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Tips and Techniques to Quit Smoking

July 2nd, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

It has been said that nicotine is one of the most addictive substances in the world, about six times as addictive as cocaine. The best way to free yourself from an addiction is to go cold turkey and quit smoking. Smoking can have long term devastating effects on your health. It is linked to heart disease, emphysema, lung cancer, hypertension and stroke. It can also cause mouth cancers, bad breath and other oral health complications.

Smoking tobacco has been linked to heart disease, lung cancer emphysema and stroke. In addition to these devastating diseases, smoking can cause fine wrinkles to appear in your skin, particularly around you mouth and eyes.

Tobacco smoke causes cancer whether you are a smoker yourself or you are breathing in second-hand smoke.

More Tips to Stop Smoking

Once a socially acceptable habit, smoking is now frowned upon and forbidden in most public places. If the risks to your health are not enough incentive, consider the impact on your social life. Statistics indicate that most people who successfully quit smoking do so cold turkey. This may be due to the fact that people who quit cold turkey are committed to quitting.

If you are committed to quitting cold turkey, chewing a piece of sugarless gum, or doing some low impact aerobic exercise when you crave a cigarette can help. The endorphins produced during aerobic exercise are effec! tive in easing cravings. They produce a sort of natural high which can help you get over a rough spot. Exercise is also a great stress reliever.

For people who find it impossible to quit cold turkey, there are alternatives. For some people, hypnotism or aversion therapy provides the support they need to quit. Others may choose the nicotine patch or gum. Although nicotine still has negative effects on your health, it is less dangerous than smoking. Some smokers quit gradually, over time, by reducing the number of cigarettes they smoke each day. This can be difficult, since many people react to stress by smoking. and a stressful situation can undo your hard work.

Make sure that you take this seriously no matter which stop smoking aid you use, so that you can have the best chances of quitting for good, once and for all.

 

Reasons To Consider Hypnosis to Quit Smoking

July 2nd, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

Okay, you’ve tried it all: the gum, the patches, the pills.  You’ve even tried going cold turkey.  But you failed.  You want to quit; you’re convinced you must quit, not only for the health reasons but for social and financial reasons as well. Yet you are ambivalent about your chances for success. Have you considered using using hypnosis to stop smoking.

First of all, don’t be so hard on yourself.  Nearly everyone who has successfully quit the smoking habit has relapsed at least once—the average ex-smoker relapsed three to four times, before they achieve success. Hypnotherapy helps you quit smoking by dealing with all the elements that addicted you in the first place.

Confidence, Strength, and Motivation

Smoking Cigarettes is one of the hardest addictions to overcome. If you have ever tried the best methods of how to stop and relapsed, you now have a built-in tape telling you that you failed once, so you’ll probably fail again.  Hypnosis changes those internal tapes.

Using hypnosis to quit smoking also boosts your self-confidence; it reinforces your inner strength to stay tough, and keeps you motivated through the hard times.

The nicotine in cigarettes promotes the release of dopamine to the reward pathways of your brain. Dopamine encourages the brain to repeat pleasurable activities.  In other words, it ignites the addiction.  Nicotine makes you feel happy and calm, and the dopamine released from brain as a result of the nicotine, tells the brain: “Hey let’s do that again.”  Hypnotherapy assists with quitting smoking by providing healthy non-chemically induced ways to release dopamine into the reward pathways.

Nicotine also triggers the release of the neurotransmitter glutamate that stimulates learning and memory.  Glutamate strengthens the connections between sets of neurons. The release of glutamate aids in your addiction to nicotine by strengthening the memory of the good feelings achieved from smoking.  Hypnotherapy to quit smoking breaks the connections and helps build new connections to healthy activities.

A study by University of Washington researcher, Dr. Joseph Barber, found that stop smoking hypnotherapy had been particularly effective.  Dr. Barber found that for a single session of hypnotherapy to quit smoking 25% of the participants remained non-smokers after a 6-12 month period.  Of the participants who had multiple sessions of hypnotherapy to quit smoking, 66% were non-smokers after a 6-12 month period.

Hypnotherapy is a powerful method to help you become a successful non-smoker.  Whether you choose a single session or multiple sessions, hypnotherapy will contribute to your success. Used alone or in tandem with nicotine replacement medications, hypnotherapy increases you chances for success.

Natural Ways to Quit - Going the Natural Way on Quitting Smoking

June 30th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

For many years now, the natural ways to quit smoking have been proven effective techniques to help a smoker stop smoking. While effects may vary from one person to another depending on particular conditions or on the severity of the addiction on nicotine, these natural ways still help achieve one goal which is to help smokers quit and stay quit for life.

One way to go natural in quitting smoking is for you to gradually decrease the amount of cigarettes you consume each day. This method works best for people who are really determined and committed to quit. Going through with it requires discipline and organizational skills as you have to be responsible for your own plan of when to completely stop smoking. You have to lessen the amount of cigarettes you take in a day until you reach a point where cigarettes will now become a thing of your past.

Homeopathic remedies can also work against smoking. These remedies are based on natural ingredients that improve the body’s defense mechanisms and improve healing. They can help you deal with the withdrawal symptoms with the use of only natural herbs and extracts, nothing synthetic or artificial will go into your body.

Meditation and hypnosis allow a smoker to be in a relaxed state of mind which helps him deal with his withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety and other symptoms well. By meditating, a person’s will power is strengthened which can make him resist the craving to smoke. It is also a good technique in making him change his lifestyle so that he can say goodbye to his habit. Hypnosis is another natural way to quit and it works by allowing your subconscious to work against your addiction without the obstacles that will otherwise be present if you are completely awake. While there are some doubtful of this method, results have shown that it does work.

Using cigarette filters helps you quit smoking naturally. Filters stop nicotine and tar from going into your body when you smoke and can help you deal with your addiction. By not allowing nicotine into your bloodstream, you will be able to focus on your commitment to quit your useless habit. There are many types of filters available in the market. The trick is to choose one that really works, and not just some product claiming unbelievable results because we all know there is no easy way of quitting.

These natural ways to quit smoking are offered alternatives especially to those smokers who want to quit but have special health conditions which hinder them from using other methods that require medication. They can be used individually or in tandem to achieve better results. Remember that success in quitting still depends greatly on you and no method will work if your heart and mind are not set on completely quitting.

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Help Others to Quit - Ways to Help Smokers Quit Smoking

June 30th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

Becoming a tool to help others to quit smoking is one of the best things an ex-smoker or a non-smoker could do to improve the lives of others. It’s always a comforting idea to have somebody when you are at the lowest time of your life. For a smoker who is trying his very best to quit and stay quit, it is certainly the best time to help him in his battle against nicotine addiction. We do not need to become experts on the whole quitting smoking process to be able to help.

Quitting affects both the mental and physical states of a smoker attempting to quit. Dealing with the symptoms of withdrawal is a serious matter for a smoker to succeed in his mission. At times, a friend trying to quit might get discouraged and his option would be to go back smoking. This is where you can help by encouraging him to be strong and supporting your friend by distracting him on his misery. You could go together for a walk, watch a movie, or visit places that would take his mind off smoking. You can also remind him of the health and financial benefits of quitting. Motivation helps a smoker stay committed on his promise to quit.

You can also help your friend avoid situations where he will be tempted to smoke. If your friend used to drink and smoke after work, then invite him for a friendly game of tennis or basketball instead rather than hanging out in some fancy bar. Friends who continue to smoke will not be able to help him so it might be best if you avoid some of your smoking peers for a while up to the time that your friend can have control against taking a puff. Never allow your friend to expose himself to smoking since this can weaken his will to stop.

Gaining weight can be one of the reasons your friend is afraid to stop smoking. Tell your friend to be not afraid of gaining a few pounds as there are ways to eliminate unwanted weight gains. You can do exercise together, get into sports, or go to yoga classes to make you and your friend fit and a lot healthier too! Eat nutritious food together and have well-balanced meals at all times. Carry a bag of carrot sticks or celery for your friend to munch on at times he craves for food.

Always try your best to help others to quit smoking. You’ll never know what difference you can make in someone’s life. Nothing beats the feeling of knowing you have done something valuable in the lives of others.

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Successful Ways To Quit Smoking

June 30th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

Are you ready to quit smoking?  Chances are, if you’re a smoker, the answer is a resounding yes.  Most smokers know that this habit is expensive, dirty, dangerous, and harms not only their health but the health of those around them.But just what are the best ways to stop

If this sounds like you, don’t despair.  There are many out there in the same boat.  After all, smoking has been found to be as addictive as any illegal narcotic, including heroin, marijuana, and cocaine.  Teaching someone how to quit smoking is often as easy as teaching them how to quit eating!

It’s important not to get overwhelmed by your many options when it comes to ways to quit smoking, and to choose one and move forward with your decision.  There is not usually a right or wrong decision to make, simply a decision that must have follow through.

It’s also good to remember that there are many ways to stop smoking.  If you’re one that wants to go it cold turkey and just simply quit, you need to remember a few things to help you along the way.  For one, be mindful of your diet.  You’ll get cravings to eat something, and if you fill up on sugary treats and fried foods, this will just make your stomach upset and queasy, and when you feel bad, you’ll want to reach for a cigarette.

Breaking a habit typically means changing all the circumstances that lead up to your engaging in that habit.  If it’s your habit to stay on the computer until far too late at night, you need to move the computer someplace where you can’t easily keep it on that late, such as the family room, or where it’s uncomfortable for you to do that, such as the hard dining room table and chairs.  This is one of the most important steps you can take in learning how to quit smoking.  You need to change all the circumstances that lead up to your urge to smoke, such as walking away from the dinner table after eating rather than lingering, avoiding smoky bars and nightclubs, and maybe even cutting back on those nights out with friends when they’re smoking.

Of course, old-fashioned remedies can actually work very well too.  Taking Epsom salt baths may help to draw the excess tar and nicotine from your system, making your cravings disappear much quicker.  Drinking plenty of water keeps you hydrated, which also helps calm cravings.  And
physical exercise gets your blood circulating and brings fresh oxygen to your limbs and organs, making you feel good all the way around.

So if you’re someone who has made the determination to quit smoking permanently, don’t despair.  There is help available, and if you’re ready to accept that help, then you too can be one of the successful people who can rightly call themselves a non-smoker.

What Are The Many Effects Of Quitting Smoking?

June 30th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

These days smokers have may hassles to deal with – they face restrictions on where they can smoke, are ostracised by their friends and shunned from their homes, as well as being stigmatised by society on the whole. Not to mention the constant quit smoking message they are constantly confronted by. And while quitting smoking is definitely has its benefits – especially when considering the many negative effects that smoking has on a person’s health – but it’s not quite that simple. Smokers have to deal with the many effects of quitting smoking – and it’s not quite as easy as some people would have you believe.

The Most Common Effects of Quitting Smoking

All the effect of Quitting smoking can be divided into two main subcategories these are physical and psychological.

The physical symptoms manifest in a number of ways some people suffer from all of these others, only one or two, these symptoms are: Cravings- during the withdrawal stages people crave the nicotine hit that their body has become accustomed to. Messed-up sleep cycle- It is not uncommon for quitters to report restlessness or fatigue either one can disrupt the sleep cycle. Headaches – while smoking can causes headaches in some, it is also possible to get them from quitting as well! Weight gain – an increased appetite is on of the most commonly quoted effect of quitting smoking and it is true people end up eating more partly as a substitute for the cigarette. Concentration – Because of a mix of the above symptoms quitters can find they have trouble concentrating eg. They can’t sleep or they’re having bad cravings.

The psychological effects of quitting smoking are just as hard to deal with as the physical withdrawal symptoms. Fluctuating chemical levels in the body result in many different things to occur. The withdrawal symptoms are similar in nature to those experienced by those getting off harder drugs. Mild depression that can last a few days is one that is experienced by many. Also irritability, anger and frustration are all things that quitters can experience. Quitting smoking can also cause people to become anxious and irritable as well, these are especially common in teenage smokers quitting, as they are a bundle or hormones to start with. !

But of course these draw backs are nothing when compared to all the benefits that can come from quitting smoking. Firstly, within 15 years all of the increased health risks associated with smoking – lung cancer, respiratory issues, heart attacks will have returned the level of non-smokers, and secondly you will have whiter teeth, you no longer smell like smoke and you save large amounts of money every year.

However, while the negative effects of quitting smoking can be a challenge to overcome to start off with, in the end it’s all worth it – you’ll find that you will be happier and be living a better lifestyle.

 

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