Forget anti-aging creams and wrinkle treatments, if you are a smoker for your best chance of aging gracefully you need to quit smoking cigarettes. New research, conducted by Nicabate reveals that most smokers do not realise the harsh aging effects caused by smoking as 80% of smokers don't believe cigarettes have damaged their skin.
Research suggests smokers, of more than 20 cigarettes a day, are three-times more likely to wrinkle prematurely than non-smokers, and the effect is more pronounced in women than in men. These wrinkles are unavoidable and irreversible.
The long term effects of smoking on your appearance can cause unsightly deep grooved crow's feet, vertical furrows above the lips, broken capillaries, thinning skin and the trademark grey hue to the complexion that all smokers suffer.
The tell-tail signs include deep wrinkles around the mouth and eyes plus lots of fine wrinkles on the cheeks. In addition, the constriction of blood vessels caused by smoking leads to oxygen deprivation in the skin, resulting in a dull, greyish complexion.
Physician Dr. Douglas coined the term smoker's face in the 1980s to describe a specific range of facial characteristics that are distinctive in smokers that result from smoking.
The harsh aging effects have taken the 'sexiness' out of smoking as 80% of non-smokers believe the habit is certainly not sexy. Nicabate research has shown that women are less likely to have tried to quit smoking, than men. The study also revealed that smokers limit their chances of finding a partner, by not giving up the habit as 66% of non-smokers believe smoking is a turnoff. Almost one in every three non-smoking women said they would end a relationship if their partner didn't give up smoking.
Smokers need to understand that they can successfully quit the habit and cut down their smoking and with the recent price hike in cigarettes there has never been a better time to quit.
To coincide with World No Tobacco Day Nicabate has launched a new online behavioural support program: QuitPartner. QuitPartner is designed to work hand in hand with Nicabate products to support smokers with not only their physical attachment but also their emotional and habitual attachment to cigarettes. Once registered onto the QuitPartner website, smokers wanting to quit can track their daily quit progress, receive a personalised quit program, record where they were tempted to smoke and receive daily motivators/tips and if immediate distraction is required, they can play online games whilst the craving passes. To register for your own personalised quit program visit www.quitpartner.com.au
Celebrity Chloe Maxell, an ex-smoker who is known for looking great, has donated her image to show the aging progression of her face, if she had continued to smoke. Chloe's photo has been digitally altered using software developed in Canada which is now being used at Curtin University, Western Australia; the software shows the effects smoking has on a person's appearance.
What tips do you have for Australians hoping to give up smoking on 31st of May which is World No Tobacco Day?
Chloe Maxwell: Set a start date and use the help that's out there. I used Nicabate and it was so worthwhile- it is much cheaper then cigarettes!
When did you begin smoking? Do you remember why?
Chloe Maxwell: Around the age of sixteen. I started smoking because of peer pressure, it was the 'cool' thing to do.
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