Some people credit hypnosis for being able to stop smoking, but the empirical evidence is not quite so supportive. If you seriously want to quit smoking, it appears that a multi-treatment strategy is your best, including the use of support groups, the “patch,” and education about the nasty effects of smoking if you don’t quit.

Americans spend an inordinate amount of money trying to shed extra pounds through chemical means. Although the quest for a magic potion that would allow us to eat anything we want is attractive, science hasn’t delivered on this promise yet. There may be substantial health risks attached to the use of current chemicals to manage weight.

Yes. Anorexia and bulimia appear to have a strong sociocultural component in that the diseases seem primarily to strike women in western cultures. Since striving for the perfect body image seems to be more a preoccupation of women than men, it stands to reason that disease of body image would also be expressed more by women. However, men, especially athletes who must monitor their weight for competition, seem particularly vulnerable to the problems of eating disorder.

The lure of short-term reinforcers has always been a very powerful disincentive for getting away from a healthy game plan. A hot fudge sundae tastes good immediately whereas avoiding those calories for a long-term weight gain is a plan that is hard for most people to adhere to. The same can be said for almost any of the things many people find pleasurable--drinking too much, partying too hard, drinking insufficient water, driving too fast. The thrill of the short-term reinforcer is simply more compelling.

You must avoid intimate contact with those who have HIV. This particularly applies to sexuality and drug-use behavior. Abstinence from both is the safest bet. Once infected with HIV, your immune system is compromised. Although death isn’t as swift and certain now as it once was, the risks associated with HIV are painful and powerful enough that safer than safe sex is the wisest course.