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There was a man who struggled from nothing to actually be amongst one of the firsts in his family to have proper education, travel and see the world, acquire a white collar job with a lavish salary, retire with lovely children and a wife....but he died before he could see a quarter of his children through secondary school.
His last days were horrific and excruciating. He remained immobile in any position he was left during those days while a wicked disease slowly ate him from the inside out. In his last days he suffered fits of hysteria, hallucinations...he could not even remember his children's names before death mercifully took him.
Cancer was the disease, invited by a chain of factors ranging from a habit of youthful chain smoking and exposure of toxic gases at his work place. He was my father.
So What is a habit?
Simply said, it an activity we do so often, it becomes a part of our daily living.
For instance, it could be a drinking, smoking, praying habit.
Habits can be deemed into two major categories;
Good habits
These are habits that affect us positively. Habits that are often healthy in different ramifications; Emotionally, mentally, physically.
examples: Healthy dieting, exercise, Self-centering and communing practices such as yoga, nature walks, etc.
Bad habits
Bad habits have an adverse effect on our living. Bad habits can range from small overlooked habits (nail biting, hair twirling, phone checking, over spending), to full-blown addictions. Addictions are often picked up to satiate immediate needs of pleasure, insecurities, peer pressure and what not. The effects of these habits are not immediate, some may manifest in later years and affect lives adversely.
The quality and type of life you live is obviously determined by your habits:
Smokers read that they are liable to die young everyday but somehow, they still light that stick every time and inhale toxic fumes that slowly eat them from the inside out. Some unforeseen effects of smoking include impotency, cancer that could lead to lung failure,
For a smoker, this means a reduced lifespan, with last days of excruciating pain. My father had cancer, so i know of what it can do to a person and how it cripples a family.
Alcoholism slowly destroys the human liver and although this is well known, somehow people are more inclined to drink for pleasure of the feeling of looseness and blankness of mind to forget their troubles. But the thing about troubles is, they are always going to be there. You fix one problem and another simultaneously surfaces. Choosing which problem is worth solving at a particular time helps.
The liver is one of the most important organs in the body. It is the first toxin eliminator in the system, followed by input from your kidneys. The liver is responsible for unarming toxins that enter the body. These could be toxins taken in by mistake: Detergents, drugs, repellants, insecticide, etc.
Imagine what happens to your body when the liver can no longer function. These toxins will remain in the bloodstream accumulating, triggering catastrophic events that could be fatal or badly impair your living.
But to be truly rich implies building a positive lifestyle;
having healthy relationships with people:
By this I am referring to relationships that don't abuse you or leave you stressed out. Relationships that encourage you, affecting you positively. This does not necessarily mean you should do away with people bearing bad characters. Are we all perfect?
My father used to say
"Every human being has a monster they are working on. We can't all be good. You need people to get anywhere so you must manage people. Learn to slap one cheek and pet the other."
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Misusing Prescriptions And Hard Drugs
A prescription drug(also referred to as prescription medications) is a pharmaceutical drug that legally or lawfully requires a medical or biomedical prescription to be dispensed. In contrast, over-the-counter drug can be obtained without any biomedical prescription. The reason for this difference in substance control is the potential scope for misuse, from drug abuse to practicing medicine without license and without sufficient education.
On a contrary, misuse of prescription drug however means taking a medication in a manner or dose(the quantity of a medicine or vitamin prescribed and administered to an individual at a given or specific time) other than prescribed: taking someone else's prescription, even if for a legitimate medication compliant such as;
- pains
- depression
- discomfort,etc
Three classes of drugs commonly misused according to World Health Organization(WHO) are;
central nervous system(CNS) depressant such as sedatives and hypnotics,
opioids;usually for pain killing,
stimulants prescribed to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD).
According to researches and many evaluations Carried out by health experts, it was confirmed that many young adults misused drug prescription for a number of reasons which may include;
° to subdue depression,
° to lose weight especially females,
° to attain a euphoric orientation, etc
These reasons however results in the misuse of prescription drugs which will indirectly or directly lead to devastating effect on the cell, tissues as well as the organ which can ultimately cause accumulated internal damage which may lead to the death of an individual or certain internal dysfunctions.
The negative effects caused by the misuse of prescription drugs on organs are;
(The vital role of the liver has been briefly described in layman terms.)
The kidney serves to get rid of harmful metabolites from the body. These metabolites are often byproducts of detoxification processes in the liver, giving the kidney a vital position after the liver. Misuse of prescription drugs can lead to several kidney diseases such as kidney cancer, kidney stone and bladder weakness (a bladder dysfunction: inability to retain significant volume of urine), etc.
HARD DRUGS
This term usually refers to drugs that are addictive, dangerous and more likely to cause dependency. Examples are cocaine, heroin, etc. There are also drugs designated as soft drugs, such are cannabis and LSD(Lysergic acid diethylamide).
Hard Drugs are illegal.
THE EFFECT OF COCAINE
Cocaine has a million of effects on an individual taking it but this effects can be categorized into two which are;
- short term effects,
- long term effects.
SHORT TERM EFFECTS OF COCAINE
Dependent on the method with which it is used e.g., smoked, snorted or injected cocaine can be acts rapidly. One of it's effects in the brain is to increase dopamine release. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a role in the brain registering positive feelings by activating the "reward" center in the brain, leading to the behaviors that encourage looseness, Euphoria,etc. This increase of dopamine is, in part, what leads to the subjective "high" of cocaine use and its addictive power.
The high experienced after-use is accompanied by a number of desired effects such as;
- feeling of euphoria
- elevated mood
- grandiosity
- increased energy
Some people(wrestlers, footballer,etc) use the drug in a misguided attempt to enhance performance or meet some other end goals. Since it temporarily decreases the need for sleep, some people(body-guards, soldiers, etc) will abuse the substance to stay alert, to study, or to accomplish a strenuous task. Since it suppresses the appetite, it is also sometimes used as a weight loss especially the highly obsessed people.
LONG TERM EFFECTS OF COCAINE
The long term effects however is an area of concernl to user's well-being, which will ultimately lead to a reduced quality of living and sometimes premature death. Some of the long term effects of this hard drug are;
- chronic and extreme fatigue
- unrelenting headaches
- abdominal pains
- nosebleeds
- significant weight loss
- cardiac arrest
- stroke
- seizures
- Respiratory arrest
- ultimately death
In the long-run, the long term effects overshadow the mostly sorted short term effects. It's much more beneficial to stay drug free.
Good Habits That Are A Must Have Are:
- enriching your health, showing love and kindness to others
- freeness of mind and heart
- engage in exercises and yoga frequently
- take nature walks, step aside from your stress zone and inhale that fresh air.
- Take herbal tea, most of these have cleansing and relaxing effects on the body system
- Sleep early so you can wake early. A healthy mind needs a minimum of 8 hours
- Be hygienic, you become less prone to illnesses.
- Stay hydrated at all times
Bad habits can only breed negative consequences and good habits create positive rewards. The good news is habits(both good and bad) are learned and they can also be unlearned. You can always reprogram yourself anytime.
To destroy bad habits, you need to starve your cravings. Rehabilitation is always the best option. Feed the habits you want to program into your system(body), adapt to doing them. it might be hard at first but consistency is key and having a picture of a positive and better you! Commit to your good habits each day, spend energy and resources building them. This is an exciting journey that ultimately leads to fulfillment and happy life and self discipline that can help you achieve set goals.
Joel Osteen once said "Your money can only buy you people but only your habits can get you good ones"
Drugs only give a temporary escape to problems that are inkind of weighing down on someone but it is never permanent and in some cases the problem is doubled afterward. A roommate of mine in the University went out with a couple of friends to club and while there they mixed a designer drug with alcohol and drank. When he came back home the gate was lock and because he was in his right senses he decided to jump a barb wired fence into the compound. Well the barb wire removed totally the flesh in his lap. The amazing thing was he was not aware he was badly blood.
this is one extensive writeup. but true enough, good habits are a really good way to avoid most illnesses. and I agree with the part where you mentioned about good relationships as well. it may not be directly related to physical health, but a good mental and emotional state do affect our physical health as well, which in turn affect our quality of life. :3
Thank you for this post. Well written with a lot of information herein.
This takes me back a few years when my uncle pass on from liver cirrhosis.
I felt that he drunk himself to death. It was so sad to live through that especially for the immediate family.
Lesson from all this was that drugs are short lived. And a healthier life is what we should all strive for.
What an informative post! The habits you mentioned as good are exactly the kind of things that make me happy :) I think it takes 21 days to build a habit. That's not that long!
It's so sad that most people have more bad habits than good ones. All those bad habits will make your life worse as time passes.
Good one Ray, Kudos!
Our habits indeed defines us, i had a bad habit that i had to even pray to let go of, am glad i did let go of it,we should always try tk possess good living habits.. .tnks lv.
Luckily I have never been tempted to try any drugs.
If I had to list all my bad habits you could write 5 posts about it :P
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Rachel, my brother is Rick. Love your name. I know many great people with your name. Beautiful people like you have your name. Yes, agreed, habits lead us to lifestyles for better and for worse. What matters is not always if something is a good or bad habit but rather if something is a good or even better habit. Thanks for sharing, hehe. I'm Oatmeal Joey Arnold. You can call me Joey.
Hey joey! just followed!