Health

Smoking is a habit that can have serious negative effects on your health. It increases your risk of cancer and other diseases and can also cause lung damage, heart problems, and other health issues. Quitting smoking can be challenging, but there are tools available that can help make it easier. Below are some of the tools you can use to quit smoking and make it a much more manageable task for you.

Nicotine Replacement Therapy

Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is a method of quitting smoking that involves using products that contain nicotine but not tobacco. These include gum, patches, lozenges, inhalers, and nasal sprays, or a vaping device and delicious tasting vape liquid. NRT can help reduce withdrawal symptoms and cravings, making it easier to quit smoking. You can buy these products over the counter or with a prescription from a healthcare professional.

Prescription Medications

There are prescription medications available that can help with quitting smoking. Bupropion and Varenicline are two of the most commonly prescribed medications. Bupropion is an antidepressant that has shown it can reduce nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Varenicline works by blocking the effects of nicotine on the brain, reducing the pleasure of smoking. These medications can have side effects and should only be used under the supervision of a healthcare professional.

Counselling and Support Groups

Counselling and support groups can be very helpful for people who are trying to quit smoking. Counselling can help you identify the triggers that make you want to smoke and develop strategies for coping with them. Support groups can provide encouragement, accountability, and a sense of community. Many healthcare providers offer counselling services, and online support groups are available.

Mindfulness & Meditation

Mindfulness and meditation can be helpful tools for quitting smoking. These practices can help reduce stress and anxiety, common triggers for smoking. They can also help increase self-awareness and improve impulse control, making it easier to resist the urge to smoke. Many apps and online resources are available to help you get started with mindfulness and meditation.

Exercise

Exercise can also be a useful tool for quitting smoking. Exercise can help reduce stress, improve mood, and increase energy levels. It can also distract you from the urge to smoke and help you develop healthy habits. Starting with a simple daily routine, like walking for 30 minutes, can be a great way to begin exercising regularly.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is an alternative therapy that involves inserting needles into specific points of the body. It is often used to treat pain, but it has also been found to help quit smoking. Acupuncture can help reduce cravings, reduce stress, and improve mood. A qualified acupuncturist should only perform this treatment, and your doctor may be able to refer you to someone local.

Hypnosis

Hypnosis is another alternative therapy that can help you quit smoking. It involves putting the person in a trance-like state, during which suggestions for quitting smoking are given. Hypnosis can help reduce cravings and increase motivation to quit smoking. A licensed hypnotherapist should only perform this treatment, which is unsuitable for everyone as not everyone can be hypnotised.

The old adage ‘you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone’ really is true, especially when it comes to health. It’s easy to take good health for granted, it’s often not until things start going wrong and conditions start to develop that we realise just how important each and every part of our bodies are. When things start to fail or work incorrectly, it’s easy to see how crucial each of their functions are to our mental and physical wellbeing.

When it comes to our ears and hearing it can be distressing when things start to decline. Whether it’s a short- or longer-term issue, it’s something you’ll want to have looked at by a professional. Ear and hearing issues can be disorienting, painful and can give many people a ‘claustrophobic’ feeling which can be unpleasant. So, if you’re already experiencing symptoms or just are looking for ways to futureproof your hearing health, here are some ways to go about it.

Turn Down the Volume

Simply put, too much volume isn’t good for your ears. This could be moderate volume over a longer period, such as listening to music using headphones too often. Or very loud volumes over a short period, such as being close to an explosion or plane taking off. Either way, it’s important to protect yourself. Too much noise can overwork cells and membranes in the cochlear of the ear, which can cause them to die. In some cases, these never recover, and permanent hearing loss can follow. In fact, by the time you notice hearing loss around 30% to 50% of these cells are likely already permanently damaged.

Many smart devices these days will notify you if you’re listening to music through headphones at an unsafe level, so take heed of this warning. If you regularly attend events such as nightclubs, music festivals and other noisy places then stand back from the speakers as much as you can. Ideally, have regular breaks to quieter areas to allow the cells in your ears to recover. Music can be a great way to de-stress and unwind, and we all know that loud music is that bit more effective when it comes to getting your workout done, your house cleaned or when you want to dance on a night out. But think about your regular long term hearing health. Listen to loud music in moderation and consider turning the volume down a notch to protect yourself.

Follow Safety Procedures at Work

Not everyone does their work in an office or quiet shop, many workplaces are noisy environments. Factories churn out products, construction sites with power tools grind away, and loud music blares in the ears of bar workers. Even dentists will regularly have to deal with the sound of their drill buzzing away for a lot of the day.

Your workplace should have strict safety measures in place for all areas of your health and safety, such as protecting you from chemical and heat burns, slips trips and falls, eye damage and hearing loss depending on what you do. So, ensure you’re following procedures to the letter. If you’re required to wear earplugs or ear defenders for most of the day, then be sure to do so. If you have to protect your ears when you’re using certain equipment, then use it every single time.

The workplace can be a particularly dangerous place for your ears as if you’re in a noisy environment and aren’t protecting your hearing, you’re never getting a break from it. You could be spending up to forty hours or more a week permanently damaging your hearing, much of which might not become apparent until it’s too late. If you work a noisy or dangerous job, you should be seen by an occupational health nurse on a regular basis who can do checks to make sure that your health is being protected.

Break the Cotton Bud Habit

Cotton swabs are incredibly bad for the ears. The ears are essentially self-cleaning, when you use cotton buds to clean out wax, what often happens is that it gets pushed down further into the ear canal causing pain and temporary deafness.

The skin inside the ear canal is incredibly delicate, and any kind of trauma can cause a reaction and become infected easily. Symptoms of an ear infection in the outer ear canal (known as ‘otitis externa’) include pain, swelling, and discharge in the ear which can lead to itching. Many people then reach for cotton swabs to resolve the itching making matters worse. It often needs to be treated with antibiotics or a topical spray medication containing steroid, antiseptic and antibacterial ingredients.

If you’re used to using cotton buds this can be a hard habit to break, but it’s worth working on doing so. The less you use them to itch your ears, the less itchy they will become since you’re not constantly damaging and irritating the skin inside.

Keep Your Stress Levels Down

Stress is detrimental to health in general, commonly known to contribute to conditions like heart disease, strokes, diabetes, heart attacks and mental health issues. But surprisingly, it can affect your hearing health too. Stress is linked with the condition tinnitus which is a ringing in the ear. According to the National Library of Medicine, many patients report increased tinnitus symptoms after dealing with stressful events. Researchers have linked stress and anxiety as causes for tinnitus although the reasons for why are unclear, however it has been shown to worsen the existing condition so if you already have hearing issues, they’re likely to be exacerbated by stress.

 If you know you’re dealing with a lot of stress or struggling with your mental health, consider taking action as a way to remedy or protect your physical health. You could try relaxation techniques at home, such as taking social media breaks, hot baths, exercise and massage. If you feel that you can’t cope well then reach out to your GP for advice, you might need either medication, therapy or a combination of the two to bring everything back into check. We all lead busy and chaotic lives and all of us experience stress and anxiety from time to time, but if this is an ongoing issue or something that worries you then taking action will help. Not just for your hearing but for all areas and functions of your body.

Visit an Audiologist

If you’re worried about your hearing declining or just want to be proactive with your hearing health, then book an appointment with an audiologist. Just like we regularly visit the opticians and dentists to keep on top of our health, an audiologist can help to spot any potential issues early or just give you peace of mind if nothing is wrong. They can give you tailored tips and advice based on your lifestyle and ensure you’re not overlooking anything important when it comes to the health of your ears and hearing.

Your hearing is something that can be easily overlooked when you consider how to protect your health, but it shouldn’t be this way. Don’t leave it until it’s too late and you’ve done permanent damage, make changes in the here and now so you can keep this important sense and stay better connected with the world for longer.