QUIT SMOKING
The Right Thing To Do!
The facts are clear. There is nothing worse you could do to adversely affect your health. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death. Women are three times more likely to develop lung cancer then men. Cancer has now replaced heart disease as the number one killer of Americans aged 85 and younger. 1/3 of all cancer deaths are related to smoking.
Although there has been a huge decrease in the number of smokers between 1965 and 2000, 22% of American adults still continue to smoke. The good news is that surveys have shown that 70% of active smokers want to quit.
When you quit smoking the benefits are immediate. Blood cells that transport carbon monoxide from cigarette smoke begin to transport healthy oxygen. Even though quitting doesn't completely eliminate the risk of developing lung cancer, the risk of lung cancer starts to decline. One year after quitting smoking your chances of having a heart attack drops by half. The risk of lung cancer continues to decline and drop dramatically five to ten years after quitting. So we know that quitting is essential to enjoying a long and healthy life. The question is how do you pick the right way to stop smoking for you?
The first thing you need to know is that most smokers quit unsuccessfully several times before they quit for good. You will most likely not be successful your first time around - but you must still try! Each time you attempt to quit you come closer to finally quitting for good.
There are many organizations available to help you take control of your health and quit smoking. Most smokers find a greater success rate in groups. Organizations such as SmokEnders have community based seminars and will come to the workplace to counsel smokers. SmokEnders is a gradual stop smoking program that says it's success is based on treating the physical and the psychological aspects of smoking. They offer unlimited toll-free phone counseling.
Some people prefer to try to stop cold turkey. They stop smoking completely with little or no reduction in the number of cigarettes they smoke beforehand. As with any smoker who quits, those who quit cold turkey will experience the withdrawal symptoms of irritability, increased appetite and restlessness. For someone trying to stop smoking cold turkey help can be obtained using medications such as Zyban which lessens withdrawal symptoms. Zyban can only be obtained with a prescription.
Some smokers obtain relief from smoking withdrawal with a nicotine replacement commonly known as a nicotine patch. Patches are used for up to eight weeks. Nicotine patches are available over the counter. It is suggested that you talk to your doctor before trying any over the counter nicotine replacement therapy.
The American Cancer Society and American Lung Association have free information available. The federal government also has free information for smokers available at http://www.smokefree.gov.
Hypnotherapy Helps To Beat Your Smoking Habit, by Arthor Pens
In this article I am going to list ten ways in which hypnotherapy can be an effective means for empowering people to stop smoking in a natural way.
1) Hypnotherapy targets the unconscious mind, this is the part that stores all your memories, emotions and creates and maintains habits. This means that the memories you have of smoking, emotional attachment to smoking and the smoking habit pattern is dealt with by hypnotherapy.
2) Having hypnotherapy to give up smoking means you do not have to rely on willpower alone. This is good news, since using willpower is a conscious act. Habits are stored at an unconscious level. You are likely to be less successful using willpower alone, as you are not working with your unconscious mind.
3) Hypnotherapy is a wonderfully relaxing process, in which your unconscious mind is packed full of positive suggestions. In this way, Hypnotherapy can eliminate or reduce anxiety associated with stopping smoking so that you feel ready to stop.
4) Whilst hypnotherapy cannot make you stop if you really do not want to, it can help you identify and build your motivations for stopping. During a hypnotherapy your hypnotherapist should spend time helping you identify your reasons for stopping smoking.
5) Hypnotherapy can help install positive coping mechanisms, so that you will know what to do, to remain a non-smoker once the session has ended.
6) Hypnotherapy can help you to re-evaluate your unconscious beliefs related to smoking. During smoking cessation consultations at my hypnotherapy practice, Edinburgh, people regularly present with distorted beliefs that they have developed and held onto, to give themselves excuses for smoking.
7) Hypnotherapy can install positive beliefs. Whatever method you use to stop smoking, when you have that last cigarette it can be challenging to believe that you really are a non-smoker at first. This lack of belief in yourself as a non-smoker can make you feel vulnerable to smoking again. Your hypnotherapist, can work with you to install new beliefs that will help you feel like a non-smoker.
8) Hypnotherapy can help you develop new feelings, emotions and associations and help you break old negative associations such as that a cigarette goes hand in hand with your morning coffee.
9) Hypnotherapy can be used to create other positive changes at the same time as stopping smoking, such as suggestions that you will not increase eating once quitting.
10) Most hypnotherapists help people stop smoking in one intense therapy session. Hypnotherapy covers all the aspects related to your smoking habit discussed in this article. Once these are dealt with, you no longer feel the urge to smoke.
Hypnotherapy Edinburgh is provided by a therapist who has a background in NHS mental-health care and who is experienced at helping people overcome emotional, psychological and behavioral habits and difficulties. For more information about hypnotherapist Edinburgh or for advice visit www.karenhastings.co.uk