Vim & Vigor - Winter 2013 - North Mississippi - (Page 30)

There's a down-to-earth charm about Matt Damon. Maybe it's his earnest gaze when he talks about clean water or the ﬂash of dimples as he blazes forth with that dazzling grin. He just comes off as a likable guy. Whether playing things bald and bionic in Elysium, bad to the bone in the Bourne trilogy or scrappy and brilliant in his breakout role in Good Will Hunting, the actor himself seems like someone you'd enjoy hanging out with over a beer. But not a cigarette. Those days are behind him. Blame It on Love Aug. 5, 2004, was a life-changing day for Damon-the day he became a nonsmoker and put 17 years of pack-anda-half days behind him. Rewind a year or so: This story begins, as many good stories do, with a boy-meets-girl epiphany. When Damon met his wife, Luciana Barroso, in Miami in 2003, "there was a halo of light around her, and I absolutely knew that moment had changed my life before I even spoke to her," he told Maclean's in a 2011 interview. The desire to have children with Barroso became part of his motivation to quit smoking. "I remember my brother gave up [smoking] before he had kids," Damon told The Observer in April 2013. "He said, 'I'm going to give myself six months or a year to clear out my system.' I remember thinking, 'Yeah, I'll do that, too.' " Damon's motivation was sound: In addition to the better-known health risks of smoking, men who smoke cigarettes have a lower sperm count and increased abnormalities in sperm shape and function, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. In a July 2004 interview with the Washington Post, just a month before he quit, Damon was already reﬂecting on the toxins in cigarettes. He had switched to a more "natural" brand, he said. "It's amazing. You know, it's about 350 additives your average cigarette has, from arsenic, from cyanide to ammonia." 30 Quitting: a Team Sport No question, cigarettes are poison. But even when you know how deadly they are, it takes practical strategies and support to turn the desire to quit into a smokefree life. "Cigarettes are exquisitely designed nicotine-delivery devices that were developed and marketed to addict people to them," says Tim McAfee, MD, MPH, director of the Ofﬁce on Smoking and Health for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The majority of smokers are both physically and psychologically addicted to cigarettes, McAfee says. So the best chance of success comes through a combination of medication and counseling to address both physical cravings and psychological urges to smoke. Smoking cessation counseling can prepare you with a personalized strategy. You can talk to your doctor, attend a hospital support group, or get online or phone support. To help with physical cravings, nicotine replacement is available in patches, gum, lozenges, inhalers or nasal sprays. Prescription medication to ease withdrawal symptoms can be used instead of or in addition to nicotine replacement. WINTE R 2 013 Positive Clues Rather than calling the insomnia, irritability and anxiety that can strike as nicotine dependence wanes "withdrawal symptoms," think of them as "recovery

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Winter 2013 - North Mississippi

Vim & Vigor - Winter 2013 - North Mississippi
Contents
Opening Thoughts
The Weight Is Over
For Your Convenience
Got Excuses?
Managing Your Health with a DIY Tool Kit
Is It the Stress Talking?
The Wonderful World of Greens
Knee-to-Know Basics
On the Cover
Run for Your Life
14 Good-for-You Gifts
Special Delivery
Virtual Health
A Special Kind of Care
High Marks
A Dose of Prevention
Catch the Spirit

Vim & Vigor - Winter 2013 - North Mississippi