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Dalton
Roberts |
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When we try to change an old pattern we grit our teeth, suck in our belly, and get braced for an ordeal. The beautiful truth is that there are instant and sometimes fantastic rewards for making changes. A friend gave me a fact sheet she got from Dr. Mull’s office. Did you know if your quit smoking today in 20 minutes your blood pressure, pulse and the temperature in your hands and feet returns to normal. There’s you three instant rewards! As if that is not enough to motivate you, in 8 hours the oxygen level in your blood increases to normal. A smoker suffers a continuous deficit of life-giving oxygen throughout the body and after only 8 hours of dropping the stinking things, your oxygen is as good as if you were a newborn in a cradle. The good news continues. In 24 hours your risk of heart attack decreases and in only 48 hours walking becomes easier and your ability to smell and taste comes alive. That may be why some people gain weight after quitting. They can actually taste their food. That is the second most important reason to eat, isn’t it? In just 3 months off the weeds your lung function increases up to 30 percent and your overall blood circulation improves. In one year your risk of heart disease is one-half that of a smoker! I didn’t know all these fabulous facts when I quit but I remember telling someone the main thing that kept me off cigarettes in the early days when it is hardest to stay quit were the rewards I was experiencing. I had gotten so sick of hearing my lungs wheeze and rattle when I was trying to go to sleep. Within days that rattle stopped. In case you enjoy sex, bear in mind that all the male and female equipment depends on oxygen to function at peak levels. In case that doesn’t motivate you, just think of how rosy and healthy looking your cheeks will become. That death pallor you see on almost every smoker’s face is due to oxygen deprivation. Nicotine patches will do nothing at all to help you quit. They keep nicotine in your body at the same levels caused by smoking. If you keep smoking while wearing the patch, you could be doubling your nicotine. However, intelligent use of nicotine gum can be helpful. When you get those strong cravings and awful physical symptoms (sweats, the steel-band-around-the-skull feeling) chew the gum just long enough to alleviate the symptoms, then spit it out. The object is to get the nicotine out of your body. This wonderful truth of instant rewards applies to other habits. During my years of reporting to work I tended to stay up late. I realize now the main reason was that all the things I really loved (reading, making music, talking with friends) were forced into my late night hours. When I left a regular job, I started going to bed when I was tired and waking up early. Seeing sunrises and enjoying that total stillness in the early hours when the world is still sleeping have become two of my sweetest pleasures in this life. Write me if you’ve had similar experiences of reaping instant rewards from changing your habits and I will pass on your thoughts in a future column. Naomi Patterson, magnificent Kansas poet, said in a recent column on change that the only humans really welcoming change are wet babies. Resistance to change is one of the strangest attitudes of human beings and deprives them of more pleasure than anything else. My only suggestion is to look at your life and find some tiny vexatious habits you would like to replace with better ones, and the rewards will move you to tackle the “biggies.” You will reap a much richer quality of life.
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