Tag Archives: smoking

5 Things You Should Know About Nicotine

They’ve been marketed as a safe and fun alternative to cigarettes, even a way to help smokers kick the habit, but nicotine-delivery systems such as e-cigarettes and other vaping devices may instead be creating new problems and erasing years of hard-won anti-smoking victories.

Teens Who Smoke or Are Depressed Less Willing to Delay Rewards

By nature, people tend to want to be rewarded for their behavior now rather than later. Psychologists call the preference for short-term rewards over long-term rewards delay discounting. In a study published in 2014 in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, researchers from two U.S. universities explored the ways in which delay discounting and depression […]

New Anti-Smoking Shock Campaign Unveiled by CDC

Brett quit smoking four years ago, well after losing most of his teeth. By his mid-30s, gum disease from tobacco smoking had ravaged the bones and tissue supporting his teeth — 16 removed in one surgery. At 42, nearly toothless, Brett still smoked. He soberly looks at the viewer in a new “scared straight” television […]

How to Quit Smoking

Smoking cigarettes is linked to one in five deaths in the U.S., including those from exposure to secondhand smoke, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is nearly half a million deaths yearly due to nicotine addiction. For every smoking-related death, 30 more people suffer at least one or more chronic or […]

Mental Illness More Dangerous to Health Than Smoking

Smoking is a form of substance use known for its ability to trigger a wide range of serious and potentially fatal health problems. In fact, current figures indicate that roughly 20 percent of all annual deaths in the U.S. stem from smoking-related causes. In a large-scale study review slated for publication in 2014 in the […]

Smoking in the Military Deserves a Dishonorable Discharge

Every year, 480,000 Americans die from smoking-related diseases. This presents quite a challenge for the tobacco industry, which must constantly recruit new generations of smokers to replace those whose habits have been interrupted by death. Overseas marketing efforts have bolstered industry profit margins, making up for some of this attrition. And tens of millions of […]

Nicotine Has Tightest Grip on Women

Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The importance of understanding the mechanisms of tobacco addiction and those most affected by it can hardly be understated, and a new study from Austria has provided evidence that women are more […]

Smoking Long or Ultralong Cigarettes Magnifies Lung Cancer Risk

Long and ultra-long cigarettes have a noticeably longer and thinner profile than standard cigarettes. Tobacco product manufacturers apparently market these cigarettes to appeal to women and enhance the perceived safety of smoking; however, use of long and ultra-long cigarettes may actually increase a person’s cancer-related risks. In a study published in March 2014 in the […]

Smokers Avert Eyes From Cigarette Pack Warnings, Study Finds

In the U.S., federal law requires cigarette manufacturers to place warnings on their products that outline the serious health risks associated with cigarette use. These warnings are meant to deter people from smoking and also to encourage current smokers to cut down on their cigarette intake or stop smoking altogether. In a study published in […]

Positive Psychotherapy Helps Smokers Quit

Positive psychotherapy (PPT) is the name for a type of psychotherapeutic treatment that focuses on increasing and reinforcing a person’s positive emotional states rather than focusing on easing the effects of a person’s negative emotional states. In a study published in January 2014 in the Journal of Positive Psychology, researchers from several U.S. universities investigated […]

I Smoke, But I’m Not a Smoker

Cigarette smoking is a highly addictive activity practiced by millions of U.S. adults and teenagers. Doctors and public health officials commonly try to identify smokers as part of an ongoing effort to prevent the severe health complications that often accompany cigarette use and nicotine addiction. However, according to the results of a study published in […]

CVS Calls It Quits: No More Cigarettes

CVS/Caremark, the largest selling drugstore chain in the U.S., announced Wednesday that it will stop selling tobacco products by year’s end, a potential catalyst for more retailers to also consider withdrawing. Smoking-cessation advocates believe less access will help fight the addictive habit, while market analysts said it will likely shift sales to other venues. “CVS […]

Adults Fear E-Cigarettes Will Encourage Kids to Start Smoking Tobacco

E-cigarettes, or electronic cigarettes, are designed to provide doses of vaporized nicotine to users when activated. Some current research indicates that these devices may prove useful as nicotine replacement products for people trying to quit smoking. However, other research indicates that the devices may serve as gateways for further nicotine use among teenagers and younger […]

Quitting Smoking With Lasers: Too Good to Be True?

Cigarette smoking is responsible for approximately one in every five deaths in the U.S., taking the lives of over 440,000 people per year, according to the CDC. That’s why any intervention that aims to reduce the huge morbidity and mortality associated with smoking is such a potential boon for public health. If it can do […]

As ‘Vaping’ Rockets in Popularity, Will It Help Smokers Quit Tobacco, Hook Young Addicts or Mask Marijuana?

Southern California’s first electronic cigarette expo promised to be “epic.” And like any good party, it briefly got shut down by authorities.  How epic was it? So many thousands puffed away — or “vaped” — that the steamy haze set off fire alarms and forced the evacuation of the Anaheim Convention Center. Throngs of sellers […]

Study of Smokers’ Genes Reveals Which Teens Are Most Vulnerable to Addiction

Ninety percent of lung cancer cases in America can be directly attributed to smoking. It’s one of the country’s foremost legal addictions—you can head down to the store and load up on dangerous and addictive substances without attracting attention from the law. Tobacco addiction causes more deaths than HIV, illicit drug use, alcohol use, suicides, […]

Depression May Stand in Way of Smoking Cessation Success

A new study has found that smokers who suffer from depression want to quit smoking as much as non-depressed smokers do, but their depression may stand in the way of their success. Researchers from the University of California at San Diego found that 24 percent of people who called the California Smokers’ Helpline currently suffered […]