If you smoke cigarettes, or if you live with a smoker now or have in the past, you are most likely familiar with the “smoker’s cough,” but why does it happen first thing in the morning while just getting out of bed, and how come it’s not a productive cough? When you have a chest cold or bronchial congestion from allergies, usually you can cough up some mucus and at least breathe or feel a little better, but for smokers, sometimes the only temporary relief that calms the morning cough is lighting up a cigarette, especially for the menthol addicts.
Did you know that a person’s breathing actually relaxes or slows down during most of the sleep stages to about 75 percent (except for during REM sleep), and so for a smoker, that’s when the tar moves in and compresses the alveoli, those tiny air sacs in your lungs that contract and expand… so upon waking, you immediately need to breathe at 100 percent again, and a smoker may feel like their chest is being compressed, as if they’re choking just trying to get a full breath. The irony is that the body is in a natural state of detoxification in the morning, trying to filter waste, and that is why the first morning urine is so concentrated, because the kidneys, the respiratory and the circulatory systems have slowed down during sleep and upon waking are looking to expel waste. Unfortunately, for smokers who light up first thing, they’re doing exactly the opposite. (http://www.bbc.co.uk)
Although menthols cool tissue in the windpipe and the lungs, which may shrink back swelling and inflammation temporarily, the long-term damage is compounded, by delivering over 4,000 chemicals to the blood and brain within seconds, reversing the natural detoxification and adding to the overall smoking addiction. In fact, studies reveal that menthol cigarettes advertised as “light” or “mild” are misleading, because according to the American Cancer Association, they are actually MORE ADDICTIVE, and likely add to the consumption of carcinogens, making it harder to quit.
Freebase nicotine; who knew?
Chain smoking is becoming more prominent now that cigarettes are juiced up with more ammonia. Way back in the 1960s, big name cigarette manufacturers like Marlboro and Kool figured out that cooking the tobacco leaves with ammonia, similar to how cocaine dealers “freebase” to make crack (the most addictive drug in the world), could make the nicotine up to 35 times as potent. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2424107/) They called it “The SECRET and SOUL of Marlboro.” You can bet your last five bucks they still use it today, and more of it.
This means that the average commercial cigarette is delivering up to 100 milligrams of nicotine potency, as opposed to the 10 to 15 milligrams Big Tobacco would have you believe. Still wondering why the patch, the gum, and the medications like Chantix and Zyban rarely help smokers quit?
Without regulations on ingredients in cigarettes or potency of nicotine, more smokers are suffering the consequences of the scam. With more chemicals lodged in the lung tissue and more glass wool (from the filters) and tar damaging and infecting the epithelial (soft) tissue, more smokers will wake up to coughing spasms and fits, and more smokers will reach for that morning drag to quell it.
What choice do they have, after all? The U.S. government isn’t helping with those “scary” ad campaigns that didn’t work and probably never will. Chantix and Zyban medications cause horrific nightmares and can cause feelings of suicide, plus synthetic meds just add to the toxins in your blood. The patch distributes about .9 milligrams of nicotine into the blood consistently throughout the day, which is absolutely nothing like smoking 100 milligrams of potent nicotine every hour. The nicotine gum has about three to four milligrams of nicotine, again, nothing at all like smoking. (http://www.naturalnews.com/033621_Chantix_Zyban.html)
Detox and exercise program works
The good news is that a smoker can detoxify and can get the tar and toxins out of their lungs over time. It requires some knowledge and application of strategies and nutrition, but it can be accomplished. Cardio exercise and certain supplements, like “Mucuna” and vitamin B complex with niacin are just the beginning, but they have a proven track record of killing the cravings and balancing the central nervous system. This helps motivate the ex-smoker to work out and shed the toxins, which can linger in the lung tissue for months. (http://www.naturalnews.com) That’s right, there is an all natural method to quitting which addresses behavior modification and nutrition, and it’s called 14AndOut. It’s made available by Natural News and Mike Adams recommends it. Give it a try or share the link with someone you know who smokes and would like to quit, especially if it’s their New Year’s resolution. (http://premium.naturalnews.tv/14AndOut__TV.htm)
So maybe next time you wake up coughing, instead of reaching for a menthol, reach for the computer mouse, and check out 14AndOut, and learn how to stop smoking in 14 days or fewer without medication. (http://www.14andout.com/2012/10/testimonials-that-14andout-works/)
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