WEEK 8

EXPLORATION ON RANDOM WORD/ IMAGE ASSOCIATION

For those who never smoked, this is a befuddling fact. Don’t smokers understand that cigarettes are the number one killer in WORLD , that they dramatically increase risk for heart disease, stroke, cancer, high blood pressure, and almost every other health concern, small or large? How could any habit be worth this?

Truth is, most smokers do understand. They also understand the huge financial toll of smoking, with a pack of 20 cigarettes costing $10 in some areas and a year on cigarettes by pack-a-day smokers — often people of only modest resources.

Then why do millions still smoke? In good part, because the nicotine in cigarettes is highly addictive. In good part, because smoking provides psychological comfort to some people. Perhaps most of all, because quitting smoking is so hard.

Researchers and businesses have responded strongly to the last point. Never have there been so many tools, systems, and programs available for quitting smoking. And with every month that passes, there is more research showing the benefits of quitting, and the drawbacks of not quitting.

So if you smoke, consider again whether it is time, finally, to quit. If yes, you’ll need to think through the best approach, perhaps working with your doctor or an expert. But the following tips will help you succeed :

1. To minimize cravings, change your routine. Sit in a different chair at breakfast or take a different route to work. If you usually have a drink and cigarette after work, change that to a walk. If you’re used to a smoke with your morning coffee, switch to tea, or stop at Starbucks for a cup of java — the chain is smoke-free.

2. Tell your friends, coworkers, boss, partner, kids, etc., how you feel about situations instead of bottling up your emotions. If something makes you angry, express it instead of smothering it with cigarette smoke. If you’re bored, admit to yourself that you’re bored and find something energetic to do instead of lighting up.

3. Put all the money you’re saving on cigarettes in a large glass jar. You want to physically see how much you’ve been spending. Earmark that money for something you’ve always dreamed of doing, but never thought you could afford, be it a cruise to Alaska or a first-class ticket to visit an old college friend.

4. Switch your cigarette habit for a nut habit — four nuts in their shell for every cigarette you want to smoke. This way, you’re using your hands and your mouth, getting the same physical and oral sensations you get from smoking.

5. Carry some cinnamon-flavored toothpicks with you. Suck on one whenever a cig craving hits.

6. Make an appointment with an acupuncturist. There’s some evidence that auricular acupuncture (i.e., needles in the ears) curbs cigarette cravings quite successfully, says Ather Ali, N.D., a naturopathic physician completing a National Institutes of Health-sponsored postdoctoral research fellowship at the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center in Derby, Connecticut. You can even do it yourself by taping “seeds” (small beads) onto the acupuncture points and squeezing them whenever cravings arise.

7. Swing by the health food store for some Avena sativa (oat) extract. One study found that, taken at 1 milliliters four times daily, it helped habitual tobacco smokers significantly decrease the number of cigarettes they smoked.

8. Think of difficult things you have done in the past. Ask people who know you well to remind you of challenges you have successfully overcome, says Dr. Lieberman. This will give you the necessary self-confidence to stick with your pledge not to smoke.

#Traffic Light

Traffic lights, also known as traffic signals, traffic lamps, signal lights, robots and semaphores., are signalling devices positioned at or near road intersections, pedestrian crossings and other locations to control competing flows of traffic. Traffic lights were first installed in 1868 in London, United Kingdom now used in almost every city of the world. Traffic lights alternate the right of way accorded to road users by displaying lights of a standard color (red, yellow/amber, and green) following a universal color code (and a precise sequence to enable comprehension by those who are color blind).

In the typical sequence of color phases: Illumination of the green light allows traffic to proceed in the direction denoted, if it is safe to do so. Illumination of the orange/amber light denoting prepare to stop short of the intersection, if it is safe to do so.  Illumination of the red signal prohibits any traffic from proceeding .Usually, the red light contains some orange in its hue, and the green light contains some blue, said to be for the benefit of people with red-green color blindness.

So how does one connect stop smoking and traffic light??

Solution:

Sign : Use an irritating sign to stop smokers to smoke

Metal : Create a small metal for smokers to slow down their smoking habit in the cigarette.

Dirty : Cigarette manufactures should add a bit of mud in the product.