Four months have passed since I shifted for work to Bangalore. I remember the day I came. I was only missing my friends other than noticing the lovely change of climate around me. The shift was a big thing – a huge change from those young college days to the corporate world. In spite of the more happening crowd and the ever noisy roads of Bangalore, my life had somehow turned relatively quieter. At Madras I was hardly ever alone. Some friend was always with me. Here in B’lore I had to make the internet and my phone my best friends in order to communicate with my more living friends. I absolutely miss Chennai- my family, my home, my bike, and my lovely friends. How I wish I could relive those moments!
An amazing workplace, great people to work with, a great deal of satisfaction on how my life has headed; but the friends I once used to discuss about such future days - the friends who were part and parcel of the reason what I am right now, are no longer next to me. Time has done its work of changing peoples’ lives. And I think again “How true!! Nothing is permanent but for Change.”
In some ways, I like the shift to Bangalore. It has given me the time I could’ve never probably have had/realized that I have if in Chennai. I seem to be spending the same time in more constructive ways. The shift has added value to my life in many different aspects. Still, the nostalgic feeling does not fade away. The irreplaceable times spent with people who matter most to me, the endless talks even in times of nothings, the roads we roamed, the desserts we binged on, the laughs we rolled with - these memories keep flashing my mind and my thoughts. Then, there are nights like now where I stall my sleep and continue to think – ‘Friend, I miss You’ …
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Breathe Free ...
I got a calendar invite few days back in my office mail to a ‘Lifestyle Seminar –Breathe Free’ that would be hosted by experts with practical discussions. I accepted the invite assuming the discussion would be about fitness, yoga or more specifically pranayama. Maybe it would motivate me to go kill the fat that has been adding on me past few years. The afternoon of the discussion came and I pulled along my team mate-cum-good friend to the café where the seminar was going to take place. The screen for the presentation slides was there. Also present were two ladies from the organization that conducted the seminar. The audience though was merely a handful. Six in total: the girls being just my friend and I. The lady began to speak, and we heard her say- We will be talking about the bad effects of smoking and how to overcome it … Okay! That second, embarrassment flushed my face! Maybe the other men were smokers and they were coming to get self motivated and quit smoking. Seeing the number of people present certainly didn’t make me feel any better. It made me think to myself- Breathe FREE. They were not talking about having a cold and your nose being blocked for which Yoga could help. They meant FREE- no smoke!! What was I thinking??? I reacted quickly, and genuinely said “Sorry, I do not think this would be relevant to me. I’ll probably leave.” The organizer answered that it would be relevant as we will learn some facts about smoking and its effects. And we could probably help people we know to quit smoking. Ok, that made sense, but … My friend signaled we could stay and then the others too mentioned that they all thought it was related to fitness. Phew! I felt better!! They were all non smokers. So the lady began to speak the slides and very clearly mentioned many details about smoking that most of us do not know. It was great to know those facts and in fact, I enjoyed the session. It made me feel proud of my dad who quit smoking two years ago.
I would like to share some of the facts that I got to know from this seminar and I really hope everyone who smokes realizes that it is just not a clichéd statement. Smoking really is injurious to health, and consequently to your happiness.
Some facts about smoking:
*Every cigarette that you smoke reduces 6 minutes of your lifespan.
*When we are asked about the bad effects of smoking, we only think of heart attacks or cancers that are long term effects. These hardly convince smokers who are too stubborn to quit a minute’s pleasure of smoking for something like a heart attack which is too far ahead in their lives. What most of us do not know is the short term and immediate effect of smoking like Hair loss, Decreased libido and Tiredness. Smokers hate it when being nagged about quitting smoking. They give excuses like mental stress, frustration and other actually trivial matters as their top reason to smoking. A smoker needs to understand that problems and stress can be and should be dealt differently and that Smoking is never the right thing to do for anything that it may seem as giving comfort to.
Smoking nicotine has short and long-term adverse effects on health, finance and family. Quitting smoking is a powerful way to increase lifespan, improve one’s lifestyle and have a healthy and happy life. Once one quits smoking:
8 hours later:
-Carbon monoxide level in the blood drops to normal
-Oxygen level in the blood goes up to normal
24 hours later:
-Chances of heart attack starts going down
48 hours later:
-Nerve endings start growing again
-Ability to taste and smell begins to improve
2 weeks to 3 months later:
-Blood circulation improves
-Lung function improves up to 30%
1 month to 9 months later:
-Decrease in coughing, sinus congestion, tiredness and shortness of breath
-Cilia (small hairs) grow back in lungs to better handle mucus, clean the lungs and reduce infection
1 year later:
-Risk of heart attack is half that of smoker
5-10 years later:
-Lung cancer death rate goes down by half
-Risk of stroke becomes the same as non-smoker
-Risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, oesophagus, bladder, kidney and pancreas go down
15 years later:
-Risk of heart attack comes becomes same as a non-smoker
Quick Tips to help quit smoking:
Four R’s:
Review your reasons for change and think of all the benefits to your health, finance and family.
Remind yourself that there is no such thing as one cigarette or one puff.
Ride out the desire. It will pass.
Reward yourself for not smoking.
Four A’s:
Avoid people and places where you are tempted to smoke.
Alter your habits (Switch to juices, take a brisk walk)
Alternatives – Use alternatives to tobacco (clove, cinnamon, gum, carrot)
Activities – Keep your self busy.
Four D’s:
Deep Breathing.
Delay when you feel tempted to smoke.
Drink water.
Discuss with a friend.
Websites that help you to quit Smoking:
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