SMOKING to SMOKILL

SMOKING to SMOKILL

Warm Greetings!!

Nowadays with increasing complexities in life, people are constantly in the mode of stress. No doubt stress is a troublemaker but the path for its extraction used by the people, is deadly!

Generally stress is extracted by performing Yoga or some low/high intensity exercises. But this seems to be a time consuming process as well as old school. People have thus resorted to a much faster process for relaxation - ‘CIGARETTE SMOKING’. Yes you read it correctly!

Cigarette smoking has become the most common activity for people. Call it a pastime or an instant stress reliever. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are around 120 million active smokers in India. Also India consists of 12% of the total smokers in the world. But due to smoking cigarettes, 9 lakh people die every year. This number is extremely painful and it’s on the inclination.

Let’s analyze this grave situation more closely. Apart from adults, I’ve also seen many teens smoking on a regular basis. This has gone way beyond of just relieving oneself from stress. It has become a status quo for many people. I read a lot of literature with respect to the effects of cigarette smoking and found quite interesting facts which I would like to share with you all.

Cigarette is made up of Tobacco leaves which consist of Nicotine and a variety of other compounds. When these compounds burn, they are known to release thousands of chemicals over many of which are known to cause cancer. All different forms of Tobacco like Pipes, Cigars, Hookahs and Smokeless Tobacco are dangerous. Cigarette smoke consists of poisonous gases like Carbon Monoxide (CO) & Nitrogen Oxide (NO) as well as many cancer causing radioactive particles.

So when you smoke a cigarette and inhale the tobacco smoke, nicotine enters the brain within seconds. It’s a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant which induces a pleasurable feeling as well as it’ll make you energetic for a short period of time. It induces relaxation and a mild feeling of euphoria too. Basically you feel like a KING! All of these benefits with a single puff of Cigarette? Cigarette lovers would be like “WOW, This was so fulfilling!”

But this filling is fully gone after a certain while.  After the effect of the nicotine subsides, you feel tired and crave more and more. With increasing doses, the brain gets desensitized and there is moment when you can’t stay away from a cigarette. Apart from the above mentioned symptoms, Bad breath, decreased appetite and dizziness are the other symptoms of low to moderate doses of tobacco.

But no one actually sticks to low doses of tobacco. People always try to reach the higher level. A higher dose of tobacco for a long term has some serious implications on our health.

A] SENSES: Smoking increases the risk of macular degeneration (Vision Loss/ Blurred Vision), cataracts, and poor eyesight. It can also weaken your sense of taste and sense of smell, so food may become less enjoyable (Decreased Appetite).

B] CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES:

i) When nicotine flows through your Adrenal Glands (One above each kidney), it stimulates the release of epinephrine which increases your Blood pressure.

ii) In addition, Nicotine and CO can damage the lining of the inner wall of your arteries. Fatty deposits can build up at these damaged sites and become large enough to narrow down the arteries. This would severely decrease the blood flow through the arteries, a condition called as Atherosclerosis.

iii) Smoking also causes Coronary Heart Disease. In coronary heart disease, these atherosclerotic plaques narrow the arteries supplying blood to the heart. This reduces the blood flow extremely and thus less oxygen reaches your heart muscle, increasing the risk for Heart attack.

iv) Smoking also increases your risk for blood clots as it causes the platelets in your blood to clump together.

v) Smoking increases your risk for Peripheral vascular disease as atherosclerotic plaques block the large arteries in your arms and legs.

vi) Smoking can also cause Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm which is the swelling of the Aorta (the major blood vessel that supplies blood to the body)

C] LUNG DISEASES: When we inhale Air through nasal passage, it gets moistened, warmed and filtered before it reaches the lungs. Air then passes through the trachea (Wind pipe) and then into the respective left and right bronchi. It further enters the smaller network of bronchioles. This entire network is called as a Bronchial Tree. The bronchioles terminate into smaller air exchange globules called as Alveoli.

From these thousands of alveoli, oxygen from the air moves into the blood stream and carbon dioxide (CO₂) moves out of the blood stream (Exhalation).

i) The hair-like projections in the bronchial tubes (Cilia) push the harmful chemicals out of the lungs. Cigarette smoke irritates the lining of the bronchial tubes causing them to swell and develop mucus. It also slows down the movement of cilia thus retaining some of the chemicals and mucus in your lungs.

While sleeping, some of the cilia start recovering and push more pollutants and mucus out of the lungs. When you wake up, your body tries to expel these materials by coughing repeatedly.

This is termed as smoker’s cough. Over time it develops into Chronic Bronchitis (Inflammation of the Bronchial tubes). The cilia stop working and the airways become blocked by mucus and scar tissue. Breathing becomes more difficult and the lungs are more vulnerable to further diseases.

ii) Cigarette smoke may also damage your alveoli making it harder for O₂ and CO₂ to exchange with your blood. Over time so little oxygen can reach your blood that you may develop Emphysema, a condition in which you have to gasp for every breath.

iii) Chronic bronchitis and Emphysema are collectively termed as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). It’s the gradual loss of ability to breathe for which there is no cure.

C] CANCER: Cigarette smoke consists of carcinogens for example, Cyanide, Formaldehyde, Benzene, Ammonia and many more. Such toxic chemicals can damage the DNA in your healthy cells. As a result, these damaged cells create new unhealthy cells which may spread to other parts of the body. Smoking can cause Cancer of the Lungs, Blood and Marrow, Mouth, Larynx, Throat, Esophagus, Stomach, Pancreas, Kidneys, Bladder, Uterus and Cervix.

D] INFERTILITY: Both men and women who smoke are at higher risk of Infertility. Women who smoke may experience menopause at an earlier age than nonsmoking women. Smoking increases a woman’s risk of cervical cancer.

E] PREGNANCY: If a pregnant woman smokes, she exposes the baby to the toxic chemicals and increases the risk of Low birth weight, miscarriage, pre-term delivery, infant death, stillbirth and Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Nicotine may also pass to the baby through breast milk and may cause more complications.

F] DIGESTIVE SYSTEM: Smokers are at great risk of developing oral problems. Tobacco use can cause gum inflammation (gingivitis) or infection (periodontitis). These problems can lead to tooth decay, tooth loss, and bad breath.

G] INTEGUMENTARY SYSTEM (SKIN, HAIR & NAILS): Smoking causes skin discoloration, wrinkles, and premature aging. Your fingernails and the skin on your fingers may have yellow staining from holding cigarettes. Smokers usually develop yellow or brown stains on their teeth. Hair holds on to the smell of tobacco long after you put your cigarette out. It even clings to nonsmokers.

After reading so many fatal health effects of Smoking, I had a simple solution – Just BAN it! And this leads me to think, why it’s not banned yet? I read a few articles as well as some reviews on Quora. I was really shocked to read that Cigarette Industry is the largest commercial sector and they provide direct or indirect employment for lakhs of people for its farming and processing. So people say it should not be banned.

People are looking at the Employment side. No one is looking at the Mortality rate.

I rarely recovered from the above stats and then I read someone saying – You cannot tell anyone to stop smoking. It’s their ‘Wish’. I had a good laugh on this. Don’t stop smoking for ‘Your’ betterment; stop smoking for ‘Our’ betterment.

Second hand smoke (Passive Smoking) has a similar kind of effect on Non – smokers. But guess what, People don’t think about their own self, why would they think about others? It’s high time for people to understand the dangerous health issues related to smoking.

Nicotine withdrawal being difficult is another reason why people aren’t quitting. It’s a slow procedure where you bring the nicotine levels down gradually. This would bring more symptoms like irritability, anxiety, insomnia, difficulty in concentrating and many more. But to prevent premature death, quitting this habit is one of the many ways out.

I’ve seen Teachers who teach Biology on one end, who smoke on the other end! This is the classic example of Educated Illiterates. We need to understand the consequences of cigarette smoking and spread more awareness amongst people.

Fact for the Day: One Cigarette reduces your life by 11 minutes.

Understanding Lower Back Pain

Greetings!!

 

This blog will help you understand how one can cure lower back pain by practicing these simple steps! Let me put a disclaimer that it is my personal experience and following the below mentioned steps on a regular basis has helped me improve my condition. You could definitely try these postures but I request you to avoid them if it starts aggravating your situation.

Sitting at a single place for long hours, bad posture, walking in a wrong orientation or sudden jerks to the body are the major causes of lower back pain. Many people do face this problem in some phase of their life (mainly in the age range of 35-50 years). But as it is said that age is just a number, I fell a victim to lower back pain at the age of 22!

Let us understand our backbone first. Spinal cord is a long tubular bundle of nervous tissues and supporting cells which extend from the Brain to the lumbar region (Lower back). It is the main support system of our body. This spinal cord is protected by a rigid column known as Vertebral column. Vertebral column has 26 individual vertebrae which are joined end to end in a similar fashion.

Vertebral column is classified into 3 main divisions,

• Cervical Vertebrae (7) – It supports the neck and allows its flexible movements.
• Thoracic Vertebrae (12) – It helps in the attachment of the ribcage to protect vital organs.
• Lumbar Vertebrae (5) – They allow significant flexibility as well as side bending.

                             

 These vertebrae have different structures depending upon the region they protect. But they have 3 common components - The main body (Centrum), spinous process (Helps in the attachment of the muscles and ligaments of the spine) at the top and transverse processes at the sides (Help in attachment of the ribs in the thoracic region). The gap is termed as neural foramen which allows various nerves to pass through it. (Photo: Starting from Top right – thoracic vertebra, cervical vertebra and Lumbar vertebra)

                              

Sandwiched between the vertebrae are the shock-absorbing discs called as ‘Intervertebral Discs’. Intervertebral discs have a unique structure which allows soft movement of the interconnected vertebrae along the vertebral column.

There are 2 major components of these discs,

•  Inner gel-like substance called as ‘Nucleus Pulposus’. It is a mucoprotein gel which acts as a shock absorber.

• Outer ‘Anulus Fibrosus’ which surrounds the above mentioned gel.

                                            

Sacrum and Coccyx are the remaining two components but they have a different structure as they consist of fused vertebra. Sacrum anchors the spine whereas the coccyx is a vestige of the mammalian tail.

During my masters, I sat continuously in any manner without caring for my lower back. I didn’t even exercise much which had an adverse effect on my flexibility. I used to play sports like Cricket or Football occasionally which gave my body sudden jerks. Eventually, I started feeling pain on the left side of my lower back during my final semester examinations. But life gives you stress when you don’t want it and you got to take it. You know why? Because you don’t really have a choice!

I thought the pain would disappear if I sleep properly at night. I tried that for some days but all in pain! (Pun intended). Now as many people tend to do, I did the same. Procrastination!

I thought I’ll recover in some days but my condition worsened. Now I couldn’t even sit, walk or sleep properly. I had excruciating pain in my left leg. I realized finally that this problem was way too serious. After some days I got numbness in my left foot followed by a tingling sensation. Due to the numbness I couldn’t balance my body weight when I tried walking.

I decided to go to my family doctor and he gave me some anti-inflammatory medicines. I took the medications for 5 days and it did not show any significant effect. So finally on my Doctor’s advice, I did an X-ray of my lower back and got an idea that the distance between my L4-L5 discs had reduced due to Disc Damage. The L4 and L5 are the two intervertebral discs in the last part of Lumbar region. Due to damage or possibly a herniation, the distance between the two discs had reduced and the inflammation gave rise to severe pain in the lumbar area.

So finally I had to approach a Physiotherapist who can relieve me from this pain. But honestly speaking, being a Biotechnologist, I do my homework before I go to the doctor. So I searched for similar problems on the internet and found out that one of my nerves would be pinched at the lumbar area.

Until I got my appointment date, I was at my native place. The pain was increasing day by day. So as any individual would’ve done, I contacted an MD at my native. He gave me anti-inflammatory medications which gave me relief for a day at least. But the flare ups did not stop. They kept showing up every day. So I decided to contact a friend of mine who was pursuing Bachelors on Physiotherapy. She told me that I have Sciatica. Sciatica is a condition in which your longest nerve in the leg (Sciatic nerve – Which extends from the lower back to the foot) gets pinched. She sent me some photos depicting lower back exercises. I did it on a regular basis but the approach gave results only for a short time. I required some really long term beneficial results.

So when I came back to my City (Mumbai), I instantly got an appointment with the Physiotherapist and I explained him my entire problem. He informed me that one of the nerves was getting impinged. He gave me medications for 2 weeks and told me to focus only on getting enough rest and do some simple stretching exercises. And as every Doctor, he advised me to sit up straight at all times (Worst Advice Ever). He even told me to stop bending forward, place a pillow below my thighs and always get up from sideways after waking up.

I did what I was told and in 2 weeks, the numbness in my leg had reduced considerably. I was quite happy that finally I could walk without any pressure on my left foot. Though many weeks went; the pain in the lower back was still there. So once again I went to the Doctor and this time, he was least interested in understanding my problem. The only thing he was iterating was to get an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) done. I told him that I get pain in the lower back mainly when I get up after sitting and apart from that, I was feeling much better. The reply I got was, “Do an MRI immediately or else perform the same exercises”.

The second meet was quite unsatisfactory. So I decided to get into the details of spinal column and improve my condition instantly. I will mention my approach and it has worked brilliantly for me.

STEPS I TOOK TO MINIMIZE LOWER BACK PAIN:

STEP I: The most important thing when you suffer from a lower back pain, is to always be in a good posture (Whether you are Sitting/ Sleeping/ Standing).

Many a time people follow the technique of sitting up straight. Even I tried that but it doesn’t really decrease your pain. On the other hand, it might increase it.  Your intervertebral discs are in a lot of pressure when you are standing or sitting without a support for your back.

So I researched a lot regarding the structure of spinal cord. And I finally understood one simple loop hole in this entire problem - ‘Shape of Spinal Cord’. It is written everywhere that our spinal cord is an ‘S’ shaped structure. Though it’s not a complete S but it shows quite a similarity. So based upon the structure, I adopted some key changes in my posture.

      a)      Sitting: Instead of simply sitting straight, I kept a small pillow or a folded towel (White Gap in the picture below) exactly at the inner curve of the lumbar region. This was mainly to keep a soft support and do not let the spine misalign while sitting. The thoracic region was completely resting on the chair whereas the cervical region had to be in proper curve. (Keep your head straight). I kept my legs in a perfect alignment depicting the structure of an inverse ‘L’.

Things to Avoid: Keep an extremely comfortable pillow. The pillow should be small enough to align your back and your abdomen should not lean ahead. Basically don’t overdo it.

                                         

     b)      Sleeping: Sleeping is the most important aspect in improving the lower back condition. When I slept straight, I took 3 pillows – one supporting the cervical region, one supporting the lumbar region and the last on below my thighs.

When I slept on either side, I kept a pillow between my legs. This avoids misalignment of your back and prevents further inflammation and pain of the corresponding area.

Things to Avoid: Do not sleep on your stomach. It has an adverse effect on the spine.

      c)      Standing: Standing puts a lot of pressure on the spine. In order to reduce the pressure, maintain the ‘S’ shape precisely. The head, thoracic region, buttocks and ankle are in a straight line. I stopped bending my lower back and started to bend my knees to do any kind of work.

Things to Avoid: Never bend sideways as it can aggravate your pain.

                            

STEP II) After integrating the ‘S’ shape theory into my mind, I started focusing on some stretching exercises. Since lower back pain is extremely painful, doing some intense workouts will lead to intense pain. So doing various stretching exercises is more reliable as it also strengthens the core muscles.

But first I understood ‘When’ I was feeling the pain. And I would recommend you to follow the same. I was feeling immense pain only when I used to bend forward. So I made a basic equation,

PAIN WHILE BENDING FORWARD – Damage is on the Posterior (Back side) part of the intervertebral disc. So we need to perform back stretches which would ‘Pull’ the disc back at the center.

PAIN WHILE BENDING BACKWARD – Damage is on the Anterior (Front side) part of the intervertebral disc. So we need to perform front stretches which would ‘Push’ the disc back at the center.

STEP III) So depending upon the above mentioned condition, you need to do stretches. I’ll show you all the stretches that you can perform but avoid it if it adds up to your pain. Stretches with proper breathing have a vital role in curing lower back pain.

      a)      Cat-Camel Stretch: This is one of the most easiest and useful stretches. It will allow an individual to align his/ her spine. This is the first stretch I do on a regular basis.

     

     b)      Quadruped Arm / Leg raise: This is the second stretch which I prefer. It provides a proper elongation of the spine releases all the stress which has been collected. You can modify this stretch by just doing leg raises at the rear end.

       c)      Press Up:

                            

     d)     Straight Leg Raise: Actually this is a test undertaken by doctors to check whether you have a herniated disc. Initially I couldn’t even lift my left leg to 30^o. But after regular stretching and taking care of my back, I can now lift up to 60^o.

              

       e)      Hip Bridges: This was the most helpful of all. It allows you to strengthen your lower back. Do it very slowly and effectively. You can modify by raising legs after performing a hip bridge.

                

          f)       Knee to Chest: It tightens the buttock muscles.

                             

     g)      Wall Slide: This strengthens the quadriceps and the buttock muscles. It has a key role in relieving pain from the lower back. Proper breathing is required.

                                            

So these are the exercises or stretches that I follow on regular basis along with maintaining the ‘S’ shape of my spine. Apart from the ones mentioned above, as I have less pain now, I’ve shifted to a slightly more intense exercises like Planks, Side planks, Jump rope, Lunges, Calf raises, Push-ups etc.

So depending upon the severity of your situation, you can start from above mentioned techniques and then graduate to any level of work out. Maintaining your posture would do 80% of your work. The remaining 20% would be your stretches.

I have written this article for the people who just don’t think about their medical condition and just jump at the Doctor’s clinic. People just need pills for instant treatment. They don’t want to understand what their body is indicating and how to understand those indications. 

I am not against Doctors nor am I someone with a high intellect. I am a layman who tries to understand biology and make more people aware of it. Follow this approach and remember one thing – Don’t overdo it. Do within limits. Glad if I could help anyone!