InsightsandAdvice.com

Here’s a scary, yet powerful list of approximate annual deaths a year from smoking related causes versus deaths from other causes.

• 468,000 deaths from smoking
• 107,000 deaths from Alcohol
• 90,000 deaths from Microbial agents
• 60,000 deaths from Toxic agents
• 40,000 deaths from Sexual behavior
• 35,000 deaths from Firearms
• 25,000 deaths from Motor vehicles
• 20,000 deaths from Illicit drugs

When going to the beach we all have our list of things to bring. Sunscreen, towel, boogie board, sandals, … Vinegar? Yes, vinegar! Nobody thinks that they’ll get stung by a jellyfish while at the beach or run into some sea anemone larvae which leave you covered in nasty red bumps or even stepping on a urchin spine. Well sadly it happens and vinegar is one of the best ways to ease the pain. I know many of you won’t follow this advice until you’ve been stung but if you ever have, trust me, you’ll do just about anything to make the pain stop. To do so simply soak the injured area in vinegar for at least 15-30 minutes and you’ll notice a HUGE difference. Good luck and have fun at the beach!

Alcohol is considered public enemy number 1 by many analysts because it claims at lease 100,000 lives a year. (This is about five times as many deaths as all illegal drugs combined.) Here are some scary yet interesting facts about alcohol.

DOLLARS SPENT ANNUALLY ON ALCOHOL:

• More than 86 billion dollars are spent annually on alcoholic beverages.
• About 116 billion, yes billion, dollars are spent every year for the damages to society such as divorce courts, lost work, health care, and premature deaths to name a few.
• Adding it all up the total yearly cost of alcoholic beverages is $202,000,000,000.

EQUIVALENT AMOUNTS OF ALCOHOL:

Each of the following has roughly 1/2 an ounce (15 grams) of pure alcohol.

• 1.5 oz. of 80 proof liquor
• 12 oz. of beer
• 5 oz. of table wine

DRINKING EFFECTS THE GASTROINTESTINAL SYSTEM.

• Esophageal varices
• Cirrhosis of the liver
• Gastroesophageal reflux disease
• Acute pancreatitis
• Alcoholic hepatitis
• Chronic pancreatitis
• Gastritis
• Peptic ulcer disease

DANGERS OF MODERATE ALCOHOL USAGE:

1. The risk of alcohol-related health problems is greatest among “heavy drinkers”.
2. Because “social drinkers” outnumber “heavy drinkers”, the majority of alcohol-related problems occur among “social drinkers.”
3. Heavy alcohol intoxication can produce serious adverse effects in individuals who otherwise file within the social norms of alcohol use.
4. Alcohol consumption use involves a continuous risk because information progressively grows on how alcohol is hazardous to your health.

LIGHT DRINKING EFFECTS YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM:

• The body’s ability to fight bacteria and viruses is reduced by 67% after having only two drinks.

SIDE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL USE:

• High blood pressure
• Heart problems
• Stroke
• Elevated triglycerides
• Low blood sugar
• Impaired sexual functions
• Vitamin and mineral deficiency
• Ketoacidosis
• Chronic fatigue
• Gout
• Osteoporosis
• Rhabdomyolysis
• Body weight control
• Anemia
• Increased severity and duration of PMS
• Decreased number of blood platelets

HEAVY DRINKING IMPACTS THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM:

• Stupor and coma
• Decreased judgment, foresight, moral reasoning
• Cerebral atrophy
• Peripheral neuropathy
• Cerebellar degeneration
• Accidents
• Physical dependence
• Accidents
• Homicide
• Suicide
• Seizures
• Delirium tremens (DT’s)

ABNORMALITIES RELATED TO PRENATAL ALCOHOL EXPOSURE:

• Immune system impairment
• Vision problems
• Hyperactivity
• Hearing problems
• Learning difficulties
• Trouble breast feeding
• Genital abnormalities
• Skull and facial abnormalities
• Abnormal balance and coordination
• Mental retardation
• Growth deficiencies

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION SAYS TO TO ALCOHOL:

• “Alcohol consumption causes some of the world’s most serious health problems.”
• “Light drinking is unlikely to lower heart disease risk in people who are already taking other lifestyle precautions like exercising regularly, not smoking, and eating less fat.”
• “Drinking adversely affects a significant proportion of the populations, not just a minority of alcoholics or heavy drinkers.”
• The publicity given to the use of moderate amounts of alcohol for heart disease prevention is “not the result of rigorous scientific research, but is to a large extent inspired by commercial purposes.”
• “The less you drink is the better.”

PROHIBITION COMES TO A SMALL TOWN IN ALASKA:

(Here’s a very interesting example of what can happen when a “small” society goes without alcohol.)

• The small town of Barrow, Alaska with a population of 3,900 voted in 1994 to abolish the sale of alcohol.
• After doing so alcohol-related crime and accidents dropped by 70%!!!!
• Regarding acute health problems: Emergency room alcohol-related visits dropped from 188 per month to 23 per month in the first 30 days of prohibition.

Allright, we all know smoking is a horrific habit but sometimes you need to see some scary #$#^ to wake you up a bit. Read this every day if you have to if it’s gonna help you or a loved one quit smoking.

ANNUAL DEATHS FROM SMOKING VS. OTHER CAUSES: (As of 2000)

This has obviously increased drastically.

• Smoking - 468,000 deaths annually
• Alcohol - 107,000 deaths annually
• Microbial Agents - 90,000 annually
• Toxic Agents - 60,000 annually
• Sexual Behavior - 40,000 annually
• Firearms - 35,000 annually
• Motor Vehicles - 25,000 annually
• Illicit/Illegal Drugs - 20,000 annually

SMOKING AND BREAST CANCER:

• Women who smoke suffer a 25 to 75% increased risk of breast cancer when compared to women who don’t smoke.
• The more and longer women smoked the higher the risk of breast cancer.

COLON CANCER AND SMOKERS:

• Smoking leaves a cancer-producing effect on the large intestine that will probably last throughout your life.
• Smokers can double their risk of colon cancer.
• Reasonably thinking then, the sooner you quit, the less risk you have of colon cancer.

MORTALITY OF SMOKERS:

• Smokers lose an average of 21 years of life.
• At least 25% of all smokers will die prematurely from a smoking-induced illness.

SMOKING AND THE THE YOUTH AGES 12 TO 18:

• 75% of young smokers who try to quit are unsuccessful.
• 54% do not expect to be smoking a year later.
• Nowadays girls are just as likely to smoke as are boys.
• Teens are more likely to smoke if friends and family do.
• Risk takers are more likely to smoke than non risk takers.
• White teens are 3 times more likely to smoke than black teens.

TEENS AND A SMOKING CATASTROPHE:

• Even if current rates of smoking were to merely stay the same, 20 million of the 70 million children in the US today would become smokers.
• At least 5 million of them can expect to die of smoking-related diseases.

HEALTH CARE COSTS OF LIFELONG SMOKERS:

• Almost a decade ago, in the year 2000 the excess lifetime medical expenditures for all of those smoking today in America will amount to approximately $500 billion dollars.
• This will amount to $50 billion in annual medical expenses for smokers. Please keep in mind these stats are 8 years old and are substantially worse now.
• Here’s another way to look at it. Each year more than 1 million youngsters start to smoke, adding an estimated $10 billion during their lifetimes to the health care costs US taxpayers will have to pay. Once again, these stats are from 2000 and have most certainly risen from then.

PASSIVE SMOKING DEATHS PER YEAR IN THE US (EST):

• Heart disease deaths: 35,000
• Lung cancer deaths: 5,000
• Deaths from other forms of cancer: 10,000

“Women who have never smoked face over twice the risk of developing lung cancer if they live for a significant period of time with smokers.” - Neil Nedly, M.D.

“When compared with offspring of nonsmokers, mothers who smoke at least 10 cigarettes a day during pregnancy give birth to children with IQ’s that average 9 points lower.” - Neil Nedly, M.D.

SMOKING DECREASES YOUR QUALITY OF LIFE:

• Hormonal abnormalities
• Greater risk of back injury and pain
• Reduced bone strength and increased likelihood of fractures
• Rapid loss of physical capacity
• Accelerated skin degeneration and wrinkling
• Advanced loss of vision
• Difficulty sleeping
• Likely cases of stomach ulcers
• Heartburn problems
• Accelerated hair loss and graying of hair

SMOKING ELEVATES YOUR RISK OF SUDDEN DEATH:

• Sudden death risk for smokers is 2 to 4 times greater than for nonsmokers.
• The risk of sudden death increases with the number of cigarettes smokes per day.
• The risk of sudden death seems to diminish almost immediately after kicking the smoking habit.

SMOKING, THE PILL, AND HEART ATTACKS:

• A female smoker taking “The Pill” and smoking more than 25 cigarettes per day has nearly 40 times the chance of having a heart attack than that of a nonsmoking female taking “The Pill”.

LUNG CANCER DEATH RATES BY THE NUMBER OF CIGARETTES SMOKES PER DAY:

• Nonsmokers have a death rate of lung cancer at 1
• Smoking 1-9 cigarettes a day will multiply your chances of lung cancer by 4.6%
• Smoking 10-19 cigarettes per day ups your chances of lung cancer to 8.6%
• By smoking 20-39 cigarettes per day your chances of lung cancer are raised to 14.7% over nonsmokers.
• And if you smoke 40 or more cigs per day your chances of getting lung cancer are a whopping 18.7% higher than those of nonsmokers!

I like sitting down and zoning out in front of the tele as much as the next guy but here are some startling facts about the harmful effects of doing so.

1. TV reduces interest in reading and learning
2. Produces a hypnotic effect
3. Encourages poor lifestyle habits
4. Weakens brain power
5. Increases “daydreaming”
6. Increases likelihood of obesity
7. Lowers creativity levels
8. Strong possibility of lowering discrimination levels
9. Strongly influences viewers to regard violence lightly
10. Trains in non-reaction
11. Typically makes children more irritable
12. Increases aggressiveness
13. TV is addictive
14. Accelerates sexual activity in teens
15. Reduces productiveness
16. Reduces family time
17. TV negatively affects spirituality

Based on equal weight proportions the following fruits and vegetables have the highest amount of antioxidants.

FRUITS HIGH IN ANTIOXIDANTS:

1. Strawberry
2. Plum
3. Orange
4. Red Grapes
5. Kiwi Fruit
6. Pink Grapefruit
7. White Grapes
8. Banana
9. Apple
10. Tomato

VEGETABLES HIGH IN ANTIOXIDANTS:

1. Garlic
2. Kale
3. Spinach
4. Brussels Sprouts
5. Alfalfa Sprouts
6. Broccoli
7. Beets
8. Red Bell Pepper
9. Onion
10. Corn

Because most people, and especially most Americans, ingest an incredible amount of salty foods there is good reason to look at the health problems associated with such eating habits! While sodium is a electrolyte your body needs, if taken in large or unbalanced quantities, it can and typically will have negative complications such as:

• Kidney Stones
• Stomach and nasopharyngeal cancer
• Osteoporosis
• Myocardial infarction
• Hypertension and all complications surrounding it
• Complications of cirrhosis of the liver, congestive heart failure, and kidney failure

Here are some startling facts about how children’s metabolisms are affected by watching television.

• Children watch an average of 25 hours of TV weekly.
• While watching television, children ages 8-12 had significantly lower metabolic rates than those children at rest or simply doing nothing.
• High fat snacks that are typically eaten while in front of a TV combined with lower metabolism places children at a high risk of obesity.
• Childhood obesity now affects 1 out of 4 children. That’s 25%!!!

By this point we all know that smoking is horrific for your health. In fact at least 25% of all smokers die prematurely from a smoking-induced illness. Most often people and especially smokers think of lung cancer as what’s going to get ya in the long run! Lung cancer is the most likely cancer a smoker will get but there are many others. This list is staggering and scary. Just more proof smoking is so dangerous to your health.

• Lung Cancer
• Lip
• Voice Box (Larynx)
• Mouth (Oral Cavity)
• Trachea (Wind pipe)
• Stomach
• Esophagus
• Penis
• Colon
• Skin
• Cervix
• Leukemia
• Kidney
• Liver
• Pancreas
• Bladder
• Breast

Many scientists would have you believe that caffeine is good for you. While there are a few benefits there are also many negative aspects of drinking caffeine. Here are a few ways in which caffeine impairs the way your brain functions.

• Caffeine will generally induce dependence.
• Caffeine can cause or worsen psychiatric illness.
• Caffeine will typically cause withdrawal symptoms.
• Caffeine interferes with sleep and will usually impair physical and mental performance.
• Caffeine can cause toxicity and even death.

There are other potential health problems with caffeine.

• It can elevate blood pressure.
• May increase symptoms of PMS.
• Caffeine may be a co-carcinogen. There are links to caffeine and development of cancers of the breast, kidney, colon, ovaries, pancreas, and the bladder.
• Caffeine can cause heart palpitations and irregular heart rhythms.
• Expecting mothers who drink caffeine have a increased risk that their baby will be born with a low birth weight.