Nonsmokers Take Heart!!!!!!!  

Studies have shown that when towns ban smoking in public places, the number of heart attacks drops significantly. Now research from Indiana University pinpoints that it's nonsmokers who benefit first. In the 22 months after Indiana's Monroe Country outlawed smoking in restaurants, workplaces, and stores, hospital admissions for heart attack fell a whopping 70 percent- but only among nonsmokers. Admissions stayed the same for smokers. A halt on lighting up in public helps nonsmokers most quickly, says lead researcher Dong-Chul Seo, Ph.D., because "within 30 minutes of exposure to second hand smoke, blood becomes stickier and more prone to clotting. Plus, the level of carbon monoxide also rises, so heart cells getless oxygen."But Seo expects that smokers would see a payoff" as they quit or cut down." If you're a smoker who'd like to kick the habbit, look for a program with in-depth counseling. That, plus a supply of nicotine-replacement patches, gum or lozenges, almost doubled smokers' quit rates versus only brief counseling with nicotine replacements, reports study from Kaiser Permanente's Center for HEalth Research.