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Wellness Education

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Wellness can be simply stated as the opposite of illness, but it is really so much more than that. Whether we realize it or not our own personal Wellness, or sometimes the lack there of affects everything we do on a daily basis. Think about it, how productive are you when you have a cold, a headache, are hungry or haven’t slept? Our Wellness is not only affected by physical needs but also by our self image, our relationships, our environment, our careers, our ability to learn, share, grow and connect with others. Most of us take our Wellness for granted until something affects it, and then we choose to take action. Remember the old adage, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Wellness is a balanced approach to life.

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Cigarettes

When you smoke a cigarette, you are smoking a whole lot more than that. You are taking in more than 4,000 chemicals. Some of the major chemicals in cigarettes are arsenic, cadmium, lead, formaldehyde, and ammonia. What are these chemicals? And why are they there? TO GET YOU!

The following are some products that may be found around your house and are also in cigarettes…

1.) Windex and Toilet Bowl Cleaner- Ammonia is found in Windex, Toilet Bowl Cleaner, and Cigarettes. Ammonia attaches to nicotine to cross the blood-brain barrier quickly. This creates a faster addiction. See? Cigarette companies aren’t dumb. They know how to get you. They want to get you addicted, and they want to get you addicted FAST.

2.) Rat Poison- There is arsenic in rat poison AND cigarettes! Farmers use rat poison to keep rats and mice from eating the tobacco. The arsenic is never washed off, so guess what! When you smoke a cigarette, you are welcoming arsenic into your body, and it accepts the invitation.

3.) Insecticide- Everyone knows nicotine is the addictive drug in cigarettes. It is also the natural ingredient in insecticides. We wouldn’t consume insecticides, would we? But, we’d smoke a cigarette??

4.) Lighter Fluid, Candle Wax, Mascara, and Alcohol - Lighter fluid contains butane, candle wax and mascara contains steric acid, and alcohol contains ethanol. These chemicals make cigarettes burn fast. Why does this matter? Cigarette companies don’t want your cigarettes to last for long. They want you to keep lighting up and buying more and more. It’s all about the profit, right??

5.) Nail Polish Remover- Acetone is in both nail polish remover and cigarettes! Ewww, think of the smell of nail polish remover! We do not know why acetone is in cigarettes. Tobacco companies have to tell the FDA what chemicals are in cigarettes, but the FDA cannot release why it is that acetone is in cigarettes. Maybe we don’t even want to know!

6.) Batteries- Cadimium is in batteries and is also found in soil. The chemical draws up in the tobacco plants and is still present in cigarettes.

Eight chemicals listed above. If there are over 4,000 chemicals in cigarettes, that would make for an extremely long list. But…you get the gist. We don’t eat, drink, or consume these household products, because we know they’re dangerous. So why would you want to smoke a cigarette? Think about what it does to your body. Over 60 of the chemicals are known to cause cancer.
If you our someone you know would like to stop smoking, there are over 30 locations around the Valley that offer quit programs. Call the Maricopa County Department of Public Health at 602.372.7272, or go to www.mactupp.org. These classes also offer discounts on treatments and medications that help you quit.

-Sarah Cook

Aspects of Wellness

Social Wellness is the ability to relate to and connect with other people in our world. Our ability to establish and maintain positive relationships with family, friends and co-workers contributes to our Social Wellness.

Emotional Wellness is the ability to understand ourselves and cope with the challenges life can bring. The ability to acknowledge and share feelings of anger, fear, sadness or stress; hope, love, joy and happiness in a productive manner contributes to our Emotional Wellness.

Spiritual Wellness is the ability to establish peace and harmony in our lives. The ability to develop congruency between values and actions and to realize a common purpose that binds creation together contributes to our Spiritual Wellness.

Environmental Wellness is the ability to recognize our own responsibility for the quality of the air, the water and the land that surrounds us. The ability to make a positive impact on the quality of our environment be it our homes, our communities or our planet contributes to our Environmental Wellness.

Occupational Wellness is the ability to get personal fulfillment from our jobs or our chosen career fields while still maintaining balance in our lives. Our desire to contribute in our careers to make a positive impact on the organizations we work in and to society as a whole leads to Occupational Wellness.

Intellectual Wellness is the ability to open our minds to new ideas and experiences that can be applied to personal decisions, group interaction and community betterment. The desire to learn new concepts, improve skills and seek challenges in pursuit of lifelong learning contributes to our Intellectual Wellness.

Physical Wellness is the ability to maintain a healthy quality of life that allows us to get through our daily activities without undue fatigue or physical stress. The ability to recognize that our behaviors have a significant impact on our wellness and adopting healthful habits (routine check ups, a balanced diet, exercise, etc.) while avoiding destructive habits (tobacco, drugs, alcohol) will lead to optimal Physical Wellness.

3/12/03