Vitality News Health Articles

Smoking is an addictive and dangerous habit that affects the lives of millions of people around the globe. Today, we are aware of the dangers of smoking, and smokers are urged to stop smoking for the benefit of their own health. This is not easy to do, as smokers begin at an young age. The average age at which many people begin to smoke is only thirteen years old.

A habit formed at that age is not easily broken. Nicotine affects the body in many ways and it is hard to break this addiction without assistance. Nicotine addiction is only one of many different diseases which can be caused by smoking. Most smokers will require some help on how to quit smoking and many methods exist for this very purpose.

There are many different reasons why people begin smoking and continue to smoke. The main reason that people try smoking is peer pressure. It is deemed cool to be able to smoke. It also is forbidden which makes it all the more alluring to rebellious teenagers, thus the low starting age for many people. This young age makes ceasing smoking more difficult in your later years.

Media can also have an impact on the decision to begin smoking. Smoking in movies or on television can lead someone to believe that smoking is a safe activity. Parents can wield the biggest influence over their children by setting a good example on how to quit smoking. Mothers and fathers who smoke are much more likely to have children who start to smoke.

Smokers begin to crave nicotine, a drug within tobacco. Nicotine can affect your body and mind in many harmful ways. Nicotine, once inhaled into the lungs reaches the brain in a mere eight seconds. Once there, nicotine affects your heart rate and blood pressure. Over time it can increase your bad cholesterol and narrow your arteries. Nicotine in concentrated doses is a lethal poison, so you can imagine the effects on your body. Nicotine is also addictive and one of the reasons many cannot quit the habit.

Smoking can impact your health on a variety of levels. Getting winded playing a game is one side effect of smoking. More serious smoking related diseases include cancer and emphysema. Strokes and heart disease are also closely linked to cigarette smoking. A person who quits smoking will greatly reduce their chances for these diseases for every year they go without smoking.

The outcome of these medical conditions caused by smoking is grim. Lung cancer is nearly always fatal unless detected very early and 80% of lung cancer cases are caused by smoking. Lung and heart disease can take years from your life unless you are able to quit smoking. There is no cure for emphysema, only limited treatment options, plus the damage to your lungs cannot be repaired. The benefits of quitting smoking include a healthier, longer life and a better quality of life.

There are many different methods to quit smoking, and you must pick the best method for you as an individual. Nicotine patches and gums are made to help you slowly withdraw from the nicotine addiction. These only work for about 10% of the people who use them. Another option is going cold turkey, and this works for up to 11% of the smokers who choose this option. Other frequently used methods to quit smoking include an herbal kit that can show you how to quit smoking. It has a success rate similar to that of nicotine gums and patches.

Stop smoking hypnotherapy is a popular and effective option for those who want to quit smoking without experiencing withdrawal symptoms or weight gain. Hypnotherapy has a high success rate with smokers who have made a decision to quit smoking. Hypnotherapy might sound like an extreme solution but it delivers positive results up to 70% of the time. This success rate is far greater that of other methods.

The reason stop smoking hypnosis is so effective is that it while the addiction to nicotine makes up only about 10% of the smoking addiction, the emotional and mental aspects of the habit make up a full 90% of the cigarette smoking addiction. Hypnosis treats this aspect of the addiction.

About 45% of the smoking behavior is caused by stress, and hypnosis has proven to be a safe and effective tool that can help reprogram the mind to divert you away from stressful thoughts, and towards more positive and relaxing thoughts. In addition, the practice of hypnosis therapy incorporates a deep state of relaxation.

Another 45% of the smoking behavior is caused by conditioned responses. This occurs when smoking becomes associated with other situations at the unconscious level of mind. For example, if you smoke while watching TV, your unconscious will associate the image of a cigarette in your hand with the image of the TV. Every time you see the TV, your unconscious flashes an image of the cigarette in your hand, and you feel the compulsion to smoke.

Hypnosis therapy is routinely used to “extinguish” the conditioned responses by disassociating the unconscious links between cigarettes and TV, driving, coffee, working on your computer, or any other situation where an unconscious association has been created.

In summary: While most smokers think that their inability to quit smoking is based on their addiction to nicotine, in truth it’s the mental aspects of a smoking addiction that present the largest barriers. Hypnotherapy was accepted by the American Medical Association in 1958 as an effective tool for quitting smoking. And hypnosis for smoke cessation is the second most common use of hypnotherapy today.

While hourly rates for hypnotherapists continue to skyrocket, there are effective hypnosis CDs on the market that can greatly reduce the cost of obtaining hypnosis treatment. Since everyone is different, there are no specific “magic” words or post-hypnotic suggestions that will work for everyone. So when choosing hypnosis CDs, look for those that incorporate a broad variety of hypnotic and NLP techniques in a series of at least six or more sessions to enjoy the best possible outcome. In any case, the fee for the very best self hypnosis programs equates to much less than the amount that an average smoker wastes each and every month on buying cigarettes.

Alan B. Densky, CH invented the Video Hypnosis stop smoking technology that helps smokers easily quit the habit. He also created many ways to stop smoking using Ericksonian Hypnosis and NLP. Visit his Neuro-VISION self development hypnosis site for free hypnosis videos and MP3s.

- Alan B. Densky, CH