravings for cigarettes is pure strong willpower. If you do not feel like you have this I strongly suggest buying an Hypnosis CD or DVD to help you combat your addiction.

Paul McKenna is one of the worlds foremost hypnotists and has released a DVD and CD which are aimed to reduce your mental cravings for cigarettes, whether you are at the office, in the pub or waking up first thing on a morning, these products should greatly reduce your desire for a cigarette and help you significantly ni your quest to stop smoking.

written by admin \\ tags: Addiction, Hypnosis, Mental Issues, Quit Smoking, Smoking, Stop Smoking

After the Chemical withdrawal symptoms have faded you will be left with mental and physical cravings for cigarettes. These can be the hardest phases when you decide to stop smoking and cause many people to start again.

The Physical Cravings of Cigarettes usually fade after a few months, but slight twinges will most likely be felt forever. Many people find sitting in a pub or bar, with a drink in one hand and nothing in the other the most stretching, others simply find themselves bringing their fingers to their lips.

One of the oldest and surprisingly effective methods is infact carrot sticks. Chewing these when craving can infact subdue cigarette cravings and help you to quit smoking cheaply.

Other methods include Nicotine inhalers, which copy the motion and suction of the cigarette and release a small puff of nicotine into the bloodstream, these should not however be used if you decided to go cold turkey.

There are many other things to do, though not many suitable for the pub, but all of them have one thing in common, they mimic the movement of your arm, they involve chewing or sucking and they have some pleasurable response, usually a nice taste.

Some people find slightly melted icecream, liquorice root or even the sherbert filled straws particularly effective.

The fact of the matter is though that whatever you do here you will be replacing one habit with another, though the differences in cost and health risks are massively different!

written by admin \\ tags: , Physical, Quit Smoking, Smoking, Stop Smoking

The first step in stopping smoking is beating the chemical dependence you have on cigarettes.  Nicotine is a highly addictive substance that can stay in the body for upto two weeks, although it only has a half life of around 2 1/2 hours n the body.

Nicotine has been clinically proven to be as addictive as heroin and cocaine, with subjects finding nicotine the hardest to come off and stay off.

When Bracing yourself to deal with the intense chemical effects there are several things that can be used to ‘ween’ yourself off the drug. These have various Pros and Cons that can vary in intensity depending on the individual smoker
Nicotine Lozenges/Gum - These are designed to give a short burst of nicotine, similar in level to that of a cigarette to begin with then lower dosages for when you begin to bring yourself off the drug.  While these are effective at helping most people stop smoking some may find that since they only take it when they really want a cigarette the lower dosages are ineffective.

Nicotine Patches - These are the most effective way to quit smoking and getting past the chemical element of nicotine.  the patch releases nicotine through the skin over a 24 hour period.   This makes them very effective for completely repressing the chemical craving for a cigarette, and allows lower dosages of nicotine to be implemented with ease.   However some people have complained that nicotine patches leave them with vivid or nightmarish dreams, though some can sleep through these many find them intolerable and instead opt for 16 hour release patches.  These however are not quite as effective as they are not active during the sleeping period users may find morning cravings particularly intense.

Nicotine Inhalers - Nicotine Inhalers are useful because not only do they release nicotine but they also duplicate the intake motion of a cigarette.  These can be fairly expensive but are a fantastic way to quit smoking as they help bring remove your desire for smoking both Chemically and Mentally.

Of course even with any of these you will find quitting difficult.  Getting through the chemical stage of quitting smoking can be an immensely difficult and challenging task, but once you have got there you are a major step towards stopping smoking.

written by Oli \\ tags: Chemical Addiction, Quit Smoking, Smoking, Stop Smoking

Whilee there are three major types of insomnia there are also three patterns for insomnia.  The three types are Transient, Acute and Chronic, but those only describe the condition they do not show when or for how long each night it can affect a persons sleep.

The thres patternsof insomnia are often incredibly useful in helping find out the root cause of the sleep disorder, making the three patterns of insomnia vital in diagnosis and treatment of insomnia.

The pattern of insomnia often is related to a specific type of sleeping disorder.

1. Initial insomnia - You may have trouble falling asleep at the start of the sleeping period, this is often associated with anxiety and minor stress disorders.
2. Middle insomnia - You may find yourself waking up in the middle of the night, you may find it difficult to maintain your sleep, regulalry waking. Often associated with physical pain or medical illness.
3. Terminal/Late insomnia - Waking up very early in the morning, this is often associated with clinical depression.

Of course as with a lot of the things to do with insomnia nothing is 100% certain, just because you find yourself waking early does not instantly make you clinically depressed, but it is a classic cause.

written by Oli \\ tags: Insomnia, Patterns

Smoking is one of the worlds most common addictions, with nearly all people over the age of 16 having at least tried a cigarette at some point in their lives it is not surprising to see why. Quitting smoking can be hard, especially since nicotine is one of the most socially acceptable addictions you can find the world over. Over the coming months I hope I can help you stop smoking without suffering.

It is important to remember that a persons addiction to cigarettes and nicotine is both Physical, Mental and Chemical. you will not stop smoking unless you conquer all three areas.

The chemical element is surprisingly the easiest to beat, this only takes a matter of day, once around a week has passed there sould no longer be any chemical cravings for nicotine in your body.

The physical element is a little harder, your body likes routine and you will find your hands fidgetting for something to do!

The mental element is probably the hardest thing to get over, you find yourself at the office a little depressed and you remember how calm and relaxed the old cigarette made you feel. The mental stage is where most people lose the battle of giving up smoking. The mental stage never goes away for some smokers, and has often started people smoking again when they hit a stressful patch.

Once you have mastered each of these you will no longer be a smoker, though even after you have managed to give up smoking you will still find yourself wanting them, remember, dont give in to temptation To help you along with this we will be listing all the medication, treatment and tips and tricks to help you quit smoking!

written by Oli \\ tags: Addiction, Advice, Give up Smoking, Help, Quit Smoking, Smoking, Smoking Advice, Stop Smoking

While most treatment for insomnia is psychological, dealing with insomnia as a symptom of some other root cause, disease of medical condition there is treatment available in the form of medication. A lot of these do tend to be sedatives or sleeping tablets, however there is a danger of users becoming addicted to these, sometimes exaggerating the insomnia by suggesting to the person that they cannot sleep without drugs. There are several classes of medication that insomnia sufferers may find useful, these are,

Benzodiazepines

Benzodiazpines, included in drugs such as temazepam, flunitrazepam, triazolam, flurazepam, midazolam and nitrazepam are commonly used hypnotics prescribed by doctors for insomnia. Regular use of these can develop both a tolerance and a dependence, particularly if they are used consistently for a long period.

Non-benzodiazepines

Non-benzodiazepine medication such as zolpidem and zopiclone are much more selective drugs and tend to have less side effects on a user. Their is however controversy as to how effective they are compared to Banzodiazepine based drugs. Nonbenzodiazpine medication can cause physical and mental dependence, so their use does have top be monitored.

Antidepressants

Some antidepressants have a sedative effect such as doxepin and trazodone, these are occasionally prescribed to treat insomnia however they do have some major drawbacks.on-top of several minor side effects. These do tend to be specific to each drug so please do read the label.

Melatonin

Melatonin has been proven effective in many cases by regulating the sleep/wake cycle in its users. There is however little in the way of data supporting its case and is still being trialled by several institutes. Chemicals and drugs that affect Melatonin such as Rozerem do not have much potential for abuse or dependence. They also have very little in the way of side effects making them an ideal starting point for treatment of insomniacs.

Antihistamines

Antihistamines are used regularly as non prescription sleeping drugs. While it is readily available its begins to lose its effectiveness very quickly and users may find themselves feeling very groggy the next day.

Herbal Remedies.

Several herbal solutions to insomnia have been proven to be effective, such as Valerian, Chamomile, Lavender and Cannabis. Valerian has undergone multiple studies and does seem to be fairly effective. Cannabis has been proven to be a very effective treatment of insomnia, though it is illegal in many countries and can carry several minor side effects.

Alcohol is often used to help sleep, it does however prevent a person from having a restful nights sleep and large quantities may result in a hangover, leaving the sufferer unable to function effectively the next day.

Magnesium tablets can also sometimes help alleviate insomnia, magnesium deficiency is a common cause of low level insomnia.

Complementary and Alternative Remedies for Insomnia

There are a lot of traditional ‘old wives tales’ that contain remedies for sleeping problems, and do tend to be fairly effective. These included half an hours exercise every afternoon, warm milk before bed, a warm bath or having a large lunch and a light dinner. There are also several other suggestions such as avoiding mentally stimulating activity before bed times, going to bed and waking up early and avoiding bright light for an hour or two before bed time.

Relaxation techniques such as aromatherapy, mediation and yoga have been proven to help people sleep, along with other relaxation techniques such as self hypnosis.

written by Oli \\ tags: Antidepressants, Antihistamines, Benzodiazepines, Complimentary, Drugs, Herbal, Insomnia, Medication, Treatment